484 Wheels of Fate
"Of course," Ace replied with a laugh.
Ace's laugh didn't quite help to lighten the mood as my mind still struggled to process this sudden turn of events. I was surprised but it also felt like we had a special connection ever since back then.
"I see. So that commercial was something that you made for the Ashford competition back then. I really liked it just like I told you before so I'm glad that you managed to get your way with the commercial," I said before I found myself smiling.
"It honestly makes me feel good to hear you say that, but I have to say that you've got some peculiar taste," Ace said almost teasingly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, you're probably one of the very few people that I know that actually liked that commercial," Ace admitted.
"People...did not like it?" I asked softly because I found it hard to believe.
"Yup. That commercial was a major flop. It wasn't well received at all by the public and even the Ashford committee members had a hard time connecting to it," Ace said before grinning wryly.
"Oh..." I murmured without knowing what else to say.
"Do you remember what I said to you when you told me about the commercial during your interview?" he asked.
"Umm...you said some pretty harsh things about it. I think you said something like...what's the point of the commercial if people can't even tell what it's supposed to sell..." I replied as I recalled the harsh response that Ace had to one of my responses during my job interview.
My eyes widened when I felt like I had finally connected the dots and understood what he was trying to get at.
"Now do you get it? The commercial might have been touching and inspiring to you, but it sucked at getting across the main messages that it was supposed to help sell," Ace said with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.
"I see..." I murmured.
I didn't even want to imagine the harsh reality that Ace must have gone through when the commercial was launched. After going through so much trouble to get his way because he truly believed that it was the best way, he had to deal with the failure of the commercial. Nothing turned out the way that he wished and expected that it would. I bit down on my lower lip when I realized that Ace must have been blamed by everyone in his team or even in the company for how things turned out.
"It was a mess, I assure you. It was a mess all around when the commercial's performance data started coming in. The entire team was disappointed and frustrated. My father was outright mad because he had invested precious money. Everyone in the company was shocked," Ace said quite emotionlessly.
He must have lived through that nightmare on repeat for a while already, so I was glad that he seemed to have gotten over it to a certain degree even if not completely.
"I'm so sorry..." I whispered as I felt like my heart was about to break for him.
"It's not your fault, Rina. It was my fault for being cocky and overly confident in my ideas. The world doesn't turn the way that we want and sometimes there's just nothing that we can do about it. I was still new in the industry, and I have to admit that that was a big blow to my ego at the time. I don't regret what I'd done but I made sure to learn from it," Ace explained.
"It must have been so hard on you. I can't even imagine...going through something like that," I murmured sadly.
"Honestly, I wanted to quit. I doubted myself and what I was doing. What I thought was great was greatly criticized instead. It was overall a very difficult time; however, it also made me realize what I wanted to do," Ace said before he smiled.
"Is that why you decided to leave the company to start your own businesses?" I asked after figuring out that that may have been the reason behind Ace's sudden withdrawal from his father's company.
"Correct. Actually, something made me realize that I might have been right even though it felt like the world was against me,” he said before coming to a pause.
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"One day while I was sitting here with my very stressed out colleagues, one of the team members alerted that someone had sent an email to our central project email to praise the commercial," Ace said before grinning at me.
I blinked a couple of times in disbelief. It was so long ago and that minor action that I had undertaken at the time had totally slipped my mind. Now that I thought back on it, I supposed I did send an email like that. From the way Ace was looking at me, I could tell that he was probably referring to the email that I had sent. It was so long ago that I no longer remembered exactly what I had written. Of course, I never truly thought that someone would actually read the email that I had sent, let alone for that person to be Ace of all people.
Why else would he be telling me this?
"Don't tell me that you don't remember. After all, you did sign your name at the end of the email," Ace said as he stared at me intently.
"I guess I sort of remember..." I murmured while feeling slightly embarrassed.
I honestly never thought that Ace would end up reading the email that I sent. My mind was suffering and lagging a little from the sudden information overload. It was hard for me to piece everything together.
"How long have you known?" I asked.
Many things that I thought were mere coincidences came flooding back to me. That time that I met Ace at the park next to the office where he gave me loads of cash before suddenly stealing a kiss from me in return. How I met him later during my job interview. All the things that he said to me after I mentioned the commercial that inspired me and changed my life.
--To be continued...
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