Chapter 339 - 339 Still Here

339 Still Here

He let go of me and put just enough distance between us so that he could peer into my face as if to inspect the damage that I had sustained. I wanted to yell at him to let him know that this was all because of him and how he vanished right after getting down from the stage during the award ceremony. A lump formed in my throat but no matter what I wanted, I couldn’t say anything mean to him.

“I thought that you were gone…” I confessed softly and shyly.

“Gone? What do you mean by that?” he asked with a blank look on his face like he truly didn’t know what I was referring to.

“You just disappeared without telling me anything and I couldn’t get in touch with you no matter how hard I tried. I also didn’t know where you were…” I said accusingly.

“Were you scared that I would leave you?” Ace asked needlessly.

I despised myself for acting so childish and helpless and that emotion channeled itself into my irritation and anger toward Ace. He whispered my name tenderly as he reached a hand out to stroke my hair and then cradle the back of my head. I stared up at him as I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Not daring to blink in fear that those tears would fall, I stared up into his warm hazel eyes and simply nodded my response.

“I don’t know why you would think that. Sure, I was gone for a couple of hours but thinking that I’ve abandoned you is really a stretch, don’t you think?” Ace said in a light tone as his hand continued to stroke my hair.

I didn’t know what to say because after thinking about it, he was probably right. In short, I did jump to my own conclusions and perhaps a little too fast as well. That didn’t mean that it was fine for Ace to ignore my calls like that when he probably knew that I would be worried about him.

“Anyways, I don’t think that you should just ignore my calls. You could have at least sent me a message to let me know that you’re fine or when you’re going to come back…” I argued my case as I felt a tight frown form in between my brows.

.....

“You’re right about that. Things were a little hectic and getting out of there was a little challenging. A few things happened while I was away although it’s only been a couple of hours,” he explained calmly.

“Still, you could have texted me so I wouldn’t have to be so worried…” I muttered darkly.

To my own surprise, I wasn’t willing to just let this slide by. I could do better but so could Ace and if we both tried harder together, I was absolutely certain that our relationship and the bond between us would get stronger. It was hard for me to speak my mind directly, but I tried my best to force my words out because I knew that if I didn’t say the things that I needed to then it would be my fault for not telling him what I wanted.

“I understand. I’m sorry, Rina. I’ll do better to keep in touch so that you won’t have to worry so much like this next time,” Ace said with a firm nod of his head.

“Thank you, Ace…” I thanked him wholeheartedly.

“So, you can stop crying now. I don’t know where you got those weird ideas of yours from, but you shouldn’t overthink things. You should also trust me more, Rina…” Ace said softly.

The solemn look on his face when he finished his sentence before he reached his hand toward my face to wipe away the tears from my eyes for me made my chest feel painfully tight with guilt and regret. I should have trusted Ace more just like he had pointed out. Once again, I let the words and actions of other people come between us. Before it was Kyle’s and Elizabeth’s words and actions that came between us and this time it was his father’s words.

I pursed my lips into a thin line before letting out a long sigh. The truth was I wanted to trust Ace more too, but it was just so difficult. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust him, but I was so scared of losing him at the same time. As a result, I was overthinking everything and also ended up feeling insecure about everything. To make matters worse, I ended up hurting his feelings because I couldn’t trust him enough.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try my best to trust you more…” I made a promise softly.

“Good…” Ace whispered as his brought his lips very close to mine.

I could feel his eyes on my lips before his gaze shifted to stare deeply into my eyes. Although his eyes were enchantingly beautiful, there was something that I wanted more than to hold his gaze. I let my eyelids slowly slide closed as I tilted my face up to offer him my lips. I let out a soft pleasurable moan when I felt the tender warmth of his lips pressing softly against mine. His kiss started off so gently that it almost felt like he was teasing me.

His arms held me tighter to him and I quickly looped my arms around his neck to pull his face down closer to mine. Standing on tiptoes, I worked to press my lips firmer against his as I kissed him back ardently. I wanted more and I wanted to taste him. My lips parted invitingly for him as I pressed my body up temptingly against his hard muscular frame.

“Ahh…Ace…” I moaned and panted his name against his lips.

Ace responded to my passionate pleading by thrusting his hot and wet tongue firmly between my lips. His taste entered my mouth, and I moaned in my throat from the pleasure of feeling his tongue moving in the wet depths of my mouth. My tongue moved eagerly to meet his as our kiss got hotter and deeper.

–To be continued…