Chapter 112

112 Convenient Lie

“You’re the one who is misunderstanding things. You see, Karina is my girlfriend now. She’s no longer involved with your husband. I can personally guarantee that,” Ace stated as his arm tightened around my shoulders.

What did he just say?!

Elizabeth’s eyes widened even further as she gasped and covered her open mouth with her hand. Her eyes travelled from Ace to me and then back to Ace again. It was clear that she was struggling to believe that we were dating.

Well, I didn’t blame here. We’re not really dating and I’m not really his girlfriend. I had no idea why Ace said that, but it did seem to work in throwing her completely off her game.

“If you don’t have any more questions, then I guess we’re done here. Karina and I have a dinner date together, so if you don’t mind, we’ll excuse ourselves now. Have a good evening,” Ace said as his arms dropped to circle my waist.

With a slight push, he began leading me away with him.

“Wait!” Elizabeth called out quite loudly from behind us.

We both paused in our steps, and I felt scared of what she was going to say next.

“I’m expecting great things from you, Ace. I’ll be seeing you soon...” Elizabeth directed her words at Ace.

.....

“Same goes for me. See you soon, Elizabeth,” Ace replied after turning back to face her.

Elizabeth didn’t say anything more and Ace led me away in silence while I wondered what those parting words between the two of them meant. I glanced up at Ace’s stoic face as I pondered how those two knew each other.

Thankfully, Ace did not mention the incident with Elizabeth at all during our time at dinner. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him but after weighing out the benefits of fulfilling my curiosity and the risks that Ace might discover that Kyle came to my room, I decided that perhaps letting the whole thing slide by might be the best idea. Elizabeth is Kyle’s wife now and so it didn’t quite matter how she knew Ace. Ace probably knew a lot of people anyways.

There was one thing that I should still ask him, though.

“Why did you lie to her?” I asked from across the table where we were seated.

Ace’s eyes continued looking at my face. The way that the candlelight casted shadow and orange warm light on his face made his nose and lips look even more alluring than usual. When his eyes met mine, I could see the sparkle of the candlelight reflected in them like a dancing flame. It was a sight that left me momentarily speechless at how attractive he looked.

“About what?” Ace asked like he had no idea what I was talking about.

“That we’re dating. That...I’m your girlfriend...” I replied in a soft mumble.

“It worked. She shut up and left,” Ace replied like it was nothing.

I had no idea how to feel about his attitude and how easy-going he was about declaring that I was his girlfriend. It was a big deal for me, but it seemed like something extremely casual for him.

“Still, you shouldn’t have lied to her. This can lead to so many misunderstandings,” I complained at once.

“I have the perfect solution for that,” Ace said after a short while of thought.

“Really?” I asked hopefully.

“Date me,” Ace stated without hesitation.

“...What?” I exclaimed in disbelief.

How can he say that so casually and with such as emotionless face?

“If you become my girlfriend for real, then I wouldn’t be lying to her and there would be no misunderstandings...just the right understanding,” Ace explained like it was supposed to be a no-brainer solution.

Me dating Ace for real would present a throng of other problems. He’s my boss and we’re not supposed to be dating!

...

**Around Two Weeks Later **

After that dinner, Ace and I both got extremely busy with work. In the end, I never got around to formally agreeing to be his girlfriend. I wasn’t even sure if he was even serious about it when he suggested that I should just date him for real. It wasn’t the first time that he asked me to be his girlfriend and it wasn’t the first time that I thought that he was just toying with me.

Either he really was just playing around with me like he had probably played around with his countless past lovers before or I was just being extremely paranoid and insecure. Regardless, I didn’t dare ask him about it and I didn’t dare get my hopes up that he would get serious about someone like me. Even if he did, there was no way that a long-lasting relationship could ever bloom from something that started off as forbidden and wrong like what we had between us.

Plus, a relationship that started off with just good sex was bound to be...

“Karina...”

I snapped out of my thought at the sound of my name being called. After turning around in my chair, I found Julianna standing right behind me. Did she catch me spacing out just now?

“Yes?” I replied before showing her one of my most polite smiles.

“The final run-through meeting will start soon. Are you prepared?” she asked as she stared down at me.

I have to be. What other choices did I have?

“Yes, I am ready,” I replied determinedly.

“Good. I’ll go check on other people. The meeting starts in 5 minutes. Don’t be late,” she said before she turned on her heels and walked away.

Julianna was as strict as always. Because this project was something that would directly impact the pride of the company and the marketing team, I could understand why Julianna was so hung up on it.

The past few days flew by in a blur of late night working as a team to get everything together for the first pitch presentation for Project Alpha. Now we only had one last run-through meeting before the real presentation in front of the award committee tomorrow.

Things better go well...

–To be continued...