**Around a month later**
After making the decision to quit my job and move to work with Ace so that we could be closer to my mother, I submitted my resignation formally into the system. Given the thirty day notice period, that meant that I had one month left at my old job. That one month passed by in the blink of an eye with the many loose ends that I had to tie up.
“It’s going to be your last day here soon. I’m still finding it hard to believe,” Elizabeth said as she stared at me from her side of the table.
“I’m finding it hard to believe too. Thank you for your support and sorry for all the mess, I guess…” I said.
“Not at all. I’m happy that Ace seems to be happy. He’s off doing something of his own now and you’re about to join him,” she said without much excitement.
“You’re running this big empire,” I pointed out.
“Things are so busy, and I’ve lost quite a few good people,” she said before rolling her eyes.
“I was surprised to hear about the deal that you made with Ace,” I confessed with a smile.
“It’s not like I had a choice. The people who want to follow him will end up following him sooner or later, just like yourself,” she pointed out with a careless shrug of her shoulders.
“I guess you’re right,” I murmured.
Maybe Elizabeth knew that I would be moving to work with Ace before I even knew it myself. Since my last day was coming up soon, I thought that it would be only right for me to have a short chat with her to thank her. Regardless of what she told me before, I knew that she was very supportive of Ace and me when we were handling all the rumors and news in the media.
“Good luck and please take care of Ace. I hope he doesn’t do something crazy…” Elizabeth said followed by a laugh.
“I will. Thank you,” I thanked her again.
Although I knew that I would be seeing more of Elizabeth in the future because of the friendship that she shared with Ace, it felt like a chapter between us had come to a close. I spent some time packing up my things from my desk at the office into boxes as I prepared for my last day. I didn’t think that I had so many things to pack but it seemed like my possession had piled up from the first day that I entered the company. I was surprised at the number of coffee mugs that I had at the office and also the various small gifts and token of appreciation that I’d received from my clients over the years.
“I told you that you didn’t have to come and help me with this…” I said to Ace.
Ace was insistent on helping me pack my things at the office. At first, I thought that he must have missed the office and was using that as an excuse to come into the office after quite a while.
“Just let me help you. How can I let you carry all this stuff by yourself?” Ace asked teasingly as he took a box from me.
“It’s not even that heavy,” I mumbled.
“It is a little heavy. Plus, it’ll be much faster with my help,” he replied.
“Aren’t you just doing this because you miss being in this office?” I asked.
“Not really. I’m here because I have something to pick up as well,” he said.
“You do? What is it?” I asked curiously.
I didn’t think that Ace left anything in the office after he quit his position. I was still working as his personal secretary back then right until his last day in the office, so I was quite certain that all of his things were packed up. There shouldn’t be anything that was left behind as far as I was aware of.
“Come with me. We should go get it together,” Ace said.
…
The guard gave me a look that told me that he had expected me to be back before he greeted Ace politely. Ace had led me to the company’s archives after telling me that there was something of his that he wanted to take back with him. After stepping into the archive, I had a pretty good feeling on what that something might be.
“Are you here to take back your old works?” I asked with my best guess.
“Some of them,” he replied casually.
We walked along the rows of cabinets and shelves that stored the various documents and files in the archive until we reached the section that I had visited many times before. It felt like not so long ago when I was here looking through Ace’s past works in search of inspiration.
“Can you take them with you? I thought that they belonged to the company and that’s why they have to be stored here,” I asked with a mix of curiosity and worry.
I glanced over in the direction of the entrance where I knew that the security guard was standing on duty. It wasn’t like I hadn’t tried taking out Ace’s work from the archive before, so I had good reason to know that it was not allowed and not possible.
“Why not? It should be fine. It’s not like anyone will come down here to take a look at them anymore now that you’re not going to be working here any longer,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Are you sure?” I asked, still unconvinced that it would be that easy.
“Strictly speaking, this is my work even though it was produced during the time that I was employed by the company. Anyways, the company doesn’t really exist anymore either. Since the merger, there is no more Jessen’s and Hay’s either,” Ace explained before smiling at me.
“I see…” I murmured.
I eyed the cabinets filled with files of Ace’s past work while wondering how we were going to carry all of it out even if we were allowed to.
--To be continued…
**Around a month later**
After making the decision to quit my job and move to work with Ace so that we could be closer to my mother, I submitted my resignation formally into the system. Given the thirty day notice period, that meant that I had one month left at my old job. That one month passed by in the blink of an eye with the many loose ends that I had to tie up.
“It’s going to be your last day here soon. I’m still finding it hard to believe,” Elizabeth said as she stared at me from her side of the table.
“I’m finding it hard to believe too. Thank you for your support and sorry for all the mess, I guess…” I said.
“Not at all. I’m happy that Ace seems to be happy. He’s off doing something of his own now and you’re about to join him,” she said without much excitement.
“You’re running this big empire,” I pointed out.
“Things are so busy, and I’ve lost quite a few good people,” she said before rolling her eyes.
“I was surprised to hear about the deal that you made with Ace,” I confessed with a smile.
“It’s not like I had a choice. The people who want to follow him will end up following him sooner or later, just like yourself,” she pointed out with a careless shrug of her shoulders.
“I guess you’re right,” I murmured.
Maybe Elizabeth knew that I would be moving to work with Ace before I even knew it myself. Since my last day was coming up soon, I thought that it would be only right for me to have a short chat with her to thank her. Regardless of what she told me before, I knew that she was very supportive of Ace and me when we were handling all the rumors and news in the media.
“Good luck and please take care of Ace. I hope he doesn’t do something crazy…” Elizabeth said followed by a laugh.
“I will. Thank you,” I thanked her again.
Although I knew that I would be seeing more of Elizabeth in the future because of the friendship that she shared with Ace, it felt like a chapter between us had come to a close. I spent some time packing up my things from my desk at the office into boxes as I prepared for my last day. I didn’t think that I had so many things to pack but it seemed like my possession had piled up from the first day that I entered the company. I was surprised at the number of coffee mugs that I had at the office and also the various small gifts and token of appreciation that I’d received from my clients over the years.
“I told you that you didn’t have to come and help me with this…” I said to Ace.
Ace was insistent on helping me pack my things at the office. At first, I thought that he must have missed the office and was using that as an excuse to come into the office after quite a while.
“Just let me help you. How can I let you carry all this stuff by yourself?” Ace asked teasingly as he took a box from me.
“It’s not even that heavy,” I mumbled.
“It is a little heavy. Plus, it’ll be much faster with my help,” he replied.
“Aren’t you just doing this because you miss being in this office?” I asked.
“Not really. I’m here because I have something to pick up as well,” he said.
“You do? What is it?” I asked curiously.
I didn’t think that Ace left anything in the office after he quit his position. I was still working as his personal secretary back then right until his last day in the office, so I was quite certain that all of his things were packed up. There shouldn’t be anything that was left behind as far as I was aware of.
“Come with me. We should go get it together,” Ace said.
…
The guard gave me a look that told me that he had expected me to be back before he greeted Ace politely. Ace had led me to the company’s archives after telling me that there was something of his that he wanted to take back with him. After stepping into the archive, I had a pretty good feeling on what that something might be.
“Are you here to take back your old works?” I asked with my best guess.
“Some of them,” he replied casually.
We walked along the rows of cabinets and shelves that stored the various documents and files in the archive until we reached the section that I had visited many times before. It felt like not so long ago when I was here looking through Ace’s past works in search of inspiration.
“Can you take them with you? I thought that they belonged to the company and that’s why they have to be stored here,” I asked with a mix of curiosity and worry.
I glanced over in the direction of the entrance where I knew that the security guard was standing on duty. It wasn’t like I hadn’t tried taking out Ace’s work from the archive before, so I had good reason to know that it was not allowed and not possible.
“Why not? It should be fine. It’s not like anyone will come down here to take a look at them anymore now that you’re not going to be working here any longer,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Are you sure?” I asked, still unconvinced that it would be that easy.
“Strictly speaking, this is my work even though it was produced during the time that I was employed by the company. Anyways, the company doesn’t really exist anymore either. Since the merger, there is no more Jessen’s and Hay’s either,” Ace explained before smiling at me.
“I see…” I murmured.
I eyed the cabinets filled with files of Ace’s past work while wondering how we were going to carry all of it out even if we were allowed to.
--To be continued…
