Chapter 459 Secret and Truth

If I had to take a guess, it must have been something related to my personal life, such as my relationship with Ace..

“I know that this isn’t technically your fault, but I thought that you should know about this before it leaks out from the walls of this company if it hasn’t already..” she said before closing her eyes and letting out another long sigh.

“What is it?” I asked as I told myself in my mind not to panic. historical

“I heard that something similar happened before but there are rumors going around the company that you are dating Ace Hills,” she said as she stared directly at me.

“Oh..” I murmured without knowing what else I was supposed to say.

If Ace was still working at the company as my boss, then it would have been obvious enough to me that we had to keep our secret relationship hidden away from everyone. However, now that he was no longer my boss and also no longer working at the company, it wasn’t like I would be breaking the rule that forbids employees from dating each other.

“Since Mr. Hills is on longer working here, I guess you won’t be violating any rules but..people will still talk..” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

She stared at me again and I could almost hear the unasked question in her mind that seemed to reflect in her eyes. It made sense that just like everyone else, she also wanted to know if I was really dating Ace.

“Is that all?” I asked before showing her a bright smile.

For a moment, she seemed taken aback by my lack of reaction toward what she had just told me. I would have panicked quite a lot had this been the first time that something like this had happened. Since I’ve been visiting and staying over at Ace’s place quite a lot ever since his retirement from the company, it felt like I was just waiting for this day to come. It wasn’t like we could be careful and hide the truth from everyone forever. In the back of my mind, I knew that well enough.

However, just as I had told Ace that it might be too soon for everyone to know about our relationship since it hadn’t been long since he announced his split from Elizabeth. The cold stares and accusing looks that everyone directed at me as I walked past them only brought back painful memories.

“Umm..yes...” my manager replied hesitantly.

“Thank you for letting me know. Rumors like these start all the time and they’ll be gone in no time at all,” I said before letting out a light laugh.

“Right..I see..” she said.

I quickly stood up from my seat because clearly there wasn’t anything else that we needed to discuss. Leaving right away was clearly the right thing to do because I wasn’t sure what I should tell her if she asked me to confirm whether or not the rumors were true. As fast as I could without making things awkward, I left the room and headed back to my table. After turning on my laptop, I pretended to be so busy with work that no one would talk to me or ask me any questions about what was going on.

The truth was my mind was too busy thinking about what the manager had said. She did mention that the news had not yet leaked out from the company, so that probably meant that the rumors somehow started within the walls of the company and that no one outside was aware of it yet. I bit hard on my lower lip as I debated with myself whether or not I should give him a call to tell him about this. If the rumors had not yet spread out of the company, then maybe there was something that Ace could do to stop it from spreading.

I kept glancing at the door as I half expected someone from HR to waltz in to escort me to the disciplinary committee. Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true, it surely was causing a lot of ruckuses in the company, and it was distracting people from their work. For that, I knew that it was partly my fault. I prayed that no one would come for me because I wasn’t sure if I was fine with revealing our relationship to everyone without consulting Ace first about what he wanted.

The feeling that I felt was surely very different from the very first time that rumors went around that Ace and I were dating. I wasn’t scared of being caught and I didn’t fear losing my job. However, that didn’t mean that I was completely indifferent or unaffected. This time around, I worried more about our future and what people would think when they finally learn that we were really dating.

Do we even tell them that we’ve been dating all along? Would that even make sense?

Just thinking about how to get our story straight already started giving me a headache. Having a relationship that was somehow built on lies wasn’t easy or fun at all. Before I knew it, I was clenching my phone tightly in my hand as I tried to suck in deep breaths. I couldn’t concentrate at all at work, and I could feel people in my team stealing peeks at me.

“I’m going out for some coffee..” I announced because I was sure that they were interested in knowing.

I was out of the door and walking along the hallway before anyone could say anything. During the ride down in the elevator, I realized that stepping out now could be an error in judgement. I had no idea how far the rumors had spread. After stepping out of the elevator, I walked deeper into the building instead of walking out as I started looking up news related to Ace and me.

“Nothing..” I whispered before letting out a breath of relief.

Right at the moment, my phone began vibrating in my hand.

--To be continued..