48 A Demanding Devil

“What about being my girlfriend? Have you decided on that yet?” Ace asked with me still locked in his arms.

“I am definitely not taking that position!” I refused loudly as I pushed hard against his chest in an attempt to free myself.

Ace looked at me with widened eyes in surprise before his expression quickly turned into a sorrowful sulking one.

“Why would you turn me down? I really can’t understand a girl like you,” Ace said with genuine confusion.

He’s the CEO and my boss, of course, I would turn him down. There’s also a ‘no dating’ policy in this company. Plus, I wasn’t in love with him...or anything...

What makes him think that I’ll say yes just like that?

“You’re my boss...” I mumbled to remind both him and myself.

“You’re right about that but I’m absolutely certain that you’ll fall in love with me very soon...if you haven’t already...” Ace said as he stared deeply into my eyes.

Where does this man get his confidence from?

.....

I just sighed in defeat. Not wanting to discuss this topic any further, I decided to change the flow of our conversation by asking him a question that had been on my mind for a while.

“I thought that you already had a secretary...” I said questioningly.

My mind quickly recalled the beautiful blonde woman who I had seen walking around the company very often. The first time that I saw her was when I first joined the company and was waiting for Ace. I found out later that that gorgeous lady in the red dress was actually his secretary. Did she quit already?

“Oh, you mean Claudia? She had to quit recently due to health issues. It really was quite unfortunate. I really enjoyed working with her and we got along very well with each other,” Ace explained with some regret in his voice.

“I see. I hope she gets better soon,” I replied.

So, she quite because of...health issues...

“I hope so too,” Ace replied casually.

Seeing that it wasn’t my place to really ask anymore questions, I decided to drop that topic there.

“I’ve synced your calendar up with mine so you can see my calendar. What is on my calendar is basically what should be on yours as well because you’re supposed to be with me always,” Ace explained professionally.

I took out my phone and saw that he was right. My work calendar had been synced with his and I could see his schedule. Now, let me see his schedule for today...

historical

My eyes widened at the endless list of meetings that seemed to run on well into the night. Is this what the CEO calendar looks like?

Oh my...

“Let’s go. There’s a meeting in that room over there in less than five minutes...” Ace said before he headed straight for our next destination.

...

I spent the day following Ace around like a little puppy at his heels. True to his words from before, wherever he went, I followed. Ace had many back-to-back meetings and all of them were grueling, stressful and demanding. At least, that was clearly the case for the other people who attended the meeting with him. As for Ace, he treated every meeting like a walk in the park with a warm and welcoming breeze. I learnt first-handed how Ace earned the title of the ‘Devil CEO’.

“Why?” Ace asked from where he was seated at the head of the long meeting table.

I sat on a chair to the side as I looked on at Ace before my gaze shifted to the thin middle-aged man who was visibly shaking where he stood in front of the presentation screen. This was the third time that Ace had asked the same question to the man. His question was simple, but it demanded so much.

“The client was unsatisfied with the shooting location, so we had to make some last-minute changes,” the man replied softly.

Ace’s eyes narrowed at the man, and I held my breath because I had a very good guess of what he was about to ask next.

“Why?” Ace asked again with his eyes glued menacingly at the man.

I winced when Ace spoke that word. Now was the third time that he had asked the same question and it seemed like no matter what the answer was, Ace was going to ask that same question over and over again. I felt so lucky that I wasn’t that man right now. No one should have to go something so mentally stressful as this. The atmosphere in the room was stifling and no dared to speak a word or make a sound.

“Perhaps the client changed their mind or...we didn’t present the right options for them to choose from at the start...” the man said admittingly.

There was a pause, and I held my breath while I prayed that this grilling session would come to an end soon before the poor man peed his pants. He was a senior project lead, and it was clear that his project was struggling badly. After shooting the entire commercial, the client rejected the first demo and demanded for an entire revamp by changing the location which meant that everything had to be redone. Changing the location didn’t just mean re-filming the whole thing, it meant tweaking the design, story boards and everything else. It was an unfortunate and a massive and costly mess.

“Why?” Ace asked, his eyes never leaving the man.

I bit my lower lip and winced as if in pain along with the other people seated at the table. We all tried to hide our reactions and silenced our depressing sighs. This time the man seemed to run out answers, either that or he figured out that none of his answers would satisfy Ace. I could understand him completely, if I were in his position...I shivered just at the thought of it and didn’t dare to imagine that scenario any further.

Ace flipped over some papers in the file that was in front of him before dumping it down with hard smack back onto the table. Apparently, he wasn’t pleased with what he had seen on the pages.

–To be continued...