On top of the rumors that were already going around, Ace had to go and do something like that right in front of everyone at the company. I wondered if any of my colleagues whom I was close with had seen that but then I couldn’t bear to think about it anymore. My head throbbed and I still found it hard to believe that Ace would do something so outstandingly ridiculous.
“Right time for what? For you to show up with a little too many red roses?” I asked sarcastically.
“Now is the right time to tell the world about our relationship. Let’s just come out and let everyone know that we’re dating,” Ace replied like it was the most obvious thing that we should do.
“Are…Are you sure?” I asked as my heart thudded hard in my chest.
“Of course. What are we waiting for? Do you have any objections?” he asked as he turned to face me.
I could see his hazel brown eyes sparkling and I could tell that he was excited. My heart was racing hard, but it wasn’t just from the excitement. I felt nervous, anxious, scared, but also extremely excited. Maybe Ace was right that this was the right time to come clean about our relationship and tell everyone about it. The duration of our secret relationship was coming to an end. I’d been waiting for this moment to arrive for a long time now and we’ve been through many things to meet the condition that Ace’s father had set. I thought that it might be fine for us to reveal our secret now.
“You should have asked me this before going ahead and doing something like that,” I mumbled as I tried my best not to smile.
“I thought that you might hesitate, so I decided to make the decision for us,” Ace replied before grinning at me.
I could tell that his mind was really made up this time around and that there was nothing that could stop him. Even if I wanted to turn things around, I doubted that that was even an option anymore at that point after what he had done and what everyone had seen already. Everyone would probably think that this is the start of our scandalous relationship with no one knowing that we’ve been together for quite some time. As far as I was aware, only the chairman, Elizabeth, Kyle, my mother, and Jeremy knew about us.
“Aha…” I murmured.
“Any more complaints?” he asked before smiling brightly at me.
“Well, not really…” I admitted softly.
“Don’t start worrying about everything, Rina. You’ll age fast if you keep worrying about everything,” Ace warned jokingly.
The car came to a stop at a red light and Ace used that opportunity to run to face me before his hand approached my forehead. My body stiffened a little when his fingertips stroked the soft skin between my brow to smooth out the frown that I had on my face.
“Stop frowning. I want to see you smiling more and just being happy about everything,” Ace instructed.
“I’ll try…” I replied before smiling a little at him.
…
“This place is still as pretty as I remember it if not prettier,” I said as I gazed out at the view of the sea.
The breeze blowing my hair back from my shoulders felt pleasant and comforting against my skin. I could smell the sea with its unique slightly salty smell. The weather was perfect for a day out on the beach. The sand beneath my butt where I was sitting felt welcoming. Ace’s slight laughter as he wrapped an arm loosely around my shoulder before pulling me closer to his side felt heavenly.
“It’s good to be back. I wish that we could have done this sooner,” Ace said as he placed his large hand on my head and began patting my hair slowly and gently.
The sound of the waves felt so calming but at times it reminded me of the chaos that was going on in our lives at that moment. Just as we had both anticipated, the public went crazy about the sudden reveal of our relationship. Photos of Ace turning up at the office to offer me a very eye-catching bouquet of roses went viral and racked up endless comments and attention. Although he advised me to stop paying the news and gossip any attention, my nerve wasn’t made of steel like his was.
I was undeniably curious although I was slightly scared at the same time. My curiosity had no problem winning the battle raging in my mind and I ended up reading through a couple and then a bunch of online articles and even more comments that people posted about us. Reading through them just confirmed my fears from before. Although it felt very unfair, I knew that there wasn’t much that I could do to convince people that I wasn’t in the wrong.
Putting it simply, a lot of hate and blame was directed at me while Ace’s sentence seemed much lighter. I could understand why they thought the things that they did. Ace had just broken up with Elizabeth and their dream of getting the perfect couple that they had always dreamt of was destroyed for the second time. Not long after, they found out that Ace was suddenly in a relationship with the woman who used to work as his personal secretary. No matter how an outside would look at it, it just looks like an illicit affair had destroyed a great relationship.
“I’m glad that we’re back here no matter the reason,” I replied softly before taking a deep breath to calm my nerves.
I never thought that escaping from the pestering attention from the public would give us the perfect reason and excuse to return to this private holiday destination. Regardless of the reason, I felt thankful that I got to spend a perfect holiday getaway with Ace by my side. It had been too long since we were able to enjoy each other’s company peacefully like this.
“Let’s rest and just forget everything,” Ace advised.
--To be continued…
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