Chapter 96

96 Late Night at the Office

Not knowing what I should do, I left my hand fall back to my side. I stood in front of the elevator cluelessly as I watched Ace walk away from me. The air about him was cold and distant, it just made him feel so unapproachable.

“If you have time to flirt around with men, you should focus more on your work,” Ace spoke up without turning to face me.

I bit my lower lip as guilt overwhelmed me. My hands clenched tightly at my side as my body trembled from anger. I wasn’t angry at Kyle or Ace, I just angry at myself.

...

The CEO’s office was busy as everyone seemed to be working hard on their draft proposal of the storyboard. After going on their own expedition to seek for the truth, the various teams have gathered to produce their version of the storyboard. We would all present the storyboard together in our next meeting and one of the storylines would be selected. It did occur to me that it was supposed to be a brainstorming session, so there was also the possibility that the final idea would be a combination of the ideas from various teams.

No one spoke to me, and I was thankful for that because I wasn’t in the mood to speak to anyone or deal with any drama. My eyes stared at the computer screen in front of me and the storyboard that was still more than half blank. If I don’t get myself and my thoughts together, I’m going to be here till morning. Even then, if I couldn’t get my ideas together, I may not be done.

My mind kept conjuring up the image of Ace’s cold eyes and his distant attitude. Then I thought of Kyle and what he said. A loud slapping round rang out and then pain shot through my cheeks. A few eyes strayed towards me, and I smiled a little awkwardly in return. I guess not everyone is used to seeing someone slap themselves a little roughly on the cheeks before.

Focus, Karina!

It was hard for me to concentrate at first but as time went by, I managed to focus. After another hour, I was back in full work mode. After drafting some ideas and drawing sketches out on my notebook, I had a better idea of what scenes I was looking for each part of the storyboard. After finalizing my choices, I began creating a more detailed version on the presentation slides on my laptop. Not everything went smoothly, and I had to change things around quite often for things to feel right. It was time consuming, but it felt like I was heading in the right direction.

.....

Although this was supposed to be nothing more than a draft to contribute our idea to the team, I still wanted to do my best. Partly, I wanted to redeem myself for my failure at the meeting before. This time, I will get this right and I will no longer be a burden to the team or treated like a free rider. With that thought in mind, I pushed through until I had completed the entire storyboard just like I had envisioned it in my head.

When I looked up from my laptop screen again, the entire office was quiet and there was no one around anymore. Did everyone leave already? I didn’t even realize it until just now.

The clock on the wall told me that it was close to midnight. No wonder no one else was around. I knew that I probably wasn’t the only one who worked this late given how committed the other team members are to their job. They probably just chose to take the work home with them. I should have done that, but I was so focused on the work in front of me that I lost all sense of time.

I absolutely had no regrets about that, though. Since I’ve been here this long, I might as well do one last review to make sure that everything is right for the meeting tomorrow. It was such a shame that I finished so late and there was probably no time for Ace to help review this. That thought made me recall the look on his face when I last saw him earlier today. Things are not going well at all between us. I sighed loudly when I realized that I’ll have to speak to Ace soon or later and that meant that I had to think of a way to face him and straighten things out with him.

What is Ace doing right now? He’s probably gone home already.

I pulled up his calendar onto my laptop screen and saw that his last meeting was supposed to have ended since 9PM. He’s probably home already. Maybe I should just send him an email. If luck is on my side, he might get a chance to take a look at my storyboard before the meeting starts tomorrow. I should have managed to finish this earlier...

Suddenly, I heard the unexpected sound of the door opening. Shocked, I spun around in my seat, and I found myself faced with an even more shocking sight.

“Ace...?” I managed to whisper his name as my eyes widened in shock.

I blinked my eyes rapidly while I was half convinced that if I blinked my eyes enough times, the Ace that I was seeing would disappear into thin air like a mirage that never existed. However, Ace did not disappear from my sight. Instead, he strode confidently into the office and approached me.

Why is Ace here?

“Somehow, I figured that you would still be here,” Ace said confidently.

“Umm...” I murmured without knowing what to say.

How did he know that I would be here?

Ace was now standing right next to me behind my desk and without warning, he sat down on my desk and turned to grin at me.

“You didn’t send me an email with the storyboard yet. So, I figured that you’re probably still working your ass off at it,” Ace answered my unasked question with ease.

–To be continued...