Chapter 420 All I Could Do for Him
Slowly, I sat up while my body felt heavy and slightly sluggish.
“As in stay the night here?” I asked to make sure that I correctly understood what he meant.
“Yeah, it would solve a lot of problems. We could buy a bed and just put it here,” Ace replied excitedly.
His suggestion made me laugh and the way that Ace seemed so serious about it made me laugh even louder than before. Ace gestured to the empty space where a bed would fit if we decided to go along with his plan.
“I guess no one would question you if you turned one of the meeting rooms into a nap room of sorts…” I said to entertain his idea a little.
“Isn’t that, right? They all know how hard I work late into the night and all that…” Ace said before smiling brightly my way.
I guessed he might be right about that in the very short run. We wouldn’t be caught together going to or leaving his place or mine; however, people in the office would find out about us sooner or later. Ace probably didn’t understand well enough how fast our colleagues picked up on gossip, especially those related to him. Despite that thought, I couldn’t quite resist his proposal. The way he seemed so excited and convinced that it was a genius idea tugged at my heart strings and I could feel myself going all soft.
“I guess we can add a single bed in one of the meeting rooms, but I still think that we shouldn’t spend the night together here,” I said while trying to sound serious and stern.
Adding a king-sized or a double bed might be a little suspicious, but a single bed should be fine. That was what I told myself to ensure that I was still reasonable to a certain degree.
“A single bed sounds good. We can cuddle closer…” Ace readily agreed before grinning at me.
…
**A few days later**
“Yes, please get it delivered and assembled as soon as possible. Thank you very much for your help. Yes…even if I’m not here in person another secretary can help lead the way. Thank you…” I spoke through the phone before hanging up.
The pace of my life was changing again, and I was quite sure that it wasn’t for the better. I stared at the phone in my hand before a depressing chuckle left my lips. Ever since that night that we spent together in his office, it had been increasingly harder for me to see Ace. The main reason was because he was busy with working outside, more precisely, at Chase Creatives headquarters.
According to him, it was necessary for him to work closely with Elizabeth to prepare materials for the merger presentation. The meeting with Chase Creatives board of directors was coming up and they didn’t have much time to spare. I wanted to volunteer to go along with him in case I would be of help but then realized that I just wanted to do that out of my personal desire to be close to Ace. I also had to admit that I felt uncomfortable leaving him to spend time with Elizabeth even though I knew that it wasn’t like they would be working all alone together in a room.
After reminding myself that I had to stay professional and try my best to separate my personal relationship from work, I just smiled and wished Ace good luck. The text message confirming the date and time of the delivery of the new bed that I had ordered for Ace acted as a harsh reminder that this was all that I could do for him. As promised, I had ordered him a bed that could be put inside one of the meeting rooms on his personal floor.
leaps and bounds.
“Should we go for lunch?” I invited Richard with a hopeful smile.
That was it…
“Back to work, Rina. Back to work…” I spoke to myself like a mad person.
Although there wasn’t anything that I could do for Ace to support him regarding the merger, there were many things that I could accomplish by working on the project that he had assigned to me with Richard. Before I would think of any more ominous thoughts, I left Ace’s office to head to my team room. With Ace gone from the office, my role as his personal secretary died down as well. There were no meetings for me to schedule and nothing for me to prepare for him. That meant that I spent my working day working just like any regular employee on the project that I had been assigned.
Looking at it in a good light, it was an opportunity for me to focus on my work and professional growth and development. It felt strange for a bit, but I soon got accustomed to focusing on my work and even working alongside Richard. Turning over this new leaf and earning some recognition from Richard felt like I had improved leaps and bounds.
“Should we go for lunch?” I invited Richard with a hopeful smile.
The look he gave me made me feel like I had just made an out of place marriage proposal although I was just inviting him for a simple lunch because we managed to wrap up our work early.
“I guess that’s a no…” I muttered without much regret. ????????????????????????????????.????????????
At least, I tried…
I raised my hand above and head and stretched while twisting my body to the side on my seat before grabbing my phone and shoving it into my handbag. It seemed like I needed to have lunch alone again today. At least, that was what I thought when I arrived at the door in front of the project room.
“Karina…”
I heard Richard’s voice and was surprised to see him standing close behind me. For some reason, he had a conflicted look of hesitation on his face as he stared down into my face. Just when I was about to ask him what he wanted, he began speaking again.
“Let’s go for lunch,” he said simply.
--To be continued…
