"This is one of my family's estates. It currently belongs to my father after it's been passed down in the family," Ace explained as if he could read my mind.

"Oh.." I murmured as my eyes canned the mansion up and down.

"As much as I would like to say that you're welcomed, my father isn't going to like seeing us," Ace said before he chuckled like he couldn't care less.

"The Chairman is in there?" I asked without any excitement.

Ace nodded his head before he offered me a smile that was supposed to heal my bleeding heart. It seemed like I wasn't overreacting at all in the car when I considered that it may be possible that we would be meeting his father. I felt my heart sink and I hesitated to get out of the car. Ace got out and walked over to my side of the car before yanking the door open.

"Come on. You'll have to get out sooner or later so we might as well get this over and done with," Ace said with a small laugh.

He was clearly enjoying my reactions while I wasn't enjoying anything at all. I knew that he was right and perhaps I should be optimistic and feel thankful that at least he didn't seem at all stressed about this. The ride here was around an hour and that made me wonder if Ace was here before.

"Were you here before you came to pick me up?" I asked.

Ace offered me his hand and I was forced to take it and let him pull me out of the car. Ace nodded his head once in response to my question. That explained where he had disappeared to during the few hours where I couldn't reach him no matter how hard I tried. However, I still had no idea why he was here and what happened while we were apart.

"Don't look so worried. No one is going to bite you," Ace said followed by a chuckle.

"Wait!" I exclaimed as he pulled me after him.

He could have at least told me beforehand that we were going to meet his father. That way, maybe I could have mentally prepared myself. Ace didn't give me time to remain shocked for too long as he dragged me after him to the entrance of the large mansion. I was reminded once again of how good he is at pushing me to my limits. Thanks to that, I have grown both professionally and as a person; however, there were times like these when I thought that it was a little too much.

"What are we supposed to talk to him about?" I asked.

historical

Ace wouldn't stop walking and I had to dig my heels into the ground for him to turn to face me. To my surprise, Ace stared at me before his face relaxed to show me a warm smile.

"You'll find out soon enough. If you want to find out sooner, why don't you walk a little faster?" he said before smiling teasingly at me.

"Oh..please.." I said while letting out a tired sigh.

The mansion looked like any other luxurious mansion when we were inside. The first thing that I noticed was how silent it was inside. In fact, it was so silent that I was scared to breathe, fearing that the sound of my breathing would disturb the tranquil peace.

"Follow me this way, Rina," Ace said to break the silence.

With my hand still in his, Ace easily led me after him along a long hallway that was quite brightly lit with golden lights. Various oil color paintings of landscapes hung on the walls and added countless colors to the mansion's interior. I was dreading my meeting with Ace's father too much and wasn't in the mood to admire the beauty of the paintings as we quickly passed them by.

"Is the Chairman in there?" I asked in a small voice when Ace came to a stop in front of a very tall and wide pair of wooden doors.

"Yes. In fact, he's eagerly awaiting your arrival," Ace replied casually before showing me a smile that was supposed to help reassure me that everything was going to be alright.

I felt like now was the right time to pray because there was nothing else that I could do to save myself from the situation that I was in. It didn't help one bit that Ace just told me that the Chairman was waiting for me.

Why do I have to meet him? What does he want from me?

"We're here," Ace announced our arrival the moment that he opened the door.

I was still standing in a dazed state in front of the room's entrance with my heart racing in my chest and Ace had to pull me into the room after him. He could have given me a warning before suddenly opening the door like that. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine when I felt the Chairman's eyes turn to rest on me.

"Good evening.." I managed to say in a small voice.

"Come and sit over here. It's better to sit while we talk," Ace told me casually as he gestured for me to take a seat on one of the sofas.

"Right.." I murmured.

Ace sat down and pulled me down into the seat next to him on the sofa. I felt like a lifeless puppet because I was so panicked. Ace chuckled a little next to me and I knew that he found my reactions funny again. All the while, the Chairman kept staring at me and that made feel unbearably uncomfortable.

The chairman looked like he was ready to say something but the tense silence in the room was broken by the sound of someone's phone ringing. I felt so jumpy that the sound made me panic even more and I reached for my bag just to realize that the ringtone wasn't even mine. Ace didn't make a move so that meant that the Chairman's phone was ringing.

--To be continued..