Chapter 72

72 First Trip with Him

“Coming!” I called out before getting up from my seat.

This better be something good and productive...

It wasn’t like I had any mortal enemies that were out to get me but I was still very cautious of opening my doors to strangers, so I decided to check through the peephole first.

I gasped before I placed both my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming from shock as my body froze right in front of the door. After closing my eyes and quickly counting to three, I opened them again and peeped through the hole just to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating.

“Rina!”

His familiar voice called my name quite loudly and that alone was enough proof that I wasn’t dreaming up this whole thing.

Ace is really standing right outside my door. Why is he here? It’s so early in the morning?

I don’t have enough make up on and I have dark circles under my eyes. What am I going to do?!

“I know that you’re in there...” Ace said, sounding very impatient.

.....

This is my room, and he is the one intruding so why do I feel like I’m in the wrong here? Plus, why does he sound like a debt collector?

Everything is fine, I have concealers under my eyes. I sighed when I realized that I did care what I looked like in front of Ace after all...

“Good morning. No, that’s not what I meant. Why are you here?” I asked after quickly correcting myself.

“Picking you up. Why else?” Ace replied like it was supposed to be obvious.

He’s escorted me back to my place a couple of times before, but this was the first time that he’s picking me up. He never mentioned anything about this last night when he dropped me off, though.

“Umm...I can go to the office by myself. There’s no need for you to pick me up. I already feel bad that you have to drive me back here almost every night after work...” I said while still feeling very confused.

“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before and I dislike repetitions of boring things. Are you ready to leave?” Ace asked after complaining.

“...Yes,” I replied after recovering from my slight astonishment.

“Good,” He said with satisfaction.

“Wait! Let me grab my handbag and my phone!” I cried out before quickly heading back inside.

“Quickly...” Ace said sternly.

I felt his eyes following my every moment as I moved around my small apartment to grab my phone before stuffing it into my handbag. Ace pulled on my arm, and I was out of the room so fast that I was confused once again as to what was going on. Ace didn’t say anything or explained anything even when we had gotten into his car.

“Hold on! Weren’t we supposed to take a turn there to head to the office?” I asked as my eyes widened and stared down the road that we should have taken.

Ace kept on driving as he completely ignored my question and panic. In fact, he really stepped on it, and it felt like we were going faster than before.

“Ace? This isn’t the way to the office...” I pointed out.

“Who says we’re going to the office?” Ace asked like I was the one who had it all wrong.

We’re not...

“We’re not going to the office?! Then...where are we going?” I asked in a loud cry.

“You’ll see soon. Can you just relax a little, please?” Ace said with a mocking pleading voice before he started chuckling at me.

...

The moment that Ace started driving us out of the city center, I knew that it was strange, but I never thought that we would end up at this place of all places. The planes looked quite big now that they were flying low. For some reason that I couldn’t comprehend, we ended up at the airport together bright and early in the morning.

Some staff were there to greet Ace and take care of his car when we arrived. It still felt like everything wasn’t real even when I had gotten out of Ace’s car.

“Let’s go. What are you spacing out for?” Ace asked with a small laugh as he took my hand into his again.

“Are we here to pick up someone? Is someone landing here soon?” I asked, daring to have hope that this wasn’t what I thought it was.

“Are you stupid or are you just playing with me?” Ace asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

Neither.

“It’s an honor to assist your today, Mr. Hill. Please follow me this way. Your flight is waiting for you,” a man in a black suit said politely before gesturing for us to follow him.

“We’re flying?” I asked in whisper.

“You just figured it out?” Ace replied sarcastically before he started to laugh softly to himself.

His hand around me tightened as if he thought that I would turn and run away. Honesty, that thought did enter my mind for a split of a second, so he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Where are we going and so suddenly?

Now that I knew that we were flying, so many worries filled my mind. He didn’t tell me anything about this beforehand and because of that I didn’t prepare anything.

“Wait...Ace...” I said in a small voice as I tried to get his attention.

“Keep walking. Let’s not be late,” Ace said sternly as he continued to pull me after him.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at our flight. My eyes lingered over the private plane. Why am I even surprised?

CEO or not, Ace is extremely wealthy, so I guess he doesn’t fly on normal economy class flights like I normally do. However, now isn’t the time to be amazed at the little luxurious spin on our surprise trip. There was a slight issue...

“Wait! I don’t have my passport with me,” I voiced my concern as I tugged on Ace’s hand in mine.

Ace turned and smiled charmingly at me.

“I have your passport with me,” he announced proudly.

–To be continued...