Chapter 167

167 Our Apologies

“I always help you out, Ace. Now it’s your turn to help me out,” Claudia said sternly.

After glaring at me and Ace, she finally made her way out of the café. I was still too shocked to speak when she left. The fact that she was gone also meant that I was left alone with Ace. Suddenly, fear and panic started swallowing me up and my hands and feet felt so weak and cold. For a moment, I honestly thought that I was going to faint.

“I guess you didn’t sleep well last night...” Ace said with a tinge of regret in his tone.

“It’s pretty obvious, huh?” I mumbled a little sarcastically.

The large dark circles and my puffy eyes probably gave it all away that I didn’t sleep well last night and that I had been crying my eyes out for hours. Ace sighed loudly as he shook his head slowly from side to side while I wondered how we both got ourselves into this messy web of unfortunate and hurtful misunderstanding.

“Rina, there’s nothing for you to worry about or cry over anymore. It’s all just a big understanding that Claudia probably intentionally brought about to get me to help her out. As you’ve heard, she’s not pregnant with my child. Actually, we’re just friends...” Ace explained calmly.

Although the story that Claudia told was almost unbelievable, I had no other options but to believe that the two of them were telling the truth. I highly doubt that Claudia would help Ace out the way she did if he was indeed the father of her baby. It really was an unexpected twist that she thought that Ace was to blame for all of this simply because he was the one who introduced her to boyfriend.

I thought of the pained expression on her face, and I found myself praying for her sake that everything would progress smoothly for her wedding. Ace had promised to help her out so I hoped that things would work out well for her and her baby.

“I’m sorry but I still find it very hard to believe. It’s just all too much. You know, she turned up so suddenly and she was pregnant and then she was yelling at you. It was just too much for me to take and I didn’t know how to react...” I confessed as I tried to stop my emotions from overwhelming me.

.....

“I don’t blame you. I kind of knew what you were thinking. I’m sorry for everything related to this mess and I’m very sorry that I didn’t sort this out with you sooner...” Ace apologized, and I thought that he seemed very sincere.

“Yea...” I murmured without knowing what else to say.

Ace didn’t even try to contact me at all and even if he gave my mother a call, he didn’t call me. I didn’t quite understand what he was thinking then. Even if I didn’t want to face him or talk to him, deep down, I guess I really wanted Ace to call me or to try to find me as soon as possible. When he didn’t do that, I just lost faith in our newly formed relationship and what we had. Truthfully, I was very disappointed. Although I was the one who ran from him and didn’t want to face him. It was all very contradictory, and I knew that it wouldn’t make much sense if I tried to explain what I was feeling to him.

“I wanted to find you and talk things out with you as soon as possible but...I guess you wouldn’t believe me no matter what I told you. So, I had to do what I just did which was to get Claudia to explain the truth to you. For me, I thought that was the only shot that I’ve got to make you believe me. I’m very sorry that it took this long. Honestly, it took a long time for me to strike up a deal with Claudia...” Ace explained before he let out another sigh.

The look on his face told me that things must have been difficult for him too. While I was busy crying my eyes out and losing out on sleep, I never imagined that Ace was working hard to find a way to mend our relationship. I thought that I would be so angry at Ace and that I would never be able to forgive him but when the time came, I felt guiltier than ever.

“I’m sorry. This wouldn’t have happened if I trusted you more and talked things out with you at the time...” I apologized as I felt tears sting the back of my eyes.

I’m about to start crying again and I had to bit down hard on my lower lip to keep my tears from spilling over. My mother was right once again, it was best for me to talk things out with Ace. Regardless of what the truth was, I shouldn’t just breakup with him without ending things properly between us. In this case, talking things out with him cleared up all misunderstandings. It was still hard for me to believe that we didn’t need to breakup after all.

“Well, I can understand why you got so emotional about it. However, you’re right. If you had calmed down a little and talked things out with me from the start, I could have explained things to you properly. Maybe you wouldn’t have believed me, though...” Ace said while sounding tired and drained.

“I am so sorry, Ace...” I apologized to him again.

I had no idea how many times I’ve ended up apologizing to him for all the mess that I either put us into or the mess that we just found ourselves in. Looking back, it was probably at least partly my fault for panicking and jumping to conclusions without talking to him first.

“Stop apologizing. The circumstances were very misleading, and as I said, Claudia probably said all those things to mislead you too. She’s a very manipulative woman but she’s not a bad person. This time around, she’s a little more than desperate to have her way. I apologize for her...” Ace said before smiling sweetly at me.

–To be continued...