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“Do you want to look around the garden first?” she suggested with a smile.

I was tempted to say yes to her random invitation but one look at Ace told me to hold my tongue. Despite the bright and cheerful atmosphere that Elizabeth wanted to present, the situation probably didn’t leave us with much time to pay attention to her well-tended garden.

“Let’s go inside where we can talk,” Ace replied in my place.

“You’re just killing the mood, Ace…” Elizabeth said jokingly.

Despite her initial enthusiasm, Elizabeth did not push the matter any further as she turned and led the way into the house. Unlike the modest exterior of the house, the inside of the house was decorated quite luxuriously. I assumed that her grandparents used to live here and there was no reason why the place wouldn’t be decorated to suit their tastes.

“This house used to belong to my grandparents. I inherited it from my grandfather when he passed away,” she explained as she led the way.

“Ace told me something to that effect…” I replied.

“He did? I’m glad that he still remembers,” she said before letting out a joyous laugh.

“This place has not changed…” Ace muttered.

“Have you been here before?” I asked as his words caught my attention.

“A few times. It was a long time ago,” Ace replied without offering anymore information.

“Ace used to visit us, but yes, it was a very long time ago,” Elizabeth chimed in.

She led us into a cozy room that had a round table positioned right in the center of the room. With a graceful gesture of her hand, she invited us to take a seat.

“Some tea or coffee? Don’t expect too much from me, though. I’m the only one here right now and there’re no maids around,” she said before laughing at her own joke.

“It’s fine,” I replied.

“I’ll try to make this quick, then. What we’re about to talk about needs to be kept very confidential. I didn’t want to risk any leaks because the staffs do work for my father too…” she said before rolling her eyes.

“It’s fine. We understand,” Ace said, and I could sense the impatience in his tone.

“Right. Then, let me start by telling you some bad news. My father has not given up on getting me to break up with Kyle and he’s still using the company’s merger as a hostage for me to do what he wants,” Elizabeth said before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It was indeed bad news; however, I had expected something like this. If everything could be resolved so easily with her father, then we wouldn’t be here having this meeting. The tension seemed to skyrocket in the air around us and I was too scared to make a sound.

“As for the rumors that are spreading about in the news, he did not owe up to that, but I am very certain that it’s his doing. Of course, I asked him directly about it, but he refused to give me a straightforward answer,” Elizabeth reported, and her tone sounded very cold and distant.

The conversation that she had with her father must have been a strange and extremely uncomfortable one. I couldn’t imagine having a conversation like that with my mother where I had to ask her if she was the one who spread false rumors about me in the news. A shiver ran up my spine and my body trembled for a short moment.

“If he didn’t outright deny it, then he probably did it. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much who’s behind this. The gossip is out there, and the damage is done,” Ace stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Maybe you’re right but I disagree. He’s not your father so you may not feel anything about it but…” she said before trailing off.

Her face was red with anger, and I could tell that she was about to let out some impressive swear words had she kept on talking. Elizabeth probably knew that as well, so she decided to clamp her mouth shut and swallow those words before they would materialize.

“Anyways, it’s not the same. It pisses me off that he’s done something like this to me. Embarrassing me in front of everyone,” she spat heatedly.

“I hate to say it but the gossip and everything written doesn’t seem negative even though it’s not at all true,” Ace pointed out.

I agreed with Ace but decided to stay silent. From what I’ve read and seen, the articles were very supportive of Ace and Elizabeth getting back together. The vibe that I got from those articles was similar to the vibe when the people’s favorite celebrity got engaged or married. The public seemed to approve of the match and was happy for the two of them.

“I’m not sorry to say this but I don’t want a career boast from some fake news that I’m dating you,” Elizabeth said as she glared at Ace menacingly.

“I won’t take any offense in that. I don’t want people to understand that I’m in a relationship with you either,” Ace said, and I could tell that he wasn’t at all bothered by her words.

“Well, at least we’re on the same page about that,” she muttered.

“So?” Ace asked as he stared across the table at Elizabeth.

“So, what?” she asked.

“Have you decided on what you’re going to do? Are you breaking up with that husband of yours?” Ace asked without beating around the bush.

I bit down on the inside of my lower lip at his blunt question. Somehow, I wished that he would have been more careful and considerate in how he phrased and asked that question given how sensitive the topic must be for Elizabeth. My chest tightened a little as I glanced over to observe Elizabeth’s reaction. To my surprise, she didn’t seem hurt or bothered by his directness.

--To be continued…