Ace wasn't supposed to be dumb, so I had no idea why he thought that it would be fine to let Elizabeth join use for dinner.
"It's just too bad that you have to find out along with everyone else," Elizabeth said before grinning at me.
Her attempt to show her fake care and concern for me made me feel sick inside. Thinking back on how we first met and all the things that had happened between me and her directly and indirectly, I couldn't see how she could hate me as much as she did. I felt like I was always the one on the receiving end of all the shitty things that had happened. Perhaps she hated me because Kyle chose to cheat on her with me. That was the only thing that I could think of; however, that felt like it happened a long time ago. So long that it didn't even feel like something that happened in this lifetime. I had long moved on from that, and since I've started dating Ace, not once did I think of Kyle and the relationship that we shared. He was just history and nothing more.
"Well, if an NDA is signed that I guess we all have to play by the rules. I completely understand that this is how things are supposed to be. I would rather find out at the same time as everyone else than to have Ace violate some terms in the NDA," I replied as I tried to appear as unaffected by her taunting words.
"You're absolutely right about that. Sometimes there's no point in knowing something in advance if there's nothing that you can do to change it. I always tell you not to worry, right? Everything will work out," Ace said calmly.
"I really hope that it does. I'm also glad that you're understanding of Ace's…umm…situation," Elizabeth said before flashing me a smile that I couldn't tell whether or not was genuine.
"It's honestly not easy but I would like to say that I'm trying my best," I replied.
"How is your father?" Ace asked Elizabeth.
"You should come visit him. He asks to see you almost every time that he sees my face. Honestly, it's getting on my nerves. It's like he wants to see you more than he wants to see his own daughter," Elizabeth replied before rolling her eyes.
I let out soft sigh when I felt the conversation being steered away from me. Although I had no idea if Ace did that intentionally to help me out or not, I was thankful for the outcome. I was starting to understand now why Kyle had chosen to stay so focused on the food on his plate. Maybe he had figured out earlier on that that was the best way for him to stay out of trouble. Despite how well that seemed to be working out for him, I didn't want to proceed along the same path because I didn't want to become invisible to Ace.
"Is that so? I'm just afraid of all the questions that he'll ask me if we meet in person," Ace replied with a chuckle.
"He'd always seen you as his own son. He probably still feels that way…" Elizabeth murmured.
"He doesn't call me as often as he used to. Don't worry, I think you're doing great," Ace said before he smiled confidently.
I listened intently to the conversation between Ace and Elizabeth as I tried my desperate best to piece the entire picture of what was going on together. Sometimes, it conveniently slipped my mind that these two used to be engaged before. It only made sense that Elizabeth's father was fond of Ace. Then again, I couldn't imagine anyone who wouldn't be fond of Ace. My opinion was probably very biased but that was what I honestly thought. If I had to guess, Elizabeth's father must have been sorely disappointed when they decided to call their engagement off.
At first, I thought that it must have been because cancelling the engagement robbed him of the chance to merge the companies together. Everything seemed to be all about business between these two, or so I had thought. However, what I was hearing was starting to change my mind. There seemed to be something a lot more personal in the relationship that Ace shared with Elizabeth and also her father. Ace never really talked to me about it, and I never asked him about it.
"If he could choose, he'd probably choose to have you as his son rather than having me…" she said sadly.
Out of all the things that Elizabeth had said during dinner that night, I felt like that statement was probably her most honest one. I knew from my own life that everyone's life must be complex in each and their very own way. It seemed that even Elizabeth had some complexes of her own. Despite that realization, my heart did not at all sympathize with her and I did not blame myself.
"Don't say that even if it might be true," Ace said with a wicked grin.
Elizabeth didn't seem to have a good comeback so all she did was glare across the table at Ace. I wondered if I would get some more answers if I asked some more questions.
"I never knew that you are close to Elizabeth's father," I said to Ace.
"They're not just close. They're like father and son…" Elizabeth answered even before Ace could.
"Let's just say that there was a time when we were really close," Ace replied.
It came to my surprise that Elizabeth was the one who seemed more open to talk about it rather than Ace. In fact, she didn't hesitate to provide quite a lot of details. It must have been something that even Kyle didn't know about because he seemed interested all of a sudden as well.
"You know about that time when Ace basically ran away from home, right?" Elizabeth asked with an excited gleam in her eyes.
"He ran away from home?" I exclaimed in surprise.
pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 "I didn't run away from home…" Ace quickly corrected.
--To be continued…
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