"If you really are allergic to alcohol," Ace told Joanna snidely, "it's not too late to back out."
His sole purpose was to make her realize the difficulty that came with her new position and give up, not to harm her in any way.
But Joanna kept on pretending to be a pitiful young girl and replied, "It's okay. I just want to prove my sincerity in front of everyone."
What a silly and stubborn woman! Now that his patience was exhausted, Ace held his head high and declared, "Let's begin, then."
Everyone held their breath and subconsciously stepped back a little to quietly observe the game.
They decided on the simplest iteration of the game. In truth, Ace, being the serious and austere man that he was, rarely ever played the finger-guessing game. When he did, it was. only for fun when he was hanging out with Christopher and Ethan. He knew that his skills in the game were nothing to write home about, but he was sure that he could defeat a naive little
rabbit like Joanna with ease.
To everyone's surprise, Joanna was miraculously holding on in the game.
"Five!"
"Fifteen!"
"Twenty!"
The game kept getting more and more heated. Ace's thick eyebrows were slightly knitted as he was forced to focus completely on the game
"Five!"
Joanna was holding out five fingers in one hand and a holding out two closed fists.
Joanna clapped in excitement and laughed like a child. "I'm sorry, but it looks like you've lost, Mr. Moran! Now drink!"
"I lost?" Ace asked, visibly confused.
It had only been seconds ago when he was contemplating whether or not he should go easy on Joanna, but now he had lost to her?
The onlookers were all stumped, but none of them dared to utter a word. After all, they knew that it must have been humiliating for a grown man to lose to a woman in a drinking game.
Emotionlessly, Ace ordered Jack to pour him another glass of wine. He gulped it down in one go and told Joanna, "Let's continue."
Joanna stifled a smile and pretended to be the grateful damsel in distress, telling Ace, "You really are every bit the gentleman they say you are, Mr. Moran! Thank you for going easy on me just now,
but let's both be serious this time. You don't have to go easy on me anymore, just play to your best abilities."
Ace's expression darkened, but he merely pursed his lips and said nothing. It was just a coincidence, he told himself. What happened just now must have been a coincidence! All he had to do now was concentrate and play using his true strength!
The second round soon began.
Unfortunately, this round proved to be even more baffling, as Ace quickly lost after only two turns.
"You need to drink another glass, Mr. Moran."
They then went on to play a third round, then a fourth, then a fifth…
By now it was unsurprising that every round ended in defeat for Ace.
Although Ace could hold his liquor pretty well, he had almost emptied the whole decanter, and his head was starting to spin.
Even Joanna was getting exhausted. She yawned and lazily suggested, "Why don't we end it here, Mr. Moran? If you drink any more, you'll certainly get drunk."
"No," refused Ace. "We'll continue!" He looked frustrated and confused.
Left without a choice, Joanna could do nothing but go along with him. She had suspected that Ace might be pretty lousy at the game, but she never expected him to be this bad. It seemed that the man's life had been just like the man himself cold and painfully uninteresting. She could tell with one glance that Ace was the kind of guy who never hung out in bars and nightclubs much, which was why he was so bad at playing drinking games.
Joanna herself never hung out in bars much either, but her best friend Leia had always dragged her out to drink in the past, and with that, she'd gained the experience of playing drinking games and became an expert in the finger-guessing game.
Had she been able to drink alcohol, she might have just lost to Ace on purpose to satisfy his childishly competitive nature. That way she would be able to go home and go to bed early!
Seeing that Ace had drunk all the wine in the decanter, Joanna sighed and told the crowd, "Everyone, you've clearly witnessed that Mr. Moran lost to me. I hope that he is now willing to admit defeat. We've also agreed that the loser must agree to the winner's request…"
She turned back to Ace and said in a soft but firm voice, "I only have one request for Mr. Moran. From now on, I hope that you will not meddle in my business and hinder my entrance into this industry. We will all compete fair and square from now onwards, and we'll meet again at the top. Everyone here shall be my witnesses!"
As she finished speaking, she picked up her handbag and prepared to leave.
"Are you leaving just like that?" Ace's towering figure blocked Joanna's way. He was exuding his eyes still looked an air of danger as he tugged at his necktie. Despite how drunk he was, menacing – like those of a predator.
"What else should I do?"
As Joanna looked into Ace's bleary eyes, she was reminded of the night when he blocked her way domineeringly just as he was doing now, which led to them having sex. But after that night, he pretended that nothing ever happened, and it was precisely this kind of irresponsible behavior, like a tortoise hiding in its shell, that made her furious!
"Since it's clear that I'm the winner," she said, "I'm under no obligation to be here with you as you continue to act like a madman. Don't be a sore loser, and stop wasting other people's time!"
With her long suppressed anger boiling under the surface, she walked away from the man with an icy expression on her face, not even looking back once as she walked out the door.
Ace stood still in the same spot, feeling like he had just been slapped on the face. For a very long time, he just remained there with an emotionless expression, cold as ice and completely inscrutable.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was very strained. Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay as the chilling silence reigned. From what they had heard, the former Mrs. Moran was famously meek and dignified. She was the kind of woman who was suited for the life of a housewife, but now that they had actually met her, how was she so… ferocious?
In the whole of the City, there was probably no one else who would dare to go up against Ace Moran so boldly and arrogantly. Was this the kind of brazenness borne from the knowledge that she was favored by him?
Jack knew that his boss was now drunk. Judging from past experiences, Ace was particularly difficult to deal with whenever he got drunk. He usually caused a lot of trouble, so Jack hastily got everyone's attention and told them that they could leave. Otherwise, his boss might lose all self–control in front of these people, and would not be able to be his intimidating self and deal with anyone ever again!
The people there were pretty aware of the situation, so they merely said a few words and quietly left the place.
An old man, who seemed to be rather wise and experienced, went up to Ace and patted his shoulder, earnestly urging him, ' "Don't be discouraged, Mr. Moran. Since your woman has run off now, all you have to do is chase after her. Good luck!"
"Who's going to chase after her?" Ace blustered angrily, swaying like a branch in the wind. "Not me! I'm not taking her back even if she cries and begs me to!"
Jack hurriedly helped him safely to the chair and sat him down. "You're a little drunk, Mr. Moran. Let me take you home."
"I'm not drunk!" Ace protested vehemently. "I'm as sober as a judge!"
Like a wilful child, he then attempted to sit upright, and pointed at the empty decanter. "Get the waiter to fill it up with another bottle of wine and drag Joanna Pierce back here immediately. I must beat her in the game tonight!"
"Mr. Moran," Jack, who was sweating profusely from exhaustion, explained helplessly, "Mrs. Moran has already left, and so has everyone else. The dinner is over. Shall we go home now?"
"Everyone's left?" Ace looked around in confusion, and realized that he and Jack were the only ones left in the spacious room. "In that case, let's go and have fun somewhere else!"
After speaking, he slowly got to his feet and walked out of the door with his head hung low.
Jack hurried after him and supported him as he stumbled around. He sighed and cautiously reminded Ace, "It's getting really late now, Mr. Moran. I think I'd better take you home so you can rest."
"Nonsense!" Ace turned around and glared at Jack. "I'm Ace Moran! Do you think I need rest? I'm fully charged and ready to party, and I won't go home until the sun comes up!"
Jack massaged his temples, genuinely distressed. It was happening again, he groaned silently. It was actually happening again.
His boss was so drunk that he was going to lose all self–control. He shuddered just thinking about it.
"Take me to the usual place," Ace ordered Jack. "You know where it is!"
Half an hour later, the two arrived at a nearby karaoke bar. The manager led them into their most luxurious private lounge before suggestively asking, "Do you need any escorts to sing with you, gentlemen?"
"We don't need anything. Just bring us some fruits and snacks," Jack said curtly.
"Are you sure you don't need anything else at all?"
"No, we don't!" Jack yelled impatiently at the manager while helping the completely drunken Ace settle down. comfortably.
The manager glanced at Ace, then back at Jack. He seemed to suddenly understand something and hurriedly added, "Then have fun, gentlemen! But remember, we don't just have pretty girls here. We've got beautiful boys too! So if you need anything, please don't hesitate to tell us."
"Get lost!" Jack roared, wishing he could physically kick the manager out of the lounge.
When he turned around, he saw that while Ace was lazily lying on the couch, he had also been selecting close to a hundred songs. He then turned to Jack and demanded, "Sing with me!"
At that moment, Jack wished dearly for lightning to strike him dead.
Every time his boss got drunk, he would go to a karaoke bar and sing his heart out. Usually he would stop after a few songs,
but this time, Ace had selected more than a hundred songs. At this rate, Jack worried that Ace would not stop until he had scorched his throat and completely destroyed his vocal cords.
No, no, no! He had to think of a way to stop this!