“If that’s what you want,” he replied like it was all up to me.
The ride to his place was silent and extremely awkward. The atmosphere felt cold and full of tension. The endless list of questions that I wanted to ask Ace ran round and round in my head nonstop; however, I didn’t know where to start. Most of the questions about his decision to step down from his position were pretty much asked already by his father. I wondered if he would give me different answers than the ones that he had already given his father.
“We’re finally back home…” Ace said while sounding tired and bored.
I wished that he would volunteer me with some answers and information but that didn’t seem to be the case. If anything, Ace looked sleepy and ready for bed. It must have been a long day for him; however, he was about to find out that the day was far from over for him yet as far as I was concerned. The driver drove away after dropping us off in front of Ace’s building.
“Come along,” Ace told me casually as he waved for me to follow him into the building.
Pain shot through my lower lip, and I realized that I had been chewing harder and harder on it in my frustration. I had been silent all this time while I collected my thoughts and prepared my words for when we were alone in his place. The elevator opened and the familiar view of his living room greeted me. Although it was the same room as before and I had spent countless nights here with him, the room felt stuffier and much darker than ever before.
“You can take a shower first,” Ace said.
That was pretty much needless because there were more than two bathrooms in his gigantic penthouse suite; however, I wasn’t in the mood to point out the obvious to him. I knew by now that he was trying his best to avoid having that difficult conversation with him.
“Ace…” I called his name as he headed toward his bedroom.
“What is it?” he asked without turning to face my way.
“I need to talk to you,” I said while trying my best to keep my voice from shaking.
“Right now? Can this wait until later?” he asked with his back to me.
I hated how he wouldn’t talk to me about everything and how he wouldn’t look into my face. What exactly is he hiding from me?
“Ace…” I called his name.
“Rina, it’s late…” he said with a warning tone in his voice.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t scared of him at all; however, my desperate need to know what was really going on far overwhelmed my fear.
“Yes, we have to talk right now,” I stated without backing down.
I heard Ace heave a loud and long sigh like dealing with me was the last thing that he wanted to do in his life. Under other circumstances, I probably would have backed down and let him have his way; however, not today and not right now…
“Ace, tell me what is going on. Please, I am so confused right now. Why did you do that? Why did you suddenly announce that you would step down from your position as CEO? What does that even mean?” I asked without the ability to hold back my questions.
Now that I had started asking him about it, all my questions started pouring out of my mouth in waves that didn’t seem to cease. I was just so frustrated, confused, and scared of everything that I knew and everything that I didn’t know.
“I’m tired. Let’s just shower and go to bed, Rina…” he grumbled lowly.
“Wait!” I called out much louder than I had intended.
My body moved on its own and the next thing I realized; I already had my arms around Ace as I pressed my face into his back. I could feel Ace’s body stiffen in my embrace. It was a strange feeling to hold him like this. It didn’t feel like I was hugging him at all. Instead, it felt like I was desperately clinging to him so that he wouldn’t leave me behind.
“I’m sorry, but…we have to talk right now…” I said firmly.
There’s got to be a good reason for all of this.
At least, that was what I wanted to believe. It was extremely difficult, but I wanted to continue having faith in Ace. He must have his reasons for doing all of this.
Ace heaved another sigh and this time he seemed to have resigned himself to talking to me just like I had requested. I felt his hands on my arms before he slowly disentangled himself from my embrace and turned around to face me. I stared up into his hazel eyes pleadingly for him to tell me the truth.
“Ace…” I whispered his name as some hope sprung up in my chest.
Ace had one of the most conflicted looks that I had ever seen on his face, and I couldn’t imagine just what internal battle was raging on in his head.
“I don’t know what happened, but can we please talk it out? If you’ll tell me, then I’ll be willing to listen to anything…” I murmured softly as I continued staring up into his eyes.
His eyes were cold and emotionless as if his soul was sealed away somewhere so far from me that I couldn’t reach. I knew that I was pushing him to do something that he absolutely hated but I wasn’t willing to give up on my goal after coming this far.
“Let’s sit down and talk, Ace…” I said firmly.
He didn’t respond to me even when I reached my hands out to grasp his hand in between my own. Regardless of his lack of response, he didn’t resist when I led him after me to the large sofa in the living room. The room felt much colder than before and although we were sitting next to each other on the sofa, it felt like Ace was miles away from me.
--To be continued…
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