The man stood in an upright position as usual. His stunning face was expressionlessly haughty.
He feigned ignorance of Joanna and wanted to enter the elevator.
Joanna raised her chin. She wanted to ignore him at first, but the image of him drinking and howling with a group of handsome men came to her mind. Reminded of the way he acted when he refused to let her go, she burst out laughing.
Ace stiffened instantly. His tall figure turned into a freezing iceberg, and he asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Joanna forced herself to change her facial expression back to an indifferent one and said, "Because I am in a good mood!"
He looked at her disdainfully. "Hmph, what good thing can happen to you? You are rather optimistic."
"I am divorced and have escaped hellfire. I am certainly feeling great!"
Joanna raised her delicate face slightly and sneered gaily, "I'm not like you, who went drinking and crying late at night. You did not only hire handsome men to soothe your wounded heart. You even shamelessly refused to let go of your ex–wife. Have you no shame to let the whole world watch how you blatantly try to get your wife back?"
Ace immediately lost his usual cold and arrogant temperament. He clenched his fists and wanted to refute but only to no avail because he found no words. He felt so flustered that he choked.
'Damn it!'
That video of his drunken madness was simply a stain on his life. No matter how pridefully he acted, or how suave he was infront of Joanna, he could no longer be able to intimidate her, since his exposed weakness had torn his godlike image.
He spent a fortune to completely get rid of that disgraceful video from the network and even destroyed several media platforms that tried to hype it. However, what good did it bring? He was just deceiving himself. There was no way he could remove the memories of the netizens.
Now, the whole world knew that he kneeled down and begged Joanna not to go. It was so damned embarrassing!
Joanna, believing that she would be intact no matter how much she teased him, continued her mockery. "It was so unexpected of you, Ace, that you loved me so much. Why didn't you tell me earlier? I, Joanna Pierce, am indeed so attractive that I could charm the picky Master Moran's soul to the point he cried so much…"
Hah! After living as a dog who always wagged its tail at its owner for three years, it was her turn to become the owner and enjoy being the center of attention. Even though she was fully aware that it was just an act of an intoxicated man, she still felt very satisfied!
The more she spoke, the more excited she was. She ruffled her hair gracefully and squinted her eyes at the man. "Ace, tell me honestly. How long have you been secretly in love with me? Have you been indifferent to me all this while to attract my attention?"
He pressed his lips and stared into her eyes with stony eyes. His aura was so overwhelming that his hostility could be felt even though he did not say a word.
She subconsciously felt intimidated and gulped. She waved her hand and said, "Um, I was just kidding. There is no need to be so serious, right?"
She was reminded of the thing she had to do. So, she did not want to waste her time with him anymore and prepared to leave.
But he took one step ahead of her and went in.
She was shocked. "Ace, what are you doing? This is my house. Please get out!"
"You have said that I have a crush on you, so I would naturally not miss such a good opportunity to spend time together with you," said Ace reasonably.
"I told you it was just a joke!"
She was so annoyed. She knew that she should not have provoked him.
This man was like a beehive. She could not get rid of him after just a slight touch. She was indeed hoisted by her own petard.
"I know better than anyone that all men in the world might have a crush on me, but it will never be you, Ace. I still have this bit of self–knowledge, you know." She clenched her fist and smiled self– deprecatingly.
Ace said nothing.
He strode to the huge floor–to–ceiling windows and looked out at the blue open sea.
This scene was only visible to their two penthouses in the whole neighborhood.
It was such a coincidence. It felt like there was an invisible thread tying him and Joanna together.
They might have looked at the same sea for many nights without knowing each other's thoughts…
"Why did you want to move out?" After a long time, Ace turned around and asked in a low voice.
Joanna was busy opening all the drawers in the living room to look for the quilt when Ace threw the question at her, and she froze.
"Because I feel like it!"
She replied perfunctorily and added a self–deprecating remark. "The main reason is that I know you don't like me. If we live next to each other, we will keep bumping into each other. So, I decided to move out to keep out of your sight and not affect your mood."
He harrumphed. "You are just playing the wise guy when you don't know anything!"
"Maybe I am. You are always busy and have little time to spend with Miss Alice, so you must want to stay in Moran Villa. Why will you come here? I've indeed done something unnecessary."
Ace was standing in the sunlight. His stony face turned slightly cheeky. He gazed at Joanna's face for a long time and said.
smiling. "You are jealous."
She flushed and denied it immediately. "Don't flatter yourself. I don't like you. Why would I be jealous?"
"You are," said Ace confidently. When he repeated it, it was a statement, not speculation.
With so many women admiring him, how could he not know if someone had feelings for him?
Suddenly, he felt that he had won for once ever since the video of him going crazy was exposed. Regardless of what led him to act like a clingy man and hold on to Joanna, at least now, he was certain that this woman had lingering feelings for him!
The sunlight pierced through the floor–to–ceiling window, silhouetting Ace, who was standing in front of it. He looked like a tall male idol when he walked toward Joanna.
"What do you want?"
Seeing the man getting closer and closer to her, blocking all the way out like a high wall, Joanna subconsciously took a
defensive stance.
'He's not going to be like the overbearing CEO of an idol drama, trying to play the awkward kiss scene, is he?"
Ace stood before Joanna, sizing her up like an object from top to bottom, then leaned down and reached out for her waist.
"You rascal, I am warning you, don't try to mess with me!"
She hurriedly clasped her hands over her chest. Her reaction seemed to be a bit exaggerated.
Though it was not a big problem for her to fight against Ace with her skills, she would rather not do it unless she had to, for the sake of her babies.
Ace was speechless. He pointed to her waist in frustration and said, "Your dress is unzipped."
"Huh?"
She gulped and fumbled with the zipper.
'Shit, I really forgot to zip it!"
The zipper on the side of her dress was very long. Through the open zipper, everything, whether it was her waist, or something else, could be seen clearly!
No wonder everyone threw sideways glances at her when she came here. She previously thought that it was because she
looked very beautiful in her outfit today. Never did she expect it to be…
'It's so damn embarrassing!'
Joanna's face and neck immediately turned red. She wanted to find a cave and hide in it right now.
Pretending to be calm, she attempted to pull the zip as if nothing happened. But it was even more embarrassing when she realized that she found it hard to pull. She could no longer fit into this once loose–fitting dress!
Ace watched unsympathetically and said to the blushing Joanna, "Do you need help? You seem to be facing a problem.".
'Damn! Of course I have a problem when there are two kids in my belly!' she thought.
"No!" Joanna took a deep breath and replied in annoyance. "The best thing you can do for me is to get out of here right now!"
He raised his brows and responded ambiguously. "I will go. But I want to tell you this. Although I don't like you, I don't hate you that much either. You don't have to act like a smart ass and avoid me."
"You…" Joanna froze in surprise.
She thought that this huge iceberg hated her all along. Otherwise, he would not have always shown her a stern face and rejected her!
But now he was telling her that he actually did not hate her?
"And you'd better eat less."
Ace's eyes fell on Joanna's waist, and he asked in a serious manner, "Your waist has widened a lot. Could it be that you're pregnant?"