Chapter 421 Not Meant to Be

“Huh? I mean...sure...” I replied without hiding my confusion at his sudden change of mind.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I turned and walked out into the hallway. My confusion at Richard’s words must have been the cause for me to almost run into someone right in front of me.

“I’m sorry...” I apologized automatically.

“Oh, Karina. I thought you had already left for lunch. It’s great that I waited...”

The voice that greeted me so casually sounded so familiar that I had no doubt about the identity of its owner. However, I was still stunned to see Jeremy standing right in front of me when I looked up into his face. For a moment, I wasn’t sure how to respond and it wasn’t simply just because I was surprised that he suddenly turned up.

“Hi...” I managed to say after a pause.

Jeremy was all smiles, and nothing seemed off about him at all. My eyes travelled to Richards cold and emotionless face as I wondered if he had seen Jeremy before I did and if that was the reason why he had a sudden change of heart and decided to join me for lunch.

“Let’s go,” Richard said as he walked past me.

“Right. Umm...Richard and I were about to go grab lunch so you can come with us...” I told Jeremy while praying that I sounded natural enough.

“Really? I didn’t think that he would want to join us for lunch,” Jeremy replied with a smile.

Since Richard had invited me first, it felt like the correct thing to say would be that Jeremy was the one joining us and not the other way around. After finding out that I had returned back to my regular work at the office after the press conference came to an end, Jeremy had invited me out to lunch quite often. Usually, Richard wouldn’t do anything and would just watch me leave silently with Jeremy or let me go eat alone on the days when Jeremy didn’t turn up.

I couldn’t help wondering as I stared at Richard’s back as he walked in front of me, why he had decided to join us for lunch when he clearly did not have a good time the last time when we went out as a party of three.

...

The day that Ace was supposed to have a meeting with Chase Creatives board of directors finally arrived. Ace was busy right up to the last minute and we hardly had time for each other. It didn’t help that the client of my project had been throwing fits lately regarding the progress of the project. In the end, that meant that we were both busy. I cursed myself and my luck every time that I missed seeing Ace in the office.

It was rare for him to be at the office considering the work that he was doing with Elizabeth, and I wanted to be there with him when he came in. However, it was just not to be. The brief moments that usually lasted less than an hour that Ace happened to be in the office would always coincide with some meeting of mine. Just like that, I always missed the chance to meet him.

‘How did it go?’

After not hearing anything from him on that day, I gathered up my courage to send him a text. I truly wanted to call him so that I would get to hear his voice; however, I was certain that things were busy for him. Even though it was already the end of the workday, I wasn’t sure if his meeting with the board of directors had ended or not. Plus, it wasn’t at all uncommon for such a meeting to end with a follow up dinner.

After staring silently at my phone for a while with my heart racing hard in my chest in anticipation, I figured out that Ace wasn’t in a position to answer my text or give me a call at the moment. Although I should have expected as much, I still found myself feeling unreasonably disappointed. historical

“Focus...focus...” I whispered to remind myself that I also had work piled up so high right in front of me on my desk.

I could feel Richard’s eyes on me and when I looked up, I caught him staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face. Not knowing how I should react, I just smiled at him a little before returning my focus back to my work. I thought that if I worked for a few hours, I would eventually hear from Ace. Even if the chances of him returning to the office after his meeting were very slim, I was still willing to wait it out. The sad truth was, I didn’t have anything to look forward to back at my lonely apartment and because of that, I might as well work my ass off and get something done that I could be proud of.

“Are you leaving already?” I asked in surprise when I saw Richard packing his things.

Needless to say, it was surprising that he was going to leave before me. It hadn’t been that long past working hours. He turned to face me with an emotionless face that I had gotten used to.

“I’m meeting a friend,” he replied bluntly without any other explanation.

“Right...” I murmured while noting that he didn’t owe me any explanation.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” he asked.

“I’ll just wrap this part up. It shouldn’t take long,” I replied before showing him a smile.

“I see...” he replied without any further questions.

I watched as Richard left the room. By that time, I was the only one left in the project room. As expected, no one stayed later at work than Richard and me. I already felt so tired and heading back to my apartment felt like the best idea ever even if I knew that Ace wouldn’t be waiting for me there. I picked up my phone to see that I still haven’t received a text back from Ace.

Just what is he up to...?

“Karina,”

--To be continued...