Chapter 209

209 Perfect New Start

“Hopefully it was a good learning experience. I would feel bad if I sent you out here for nothing,” Ace replied with a sigh.

“It was a good experience. Filming people is hard enough on its own but today we have a dog and a puppy as well. It really did add to the challenge even though they were both so cute and well-behaved,” I said with a smile.

“Exactly. This director is very experienced, and I’ve worked with him many times before. I thought you could learn a thing or two from him while watching him work,” Ace said excitedly.

“Right. It was interesting to watch him work. He’s very committed and even I can tell that much,” I replied.

The truth was far from it. I was probably too worried about everything to pay enough attention to the work at hand or learn from the director as Ace had planned. If I could turn back time, I would make sure to pay more attention to the director and every little thing that he was doing. However, I knew better than anyone that I couldn’t turn back time. Regret and guilt filled my chest and made it feel uncomfortably tight again.

“The food here is quite good...” Ace said with mild surprise.

“Yeah...everything feels very fresh...” I agreed vaguely.

I tried to pick at my food although I truly had no appetite. My eyes wouldn’t stop stealing glances at Ace as he ate his food. Overall, the atmosphere was peaceful, and I bet that no one could tell that I felt very troubled inside. I kept telling myself that Ace had done nothing wrong; however, it wasn’t so easy for me to trust him completely.

The worst part was that I knew that this was more my fault than his. Because of my past relationship with Kyle that ended in disaster, I had somehow become a very untrusting person. Placing complete trust in someone especially my partner became something that was very challenging for me to do. It wasn’t that I was completely paranoid, but I couldn’t stop my mind and heart from shying away from the risk of getting hurt again. Partly, I knew that I was making Ace pay for a mistake that he didn’t commit, and it was all just a result of the failure in my past. Even so, I couldn’t control what I was feeling.

The source of this content is nov/el/bin[./]net'

.....

Dinner passed by without incident while Ace made small talk and I drifted along with his conversation. It was now time for us to head back. Thankfully, our weekend trip was coming up. It was the perfect opportunity for us to mend our relationship and I also saw it as a great opportunity to make it up to him for all the misunderstandings that I had about him. I shouldn’t have listened to Kyle and all of his nonsense. When we made our way out of the restaurant to return to Ace’s car, I made a silent vow to myself that I wouldn’t listen to Kyle anymore.

I had to believe in Ace and that was final.

...

The weekend finally arrived and that marked the start of our weekend trip together. Just like I had volunteered, I was the one who prepared and booked everything for us. It was a challenging task that made me realize that I still didn’t know enough about Ace. When choosing the destination of our trip, I had no clue what would capture his fancy. The only thing I knew was that we had to go to a place that was a little secretive and out of the way so that we would have some private time together without being spotted. Apart from that, I had nothing to work off of.

Ace was busy and since I wanted it to be somewhat of a surprise, I couldn’t quite come out and ask him. In the end, I chose a private resort on a private beach. It was quite expensive, and I would normally not book a place like this. The private beach looked very attractive in the photos and the sand seemed so fine. My mind could already envision spending time alone with Ace just lazing around and sunbathing on the beach. We could also chill and take a dip in the sea and enjoy some grilled seafood. Overall, it just sounded like the perfect relaxing weekend getaway.

I thought that being away from everything, would give us the opportunity to reconnect and that would somehow strengthen our relationship. On top of that, I needed a breather from work as well.

“So, where are we going?” Ace asked the morning of our trip.

“This place...” I replied cheerfully.

I provided Ace with the details of the place as I also handed him an attractive brochure of the place. Ace gave an approving nod that relieved me of all my worries. At least, he seemed fine with the destination that I had picked out. The place was a few hours’ drive from where we were but since we got up early, that shouldn’t be a problem at all. I was busy with work but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t excited about the trip. I also managed to find time to order some stuff online that I thought would make the trip more enjoyable such as a few new sets of bikinis.

“A private beach sounds nice. I just want to lie down on the sand next to the water...” Ace said dreamily.

“We have the exact same thing in mind...” I said before flashing him a smile.

The trip hasn’t even started but I was already convinced that we were off to a great start. This trip is going to be so awesome!

After checking that we had everything that we needed for the trip, we were on our way. The weather was sunny and perfect for a trip. The sky above us was blue with puffy white clouds. Ace seemed to be in a great mood, and I truly believed that nothing could ever go wrong on this perfect weekend getaway of ours.

–To be continued...