Undercover Excitement


    Although it was the middle of a weekday, there were many people in the shopping district. I guessed


    that just goes to show how into shopping people were. Then again, most people that were there were


    younger people who haven’t started working yet or the elderly. Many tourists were among them as well.


    I was certain that within a few hours, this entire ce would be packed with people.


    I fully assumed that Ace knew where we were going. He must have spoken to Julianna and the team


    already and that meant that he knew all the spots where themercial would be disyed. My heart


    began beating harder and faster in my chest at the thought of how close I was to finding out the


    audience’s reaction to themercial that we had worked so hard to produce.


    Many couples walked hand in hand as they looked into the many attractive shop disys. I wondered if


    we looked like a couple on a casual shopping trip together as well as I walked with my hand in Ace’s.


    Seeing our reflection in the shop disy window made me think that we looked like quite a pair with our


    casual clothes on. No one would suspect that we were actually here to gather some insights for our


    made me feel like we were on a date indeed.


    “That’s the first spot…” Ace said as he pointed his index finger at a veryrge screen located on arge


    shopping mall in front of us.


    “Wow…” I murmured in awe as my eyes fixated on therge screen.


    Ourmercial is going to appear there?


    “Julianna went all out…” Ace said what I had in mind.


    “I don’t even want to imagine how much it costs to get ourmercial up there…” I muttered to myself


    as my eyes stared up at therge screen above us.


    Ace was right about Juliana going all out about thesemercial cements. This was supposed to


    be a non-profit project but it seemed like so much investment from ourpany had gone into it. That


    made sense considering how important it was for ourpany’s reputation for us to win this


    “Not much. I think Julianna negotiated for a very good rate with the excuse that our work is non-profit


    and that it’ll make it look like the mall is supporting a good CSR cause,” Ace replied with a careless


    shrug of his shoulders.


    “Oh, I see…that’s smart…” I said as I nodded my head.


    “It’s Julianna…” Ace said with a smallugh.


    “Right…” I mumbled in reply.


    I had to say that I was very impressed with her work and hoped that the audiences would be just as


    impressed if not more impressed. Once again, I was reminded that the CEO’s office team was really


    them. I stared up at the screen before taking in a deep breath. Instead of feeling down about it like


    before, I started to feel more determined about improving myself so that one day, I would be at their


    level too.


    The way he said her name made me feel like he was so proud of her, and although that I knew that he


    probably meant that professional, it still brought a slight stinging pain to my chest. My eyes darted to


    Ace’s face and then I wondered if he ever mentioned that he thought that I was smart in front of other


    people like that.


    Probably not…


    Anothermercial was ying on the screen and it was clearly not yet time for theunch but that


    only made me feel even more excited. Ace checked the time on his watch before shoving his hands


    into his pant pockets and turning to me.


    “What is it?” I asked with slight worry.


    “We still have some time, I guess. Want to grab a quick meal beforeing back here?” he suggested.


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    “I’m not really hungry…” I mumbled.


    It was true but more importantly, I was scared of missing the first moment that ourmercial would be


    disyed on therge screen.


    “You know, themercial will be yed over and over once it starts, right?” Ace asked before


    grinning at me.


    He probably knew what I was thinking and what I was scared of. Of course, I knew that themercial


    would be looped forever until our assigned slot came to an end.


    “It’s not the same thing. I want to see it since the very first time that it starts ying. The audiences’


    reaction the first time is going to be the most unique as well…” I argued my case passionately.


    “Alright, alright…I get it,” Ace said with a chuckle.


    I smiled at him when I found him smiling at me. The way his hazel eyes seemed to sparkle told me that


    he was probably just as excited to see themercial as I was. Instead of going out to watch a


    romantic movie on our date, here we were waiting to watch themercial that we worked hard on to


    produce.


    “Umm…if you want, I can go buy you something to eat…” I suggested while hoping that it would be a


    good-enough alternative.


    “I’m fine. Let’s go out for a proper meal after you’re satisfied with watching themercial here,” Ace


    suggested.


    “Ok…” I murmured.


    I felt his arms slipping around my waist before he pulled me backwards a little until my back was


    pressed up against his hard andrger frame. His arms around me felt very warm and secure and I


    was overwhelmed by his familiar scent. Many people walked past us without paying us any mind as the


    shopping district started to get busier than before.


    “Umm…how much longer do we have to wait?” I asked after standing there for a moment with Ace’s


    arms around me.


    --To be continued…