Ace must have gotten what he wanted because he pulled my hand into his and gave it a squeeze. That was the signal that we should both leave. Although I had a pretty good understanding of what had just happened, I still felt lost, and it was hard for me to digest everything. Figuring out how I felt about what I had just witnessed and heard was the biggest challenge for me and I doubted that I could get my feelings in order right away.

"We’re leaving," Ace announced as he stood up from his seat while pulling me up to my feet along with him.

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As far as Ace was concerned the discussion was over. Even though his father had not outright agreed to Ace’s proposal, it was clear that actions would be put in place to implement Ace’s plan. Elizabeth also stood up as if she wanted to leave along with us.

"I should be leaving too. I think we’ve pretty much updated you on everything today. Thank you for listening to our selfish request," Elizabeth said to the chairman.

"I will talk to your father," the chairman replied sternly.

"Thank you. I’ll make sure that my father is up to speed for the discussion with you as well. After all, nothing is allowed to go wrong. Isn’t that right, Ace?" Elizabeth said before she smiled.

"We’ll be heading back now," Ace said before tugging on my hand and leading me to the door.

I turned back to see Elizabeth smiling as she followed us while the chairman had a concerned look on his face. It felt like the three of us had returned to a completely different world when the door closed behind us. I wasn’t sure which world I would have preferred to be the real world but that probably didn’t matter because the world beyond the door and where we were standing were one and the same.

"It’s very late, you should go home," Ace told Elizabeth dismissively.

"Don’t you owe me a big ’thank you’?" she asked before teasingly crossing her arms under her chest.

"If you manage to keep your end of the bargain, you’ll be the new CEO soon…" Ace said without offering her his thanks.

"You know that that isn’t what I’m talking about…" she mumbled before rolling her eyes with evident disappointment.

Ace’s mind seemed far away, and he clearly did not have the effort or the intention to entertain Elizabeth right at that moment. She must have sensed this as well because she turned her attention to me instead. With all that had transpired, I was still confused, and I naturally had countless questions that I wanted to ask Ace in private. My eyes met hers and I wondered when this woman would disappear and leave us alone.

"What is it?" I asked after bearing her stare for a moment.

"You should talk things out with Ace properly. He doesn’t like to talk much so it might be hard for you. Well, good luck and keep up the good work," she advised before she laughed a little to herself.

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I didn’t think that I needed or wanted her advice. Elizabeth turned and began walking away from us while I held my tongue. Talking to her would just lengthen our conversation and that would delay the talk that I needed to have with Ace. I didn’t need Elizabeth to tell me that my conversation with Ace was going to be a difficult one. Talking to him was one thing and getting him to talk was yet quite another challenge. I let out a long sigh before I could stop myself.

"Let’s go," Ace repeated once again.

"Yeah…" I agreed softly.

The walk back to his car went by in complete silence. The mansion looked as gloomy as it did when we arrived there, and I felt quite elated to leave the place. The atmosphere had been nothing but suffocating and filled with tension and that made me thankful when we finally stepped foot out of the mansion and into the open. The air outside felt refreshing, and I found myself breathing in deeply before letting out a long silent sigh.

That refreshing feeling did not last very long because when we got into Ace’s car, the atmosphere was more than slightly strained. Although we did not have an argument, I found it hard to start a conversation with Ace now that we were finally alone together and that was probably because there were just so many things that I needed to talk to him about that I truly did not know where to start.

What should I start talking or asking him about first? Should I start by double and then triple checking that I understood everything that was going on correctly?

It was very late at night and there wasn’t another car in sight on the suburban road that we were on. The night felt lonely and very empty, which was a stark contrast to the mess that filled and twisted my mind as I desperately tried to come up with the right words to strike up a conversation with Ace. I never thought that I would be this nervous when the time came for me to finally talk to him. Although I had wished for the arrival of this moment, I quickly found out that I was far from prepared to talk to Ace.

"Are you angry?" Ace spoke up with his eyes still on the road.

His words took me by surprise, and I figured that he must have misunderstood my silence for anger. I had been too lost in my own thoughts to even pause to consider how exactly I was feeling. However, anger probably wasn’t what I was feeling.

"I…I’m not angry…I guess…" I replied softly.

"Does that mean that you’re angry?" he asked before his eyes shifted to rest on my face briefly.

"No, I…sorry, I’m just very confused right now…" I confessed directly before letting out a sigh.

"I see. Then, maybe we should talk about this later when you’re ready," Ace suggested without pushing me any further.

--To be continued…

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