“I see…” I mumbled with a small nod of my head. “Any other questions?” Ace asked.“About project Alpha, what are your expectations of me?” I asked.I would be a big liar if I said that I didn’t want to work on such an important and challenging project like this one. It was a well-known honor to be staffed on this project and the final of the competition is live broadcasted on television. It became a tradition for employees of the company to stay up late at night on that day to watch the competition live together at the office while cheering our company on. If we won, then everyone would drink together to celebrate until sunrise. If we loss, people drank the night away anyways as a way to deal with their disappointment. “Help me, Karina. Give it your best shot and do what you’re best at. According to Lauren, you’re supposed to be talented in design, right? Imagine, think and create…” Ace said before he smiled brightly at me.His smile felt mysterious, charming, and extremely arrogant
“What about being my girlfriend? Have you decided on that yet?” Ace asked with me still locked in his arms. “I am definitely not taking that position!” I refused loudly as I pushed hard against his chest in an attempt to free myself. Ace looked at me with widened eyes in surprise before his expression quickly turned into a sorrowful sulking one. “Why would you turn me down? I really can’t understand a girl like you,” Ace said with genuine confusion. He’s the CEO and my boss, of course, I would turn him down. There’s also a ‘no dating’ policy in this company. Plus, I wasn’t in love with him…or anything…What makes him think that I’ll say yes just like that? “You’re my boss…” I mumbled to remind both him and myself. “You’re right about that but I’m absolutely certain that you’ll fall in love with me very soon…if you haven’t already…” Ace said as he stared deeply into my eyes.Where does this man get his confidence from? I just sighed in defeat. Not wanting to discuss this topic a
“Send this project over to the CEO’s office. The team will fix it. You see, apart from dealing with key projects we also fix the shitty messes when other teams can’t even deal with their regular projects,” Ace spat without hiding his utter disappointment. He shook his head like he deserved to see and hear something better than the presentation just now. Without another word, he got up from his seat and the others quickly did the same. Ace walked out of the room without looking back while the others bowed respectfully. With that, the meeting came to a close. Ace didn’t even wait for me, so it was my responsibility to try to keep up with him. When we were outside in the hallway, I kept my distance from him because I was simply scared and extremely intimidated by him. The Devil CEO…After a few meetings that went exactly like that and ended in a very similar fashion, I finally understood why he had that title. I knew that Ace was scary when he got serious, but I never knew that he was
“At first, I thought the luxurious branding of the outlet worked well but now we’re not so sure. After adding in more trendy brands that cater to the younger adult population, we fear the current branding might seem too old fashioned for the younger generation,” Johnny chimed in with his view. The conversation went on as we switched from food to drinking some wine. Of course, I drank very moderately to make sure that I didn’t get anywhere near drunk or even tipsy. Just staring at alcohol nowadays gave me a bad feeling and I couldn’t help but recall the disaster that had just taken place when I overdrank that one night. It was just that one night, but I ended up sleeping with Ace. No more drinking for tonight! I placed my wine glass down firmly and pushed it out of the way. Ace was sitting right next to me and it would be another disaster if I added alcohol into my blood stream. I should never mix the ingredients of disaster together to create another disaster again. By the time tha
“I think you might have a fever…” Ace said.I felt my face turning beet red when I felt the gentleness of his palm against my forehead. Ace’s face was directly in front of mine as he stared into my eyes with concern. He placed his other hand on his forehead as if to compare our temperature. My heart had started beating much faster than before and the sound of my thundering heart beat felt deafening to my own ears. My heart was beating so fast and loud that I was scared that Ace would hear it. “I…I’m ok. I don’t feel sick at all…” I said as I tried to remove his hand from my forehead.He’s too close and he’s touching me…I felt even more blood rush to my face and my head started to feel dizzy. Ace hazel eyes stared closely at my face. When will the light turn green?“Let me know if you’re sick. I can drive you to the hospital,” Ace said before he retreated back to his seat.That was so not good for my poor heart. “Ok…” I murmured in reply. Thankfully, we arrived at my apartment buil
His tongue swirled in my mouth as he seemed to explore every nook and cranny. I could taste him and a bit of the wine that we had at dinner. It was such a sweet taste that I couldn’t get enough of. My tongue moved against his fervently as I started moaning louder. I kissed him back as I felt the heat of my own desire flooding and clouding my mind. Ace is such a skillful kisser. His kisses felt so satisfying and so blissful. His hand slipped in between us and began caressing the side of my waist before he sucked on my lower lip. “Ace…” I called his name to stop him, but my voice came out in a small breathless whimper as I panted. “Don’t say my name like that. You’re such a mean girl…” Ace said mockingly but he did back away a little to give me some room. Is he holding back for my sake? “This is a strange condition that you have. When I kiss you and touch you, your face gets redder and hotter...” Ace said teasingly as he reached a hand towards my face. He tranced two fingers al
That was the main objective but the hidden agenda that I tried to keep suppressed and hidden away in the corner of my mind was because I needed something to keep my mind off the fact that Kyle is supposed to be getting married today. Of course, I wasn’t invited to his wedding, and I had no idea where he was getting married. Not that it mattered, I wouldn’t turn up anyways even if he did invite me. We were not supposed to have a close relationship at all in the eyes of others who knew us. That was the curse of our forbidden and secret relationship. In an attempt to avoid thinking of that any further, I focused on my research as I sat in front of my laptop and typed away. Collecting information about what the dog meat trade was and how it worked wasn’t difficult. What was more challenging was looking into the various viewpoints that people had regarding the controversial topic. Of course, people in the west were clearly opposed to it because dogs were considered ‘a man’s best friend’.
The line clicked dead and that was when reality sank in that Ace was standing right in front of my building and I’m supposed to go see him. Oh, my goodness! Where is my lipstick?!Before I realized how illogical and crazy my actions were, I was already in front of the mirror in the entry way of my room with a lipstick in my hand. Why did I have to look so pale today of all days? Because I had planned to stay in all day, I didn’t have a trace of make up on and with the many things that had happened over the course of a few days, my skin didn’t retain any of its usual healthy glow. I applied some pink tone lipstick to my lips before reaching for my blush powder. I don’t have time for this. Ace is waiting downstairs! After checking that I no longer looked like a corpse, I headed out of my room and down to where Ace was waiting. I cursed myself silently at how much I cared about what he thought about appearance. It’s supposed to be normal for me to want to look at least presentable in