Chapter 458 End to Peaceful Days

Chapter 458 End to Peaceful Days

After reaching an agreement that I should simply stop renting my place and move in with him properly, we scheduled a weekend to make sure that the move would happen. Of course, it was Ace’s idea and his persistent insistence that made it all happen.

“Should I help you unpack?” he offered.

“Oh, no. That’s fine. I’ll get it sorted myself,” I quickly turned down his suggestion.

“If you’re lazy, you can take it slow. There’s no need to unpack everything today. The guest bedroom is free and so are some other rooms, so you can just put your stuff there for now,” he pointed out.

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” I replied.

I understood why Ace was insistent, but I still had my reserves about our relationship. It had only been around two months since Ace and Elizabeth announced their breakup. I could already imagine what people would have to say if they found out that we were already dating and that I had already moved into Ace’s place. I didn’t need to be a genius to figure out how our relationship would be portrayed. Everyone would think that Ace cheated on Elizabeth with me. The fact that I was his personal secretary would just add spice and seasoning to the matter and bring it up to a whole new level of juiciness.

They would all point their fingers at me and blame me for stealing Ace away from Elizabeth while condemning our affair. Then there would be people who thought that the two of them made a better match. At the same time, I couldn’t come out and tell everyone that I had been dating Ace all along and that his relationship with Elizabeth was just a set up for the sake of the merger. Regardless of how I looked at it or how optimistic I tried to be; I knew that I would be the one who would take the blame.

I glanced over at Ace and how he was happily going about his life. That was when I knew that my decision to keep this particular worry away from him was without a doubt correct. It had been two months since he quit his job, but it didn’t seem like Ace was in a hurry to start doing anything. While I went to work during the weekdays, Ace either stayed home or went out occasionally to meet up with his friends. He did not get another job and it didn’t seem to me like he was working on anything.

During the weekends, we spent time together and even found time to visit my mother. Given how things were pretty rocky the first and also last time that she saw him, she was extremely excited to see me visiting with Ace. She refused our offer to take her out for dinner and opted to cook dinner for us instead. Overall, life was peaceful and there wasn’t anything that I was discontented with. However, there were times when I felt uneasy.

I would find out in less than two weeks that our peaceful life couldn’t last forever...

...

There was nothing notable about that day except for the fact that it felt extra cloudy and gloomy at the same time. Just like any other weekday, I headed to work where I focused on meeting the expectations of not just my client but also my new team manager. I remember someone telling me that the memories that you try hardest to forget are actually the ones that will continue to haunt you. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with what that person said until I had to find out for myself.

After returning from having lunch outside, I couldn’t help but notice the strange stares and attention that people were sending my way. Everyone that I walked past would stop whatever they were doing to look at me before whispering to whoever was standing beside them. If I hadn’t gone through something similar before, I would have thought that I was just merely imagining things. However, I knew better than to be optimistic like that. A strong sense of déjà vu took over me and I quickly realized that whenever something like this happened, there was nothing but bad news waiting for me.

While trying my best to ignore the stares that people were directing at me, I quickly made my way toward the elevator. I soon arrived at my project room where my manager was waiting for me with a very worried look on her face. The look on her face told me all that I needed to know and acted as a solid confirmation that something was indeed wrong. nOvE(1b.1n

“Is there something that you need to talk to me about or tell me?” I asked without beating around the bush.

I wasn’t lying to myself when I thought that I had gotten quite used to this. Although I didn’t think that it was going to be possible at first, I had to admit that once again Ace was right. My skin truly got thicker, and I had developed a better sense of noticing when something had gone off course. It was strange to see the conflicted look on my manager’s face as she seemed to debate with herself on how to approach the issue with me.

“There’s a small meeting room over there so maybe it’s best that we talk in there,” I suggested after deciding to take the lead and help her out a little.

“Sure, that would work,” she replied before leading the way there.

I closed the door to the small meeting room behind me and locked it to ensure that we had the privacy that we needed to discuss whatever we needed to talk about. I sat down at the table as I watched my manager letting out a loud sigh.

“Is something the matter?” I asked softly.

At that point, I wasn’t sure what had happened even though I knew that it must have been very troubling. There was a brief moment when I did consider that something may have blown up at work or within the project that I was involved with; however, my gut feeling told me that whatever had gone wrong wasn’t exactly work-related.

--To be continued...