Chapter 163
Chapter 163
Somehow, I made it home. I didn’t even remember how I made it home after I had gotten into a cab. I’ll
figure everything work-related out tomorrow. I’ll apply for sick leave or whatever was necessary later
on. When I got home, I realized that I had no memories of my time in the cab at all. My thoughts were a
jumbled mess and so were my emotions.
Thankfully, there were no reporters in front of my apartment anymore since the press conference made
the rumors about us die down. I managed to get into my apartment before letting my body fall face first
onto the bed. My entire body felt heavy as if it was made out of solid rocks.
“Mum?” I spoke through the phone while hating our much my voice broke and quivered.
“Rina? What’s wrong?” my mother asked in a panic.
She must have figured out that something was gravely wrong from my tone of voice. I wiped my tears
from my cheek and eyes with my hand before taking in a deep breath. I’m such a mess and a failure for
worrying my mother this way.
“Umm…I’m just calling you to tell you that I’ll be going back home today. So, yea, see you soon…” I
said while I tried to keep my voice steady.
That was only half of the truth. The other reason why I was calling was that I wanted to hear her voice.
When things got difficult, it was always my mother who was always there to comfort me with her kind
words or to tell me off with her harsh words until I found the light at the end of the tunnel again.
“I don’t know what is going on but I’m happy that you’re coming back home, Rina,” my mother said in
one of her gentlest tones.
“Thank you, mum…” I replied before hanging up.
…
The sun had already set by the time that I arrived at my mother’s place. From the time that I dashed
out of Ace’s office until that point in time, he never tried to contact me. There wasn’t a single miscall or
text message from Ace on my phone. If I had to be honest, I would say that I didn’t expect him to
suddenly disengage himself from my life like this. However, I had to say that this may prove to be for
the better for both of us.
After all, what’s the point of going through all the ugly and emotional drama and argument if we’re just This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
going to end up going our separate ways anyways.
He’s still my boss at work and I still have to work with him as long as I’m still working at Jessen’s and
Hill’s. Maybe I can request a transfer back to my old department. My old boss will probably take me
back, although without grilling me for a good reason for my move back. I still wanted to work on Project
Alpha till the very end, though. That may prove to be troublesome because that would mean that I
would have to see Ace everyday as the project’s supervisor.
Everything was so messy and complicated.
I see. This is precisely why the company had put in place that ‘no dating between employees’ rule in
the first place. Here we younger people all thought that the older people who put that rule in place were
lame and too conservative. Now, I guess I had grown older in a matter of hours because I was truly
seeing the merit of having that rule in place. It was all to prevent young and stupid people like me from
getting myself into this kind of damaging and career-limiting situations.
“Rina, you’re back…” my mother said when she answered the door.
“Hi, mum…” I said before trying my best to smile at her.
The moment that my mother opened the door to our apartment for me, the ugly voices inside of my
head quietened. The tears that I had been holding back flooded my eyes and ran down my cheeks as I
pulled my mother into a tight hug. I felt her arms around my body and then she began stroking my back
just like she always did to comfort me whenever I got scared of upset as a child.
“Everything is going to be just fine, Rina…” she whispered to me comfortingly.
My mother being the understanding mother that she was, focused on feeding me some warm food
without asking me any questions about why I had suddenly turned up in tears in front of her apartment
door. After trying my best to eat some of the food that she had prepared for me, I realized that I wanted
to tell her about my troubles. It may not solve anything at all, but I had made up my mind not to keep
any secrets away from my mother anymore.
“Mum…” I called her name softly.
“Rina, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. No matter what, I’m always here for you,” my
mother said before she smiled a little at me.
Her hand reached out for mine from across the table and gave it a comforting squeeze. Her kindness
only made more tears well up in my eyes. Why did the world outside have to be so tough and filled with
wicked people? I wished that I could just hide in this little apartment and live a quiet life with this special
lady.
“Actually, I want to talk about it. Would you mind listening?” I asked in a small yet hopefully voice.
“Of course. If that is what you want…” my mother replied.
How do I even start telling her about what happened?
“Well, today the woman who was Ace’s secretary before I took the role came to our office. She’s
pregnant and she was there to demand for Ace to take responsibility…” I said before my voice started
to crack and I had to take a pause.
My mother’s expression turned into one of extreme shock. I must have had that expression on my face
too earlier in the day when I found out. She was speechless and so I was for a while.
--To be continued…