Chapter 343 Their Secret

"Not really…" I replied to her earlier question while feeling quite confused at what she was trying to get at this time around.

"Ace, you didn't tell her? Even after all that we discussed, you still didn't tell her?" Elizabeth turned to ask Ace with clear surprise in her face.

Ace looked slightly uncomfortable before his face returned to its calm and almost emotionless state again. Although his reaction was very brief, I didn't miss it.

"She'll find out soon anyways…" he muttered.

"I have no idea why he's like this. Well, I guess he's right that you will find out soon," Elizabeth said as she turned to me and then showed me a bright smile that left me even more confused than ever before.

The way the two of them were acting stimulated my curiosity. Suddenly, it felt like I could no longer wait to find out what exactly these two had been hiding from me. What was it that Ace was supposed to tell me?

"Umm…what did you two discuss?" I asked with my eyes on Elizabeth.

"Oh, let's just say that Ace did an amazing job in convincing me that you have the right to know about our little secret a little bit before everyone else does," Elizabeth replied before she giggled like a young girl.

The idea of having a secret between Ace and herself must have amused her greatly to the point that I felt like she was proud of this secret that they had managed to keep between them. At least, now she was openly admitting that there was indeed a secret that the two of them had been keeping from me and everyone else. As for what their secret could be, I had no idea.

"Your secret?" I asked with widened eyes.

"Yes, our secret…" Elizabeth said before pressing her index finger up against her lips.

I opened my mouth to ask her directly about that secret that she had been so proudly flaunting in front of my face when the door to the room opened with a loud bang. I turned around toward the door to find out that that loud sound was the announcement of the chairman's return. Apparently, his phone call was now over.

His entrance caught everyone's attention and brought an abrupt end to the conversation that Elizabeth had started. I cursed his timing silently in my head when I thought that his return had robbed me of the opportunity to find out anything about the secret that Elizabeth and Ace had been hiding. My eyes narrowed slightly as the chairman casually joined us and took his seat on one of the sofas.

"I assume that everyone that needs to be here is here now," the chairman said as his eyes travelled from Elizabeth to Ace and then to me.

"Yes, everyone is here," Ace replied coldly.

"So? Care to properly explain how you're going to fix that massive mess that you've created?" the chairman directed his question at Ace with an unimpressed look on his face.

I should have guessed that there was no way that the chairman would have been fine with Ace publicizing his retirement the way that he did. For a moment, I feared what would happen to Ace. The look in the chairman's eyes was merciless and it felt like he was out for blood. Ace didn't seem that bothered by his father's hot temper.

"Just like I've been telling you for the past hour or s, you have to calm down and stop talking to your lawyers and all those PR representatives before they drive you insane…" Ace suggested without much care.

"How can I not talk to them? They're the best at what they do and that is cleaning up after all the mess that you love to create," his father yelled as his face grew increasing red.

I felt uncomfortable and didn't know what to say as I watched father and son continue exchanging hurtful words. My eyes glanced over to see Elizabeth checking out her perfectly manicured nails like she had nothing better to do. It surprised me how calm she could be when the only two men in the room were almost tearing out each other's necks.

"You really have to get use to this if you're not already…" she advised without even glancing my way.

My eyes returned to the chairman who was still busy lecturing his only son before my eyes shifted to Ace's clearly irritated face. A brief thought did occur to me that this might be how the two of them showed their love and care for each other. After all, everyone has different ways to show their love and concern, and this might just be how it was between them.

"So why did you insist on bringing her? She's useless here. What can someone like her possibly do?" the chairman said.

I gasped when the chairman pointed his index finger accusingly at me. That optimistic thought that I had about these two having a loving relationship evaporated completely from my mind. I felt the chairman's intimidating stare on me, and my eyes quickly avoided his to search for Ace's calm hazel eyes. Ace smiled at me when our eyes met before he nodded his head slightly as if to tell me that everything would be alright. Just like the chairman, I truly wondered why he had to bring me here along with him.

"She's my girlfriend so it's only right that she should know about this too. I've also gotten Elizabeth's permission so if she doesn't tell a soul about what we're about to talk about then it shouldn't be a problem. Right?" Ace explained before asking Elizabeth for her confirmation.

"Right…" Elizabeth agreed before rolling her eyes upward to the ceiling.

"And what is it exactly that we have to talk about? This better be good, Ace. I warn you, this better be something good. Once again, the share price is going to take a hit because of your selfish actions," the chairman asked challengingly.

--To be continued…