The way his hand was stroking my hair softly made me feel slightly sleepy. It felt like I was ready to doze off to sleep at any moment. It was great that we could enjoy the peace, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that it could last forever. First of all, my leave days were limited, and I couldn’t be on holiday with Ace indefinitely. I also wanted to return to my job because there was still a part of me that wanted to make great progression in my career. All of that meant that sooner or later, we would have to go back to our regular life and face the reality of everything that was waiting for us.
“I wonder how we’re going to deal with the mess when we get back,” I murmured sleepily.
“How do you want to deal with it?” Ace asked as he kept on stroking my hair.
“I don’t know…” I replied honestly.
It wasn’t like I haven’t been thinking about it and considering various options. However, I wasn’t sure how best to handle the situation. It was hard enough for me to ignore all the mean and hurtful things that everyone had to say about me. Being much poorer than Ace didn’t help with my situation at all. Being called a gold digger and someone eager to trade their body just to marry up wasn’t fun at all.
“I have a few ideas,” Ace said before smiling my way.
“Pray tell me,” I replied immediately.
“I suggest that we wait for things to die down a bit and then we announce our relationship with the stamp of approval from my father. There will be another wave of unrest but if my father could chime in that he approves, it might be viewed as good news. Regardless, we’ll make our relationship official and move on from there,” Ace explained.
“We need to announce it when everyone already knows?” I asked as I started to panic.
“Of course. Announcing it makes it more official and it also makes it look like we are very serious about our relationship, which is true anyways. That way, they will gossip less about it, and it will pass faster,” Ace said with evident confidence.
I can still remember all the times that he made announcements about this relationship with Elizabeth. I never thought that there would come a day when I would have to sit next to Ace at the table in front of the press conference as we announce our relationship and answer any questions that members of the press may have for us.
“It sounds so unnatural…” I murmured in complaint.
“Because it isn’t natural. You’ll get used to it. I actually like the idea of making our relationship official,” Ace said with a smile on his face.
“Why is that?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“If we announce it then everyone will know that you’re mine,” Ace replied before grinning at me.
The way he looked at me told me that he was serious although I initially believed that he must be teasing me as always. My heart skipped a dangerous beat when I saw the sincerity in his eyes.
“Stop teasing me…” I muttered as I turned away to hide my embarrassment.
“That aside, putting speculations to rest will help people move on. The more we leave room for them to speculate, the more they can dream up crazy theories that are so far from the truth. It’s better to tell it to them straight and they can either like it or hate it, but in the end, they will get over it and move on,” he explained.
“I see. I hope everyone at work isn’t too shocked and that they can move on too…” I said wistfully.
“Of course, they will. They have a job to do and a livelihood to make. They can’t spend their entire day just thinking about your love life,” Ace said before chuckling.
I hoped that he was right and that I was just overthinking things. Nothing would be better than to have everyone simply move on with their lives so that unnecessary attention would be directed at me.
“Let’s not think about this anymore. We’re supposed to be on holiday and my leave days are definitely precious,” I reminded Ace and myself at the same time.
“You’re right about that. You know, if you quit your job, you can have unlimited leave days and holidays,” Ace said before winking at me.
He probably had no idea how tempting that idea was to me; however, I thought that my career was far from over. Unlike Ace who seemed to have done everything already, I still had so much that I wanted to do, learn, and experience.
“I’m not going to quit my job. You have no idea how hard I worked to get this job in the first place,” I said before pouting at him.
“Actually, I might have a pretty good idea…” Ace replied before he suddenly stood up.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Come. The sea is waiting for us,” Ace said invitingly as he took my hand and pulled me up onto my feet.
I laughed along with him as my entire body felt so light that I thought that I might be able to float a little in the air. Ace took me by the hand, and we ran together toward the sea where the waves were waiting to greet us. It felt like a replay of our date here earlier where he played in the water together like we were children. Ace hugged me before lifting me up while I giggled like a little girl.
“I love you,” he said before he placed his lips on mine.
I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to his kiss before I began kissing him back just as passionately. I hugged him back as his tongue delved into the depth of my mouth and met mine. Kissing Ace felt so heavenly, and I couldn’t wait to enjoy all the private time that we had together. Our kiss quickly deepened as our tongues danced naturally against each other.
--To be continued…
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