Chapter 125

125 Loving Support

“Are you feeling better?” Ace asked as his brown eyes stared at my face with a worried look.

Is it morning...already?

I didn’t remember much of what happened last night after Ace made wild love to me. After dinner, I invited Ace to spend the night with me and he ended up making love to me as a way to comfort me. A blush crept into my face as I thought of how I had begged him to love me. We also did it raw...

It was great. Much better than I imagined possible.

Although my body felt heavy and well-used and my mind was sleepy, overall, I felt much better than I did yesterday. My troubles were far from over and I knew that the worst was yet to come; however, the world looked a little more colorful than it did yesterday. I probably had Ace to thank for that.

“Yes, thank you...” I thanked him with all my heart.

“I’m sorry that I had to take you off Project Alpha for the time being,” Ace said with clear regret.

“Oh no, you don’t have to be sorry for anything. If anyone has to be sorry, it should be me. After everything is over and done with, please give me the chance to properly apologize to everyone in the CEO’s office,” I said softly before mustering a smile.

“Don’t look so down. You’re still my personal secretary,” Ace said before winking at me.

.....

That’s true...but I wonder how long I can even keep that position. If the disciplinary board deems me as deceitful then I probably won’t have a place in this company anymore, much less as Ace’s secretary.

“Sorry...” I whispered.

“You just keep apologizing. What are you ‘sorry’ for this time?” Ace asked teasingly.

“For...using you...to comfort me...” I mumbled.

“I’ll do that for you anytime...” Ace said followed by a soft laugh.

He wrapped his arms tighter around me before he placed a comforting kiss on my forehead. His gentle and loving gesture brought a smile of my lips and a bit of optimism to my mind.

I had never thought this way before, but at that moment, I was certain that I would be so sad when I finally have to say my final goodbye to him. Even though I knew that that day would come sooner or later between us, I never thought that it would come this soon or quite like this.

...

Despite Ace’s suggestion for me to take a few days off from work to let things cool off, I only took one day off work to get myself together. I knew well what Ace was worried about, but I didn’t feel like running away from it was going to solve my problem or make me feel the slightest bit better about myself. I returned to work with the full expectation that the news and rumors surrounding the information leak and my involvement would have spread all around the office like wildfire.

That was why it came as a surprise to me when everything seemed very normal at the office when I arrived there. Everyone seemed to be progressing with work normally. There were no groups of people gathered together to share gossip. It felt like no one knew about what had just happened yesterday and that felt like a small miracle for me.

The next surprise arrived when I got a simple text from Ace telling me that he would not be in the office for the entire morning. He didn’t say where he was going or when he would come back to the office, but I assumed that it would be early in the afternoon. I sent him a reply asking him where he was, but I never got a reply even after waiting for more than an hour.

Since I was taken off Project Alpha and Ace wasn’t in the office, I didn’t have much to do with my time. I didn’t have access to the CEO’s office where I used to work anymore, and I didn’t feel like I would be welcomed there. As a result, I ended up grabbing a drink from the vending machine in the break area before I found myself in Ace’s napping area. He might actually punish me again if he found out that I came up here. At least, I wasn’t disturbing his nap since I knew that he wasn’t even in this building.

I wondered where he went off to as I tipped the can back and gulped down some sweet and fruity-tasting soda drink. The sugar made me feel better and I closed my eyes before letting out a sigh. Ace had some meetings scheduled for this morning, but he decided to skip out on all of those and went off somewhere instead.

Where on earth did he go off to?

The view from the top of the building was truly breathtaking. Even in the state of mind that I was in, I could still appreciate the beauty of the city’s skyline. Perhaps, my depression wasn’t as bad as I thought that it was. I took another sip of the drink from the can.

I hoped that the disciplinary board would schedule a meeting with me soon. There probably won’t be any good news there, but at least, it would give me some clarity about my future. Regardless, I was prepared for the worst.

Now, how should I tell my mother that I lost the dream job that I had so desperately been chasing after for all these years?

She would probably be disappointed in me. I’m sorry, mum...

Normally, I would have cried but no tears came to my eyes. I just felt a little numb inside and that was all.

Karina, at least you’re growing up a little...

The sound of my phone vibrating snapped me out of my thoughts, and I answered the call without checking the caller ID. Something told me that it was Ace and that I wasn’t wrong.

'

“Where are you?” Ace asked immediately once the line connected.

–To be continued...