Chapter 186

186 Source of Inspiration

“You’re really his personal secretary. You’re absolutely correct. This entire cabinet here up until that one over there store Ace’s precious work from the start of his career up until recent years where files are then stored digitally. Unfortunately, he doesn’t produce work solo anymore which is why all of this here is a raw and rare treasure. This is the secret place that I’ve been telling you about,” Jeremy announced with a proud smile as if unveiling one of the world’s deepest secrets to the public for the first time.

“But he...” I murmured before I managed to stop myself in time.

But he told me that he threw it all away. How did all his work end up here?

“I stumbled across these when I was working on one of my first projects,” Jeremy disclosed.

'

“Are you serious? This can’t be...” I mumbled while still in disbelief.

It was just shocking, unexpected, and too good to be true.

“Can’t you see? These are the past works from our genius devil CEO. The early works of Ace Hills!” Jeremy declared excitedly.

Ace’s works?

“Do you remember that commercial that I made that won an award? People were so shocked that I won at such a young age with so little experience and all...” Jeremy asked as his eyes seemed to sparkle.

.....

“Yup, I definitely remember. That work was great. It was...unique...like it was very inspirational,” I replied.

“Exactly. It was inspirational to the people who watched it. I intentionally made that commercial that way based on the inspiration that I got while reading and going through these files...” Jeremy told me as his eyes shifted to linger on the cabinets containing Ace’s work.

“Really?!” I exclaimed in surprise.

“Yup, Ace is my motivation and inspiration. His work, especially the earlier ones stored here in this archive, I find to be even more inspirational than his later works. Well, his current work is still amazing and in a league of its own, though...” Jeremy said with a dreamy look in his eyes.

He truly was a fan of Ace and his works. I think I could understand quite well how he felt because I was also a fan of Ace’s work. Then when I got to know him and spend more time with him, I became a fan and an admirer of the man himself too.

“This first row here is his work from the earliest days of his career. I love going through it, and you should too. You’ll clearly see that although it’s rough and unpolished, his work is still diamond. It’s not your usual quality of work. It’s really a diamond in the rough,” Jeremy said in amazement.

“Thanks for showing me all this,” I thanked you with a smile.

The truth was that I didn’t need Jeremy’s encouragement to go through all of Ace’s folders in all of the cabinets here. Since learning that his old works were stored here instead of thrown away, I already had my eyes and mind set on looking through all of them. However, I didn’t want Jeremy to see my overly excited reactions or else he might think that I’m some crazy fangirl that was obsessed with Ace and his work. I made a mental note to myself to come back here alone so that I could spend all the time in the world slowly looking through Ace’s past works in private.

Suddenly, I felt like a stalker, but I was so happy that I didn’t feel any shame at all.

“Umm...are we allowed to borrow documents out of here?” I asked while daring to feel hopeful.

“Yes, for the most part. However, all of Ace’s files cannot be taken out of this archive,” Jeremy replied with a regrettable look on his face.

I could tell that he had tried his luck at trying to borrow some of Ace’s files out of here before. He must have failed. I recalled the stern face of the security guard and was forced to realize that rules were rules.

“I see. That’s too bad...” I murmured.

I guess I have to come back here after all. The option of borrowing some of the folders and taking it back to my place wasn’t an option. Not taking folders out of here might be better for me. If I took some of the folders back, Ace might end up seeing it. I wondered if he even knew that his old works were in the archive like this.

“Yup. We need to be satisfied enough that at least these documents are still here and in very good condition,” Jeremy said to brighten up the mood.

“Do you happen to know who put all of Ace’s documents together?” I asked.

My question must have sounded strange because Jeremy definitely gave me the ‘why do you want to know’ kind of look. Ace did tell me that he threw all of the documents related to his work away apart from those that dated only a few years back, so I wondered how all of those documents ended up here.

“No idea at all but I thank whoever did this,” Jeremy replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I guess you’re right...” I mumbled.

“Enough chatting. It’s time for us to get to work. Let’s pull out some documents that might be useful to use for our inspiration. We better find something soon or that storyboard is never going to pass Ace’s screening,” Jeremy muttered before he sighed.

I nodded my head in agreement. Now wasn’t the time for me to gawk over Ace’s past work. I need to find something here that could be used to turn our work around. We had a firm deadline and time for ticking by. The more time we wasted in planning and design, the less time the production team had to actually shoot and produce the commercial.

We split to go about our work in the search of something that might be useful.

“Let’s call it a day. My back is starting to hurt...” Jeremy suggested as he rubbed his back with his hands.

“You’re still young so what is this about your back hurting? You sound just like an old man...” I teased him with a laugh.

–To be continued...