492 Honoring His Promise
"Thank you so much. This really is the perfect proposal," I said before smiling warming at the two of them.
"Well, I'm glad that you kept the promise that you made," my mother said to Ace.
"What promise?" I asked with widened eyes.
It felt like I had missed out on something important, and I didn't quite like the fact that the two of them seemed to share so many secrets between them. I had no idea what my mother was referring to but it was clear as day that Ace knew exactly what she was talking about. I turned to Ace as I demanded silently with my eyes for his explanation.
"Well, do you remember that day when we came to your mother's house?" Ace asked calmly.
"Which day? We came here so many times before..." I asked in return.
"The day where we had that issue...with Claudia..." Ace replied.
"Yes, I do..." I replied as I wondered where this was going.
"On that day I had a chance to talk to your mother. More like she spent some time telling me off..." Ace explained before stopping and letting out a small laugh.
"You did?" I turned to ask my mother.
"Well, he did make you feel very upset," my mother replied before shrugging her shoulders.
"Don't blame your mother, even I think she did the right thing at the time. If I were in her shoes, I would probably do the exact same thing. She basically told me that if I wasn't serious about dating you, then she would highly appreciate it if I would leave you alone. Your mother was very serious and...she said that your life was already tough enough the way that it was..." Ace explained solemnly.
I had absolutely no idea that such a conversation had taken place between them. That misunderstanding was very harsh on us back then and I felt truly hurt back then. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Ace to clear up the misunderstanding. I came back to my mother's place and along with my arrival, I must have brought her many worries as well.
"I might have been too aggressive, but I thought that if he wasn't serious about you, then you two might as well just break up. So, I begged him to leave you if he had no intentions of marrying you in the future. To my surprise, Ace confidently promised that he would marry you soon when the time was right," my mother explained before smiling at us.
"And here I am keeping my promise," Ace declared proudly.
I was frankly rendered speechless. Ace did bring up the topic of marriage to me a few times before, but I found it hard for me to believe that he was truly being serious about it. Then again, I didn't feel like I was ready for it back then. All this time, I was oblivious to the promise that Ace had made to my mother. His honest intentions made my heart swell in my chest as I appreciated him even more.
"Thank you, Ace..." I thanked him with all my heart.
....
**Around a month later**
Our wedding took place on what I felt was the most perfect day ever. Ace was the one who picked the date because he 'couldn't wait any longer' for us to get married. I would have picked a much later date that would allow for months of preparation, but Ace wouldn't hear of it.
"I'll pay the organizers and they will do everything. Plus, you want to have a small and private wedding, right?" Ace pointed out quite correctly.
"Right..." I murmured in agreement.
Since so many parts of our relationship was public such as that time when rumors of us dating leaked out or that time when we had to host a press conference to announce that we were really dating, I couldn't bear to think that our wedding would turn out into such a public affair as well. It would prove to be a nightmare and that wouldn't match the dream wedding that I had in mind at all.
I wanted something small, private, and very simple. With what I had in mind, I doubted if we even needed an organizer. It was only when Ace picked a wedding date not so much over a month from the day that he proposed that I had to admit that getting help from some professionals might help. I couldn't ignore the fact that I didn't want to take time off from work to prepare for my wedding even if it was supposed to be a once in a lifetime event.
After telling the organizers what I had in mind, they did a truly professional job of delivering. Although the wedding that I had in mind was supposed to be very private, that didn't mean that we settled for a small venue. Ace's father had a church in mind already that was closely associated with his family. Since I didn't have a venue in mind, I didn't mind going along with his choice to minimize any potential issues. To my surprise, Ace's father congratulated us upon hearing that I had accepted Ace's proposal and that now we were engaged to be married.
Just like Ace, his father was a man of his words. He kept the promise that he made to Ace and to me after Ace had fulfilled the conditions that he had set. The Chairman seemed to have come to terms with the fact that Ace has chosen me to be his life partner. Although he wasn't so visibly thrilled like my mother was, he acted respectful and reasonable.
"Is this what you had in mind?” Ace asked as he stood by my side.
We arrived at the church early in the morning to prepare for our wedding ceremony that would take place in the next few hours. After the ceremony, there will be a simple lunch reception in the garden. The guest list was kept to a bare minimum with only close family members, colleagues, and friends.
--To be continued...
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