Ace would quit his job and disappear from the company and my life. I wouldn’t see him anymore and everything would be chaotic for everyone. There would be a sudden change in management and then there’s also that matter to do with the merger.
In reality, the only big change that impacted my life seemed to be my new staffing with Richard and the new team members that I had to work with. The other change was that Ace and I got even busier, and it wasn’t uncommon for the two of us to be spending time late in the office together. I had no idea whether I should count myself as lucky that the changes that I had feared did not come too suddenly or drastically or if I should fear the fact that the inevitable was just being dragged on.
When I tried to think about it realistically, it did make sense that Ace wouldn’t just up and disappear while leaving the company and all his employees behind. Also, it wasn’t completely feasible for such a huge merger to be finalized in a matter of days. I wasn’t sure what steps were involved in such a merger, but I was sure that it wasn’t just about the two chairmen signing some papers.
Another dimension of challenge that I had not anticipated when working with Richard was that it would be hard for me to communicate with Ace. The fact that I was his personal secretary served as a great excuse for me to receive calls from Ace, but I still had to be mindful to keep our conversation professional. Maybe it was Richard’s lack of trust in me that led him to sit himself next to me all the time. It was like he was watching and monitoring the progress of my work. Overall, it made me uncomfortable, but I soon got used to it. What I could never get used to were the times when I got text messages from Ace that had nothing to do with work.
‘I should be free this evening. Dinner?’
I knew that reaching for my phone in a rush would just be suspicious, but it was hard to control my reflexes. Glancing over at Richard showed that he still had his eyes glued to his laptop screen. That didn’t make me feel that much safer. This kind of problem did not exist when I was partnered up with Jeremy on my previous project. I felt more relaxed, and I felt like I had my own personal space. After grabbing my phone, I quickly texted a reply back before placing it facedown back onto the table.
‘Sure. Where do you want to go?’
A few minutes later, I checked my phone to see that Ace had sent me a text reply with the name of the restaurant that he wanted me to meet him later.
“What are you doing?”
I almost jumped out of my seat at the sound of Richard’s voice suddenly asking me a question. Panicked and worried mixed around inside of my head and I ended up hiding my phone away from his sight. Richard gave me a funny look like he had no idea what I was doing.
“Umm…just…you know…finishing up this last slide here for the meeting tomorrow,” I replied while stuttering.
“Are you nearly done? We can have a look at it together. I’m almost done with my part,” he said without any emotion.
“Yes. I’m really almost done. Yes…let’s review it…together…” I replied while sounding very robotic.
Richard gave me another funny look before he returned his attention back to his laptop screen. A dinner date with Ace was definitely something to look forward to and it was with this particular goal in mind that I worked hard to clear my work by the end of the workday.
“I’ll see you tomorrow…” I quickly said as I shoved my things into my handbag.
“Ok,” Richard replied in short.
Our last meeting wrapped up pretty well and now my dinner with Ace was just a ride away. I wanted to make my escape out of the office before someone would invent some work or some reason that would stop me from leaving. I made my way down the elevator to the lobby of the office building without incident. A lot of people were leaving the office as well and the lobby was quite crowded. Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my hand. I felt a little excited when I saw that the call was from Ace.
“Hi…” I said cheerfully when I answered the phone.
“Rina….” Ace said my name and something in his tone of voice told me that something wasn’t quite right.
“I’m about to get a taxi…” I informed him.
“About that, Rina, something came up and I can’t make it to dinner anymore. I’m very sorry,” Ace said, and he sounded kind of rushed.
“Oh, that’s fine. I guess work is still as very busy for you as always,” I said while trying to keep my tone light to hide my extreme disappointment.
“I’m very sorry about this, Rina. I’ll see you back at my place, ok?” he said while sounding very apologetic.
“Sure, good luck!” I said cheerfully.
The line disconnected and I stood on the pavement in front of the office building with an empty feeling deep inside. I had been looking forward to having dinner with Ace and spending the evening with him ever since I got his text. Although I knew that plans could be changed and it wasn’t rare for something to turn up at work, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling very disappointed. I backed away from the pavement when I realized that I no longer needed to call for a taxi.
Where am I supposed to go for dinner now?
…
After that phone call, Ace did not contact me again. I wanted to give him a call but figured that something must be going on at work that demanded his attention. Afraid that I might disturb his work, I just waited for him to get in contact with me instead.
--To be continued…
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