Chapter 293 - 293 Ruining Everything

293 Ruining Everything

“Young people these days don’t have the stamina…” a man muttered before laughing.

“Don’t say that. It only makes you sound like a dinosaur…” Julianna snapped and then began laughing loudly.

“I’ll take her back first. Thank you everyone for your hard work. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office,” Ace said a little sternly.

“Yes, Sir!” Julianna replied with a salute.

Ace basically dragged me after him out of there after exchanging some polite words of farewell with the team members. I felt slightly better to get away from the crowd of people but being alone with Ace in the car made me anxious in a different way.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to stay? I’m really fine so we don’t have to leave so early…” I mumbled.

The atmosphere felt so tense now that we were alone in his car and Ace’s silence did not help with the overall mood at all. I wondered what he was thinking about before I cursed myself silently inside my head for crying like that and ruining the mood for the entire night.

“I only came here because you wanted to. If you hadn’t wanted to come, I wouldn’t be here…” Ace replied as he turned to stare my way.

“I’m sorry…” I mumbled apologetically.

.....

“Stop apologizing. Honestly, I don’t even know what you’re sorry for,” Ace said before he started the car and began driving.

Although his words were quite blunt, his tone was caring and kind. The way he didn’t seem to mind not attending the party until the end only made me even more guilty. It felt like the only way that I would be able to feel better about myself was to confess to him about how I honestly felt.

“Ace…” I called his name softly to get his attention.

“Yes?” he replied before waiting for me to go on.

I was about to start my honest confession with the words ‘I’m sorry’ but managed to bite down on my tongue in time before those words would slip pass my lips. Ace would have hated it if I had apologized again and I was thankful for catching those words on time. I took in a deep breath before letting it out to refresh my mind before aiming for a fresh start.

Let’s try this again…

“I know that today is supposed to be a happy and joyous day. Our commercial looks great and everyone seems very excited to see it. The launch is very successful and even I can feel that our commercial will do very well. As someone who has worked as part of Project Alpha from the start, I feel so proud and so thrilled to see this happen and to see this project come so far…” I said before pausing to take in another deep breath.

Ace listened to me in silence as he slowly drove the car. I knew that he was listening to me and patiently giving me the chance to say everything that I had in mind. My tongue flickered over my lower lip before I continued on with what I wanted to say.

“I think things may be a lot less complicated for me if that was the only role that I play. The reality for me is a lot more complicated than that because the end of Project Alpha and the end of the competition would also mark the end of your time here. Just thinking about that makes me feel scared. Every single step forward that takes us closer to our goal makes me happy yet very confused and sad at the same time. I get so scared just thinking about it and sometimes I feel like I’m really going to lose it…” I confessed honestly before I had to stop.

I felt a stinging pain at the back of my eyes and realized that if I went on, I would probably end up crying again and that wasn’t something that I wanted Ace to see. Even now, I was sure that my words have placed unnecessary burdens and worries on him already. After a moment of pause, I realized that Ace didn’t intend to say anything in response to what I had just told him. Perhaps just having him listen to what I had to say was enough for me because I did feel more relieved after telling him honestly how I felt. Even if it couldn’t change his mind or the future that lay in store for us, I still felt like it was the right thing to tell him how I honestly felt.

“Rina, do you want to stay over at my place?” he asked to break the silence between us.

“Yes…” I replied without hesitation.

My simple response was rewarded with a very charming smile as Ace turned to look at me for a brief moment before his attention returned to the road in front of us. His smile felt encouraging, and I told myself that I just needed to become a little braver. It was late in the evening and the traffic wasn’t crazy. We arrived back at Ace’s place in no time at all and I was relieved to be back in familiar surroundings.

“You should take a bath, so you’ll feel better. It’s been a long day so I’m sure that you’re tired,” Ace said understandingly.

“Yeah…” I mumbled.

Instead of taking a long baht like Ace had suggested, I decided to take a quick shower instead. Ace pretty much left me alone and I used that time that he had given me to think about him. Ace had not said anything concerning my worries but I could tell that he was acting caring in his very own way. Time was really flying by and along with it, my impatience had started to grow. I stepped out of the shower and dried my hair before my thoughts would turn into depressing ones.

“That was fast…” Ace said when he spotted me.

Ace’s dark hair was damp, and it was clear that he had just stepped out of his own shower not so long ago.

–To be continued…