Closer than Before


    “Yes. There’s really nothing. Although I think it’s a little cute that you’re worried but Jeremy and me is


    just too far of a stretch,” I replied as I waved my hands in front of my face andughed lightly.


    Putting aside the issue between Jeremy and me, I felt like if there was a rtionship more suspicious


    and more realistic, it would be the rtionship between Ace and Elizabeth. I stared at Ace’s face and


    figured out that there was nothing for me to learn there. Whatever was going on, Ace wasn’t going to


    easily give it away. The more times I ran into Elizabeth, the more the way she acted confused me to the


    point where I didn’t know what to make of it.


    “You’re right. Let’s head out,” Ace said to bring that little off-track conversation to a close.


    “It’s really been a while since I went out drinking…” I murmured.


    “You better hold your drink…” Ace warned as he shot a re my way.


    Now that I thought about it, thest time that I really went out drinking was the night that I ended up


    sleeping with Ace. Ever since that night, I had been working very hard to manage my drinks or avoid


    drinking all together.


    “You don’t have to tell me that…” I retorted lightly.


    The traffic was quite light, and it didn’t take long for us to arrive at the rooftop bar. By the time that we


    got there, the party was already in full swing. Julianna and her team were drinking away, and I knew


    that there would be more than one casualty for the night. It was frankly amazing how these same


    people drinking away right now would be the exact same people who would turn up tomorrow at the


    office to put the grind into their work.


    “Oh, the big boss is here. Come over here…” Julianna waved us over when she spotted us.


    I had no idea if she was drunk already or not, but she was surely blowing off a lot of steam. Ace looked


    at me and shook his head a little before leading me to a seat. He sat down next to me and began


    ordering drinks for us.


    “It’s good to celebrate like this once in a while…” I said with a sigh of relief.


    The wind blew my hair back from my face and the weather felt so perfect. Tonight might be ourst


    worry-free night before the reportse in tomorrow regarding themercial. If the numbers don’t


    look good then, we’ll be back to fixing things in the war room.


    “You’re right. I guess I should encourage everyone to celebrate more and have team bonding dinners


    and all that,” Ace said with a smile my way.


    I smiled weakly back at him while the thought of him retiring from his position ran in the back of my


    mind. If only he didn’t have to leave and things could be like this forever. The warm orange glow from


    the lighting of the bar highlighted Ace’s attractive features and I found myself staring at him as if lost in


    a daze. I was sure that there’s got to be a good reason behind what he was doing but change was


    never easy to deal with. Suddenly, when he smiled and when he spoke to me, everything just felt so


    bittersweet.


    I nced behind us to see Julianna and her team chatting away loudly while drinking. Although we


    were supposed to be together, there was enough distance between us to allow for some alone and


    private time for Ace and myself.


    “It was quite surprising for Elizabeth to turn up out of the blue like that…” I said as I stared at the rim of


    my cocktail ss.


    “Did it bother you that she turned up?” Ace asked while getting right to the point.


    I would be lying if I said that it didn’t bother me. Of course, it bothered me. It probably bothered me


    more than Ace would ever realize and more than I would be willing to admit to his face.


    Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    “I didn’t think that she would turn up. It did bother me…” I replied while trying to be honest.


    “Elizabeth is a very blunt person but she’s also very genuine. You mighte to like her after you’ve


    spent more time with her,” Ace said casually.


    “Do you like her too?” I asked before I could stop myself.


    I would love to believe that it was the alcohol in me that was doing the talking; however, I haven’t had


    that much to drink at all. The cocktail that Ace had chosen for me was just sweet and I doubted that


    there was even a lot of alcohol mixed into it in the first ce. Regardless, if I had to bow down to


    borrow my courage from alcohol to have this conversation with him then so be it.


    “I don’t want to fight you on this. I know that you have your suspicious but…this and that are very


    different things. To your question, I like her a lot as someone who works in the same industry,” Ace


    replied before he shed me a smile.


    I felt like his response was honest enough and that just made me feel ufortable inside. There was


    just something going on between these two that I haven’t managed to wrap my head around. If they


    were not engaged in a love affair, then what could this possibly be?


    “It looks like you two have gotten closer…” I dared voice my observation.


    “Just like you and Jeremy?” Ace asked teasingly.


    “We appear to be closer because we’ve been working together a lot. I just told you that…” I replied


    while trying my best not to snap at him.


    Trying to turn the tables on me while using Jeremy as an excuse was just uneptable. We worked so


    hard together and he was always so supportive of me and the work that we did together. I couldn’t have


    asked for a more perfect partner to work alongside with for Project Alpha, and that was probably why I


    felt quite angry for Ace to speak ill of Jeremy.


    --To be continued…