“Well, let me ask her..” Ace said before removing his phone from the side of his face.

I kept staring at his face and then he turned to face me directly. My heartbeat sped up as I wondered what Elizabeth had just told Ace because it seemed to concern me.

“Rina, Elizabeth wants to meet but it’s very late now, so she’s asking if you’re free tomorrow..” Ace informed me.

“She wants to meet me too?” I asked without hiding my surprise.

It made sense for her to meet up with Ace, but I didn’t quite understand why she wanted me to join them. The merger and her issues with her father did not directly involve me like it did with Ace.

“Apparently so..” Ace replied with a small shrug of his shoulders.

Although Ace did not look confused, I could tell that he didn’t quite know why Elizabeth would want me to join their meeting. It would be too extreme to say that I had a bad feeling about it at the time.

“Is it fine for me to come along?” I asked.

“She’s the one inviting you so it should be fine, right? Do you want to come?” Ace asked in return as his eyes watched me intently.

“I’ll go. I’m free tomorrow so I’ll go with you,” I replied before I would chicken out.

“Rina is free tomorrow. We’ll meet up then. You can text me the meeting place and time,” Ace spoke through the phone to Elizabeth.

All I could think about was why she was inviting me. Ace exchanged a few words with Elizabeth and then the call came to an abrupt end. The phone call was much shorter than I thought that it would be, and it didn’t seem like Elizabeth had told Ace much over the phone apart from asking to have a meeting with us.

“What did she say?” I asked softly because I couldn’t hold back my curiosity.

“Nothing much as you’ve probably figured already. She still doesn’t know anything for sure but suggests that we should meet to discuss the situation,” Ace replied before letting out a soft sigh.

“I see. I guess we’ll learn more about what is really going on when we meet her,” I said with a little nod of my head.

“You’re right. For now, we’re not going to do anything at both the individual level and at the corporate level. Chase Creatives isn’t going to issue a statement, and neither will our company. The best we can do right now is relax and get some rest,” Ace said before flashing me a warm smile.

“I’ll try to relax. Hopefully our meeting with Elizabeth tomorrow will present us with some solutions,” I said hopefully.

“I’m just hoping that she wouldn’t come up with anything too crazy..” Ace said before letting out another sigh.

..

Naturally, Ace ended up spending the night at my place. My little apartment came into good use, and I felt like giving myself a few pats on the back for sticking firmly to my decision to keep my own place despite Ace’s convincing. I wasn’t sure how the latest development was going to impact our plan to slowly move in together. Saving on rent would be great but having my own place seemed like the right move.

What would happen to me if I couldn’t stay at Ace’s place because of some incident like this?

Just thinking about it gave me a slight headache and I realized that I shouldn’t conjure up any problematic scenario because we were already supposed to be very busy with the problems that were right in front of us.

“Are you ready to go?” Ace asked before smiling brightly at me.

Ace was already dressed in a smart-looking navy suit that seemed to work well for both business and more smart-casual meetings. The way he offered me his arm made me feel like we were going out to a party for the evening instead of to our stressful meeting with Elizabeth.

“Yes, thanks..” I replied as I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm.

“Don’t look so anxious,” Ace teased me with a small laugh.

“Do I look that anxious?” I asked with widened eyes.

“A little..” he replied with another light laugh.

To my surprise, the place that Elizabeth had chosen wasn’t a luxurious restaurant or some private meeting venue. Instead, she had chosen what Ace told me was a small house that used to be owned by her grandfather and had been passed down to her when he passed away.

historical

“It’s like her family home?” I asked curiously when we were in the car and on our way to meet her there.

“Sort of. She stayed there for a short while when she was a girl and her grandparents were still alive, I think,” Ace replied casually.

“I wonder why she chose this place..” I murmured.

“Don’t read too much into it. It’s probably just because it’s private,” Ace replied without much care.

The place turned out to be a very private one tucked away in the heart of the city. Despite the modest size of the house, the surrounding land and garden were very spacious and that meant that the property was worth quite a lot of money. Ace opened the car door for me and offered me his hand.

“Thank you..” I thanked him softly as I placed my hand into his.

Stepping out of the car, I looked around at the lush green garden surrounded by many tall trees that seemed to hide this place away from the bustling city outside. The two-story house surrounded by large trees hid itself among many tall skyscrapers. It was so rare to find a hidden gem like this in the heart of the city where an old building hadn’t been demolished and the land used to build a skyscraper.

“Welcome!”

I turned around at the bright sound of Elizabeth’s voice to see her approaching us. Unlike all the times that I’ve seen her before, Elizabeth was dressed in a very casual white linen dress.

--To be continued..