?


    483 Destined Connection


    I wished that I could say that I fully understood the struggle that he went through but that would be me overestimating myself and overly simplifying his problems. 1


    "What happened in the end?" I asked.


    "In the end, things got so heated between us that we were splitting the team into two, almost literally. There were people who agreed with the manager while there were also many that agreed with what I had in mind. The key problem with the storyline and storyboard that I came up with were two things. Firstly, the concept was very holistic and indirect, which many thought would be hard for the audience to understand. The second issue was that the budget required to produce themercial that I wanted was over the top expensive," Ace exined before taking a pause.


    I wasn''t sure whatmercial he was referring to exactly, but I could see Ace stubbornly pushing for the idea that he truly believed would produce the best oue regardless of what other people had to say.


    "The atmosphere at work became toxic quickly after that and the team wasn''t making any progress. The deadlines became choking, and we were on the verge of running behind schedule if a decision wasn''t made regarding the storyboard that we were going to use," he went on with his story quite grimly.


    "I guess you somehow got them to go along with your storyline in the end..." I stated my guess.


    "That''s right. In the end, my father was the one who decided to approve the additional budget and we went along with the idea that I had," he confessed.


    Although he got what he wanted at the end of the argument, Ace didn''t look at all that happy about it. I could sense that something must have gone wrong with that project and thepany''s performance at the Ashfordpetition that year. Ace was silent for a moment, and I didn''t dare to disturb his thoughts or rush him into continuing his story. I wondered why Ace was suddenly telling me all this and doing all of this reminiscing of the past. Perhaps because I was now leaving thepany, he thought that he would have even less connection to the ce.


    It was strange because Ace and his father still owned arge chunk of thepany even if he no longer worked there. As long as this was still their family business, I didn''t see how Ace would bepletely separated from it.


    "Rina, do you remember themercial that you mentioned during your job interview? You know, the one you said inspired you to join this line of work and thispany," Ace asked abruptly as he turned to stare right at me.


    I felt like he had put me on the spot and although I was very confused about where this was going, I did remember very well the job interview that I had years ago when I first joined thepany. I remembered it very well partly because it was the interview thatnded me my dream job at my dreampany. However, the other reason that I remembered it so well was the fact that Ace was there as one of my interviewers on that day.


    "Of course, I do. How could I ever forget?" I replied truthfully.


    "I made thatmercial..." Ace stated bluntly as our eyes met.


    He made...thatmercial?


    "I see. So, it really was you..." I said before letting out a long sigh and nodding my head.


    It wasn''t like I didn''t see thising, but I just hadn''t gotten around to confirming the facts with Ace. I had no idea why, but a strange sense of relief came over me after his confession. He really was the one behind thatmercial that saved me, inspired me, and gave me a purpose in life for me to keep on going.


    "You don''t seem so surprised," Ace said with a slightly surprised look on his face.


    "Well, the truth is, Jeremy took me down to thepany''s archives and while going through the files down there, I stumbled upon your old works coincidentally," I replied before smiling a little.


    "Are you sure that it was coincidence?" Ace asked before grinning knowingly at me.


    "Fine. He took me down there to take a look at your old works to look for some inspiration. Out of all the people that we know and admire, we both agree that you''re the best at engaging people emotionally with yourmercials," I confessed softly.


    "And?" Ace prompted for me to continue.


    Why do I feel like I had done something wrong, and now I have to confess to my wrongdoings?


    "I was looking through the files of your past works and I happened to stumble on it. You know, the file outlining the idea and storyboard of themercial that I mentioned in my interview," I said.


    "You mean this, right?" Ace said as he handed me the file that he had taken from the archive earlier.


    I took the folder that he handed to me and opened it to see the exact documents that I had flipped through before when I was in the archive. My eyes widened when I realized that it was the files associated with thatmercial that he had taken from the archive. Back then it was hard for me to believe that themercial that had so much influence on me was actually Ace''s idea and work. It felt like too much of a coincidence and I wasn''t sure how to deal with this kind of surprise. My eyes narrowed and I sucked in a rapid breath when I suddenly realized something.


    ?


    "You knew?" I gasped with widened eyes.


    If Ace was telling me this now, then it could only mean one thing. Ace already knew since the day of the interview just how much his work had impacted and influenced me. Despite all that, he never said anything. He didn''t say anything about his ownership of the work during the interview and he never mentioned anything to me up until now.


    --To be continued...