Chapter 162

162 Breakup

My eyes widened in shock and for a moment, I forgot to breathe. If I recalled correctly, I first saw her when I was waiting for Ace a few years ago when I had my interview at this company. Her beauty was captivating, and she had the same hair color as now. I didn’t remember her face that well and she did gain a little weight from her pregnancy so that was probably why I didn’t recognize her right away.

However, now I was certain that she is his ex-secretary. Why else would she take note that I was Ace’s secretary now?

It was all because she used to be his secretary before I took over her position from her. When I first accepted this position, I even asked about her and what happened to her.

‘I thought that you already had a secretary...’

‘Oh, you mean Claudia? She had to quit recently due to health issues. It really was quite unfortunate. I really enjoyed working with her and we got along very well with each other,’

If I wasn’t wrong, that was what I asked him and then he replied with something along the lines that she was sick and had to quit her job. Her name is Claudia, and she was without a doubt working as Ace’s personal secretary before me.

The wind blew against my face and fluttered my long hair back behind me. My eyes stung and it wasn’t simply because of the wind. The scenery of the cityscape in front of me started to blur and a moment later a warm wetness trailed down my cheeks. I blinked and larger drops of tears streamed down my face.

It took quite a long time for the tears to finally start flowing. I was just too in shock to even react properly to what I had just witnessed. My shaky hands wouldn’t stop shaking and I had to grip the railings in front of me hard to keep the pain in my heart at bay.

I should have known something like this was bound to happen. Why didn’t I see it coming?

.....

Claudia didn’t have to quit her job because she was having health issues; she was simply pregnant. If she stayed on in the company, then the state that she was in would be seen by all. Her belly would get bigger as the time passes and soon everyone would realize that she is pregnant. That wasn’t something that the two of them couldn’t allow to get out, so Claudia had to leave the company to hide her pregnancy.

All of this could only mean one thing. Honestly, I should have fully realized that when I saw her large baby bump. She even yelled to tell Ace that he had to take responsibility for it. I stared up at the sky without seeing any of its beauty as I was forced to admit to the truth that Ace must be the father of Claudia’s child.

I recalled her anger and the fury inside of me started to boil over as well. My emotions were so intense that I wasn’t sure what I was feeling more at that moment. Was I more heartbroken because Ace had kept that secret from me and had betrayed me? Was I more furious at him for not taking care of Claudia and their baby properly?

How can he impregnate her and show absolutely no responsibility like this?

My body continued shaking from my sobs and the anger that I felt at the injustice that Claudia had to go through. I had no idea how much suffering that woman had to go through until she couldn’t take it and had to drag her very-pregnant self to see Ace at the office. Many people probably recognized her right away if they had worked with her before. Yet, she had to risk all that just to have a conversation with Ace because he had obviously been ignoring her.

All the while that Claudia was suffering, he had been together with me in our little world. He even introduced me to his father and told him that he wanted to marry me. While all of that was going on, he was leaving Claudia behind and not taking responsibility for his past selfish actions.

‘Well, good luck to you for the job...and dealing with Ace...’

Her bitter words came back to me in waves, and they started to make me feel nauseous. I thought that things were going so well between Ace and me and that our relationship was finally moving in the right direction. Clearly, I was just fooling myself while Ace had been fooling around and playing with me all along. This wasn’t anything new and I should have expected something like this. I had been worried all along that he was just playing with me, and it was only recently that I had started thinking that there may be a real chance that he was serious about our relationship.

I even agreed to be his girlfriend just recently. So why did something like this have to happen?

After running off, my feet had automatically taken me to the rooftop. Why do I always end up here when I’m in trouble?

'

I should just call in sick and go home for the day. Maybe I should go back home to stay with my mother and tell her up and straight about all the things that I’ve been hiding from her. That may just be what I needed to do to clear my own conscience. She could yell at me and all the improper things that I’ve done and then I can move on with my life again.

Karina, you really have bad taste in men. Kyle and now Ace...

It hurts so bad that a painful whimper escaped my lips. Why does it have to hurt so badly?

I have to break up with Ace. That was the only conclusion that I could envision. He wasn’t a good man, after all. Even if he was, if me being with him meant taking him away from Claudia and their unborn baby, then that wasn’t something that I could do.

We all deserve better. We all can do better than this.

–To be continued...