313 Getting It Off My Chest

I didn’t even bother to reply to him as I tried to control the anger rapidly growing in my chest. To my slight disappointment, my mood had not improved at all even when we arrived back at his place. There were so many things going on at work and I also knew that it probably wasn’t the right time for me to confront Ace about the disaster that unfolded at dinner; however, I felt like my entire chest might burst if I continued to keep it in. Just when I made the decision to talk to Ace about it and to tell him honestly how I felt, Ace’s phone started ringing.

It was quite late in the evening, and I had no idea who could be calling. Before I knew it, I had started wishing that the one on the other end of the land wasn’t Elizabeth. Ace took our his phone and answered the call in one swift motion. The stern look on his face told me that the call wasn’t from Elizabeth or anyone looking for small talk in the evening to pass the time.

“Tell me about it..” Ace said in a serious tone.

Without looking my way, Ace turned and walked into his private office. The sound of the door closing echoed softly, and I was left all alone in the living room. A loud sigh escaped from me as I started to feel my pent up anger and frustration boiling over. The call came at a very bad time, and I missed my opportunity to talk to Ace. Since the call seemed to be about work, I knew that he was doing the right thing in answering him. However, that didn’t help calm the rage that seemed to be waging a war of its own inside my head.

My head is going to explode..

I almost ran to the bathroom and into the shower to cool myself down literally by taking a shower using cold water. I held in a cry as the cold water splashed down onto my hair and body from above. The cold felt so refreshing to both my body and mind. I stood still under the water as I enjoyed the coldness of the water splashing down onto my body from above.

Calm down, Rina..

A short while later when I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped up in a bathrobe, I was refreshed enough and calm enough to at least not tremble with anger. At that point, I had no idea who I was supposed to direct my anger at anymore. Should I direct my anger at Elizabeth for all the things that she said to taunt me or should I direct my anger at Ace for letting all of that happen to me.

It was all for Ace’s sake that I didn’t just get up and leave. A part of me knew that I shouldn’t have to sit there and take all that from her; however, a larger part of me didn’t want to make a scene or do anything that would embarrass Ace. At the time, that was what felt like the best move to me. Looking back, I wondered if there could have been a better solution out for all of us from that appalling situation.

.....

“You showered?” Ace asked casually when he spotted me walk out of the shower.

“Yeah..” I replied softly.

“You look tired. You should dry your hair and go to bed,” Ace advised.

“Ace..” I quickly called his name before he could turn and walk away.

For a moment, I thought that Ace looked more tired than usual. It had been a long day for us and the dinner that we just had made it feel all the more longer; however, it didn’t seem usual for Ace to look so drained of energy. I wondered if something happened during the call just now that seemed to suck out a lot of life from him. I felt my nails digging into the palms of my hands and realized that I was feeling anxious as I searched for the courage to start the hard conversation that I had in mind with him. It might not be the right time for this; however, it didn’t seem like I could get any sleep tonight or stay sane the morning after if I didn’t get this ugly load off of my chest immediately.

“What?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

historical

“Can we talk for a bit?” I asked before I would lose my nerve.

Ace seemed a little surprise at my request, but he seemed open enough to talk to me. He nodded his head a few times before gesturing with his hand for me to follow him. I walked on my wobbly legs after him as Ace led the way to the large sofa set in his living room. It seemed like he let the force of gravity help him sink down onto the sofa. He breathed in a huge breath before letting it out in a sigh as he rubbed the skin in between his brows.

“What did you want to talk about?” he asked patiently.

“The dinner just now, I didn’t know that Elizabeth would be joining us and Kyle as well..” I voiced my first concern.

“Did that surprise you that much?” he asked in response.

“Yes, I was more than surprised. I didn’t think that we would ever have a dinner together like that,” I replied honestly as I tried to keep my voice from shaking from anger.

“You’re right. I agree that the circumstances were..very strange..” Ace replied calmly.

I felt like this conversation of ours wasn’t going to go anywhere if I didn’t get more straight to the point. It didn’t seem like the words exchange during dinner had much impact on Ace at all. Perhaps, the whole event had already started slipping from his mind but that wasn’t the case for me at all.

“What did you think about the things that Elizabeth said to me over dinner?” I asked as I stared at him with narrowed eyes.

–To be continued..