I appreciated his concern and how he seemed to be composed and calm as always; however, that wasn’t something that I wanted. Putting this off would just kill me off slowly.

“No, I think that we should talk right now,” I said before I would lose my resolve. _{Please visit f𝘳𝐞𝒆wｅ𝚋𝗻𝚘𝚟e𝑙. c𝘰𝓂}

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“I should stop the car…” Ace said with a nod of his head.

“Yeah…” I agreed softly.

A moment later, Ace found a spot on the side of the road where he could stop the car. The fact that no one else seemed to be out during that time of night helped us a lot. It felt like we had the world to ourselves even if it would be just for a short while.

“It’s late but I don’t really want to spend the night in that place,” Ace said as if he wanted to explain to me why we didn’t just sleep over at that large mansion.

I figured that Ace must have been referring to that mansion that we had just departed from. Although I wasn’t sure if his dislike of the place stemmed from the fact that his father was there or if the place belonged to his father. Regardless of what it was, I was quite relieved that he felt that way because I also didn’t want to spend the night there. It was very dark outside and the only lights that lit the way were the streetlights on one side of the road.

“We can find a hotel around here if you don’t want to travel anymore. It is late…” Ace suggested, and I knew that it was all for my sake and not his own.

“It’s fine. We should head back to your place,” I said before forcing a smile.

It would probably take around an hour and no more for us to get back to Ace’s place. I didn’t even want to think of the arrival of tomorrow or how hectic things would be at work. Without a doubt, everyone in the office must still be celebrating because the celebrations usually went on until dawn broke or even until morning. I told myself that before thinking about tomorrow, I should focus on getting through today first.

“Is that fine with you? I can drive but it’ll be close to an hour,” he said with worry.

“I’m fine. Let’s head back. You must be tired as well…” I replied.

“If you say so,” Ace readily agreed.

The atmosphere during the ride back was less tense than the first part of our journey together and that was probably thanks to our unspoken agreement to continue with our serious conversation when we were back at Ace’s place. I took it as a good opportunity for me to collect my thoughts together. There were just so many things floating around in my mind all over the place and I wasn’t sure how to string everything together. Ace’s sudden retirement, Elizabeth taking over as the new CEO, the secret that they shared, the blueprint that I found in his office among other things.

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I glanced over at Ace who had his eyes correctly glued to the road ahead while I wondered what he was thinking. Ace seemed too calm, and I envied how composed he could appear almost at all times. I had to admit that I never suspected Ace to be full of mysteries when I started dating him. Sure enough, I never thought that our relationship would be a smooth one, but I didn’t think that it would turn out to be such a twisted rollercoaster ride either.

Ace’s place never felt so welcoming to me as on that day when we arrived back. It felt like rushing into someone’s warm awaiting embrace when I finally made it into his familiar living room. Sitting down on the sofa made me feel like sitting down on a puffy soft cloud up in heaven. This must be what people meant when they said that there was no place quite like home. Compared to that room in the mansion, this place truly felt like heaven indeed.

“Do you want to take a shower first?” Ace asked as he sat down next to me on the sofa.

I was tired and I could use a warm shower to rest up; however, there were more important things that I needed to do. Without wasting any more time, I turned to face Ace and our eyes immediately locked. He must have realized that I wasn’t willing to delay our conversation any longer because Ace became silent, and his eyes turned serious. Before I could open my mouth to say what I had prepared, Ace was the one who spoke up first.

“I’m sorry, Rina. I know that I should have told you earlier but…” Ace apologized without breaking eye contact with me.

“The NDA?” I took my best guess.

Ace’s beautiful lips curved into a regretful smile before he nodded his head once to affirm that I had gotten it right. It was Elizabeth’s words that helped me to make this guess. Without a doubt, things were hard on me, and my mind couldn’t rest at all given how worried I felt; however, with that same logic, things must have been difficult for Ace as well.

“Did you ask Elizabeth to bend the rules a little just to let me know?” I asked as a strange stirring feeling started bubbling up in my chest.

“Pretty much. She’s going to have something to use against me for a while, but I figured that it’s probably worth it. I can’t have really had you finding out the truth along with everyone else when it gets announced, right?” he said with a wry grin.

“I still don’t think that she’s a nice person…” I muttered more to myself than to Ace.

Despite how hushed my tone was, Ace’s slight laughter told me that he had heard every word that I had uttered.

“Well, I’m handing her my position as CEO so I guess that should satisfy her,” Ace said with a small laugh.

--To be continued…

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