Promising Results
Promising Results
We did it?
“Really? Did the amount of donation go up?” I asked as his words caught my attention. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
Ace smiled warmly down at me before he slowly nodded his head in confirmation. My eyes widened
even further, and for a moment, I was at a loss for words. Thankfully, we were finally seeing some
positive results and some good news. I let out a sigh of relief before I tried my best to smile up brightly
at Ace.
“Come along. You can listen to Julianna blab about her success,” Ace said as he grabbed my wrist.
He turned around and began pulling me along with him down the hallway. I let him lead me wherever
he wanted me to. I was just so relieved that Project Alpha seemed to be back on track. There wasn’t a
lot of time left until the announcement of the winner of the competition and then everything that I had
been waiting for and dreading would happen all at once.
Ace would quit his job and he would no longer work here. I wouldn’t have the chance to work with Ace
like this anymore. I stared down at his hand holding onto my wrist as we continued walking and it
brought a painful tightness to my chest and then a stinging sensation to the back of my eyes. I had to
look away and sniff a couple of times to keep my tears away. It was just so heart wrenching when I
thought that our time working together would be cut short. Regret felt heavy and painful, and it made
me realize that I wished that I could have had more time with Ace.
On the bright side, I’ll finally find out what Ace had planned for himself after his retirement from this
place. Maybe he would follow his passion and I was determined to support him no matter what it was.
There was a small hope inside of me that he would allow me to be part of the future that he dreamt of.
“Rina…” Ace called my name.
“Huh?” I murmured as I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts.
“Stop spacing out. What are you thinking about?” he asked as he stared down into my upturned face.
“Umm…about how great it is that we got some positive results,” I replied.
“You should see for yourself,” Ace said as he pushed the door to the war room open.
I quickly pulled my hand out of his before anyone saw us. It would be bad if people found out about
secret relationship now of all times. Everyone’s focus, including mine, should be on ensuring that
Project Alpha turned out to be a success. There was no time for anyone to lose focus, at least, that was
what I tried desperately to remind myself.
“Oh, Ace you’re back…” Julianna said as she clapped her hands together.
“Rina is back too,” Jeremy added.
The two of them headed over to greet me and I could see the clear excitement on their faces. Ace must
have been understating the level of success when he told me about the positive results. Judging from
my two colleagues’ reactions and the joyous atmosphere in the room, it felt like the competition was
already ours.
“You’re making me so excited too. May I see it?” I asked with a smile.
“You have to! Everyone has to see this,” Julianna announced proudly before pulling on my arm.
She led me to the large monitors that she usually gathered around with her team members before
urging me to take a seat. My eyes immediately went to the chart that displayed the campaign’s
donation amount. Immediately, I gasped and covered my mouth with both my hands. Julianna laughed
a little next to me before she sat down on the chair right next to mine.
“This is amazing. No, it’s beyond amazing…” I said in awe as I kept staring at the chart.
The flat line that Jeremy had shown me before now showed a sudden spike. Of course, there was no
guarantee that this trend would continue but this was surely the great leap that we had all been waiting
for. I turned toward Julianna to see her beaming a proud smile at me.
“It’s a wonder how much we can achieve after pulling an all-nighter…” she said with a laugh.
I was glad that all-nighter was all it took to turn things around like this. If the donation figures did not
improve, I didn’t know what else we could have done. I was thankful that it didn’t come to that because
I didn’t want to see Ace stressed about work.
“You’re amazing. This is almost unbelievable,” I said excitedly.
“The social media work that we did really help to save the day,” she replied with a broad smile.
“Can we expect similar figures daily from now on?” I asked while thinking that I can quickly put in some
analysis.
“We think so. We’ll see tomorrow. I’m happy enough that we got through today. Usually the trend would
continue,” she said before winking at me.
“I see. That’s good…” I said with relief.
“Yup. There’s nothing for you or anyone to worry about now,” Julianna announced.
“Which is why you and your team should head home,” Ace said sternly from behind us.
I turned and jumped a little in my seat when I saw that I was right about Ace standing right behind our
seats. Now that Julianna had seen the results of her long hours, Ace was right that she should head
home.
“Thanks for worrying but I’m fine…” she replied.
“I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about my project. This is a war and not a battle that will last one
day. You have to work tomorrow and maybe you have to work even harder the day after that. Go home
and rest before you collapse,” Ace ordered without backing down.
His gaze was serious, and I was glad that I wasn’t the one that he was staring at. Julianna let out a soft
sigh while closing her eyes momentarily as she gave in.
--To be continued…