Chapter 46
“Actually, I’m not supposed to show you this. It’s supposed to be kept confidential, especially from you, but I’ll make an exception this once,” Ace explained sternly.
‘I would like to kindly request for your consideration to promote Miss Karina Miller to join the CEO’s office as a representative of the Design Department. Despite having only a few years of experience with the firm, Karina has shown outstanding dedication and talent in her job...’
I felt tears form in my eyes as I continued reading the one-page letter of recommendation that Ace had given to me. Honestly, I had no idea that my manager would do something like this for me. When she told me about the opportunity, she never said anything about the fact that she recommended me.
“Lauren has a keen eye for talent, and she is a very honest and straightforward colleague of mine. If she wasn’t truly convinced of your talent and capabilities, she would never have recommended you for this role,” Ace said sternly after he had surmised that I had finished reading the letter.
“I didn’t know anything about this...” I admitted in a whisper while still in shock.
“I guessed as much. Lauren doesn’t like to take much credit, so she probably told you that I demanded to have you as my secretary or something along those lines. It’s not entirely untrue, though. Although I assigned you to this role based partly on her recommendation, I was the one who made the final decision,” Ace explained honestly.
I was stunned speechless. Never did I think that Lauren would request for Ace to promote me like this. She never mentioned anything to me, and I didn’t think I qualified to join the CEO’s office either. Suddenly, I started feeling extremely guilty for accusing Ace. It was all a misunderstanding that I arrived to all alone in my own head. I blinked rapidly as I tried to take in deep breaths to calm myself and to prevent my tears from falling.
“Here is the boring paperwork that I filled out to request for your transfer from Lauren’s department to the CEO’s office. In case you still don’t believe me, you can see the date of the document here,” Ace said as he slid over another piece of paper my way.
.....
It wasn’t like I didn’t believe him at that point. I could feel that Ace probably didn’t have any real reason to lie to me. My eyes fell down to the date on the document that he showed me before my eyes widened in surprise. The date on the document was a few days before the night that I slept with Ace. So that means...
“It’s true that I enjoyed sleeping with you more than enough to make me want to do it again, but I would never choose someone for such an important job simply because I wanted to fuck her,” Ace said before he smiled charmingly at me.
“I...” I murmured before I realized that I didn’t have anything more to say.
“That is not how things work at this company and that is definitely not how I operated. I am extremely disappointed that you did not know that. Not only did you underestimate your own abilities and your worth, you offended Lauren’s judge of talent, and you insulted my leadership and my professionalism,” Ace reprimanded me sternly.
He really was the CEO. I felt so scared of him, but I knew that what he said was spot on true.
“I’m very sorry, Sir...” I apologized as I tried to keep myself from crying from the shame.
“I despise cocky and arrogant people, but you should never be too humble either,” Ace said as if he was teaching me an important lesson.
“I will remember that...” I mumbled softly in response.
I stared into the face of the man who was probably the most cocky and arrogant person that I knew. What he said to me felt quite ironic coming out of his mouth.
“The day when you’re as good as me, you can start getting all cocky,” Ace said as if he could tell what I was thinking with ease.
“Yes, Sir...” I replied.
“Well, now that that is out of the way. Do you still have any reason to refuse the position?” Ace asked with a bright smile on his lips.
Suddenly, it felt like all that difficult talk between us never happened and I found myself feeling extremely relief about it.
Well...
“No, Sir...” I replied in defeat.
In the end, I couldn’t come up with another reason to turn down the opportunity. If I had to be completely honest, I probably wanted to take this leap of faith and embark on a challenging journey just to see where it would lead me. Hopefully, it would lead me closer to achieving my dream. After suddenly being dumped by Kyle, all my dreams of sharing a loving future with him was shattered into countless pieces. If I didn’t have anything left, then I had to hang on to my dream and my career tightly with both hands even if it meant that I had to deal with this wicked yet charming devil in front of me.
“Excellent. I look forward to working with you, Karina...” Ace said with utmost satisfaction.
That being all said and done, I had somehow accepted to work as Ace’s secretary. However, I didn’t have any experience at working a job like this and I didn’t quite understand what the role entailed. I’ve only seen other secretaries do basic tasks to support their boss, but it was clear that Ace seemed to have something at least slightly different in mind.
“To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I have to do as your secretary...” I admitted quite shyly.
“It’s simple. You’ll do everything that I ask you to. You’ll go everywhere that I go. Just stay by my side and learn...” Ace said like it was supposed to be obvious.
He doesn’t mean that literally, right?
–To be continued...