Chapter 38

38 Be His Girlfriend

No...he’s...too close...

His arm around my shoulder tightened around me as he pulled my body against his. My eyes widened in shock when I felt the warmth of his breath against my cheek. I didn’t even dare turn my face around to face him, knowing full well how close he was to me right now.

“You see...I’ve broken that golden rule before too...” he whispered directly into my ear.

His lips were so close to my ear that I could almost feel them brushing against my ear lobe. My body froze, I was completely stunned at his words.

Ace broke that rule too?!

I scooted away from him, and his arm willingly let me go. After putting enough space between us on the sofa, I turned to face him with my eyes still widened in shock. The way he said those words did not at all imply that he was engaged or is currently engaged in a proper relationship with simply one employee. Just how many girls has he been fooling around with in this company since he took over as CEO...or even before that?

“I thought letting you know my little dirty secret would make you feel better. They say that you’ll feel better if you know that you’re not the only one going through something, you know...like you feel like you can share the suffering with someone else. Did I get that wrong?” Ace said, clearly intrigued.

I was completely speechless as I stared at Ace’s slightly curious face. Did he honestly think that telling me that would make me feel better about the fact that I broke the rule? Because he broke it too? What kind of logic was that?

“No...please...” I said as I shook my head at him.

.....

I didn’t want him to tell me anymore. I absolutely did not want any more details and I definitely did not need to know who that lucky or unlucky girl or girls was that he was involved with.

“You look even more panicked and upset than before. I guess what they say isn’t true then...” Ace said with a ‘oh that’s too bad’ look on his face.

After recovering from my shock, my thoughts were on the future of my career. Losing my job wasn’t an option that was on my table. I thought of my mother and how devastated she would be if she learnt that I was fired, worse, if she learnt about the true reason behind it. Then there was that sensitive issue of money and providing for my family. I gulped. The solution to this whole problem was clear and I just needed to stomach it and face it straight on: I need to become this man’s personal secretary.

“So, what should I do with that Kyle guy?” Ace asked as he looked at me with a devilish grin on his face.

Oh no...

“Please don’t fire him!” I cried out so loudly that I was shocked by my own actions.

“Why not?” Ace said with an amused grin on his face.

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“Kyle...he’s high dedicated to his job. He works hard and his colleagues love him. He’s very good at what he does...honestly!” I pleaded desperately.

I didn’t realize it until those words had escaped my lips in my desperate attempt to persuade Ace from firing Kyle from his job. I gasped before I bit on my lower lip when I realized that I had automatically defended Kyle even after all the cruel things that he did to me.

“I have to say...you’re one peculiar girl...” Ace said, and I had to agree that he was at least partly right.

“That’s...” I opened my mouth to try to explain but then closed it again when I realized that I didn’t have much to say for myself.

“So, what do you want to do about this guy?” Ace asked curiously.

What I wanted to do? Well, honestly...

“I’m going to ask him to tell me the truth to my face and then I’m going to give him a piece of my mind...” I stated heatedly as my emotions started taking over again.

“And then?” Ace urged with interest.

“...I don’t know. It’s over between us anyways. He broke up with me, you know that. You were there...and...he’s getting married this weekend,” I said before pursing my lips into a thin line.

Somehow, I found myself telling Ace everything so easily as if he was my trusted confidant. Voicing it out loud didn’t hurt me as much as I thought that it would, in fact, it made me feel slightly better.

“Do you still love him?” Ace asked as his eyes stared deeply into mine.

He’s so handsome and his eyes feel like they’re hiding so many mysteries.

“I don’t know...” I admitted truthfully.

I would be lying if I said that I had completely gotten over Kyle, but it wasn’t like I felt the same before I learnt that he had been lying to me all along either.

“Don’t waste another tear on a bastard like him, Karina,” Ace said, and his tone was serious.

“I know that but...” I replied softly...but it wasn’t that easy to do, otherwise, I would have just forgotten about him and all the time that we shared already.

Moving on is something that I had to do and fast.

“I have the perfect proposal for you,” Ace said as his face lit up like a great idea had sudden entered his head.

“...and what would that be?” I asked although I tried to pretend that I wasn’t that curious.

Something told me that he was up to no good and so was his idea...

“Be my girlfriend,” Ace said as his hands grabbed my shoulder and turned my upper body to face him directly.

His hands held my shoulders very firmly and I found myself staring deeply into his eyes as my mouth hung open. Did I hear him right just now?

He just asked me to be his personal secretary and now he’s asking me to be his girlfriend? What is wrong with this man...

“...huh?” was all that I managed to say.

“Why do you look so shocked?” Ace asked before his lips curled up into a very charming smile that showed me his perfect and white teeth.

He’s got a very captivating smile for sure, and his white teeth contrasted so well with his tan skin.

–To be continued...