263 A Promise for Tomorrow

“Same goes for you. Will you be in the office tomorrow?” I asked hopefully.

“I will be,” he replied immediately.

“Great. I’ll make sure that we run into each other,” I declared enthusiastically.

Ace just laughed at me. The sound of his laughter brought some joy and warmth to my heart. Although Ace was the one who told me to not overwork myself and to get some sleep, I doubt that he was getting enough sleep. Ace had been out of the office and I had to cancel a couple of management meetings that he had scheduled at our company for him. I wanted to ask where he went off to, but I knew that I wouldn’t get any answers anyways even if I did ask.

While I was lost in my thoughts and my worries for him, I realized that Ace was unusually silent. I wanted to see him more than anything at that moment. The night would feel so long because I had to wait to see him tomorrow.

“Is something wrong?” I asked in a small voice.

“No, I just wanted to hear your voice..” he replied without missing a heartbeat.

What am I supposed to say to that?

Although I couldn’t see his face, his slightly teasing tone didn’t make it hard for me to imagine the look on his face when he said that. I missed him and his smile more than I thought possible. Thinking of what I discovered in the archive, my chest tightened and I wondered how Ace would react if I told him about what I happened to stumble upon. The first hurdle was how I’m supposed to start talking to him about it.

historical

.....

Would he think that it’s strange for me to be going through his old work like some freaky kind of stalker?

“Why are you quiet all of a sudden?” he asked.

This time it was his turn to sound worried. His sudden question snapped me out of my thoughts. I had no idea how long I was silent for as I struggled to find the right words to say to him.

“Umm..it’s nothing. I was just..thinking of random things..” I replied.

I closed my eyes and let out a silent sigh of disappointment. It was clear that I couldn’t bring that up right now. Plus, Ace seemed so busy right now that he probably didn’t have time to deal with another nonsense matter from me. I was supposed to be busy too, if I had time to think about that then I might as well focus on finishing off Project Alpha.

“Go to sleep, Rina..” he said.

“Ok..good night, Ace..” I wished him goodnight just like I always did.

“Make sure you run into me tomorrow..” he reminded me.

His serious tone brought a smile to my lips.

“Of course..” I replied just before the line disconnected.

I would die just to make sure that we ran into each other tomorrow.

..

This is it.

I stood in front of the presentation screen with everyone’s eyes on me. Julianna’s sharp gaze seemed to penetrate my body as she waited for me to present the ideas that I had for today’s meeting. I licked my lower lip as my entire throat started to feel dry.

“Let’s start. We don’t have all day..” Julianna said without much enthusiasm.

I could tell that she probably thought that I wouldn’t have any ideas worth choosing from, and I didn’t blame her. Coming up with ideas for marketing was hard and with my lack of experience, it almost seemed impossible. However, I hoped that things would be different today. I didn’t just randomly think of this on my own, I adapted this plan and angle from Ace’s past work. Unlike my adaptation was completely off, this should be a workable idea.

“Let me explain to you the ideas that I have for today..” I began saying.

The best part was that everyone was willing to listen to me. Even if they may not have a lot of faith in what I was presenting, they still had enough respect for me now to hear me out until the very end. As the presentation went by, I gained some more confidence and soon my presentation ran smoothly. Jeremy seemed impressed with what I could come up with and put together in one night. If no one else liked my ideas, then it was enough for me that Jeremy seemed fine with it. Hopefully my efforts last night had earned him a night of restful sleep.

“It might work. Not all of them, but the third idea seems the most solid if you ask me,” Julianna commented after a while of thought.

“Really?” I asked in disbelief.

Although I had anticipated that if one of the ideas were to make the cut, it would be the third option that was adapted from Ace’s previous work, but I was still surprised now that it was actually happening.

“Yup. I think the idea seems fine, but we’ll probably need to refine the details..” Julianna said with a nod of her head.

“That’s great. I’m so glad..” I said in a breathless whisper as relief flooded by body.

Finally, we had something to go on. With this, Jeremy and I could take a bit of a break while the marketing team put the detail of the proposal together again. Presenting this to Ace better go well because we were already tight on time.

“Let’s try to get this out in two days. I’ll get time with Ace then to show this to him,” Julianna said authoritatively.

A few other points were discussed, and then various tasks were assigned to the team members before the meeting came to an end. Everyone quickly left the meeting room with serious and determined looks on their faces. Everything can move on now and everyone was eager to put their best into their work. This was one of the things that I loved so much about working in this place.

“Thank you for today,” Julianna said as she approached me.

“Oh, it’s fine. Thank you for taking it from here..” I said humbly.

–To be continued..