Chapter 423 Stay Out of Trouble

Chapter 423  Stay Out of Trouble

I wished with all my heart that he was doing fine before returning my attention to Jeremy who was now sitting in the driver’s seat of the car.

“Thanks,” he thanked me softly.

Just like I had feared, the conversation died down without my attempt to keep it alive. I stared out the window of the car at the view of the somewhat busy sidewalk that passed by while I failed to understand how things could get so awkward between Jeremy and me. Usually, our conversation flowed easily and naturally. From our past interactions, we had built up a reasonable amount of trust and friendship between each other, at least, that was what I thought.

It also wasn’t the first time that I dined alone with Jeremy and things had never felt this suffocating and uncomfortable between us. Just where did all this dead air come from, I had absolutely no clue. There were clearly benefits to living close to the office and I had to recognize that once again as the ride with Jeremy came to an end. Although it felt like forever had passed due to the stuffy atmosphere in the car, it was actually a very short ride from the restaurant to my place.

“Thank you very much for today. I had fun…” I said while hoping that my polite little lie would go undetected.

It used to be so much fun just hanging out with him and working together side-by-side, but it just didn’t feel like that anymore. A sinking feeling of disappointment formed in the pit of my stomach when I thought that we might have grown apart now that we were working on different projects and not spending as much time working together as before at the office.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.

Once again, the way he looked at me with a look of hesitation made me sense that he had something else that he wanted to say. That look on his face only lasted for a brief moment before it was gone and replaced with a friendly smile.

“Thanks. I should go now. I’ll see you at the office,” I said my farewell before returning his smile.

I got out of his car but when I was just about to close the door, I heard Jeremy call my name. I turned to find him leaning over and looking at me.

“Yes?” I replied questioningly.

“Let’s do this again sometime…” he said softly.

“Sure, let’s do that…” I replied.

That night, I watched Jeremy drive off with a confused feeling in my chest. I waved and watched his car turn the corner before heading into my building.

…

Work became busy for me again as our client launched another wave of complaints although there honestly wasn’t anything going wrong with our project. Our last meeting with the client left Richard visibly irritated. It was fortunate that he remained very professional while leaving it the project manager to do his job in dealing with the client.

“We’ll just have to work harder to meet the client’s expectations,” the manager told us in the team meeting that we had right after.

“Yes…” I mumbled along with the rest of my team members.

There was simply nothing else that could be done, and we just had to step up our game to please our client. That kept everyone very busy and the vague discomfort that I experienced with Jeremy the last time that we went out for dinner disappeared completely from my mind.

While working with Richard, my phone started to vibrate on my work desk. One glance at my phone screen and I almost jumped up from my seat.

“Ace…” I whispered his name.

I saw Richard glance over at me and I smiled a little at him before getting up from my seat to excuse myself. It had gotten quite rare for Ace to call me during working hours, and I wondered if there was anything that he needed. Just like the days before, Ace wasn’t in the office.

“Are you busy with work?” Ace asked while sounding quite casual.

“A little. Are you in the office?” I asked while trying to suppress the hope that naturally sprang up inside of me.

“Unfortunately, not…” Ace replied regretfully.

“That’s fine. Umm, did I mention that the bed that you ordered has arrived? It’s now in the one of the meeting rooms…” I reported dutifully.

“Really? That’s good news. It’s truly unfortunate that I’m too busy to go into the office these days,” he said and for a moment he sounded quite drained.

“Are things still busy over there?” I asked although I guessed I already knew the answer.

“More than ever. Things are progressing quite well so I’m hoping to have another meeting soon to drive the message home to those who are still hesitating to support the merger,” Ace explained.

“Right. Sounds like a great plan,” I replied.

I stood in the empty hallway while looking up and down occasionally in case someone would come along. Although our conversation didn’t go into any personal details, I still didn’t want anyone over hearing me speaking to Ace.

“I’ll try to meet up with you soon. I’m very sorry about this. Make sure that you stay out of trouble until I get back,” Ace warned me teasingly.

“You’re the one who should stay out of trouble…” I muttered a little darkly.

My response earned me a laugh from Ace and even though I was worried about him, I ended up laughing along as well. It was a shame that Ace wasn’t back in the office because at first, I thought that he may have given me a call because he came in unexpectedly.

“Don’t worry about that,” I replied while trying to hold in my giggles.

When I made that cheerful promise to Ace, I truly did not know just how hard it was for me to keep out of trouble. Try as I may, trouble seemed to follow me wherever I went.

“I’ll come by to see you soon, Rina. Please hang in there a little longer,” Ace said through the phone.

The warm tone of his voice and the sincerity that I heard in his promise warmed my heart and gave me strength to suck it up for a little longer.

--To be continued…