Chapter 474 Good to be Back
Chapter 474 Good to be Back
“What about I try giving her a call to see if she’s still up?” I suggested.
“Sounds good,” Ace replied casually.
After giving my mother a call, we found out that she was beyond delighted to have us over for a late night visit. The way my mother smiled and how her eyes lit up when she saw Ace standing in front of her door made me wonder if she was more pleased to see him or her own daughter.
“What a pleasant surprise! Welcome. Please come inside,” my mother greeted us with a wide smile.
“I apologize for turning up so late like this,” Ace said apologetically.
“Not at all. I’m very happy that you two are here. Thank you for driving Rina all the way here,” she said as she beckoned us to enter.
Stepping inside my home felt immediately calming. The familiar sight and smell of the place reminded me of all the fond memories that I share with my mother. I wasn’t at all surprised that nothing seemed to have changed given the time that I was away. My mother seemed to be in high spirits, and I was glad to see that she seemed to be doing well.
“Have you eaten?” my mother asked with a worried look on her face.
“Of course, we have. Don’t worry about us. We just wanted to drop by to say hi,” I told her before she would fuss even more about us.
“Right. Tell me, how are things? There were…some messy things in the news…” she asked, and I could tell that she was trying to mask over her worries.
Her efforts weren’t that successful, and I felt a pang of guilt when I realized that I must have caused my mother to worry again. I didn’t even want to imagine how stressed she must have felt during that period of time. On top of that, she had to act tough in front of us so that we wouldn’t worry about her.
“There’s nothing for you to worry about anymore. Everything is sorted out and I am making sure that Rina is happy and well,” Ace reported to my mother confidently.
“That’s right. It’s just like Ace said, there’s nothing for you to worry about. They made everything over the top to attract attention. Everything is fine and normal now,” I confirmed reassuringly.
“Is that so? That’s a relief. Many people have been asking me about how you are doing too,” she said before letting out a sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry for making you worry, mum,” I said sadly.
“Well, if everything is all fine now then I guess we don’t need to talk about it anymore. Anything else interesting happening at work?” she asked excitedly to change the topic of the conversation.
We spent some time chatting with my mother and I had to say that the atmosphere was so relaxing and laid back. I loved it so much to talk to her and Ace at the same time like this. It still surprised me how Ace and my mother got along with each other so well. Despite my initial thought that the two of them did not have much if anything in common at all, they managed to find endless topics to talk about and discuss. Sometimes I felt like they were more engaged in the conversation than I was.
“Rina, where are you going?” my mother asked when I got up from my seat.
“Oh, I was just thinking that I should go get some juice and some snacks at the nearby convenient store,” I replied with a smile.
“I can come with you,” Ace quickly volunteered.
“You don’t have to. Just stay here with mum, I won’t take long. The store is just in front of the building anyways,” I said as I waved off his offer with my hand.
“Are you sure?” Ace asked hesitantly.
“She’ll be fine. She’s all grown up now although I don’t want to believe that…” my mother replied with a laugh.
I smiled at them both before heading for the door. Since the two of them seemed to be having a good time, I figured that I might as well get us all some snacks to munch on while we chatted. It was apparent that my mother was enjoying her time with Ace and their session was probably going to last for a while longer. Although it was already quite late, I didn’t want to butt in and cut their fun short. It wasn’t often that we would get the chance to come visit my mother like this, so I wanted to make sure that she had her fill of us. I also made a mental note to myself that I should come and visit her more often.
While scanning the shelves of snacks in the convenient store, I pondered the idea of moving to work with Ace at his new office. The new office building was located far from the city but very close to my mother’s place. If I moved to work here with Ace, dropping by to see my mother regularly would be easily achievable.
“Did he build the office here so that I could be closer to my mother?” I murmured to myself when the possibility crossed my mind.
That was one way to think about it, but it also felt too far of a stretch for someone so sensible as Ace to build such a large property out here simply because it was close to my mother’s place. There had to be other reasons why he decided on this location for his new office. I dismissed that thought before I would delve into it any further as I headed to pay for my purchase. Being back in the old neighborhood where I used to live and grew up made me feel like I had returned to my roots, and I had to admit that I truly liked it.
“I’m back!” I declared excitedly when I arrived back at my mother’s place.
“You seriously got too many snacks,” my mother said with a teasing look of disapproval on her face.
“Let’s not worry about dieting today, ok?” I replied teasingly.
That night we spent time talking until I could tell that my mother was visibly sleeping. I gave her a tight hug when we parted and made a promise to come and visit her more often in the future.
--To be continued…