I wasn’t sure if I wanted a response from Ace or if I was just pondering that question. Kyle wasn’t poor because poor was what I was for the vast majority of my life. He just isn’t as rich as Elizabeth and the Chase family.
“It’s wrong if you want to marry Chairman Chase’s only daughter. Otherwise, there’s probably nothing wrong with it,” Ace replied without even spending time to think about it.
“I guess…” I murmured softly.
I stuffed some salad into my mouth and began munching on the green vegetables although I couldn’t taste much at that point. My mind was too consumed with my own thoughts as I let time slip pass us by in silence. If not being rich was wrong for someone marrying into the Chase family, I wondered if it was also wrong for the Hills’ family as well.
“What will happen to the merger?” I asked in a small voice.
That was the closest question that I could think of to the question that I truly wanted to ask. I wanted to ask Ace what was going to happen to us but then realized that his father’s acceptance of our relationship depended on the outcome of the merger.
“It will happen,” Ace replied before showing me a confident smile.
“Why are you so sure?” I asked before I could stop myself.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want to believe in him or the things that he was telling me, but I just couldn’t help but worry. I wasn’t foolishly optimistic enough to believe that everything about the merger would progress and pass smoothly. However, the event that seemed to explode last night was a blow much more devastating than I could have ever imagined or account for. Even Ace was surprised about this unfortunate and sudden turn of events.
“Because it has to. The merger has to go through,” he replied, and his words sounded absolutely.
The determination in his eyes when he looked at me stunned me into silence. I didn’t dare say anything anymore about the merger. It felt like I could be punished by him if I still doubted that it would happen. I let out a soft sigh when I realized that Ace was probably right. All I could do was believe in him and the merger because there was no other choice.
“We could always elope…” I murmured while wondering if it might actually come to that eventually.
“That doesn’t sound so bad…” Ace replied.
I found myself smiling when he smiled at me with a teasing look in his eyes. If everything went south, we could just pack out bags and run away. In that moment, having this little plan at the back of my mind gave me so much comfort because it was so much better than not getting to see Ace again.
…
**A few days later**
“Karina…Karina…”
“Oh…yes?” I murmured as I blinked rapidly.
The sound of Richard calling my name snapped me out of my jumbled up thoughts. The look that he shot me told me that he had been calling my name for a while now and I must have looked so spaced out to him. Richard took in a deep breathing before letting out a very loud sigh as he shook his head from side to side with a look of disappointment on his face. I hadn’t been zoned out for no good reason, but I couldn’t tell Richard what was really going on.
Ace hadn’t updated me about anything related to the merger and the stillness of the situation made me worry even more than before. As a result of that, it became quite difficult for me to concentrate at work. My mind would drift off here and there just to settle on the conversation that we had with Elizabeth that night when she visited.
“You should focus on work. I don’t need to tell you this because you should know this already, right?” he said sternly.
I wished that I could tell him that I had very important things on my mind too that concerned the future of the company. If only I could tell him that, he might just understand me a little more.
“I’m very sorry…” I apologized because there was no way that I could tell him anything about the merger.
“Are you sleepy? You’ve been zoned out and staring out into space for a while now. If you’re sleepy, go wash your face,” he suggested curtly.
“I’m sorry. I’ll go wash my face…and buy coffee…” I mumbled as I stood up from my seat.
I could feel his eyes staring at me disapprovingly as I made my way out of the room. The truth was, I was far from sleepy, but I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to get away from Richard for a short while.
If only he knew what was going on and what I was going through….
The rest area in the office was surprisingly empty when I got there after washing my face and touching up my makeup slightly in the toilet. A peaceful moment alone was all that I needed, and I started feeling strangely thankful to Edward for chasing me out to refresh myself. Although I knew that thinking about the merger wasn’t going to solve any problems and that things were pretty much out of my hands, I still couldn’t keep my mind off of it. I wondered how Ace was doing and if any progress had been made with Chairman Chase since that night that Elizabeth stayed over with us.
After thinking about that, my thoughts naturally wandered to think about Elizabeth’s marriage. Her situation was indeed very tricky and sticky, and I wondered how she was handling that. If she couldn’t get her father to accept their marriage and back off, then she would have to come to a decision sooner or later. I sighed loudly when I thought of how unfair it was that she had to pick between her love life and her career.
Then again, it wasn’t like everyone could simply have their way and have it all. Unfortunately, life wasn’t that easy.
--To be continued…
