Chapter 311 - 311 Troubling Complexes

311 Troubling Complexes

“Call it whatever you will, but you basically ran away from home. Without going into the details, Ace and his father doesn’t have a very friendly relationship. You probably already know at least that much, right?” Elizabeth asked before she paused.

“Yes, I do…” I replied while telling myself to be patient and to ignore her rudeness.

It was all for a chance to learn something new about Ace. Ace didn’t seem to perfectly agree with Elizabeth’s version of the story but at least he didn’t stop her from continuing.

“The time I’m referring to is that period when Ace quit his job at his father’s company and went off to start his own thing. That was a pretty bold and extreme move at the time. Obviously, Ace’s father was absolutely against it, but Ace also obviously didn’t care. He just disappeared so I always refer to that period as Ace running away from home,” Elizabeth said before she laughed.

“I see…” I murmured before I waited for her to continue.

“People thought that he disappeared from the social scenes to go off to do his own thing on his own and that he became easily successful and all that. However, that’s not really the entire truth. Ace struggled a lot when he parted ways with his father back then…” Elizabeth continued with her story.

“During that time, Elizabeth’s father reached out to me and managed to convince me that I needed his support. Of course, I knew him well from before and it didn’t seem out of place for him to offer help. I wouldn’t have accepted his help, but he convinced me by saying that he would support me in whatever it was that I wanted to do. In the end, he did stick to his promise…” Ace jumped in to explain.

“People think that it’s so easy to become successful all on your own. The reality is very different. My father helped Ace and gave him advice all throughout the time when he was away,” Elizabeth chimed in.

Elizabeth was right about the media painting Ace as being a genius who managed to become successful all on his own after leaving his father’s prestigious company to start his own ventures. Ace only came back when all his venture were successful, at least that was how the story went. This was the first time that I was hearing some details about that phase of his life, and it was quite different from what was portrayed in the news.

.....

“It’s just like I told you earlier. You should learn from other people. Back then, I was young and probably a little too stubborn for my own good. To make up for that, I was eager to learn, and I felt like I had a lot of time on my hand to do exactly that when I quit my job. Elizabeth’s father seemed like the perfect person for me to learn many things from at the time,” Ace explained.

“Wow. You should have told me this earlier…honestly…” I mumbled.

It came as a pleasant surprise that Ace was more open now to talk about his past. Perhaps it was partly thanks to Elizabeth who brought up this topic and was willing to tell Ace’s story from her point of view while highlighting the involvement of her father. Elizabeth went on to provide more details but my mind was too busy trying to connect the dots. Maybe it was because of how close Ace was to her father that they got engaged to each other.

Maybe that was it…

Although Ace had reassured me before that there was never any romantic feelings between him and Elizabeth, I still wondered if that was entirely true. From what I could see in front of me, Elizabeth truly had a way to get Ace to open up and how she seemed to manage to do it so effortlessly only made me jealous of her and the connection that they shared. Even if I would like to think that it bordered more on friendship, I still found myself feeling more than slightly anxious inside and I couldn’t ignore how jealous I felt.

Whenever I asked Ace about anything including his past, his responses were always vague and his attitude would suddenly turn cold and distant. It felt like there were lines and boundaries that I couldn’t cross while Elizabeth seemed to have the license to roam around all over the place so freely.

“Unlike Ace here, my father absolutely hates Kyle…” Elizabeth stated before she laughed.

“Can you stop saying that, please?” Kyle spoke up.

“Why? It’s the truth and everyone knows it. Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Elizabeth turned to say to Kyle.

“You know very well that I’m trying my best to get him to like me,” Kyle muttered darkly.

I could sense the tension between them and it seemed like this issue of theirs was a longstanding one. Kyle looked so frustrated and irritated at the same time while Elizabeth was a pro at taking this serous issue and treating it as a joke.

A very bad joke…

“Like that time when you stole the idea of that commercial from Karina and tried to pass it off as your own?” Elizabeth said before she shot him a look.

Her sharp words and mean sense of humor confirmed for me once again that she was merciless. Kyle clammed up at her comment and that only made Elizabeth laugh even louder.

“Seriously, I honestly don’t think you should work too hard on making him like you. I mean, one of the main reasons that I’m so attracted to you is probably because my father hates you. It’s like…my way of getting back at him and acting rebellious because there’s nothing else that I can do…” Elizabeth said with a scoff.

“Enough, Elizabeth. Let’s not discuss this here…” Kyle warned softly.

I was starting to think that I was too merciless on Kyle, and I had to admit that I started to pity him a little at that point. Perhaps, deep inside, I was a pure angel at heart after all.

–To be continued…