“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to marry me right away,” Ace said before he laughed softly.

“That’s not…” I began denying but then realized that it was useless.

“Isn’t that what you’re worried about?” Ace asked before he grinned knowingly at me.

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Just like he had told me countless times before, he really could read me like an open book.

“Sort of…” I admitted softly.

“I remember you mentioned that to me before. Don’t worry, I won’t propose to you right away because I’ll probably just get rejected,” Ace said before he laughed again.

“I see…” I mumbled.

“When the merger become public, at least, we don’t have to keep our relationship a secret anymore,” Ace said and the way that he smiled after saying that warmed my heart.

“That would be good…” I agreed with a genuine smile.

“You don’t sound so happy,” Ace pointed out.

“No, I’m very happy. It’s just…a little hard for me to believe. Sort of like, it’s too good to be true?” I said as I cocked my head slightly to the side.

“So, when do you think we should get married?” Ace asked as he propped his head up into his hand and stared directly at my face.

His intense stare and the fact that his face was so close to me made me uncomfortable. Just when he had just mentioned that he wasn’t going to ask me to marry him any time soon, he was already pestering me about when we should get married.

Unbelievable…

“I…” I began saying while my mind struggled to come up with an answer.

“What about in six months?” he suggested brightly.

“Isn’t that too soon?” I replied with a gasp.

“Then, what about in a year?” Ace suggested a longer time horizon that wasn’t so much longer than the one that he suggested before.

“That’s…” I mumbled as I continued to hesitate.

“How long are you planning on making me wait?” he asked before he moved even closer to me.

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His arm wrapped around my body and pulled me closer to him as he also scooted closer to me on the bed although we were not even far apart to begin with. Ace’s body felt warm against mine and that just made my heart leap in my chest. I couldn’t tell whether Ace was serious about his question or if he was just teasing me. If I had to guess, then it must have been a mix of both.

“I…maybe we should take it step by step…?” I suggested because I couldn’t come up with a definite timeline that I could confidently commit to.

“Maybe you’re right,” Ace said with a thoughtful look on his face.

To my relief, Ace decided to leave it at just that. Although I was certain that this topic would come up between us again, I was satisfied enough to have more time to think about it. I was convinced that taking it step by step was the right approach. The merger had not started yet and there were so many uncertainties for us to be planning our wedding date at that point.

“Thank you, Ace…” I murmured against his chest when he pulled me into his warm and loving embrace.

“Why are you thanking me again?” he asked followed by a soft chuckle.𝒇𝘳ee𝚠𝘦𝚋n૦𝐯el coｍ

I could tell that he must be smiling down at me although I couldn’t see his face with my face buried against his chest.

“I don’t know…” I murmured against his chest before puckering up my lips to kiss his firm muscles.

I still had many questions that I wanted to ask him, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep them for later.

…

“I guess you probably know this already, but you have to keep everything that we talked about a secret for now. Of course, there’s the matter of the NDA but there are other factors that we should be careful about. Things will definitely get out of hand if information leaks to the press,” Ace reminded me.

Despite the very active and passionate night that we shared before, things between us felt unbelievably calm the morning after. Although my body was sore from over exertion, my spirits felt mended and whole. While dragging my heavy legs, I managed to fix us a simple breakfast and some good coffee for Ace. As a result of my efforts, I got to observe the man that I love sitting across the dining table from me with a satisfied look on his face as he sipped on his coffee from his favorite mug.

“I get it. You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to tell anyone and even if I did, I doubt that anyone would believe me or take me seriously,” I replied before I grinned at him.

“Well, I guess you could be right about that. It does sound a little too far-fetch, doesn’t it?” Ace said before he chuckled playfully.

He seemed to be in a very good mood, and I was thankful for it. Finally winning the competition was supposed to be the be all and end all of everything; however, it only felt like the real war was about to begin after we had just won a battle. Last night was a very good way to celebrate our success and the progress that we’ve made while rewarding Ace at the same time for all that he’s done and trying to do for us. I realized that I was still staring at Ace like I had nothing else better to do. His phone vibrated and he picked it up to check the notification that had popped up on its screen.

Suddenly, my chest felt tight, and I started to feel uneasy. Peaceful moments like these had become so rare and therefore so precious to me. Whenever I thought of the merger and the various uncertainties related to it, I couldn’t help but worry about our future.

Would one of these precious moments that we share one day become our final moment together?

“Rina…” Ace called my name from across the table.

--To be continued…

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