269 Reassuring Support

Our eyes met and after a moment of staring deeply into each other’s eyes, Ace let out a sigh of resignation. I felt like I had achieved something monumental when Ace gave in and decided to attend the meeting that was coming up.

“You have to hurry up or you’re going to be late to your meeting,” I urged as I pulled on his arm.

Ace hesitantly got up from the sofa. I could tell that he didn’t want to go out to work at all, but I also thought that it would be better for everyone if he would just go back to work.

“You can do this..” I said encouragingly.

historical

“Alright..” Ace muttered as he placed his large hand on top of my head.

He looked down into my upturned face before he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. The kiss was soft and fleeting. Ace had straightened up and was on his way out of the door before I knew it. I lifted my hand and touched the tips of my fingers against the spot on my forehead that he had just kissed.

“Ace!” I called after him when we were both out of the room.

He turned around with a questioning look to look my way. I quickly closed the distance between us and made it to his side.

“Hang in there, ok? I’m sure that you can do whatever you set your mind to,” I said.

.....

Since it didn’t seem that there was much that I could help him with, I felt like the least that I could do was to show him my support. Of course, I had committed myself to doing anything to help support him no matter how big or small. My words seemed to have reached Ace before he smiled down at me.

“Thank you, Rina. I’m sorry that it’s taking so long but things will end up fine for both of us,” he said it like a promise.

I didn’t miss that he chosen to say ‘both of us’. Because I couldn’t find my voice as my emotions started welling up inside of me, all I could do was nod my head at him once firmly. His words touched me and made me feel like I was making the right choice in trusting him with our future.

“I’ll work hard too. Please don’t worry about Project Alpha. We’ll definitely win the competition,” I said with such confidence that I was shocked at myself.

“Good. I’m waiting to hear some very good news,” he said with a smile.

“Sure. Well, now it’s fine for you to go to your meeting. Should I walk you there?” I suggested brightly.

Ace just shook his head at me as he led the way out of the rooftop. I quickly followed after him because I wasn’t exactly joking when I said that I would walk him to his meeting room. Because I didn’t have a meeting scheduled right now, I was free to accompany him and I fully intended to personally make sure that Ace turned up to his meeting. Maybe if I left him, he’ll just hide away somewhere else without attending the meeting.

“You’re taking this a little too seriously..” he mumbled.

“Really? I think you’re the one who’s not taking this seriously enough..” I countered with my own retort.

Just like I had planned, I accompanied Ace all the way to his meeting room and made sure that he stepped in there. I even stood there in the doorway long enough to make sure that he took his designated seat at the head of the long meeting table. There were many senior managers attending this meeting and it felt like the right choice that I had made sure that Ace didn’t skip out on it.

..

**A few days later**

Although it was Julianna that we were talking about, I was still amazed and extremely impressed that she could come up with a new marketing plan in just a few days. Not only did she complete the new marketing plan based on the idea that I shared, but she had also already scheduled a meeting with Ace to review it.

“Got to say that she’s fast..” Jeremy said before whistling.

“Yeah..” I readily agreed.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was amazed by Julianna’s talent. I was sure that there were countless commercials that wouldn’t have done as well as they did if it wasn’t for her outstanding marketing plans.

“Enough chatting. Let’s head to the meeting room now. Let’s not keep Ace waiting,” Julianna commanded loudly as she waved for everyone to file out of the room.

Jeremy and I were going to attend the meeting with Ace along with Julianna and other members of her core team. It felt like a very big deal and that was probably because it was. If we could just get pass this step then we were one step closer to launching the commercial. That thought made my palm sweat from a mix of nervousness and excitement. No matter how many commercials and I’ve worked on, I could never get used to the excitement of finally unveiling the commercial in front of the audience.

“Karina, it’s your job to make sure that Ace doesn’t skip out on this one,” Julianna said to me half-jokingly.

I could tell that there was a part of her that was being serious as she smiled over at me. I tried my best to smile back as I clutched my phone tightly in my hand. If Ace isn’t there for the meeting, I’m going to need to call him and later on, I was prepared to give him a piece of my mind. He could skip out on other meetings with other managers, but this project was directly under his supervision, and I couldn’t take it if he skipped out on a project that I was working on.

Luckily, when we arrived, Ace was already there in the room. He flashed me a smile as I walked in, but I ended up glaring at him.

–To be continued..