32 Chapter 32: His pride would not let him.

-ANSEL-

After the dinner with the project team, Ansel had to immediately fly out of the country for a business trip. He was initially not planning on going to the celebratory dinner since he has an early flight the next morning, but at the last minute, Brigham was able to persuade him to go, saying that it would help boost the morale of the project team.

And the moment he entered the private room at that time, his eyes immediately landed on the woman he thought was the last person he wanted to see.

Various emotions surged within Ansel the moment he saw her, and he tried to control these emotions by reminding himself of his realizations - that he was merely dwelling on to their past.

As Brigham, Ansel's assistant had said, these emotions are perhaps caused by him constantly recalling his past with Alina, that despite not having any feelings towards her, his mind is in endless chaos because of the memories that seemed to resurface whenever he sees her.

He does not know until when he has to suffer because of these strange emotions, and Ansel is getting rather impatient, but he knew that the best way to cure this irrationality of his is to ignore these ridiculous sentiments and to strengthen the walls he built around himself.

He believed that that was his expertise as he was used to closing himself off around people.

And that was what he was supposed to do.

But in the end, that came out to be difficult, especially since he was constantly reminded of the past he so wanted to forget.

When Alina raised her voice because someone was trying to offer him a dish in which he is allergic to, there was all of a sudden a stranger yet familiar sensation welling up in his chest, and as he stared at her flustered expression while she was trying to resolve the misunderstanding, he cannot help but to momentarily succumb to the emotions he has been trying to suppress.

But as soon as those emotions arrived, he immediately buried them down. Ansel then suddenly felt irritated once he realized what happened. He was annoyed at himself for being affected by such little act, especially right after he told himself that he would reinforce the walls he built around himself.

He was irritated because Alina was able to leave a crack on those thick walls because of such a trifling act.

Afterward, when Ansel saw Alina leaving the room, looking rather flushed from all the alcohol she consumed, he unconsciously decided to follow her. Once outside, he immediately began looking for her, and when he saw her stumbling on her feet, he instinctively rushed to her side and helped her up.

Ansel admittedly was full of contradictories that night. He wanted to cure himself of the chaos Alina had brought, yet he, himself, chose to stay beside her until she's sober enough to go back to the private room. He wanted to clear his mind, but once again, his head instantly became a mess at the sight of her.

He thought that this business trip would help him clear his mind for a few days. Ansel believed that this might be his chance to fully detach himself away from these insufferable emotions.

And that became true during the entire trip.

He busied himself with a lot of work that he does not have any time to think about anything, especially about those trivial matters, but after he came back, thinking that he was finally able to escape Alina's grasps, he once again found himself entangled with her.

He knew that seeing her would be inevitable as they are currently business partners, but he never thought that something like this would happen.

After his return to the country, Brigham told him of what happened during his absence. There seemed to be a problem with regards to one of the construction materials for the project, and that it would certainly cause a delay if not settled immediately.

"Why was I not notified of this mishap as soon as it occurred?" Ansel said, his voice taut with anger because of the news that Brigham had reported to him.

Ansel is directly involved with this project, and not just because of his position, but also because the project was his idea in the first place. As much as possible, he wanted to be kept up to date to all the relevant matters regarding the project, especially if a problem as significant as this occurs.

"As you are on a business trip, the project manager wanted to find a reasonable solution first before notifying you about the problem," Brigham answered, his voice impassive as always. "And fortunately for the project team, Miss Alina Morgan, one of the contracted suppliers, immediately offered her assistance and linked the project team to the Rivers Shipping Company."

Ansel clenched his hand into a tight fist upon hearing what Brigham had said. "Why did they not just contact the Rivers Shipping Company in the first place? Why do they have to ask someone for help?"

Ansel does not know why the project team had to get Alina's help for something like this when they could simply contact him right away, and he could immediately offer a concrete solution. Ansel hated the idea of being indebted to someone, especially if that person is someone whom he decided to cut away from his life.

"The project team initially did, but the company did not agree to their terms," Brigham replied. "It was thankfully due to the efforts of Miss Morgan and her company that we were able to strike a deal with the Rivers Shipping."

Ansel wanted to scoff at this situation. He does not want any help from the woman who hurt him in the past.

His pride would not let him.

Furthermore, he cannot believe that someone who callously left him five years ago while he was fighting for his life helped his company simply because she wanted to. Someone like her would not just help anyone unless it would benefit her.

'Or unless she just truly wanted to help,' Ansel thought, but as soon as the idea arrived, he immediately dismissed it out of his head.

Perhaps, this was merely her way of showing the 'amicable relationship' that she was pushing for the last time they met, nevertheless, Ansel still refuses to believe that Alina would do this out of the goodness of her heart.

'If she even has one,' Ansel thought.

***

After his superior asked him for advice, Brigham became curious as to the identity of the person behind Ansel's story. He knew that Ansel was previously married, and something must have happened for him to ask such questions.

Although Brigham knew the general idea concerning Ansel's past, he does not know the specific details regarding the ruination of his previous marriage, therefore, after Ansel asked him for advice, he decided to gather some information.

Since Alina Rain Morgan, Ansel's ex-wife, had stayed in Japan for five years, Brigham was unable to gather a lot of information about her life during those five years. Despite that, Brigham still believes that he was able to gather sufficient information to fully grasp her character.

And because of that, he thinks that the crude rumors going around about her may be unfounded.

Right after Brigham found out that Alina surprisingly became one of the contracted suppliers for the project that their company is working on, rumors about her and Ansel began to spread among the employees. The rumors were rather harsh and exaggerated, and although it was cruel of her to leave the country while Ansel was still in the hospital, Brigham still finds it hard to believe those rumors.

From the short amount of time that he observed Alina, he found nothing similar to the villainess that the rumors painted her to be. She has a commendable work ethic, and she gets along well with the project team. Even with the other clients of her company, they have nothing but praises for her.

Also, for Brigham, he has confidence in his superior's judgment that even for a short while, he could not have possibly fallen for a 'manipulative' person.

Now, looking at the expression on Ansel's face, Brigham has an idea about what he must be thinking after he heard about what happened while he was away. Ansel must be having a hard time believing that someone who had hurt him in the past would willingly help him right now, and Brigham kind of understands Ansel's dilemma.

When Brigham heard about what happened, he became more certain that the rumors about Alina were not true, and because of that, Brigham's instinct tells him that something must have happened in the past that created a huge misunderstanding between Alina and Ansel, and in turn, made them unintentionally hurt each other.

And because of that, they are now both terrified of getting hurt once again, in the end, they created a wall within their hearts to protect themselves from experiencing the pain they suffered in the past.

Brigham does not want to criticize anyone with regards to how they handle their emotions, but there were times when people chose to create an entirely different image of the person they once loved in order to fool themselves into moving on.

They wanted to create a reason as to why that person is someone not worth enduring the pain for.

But sometimes, accepting reality, although painful and may take a long time, is better than fooling oneself into accepting a convenient fantasy.

Perhaps because of his age, Brigham wanted to become a little nosy for the sake of the master that he has been serving for years now. It will be a huge gamble for him, and instead of the happy ending that he is hoping for, someone may get hurt in the end because of it.

But still, this is the first time he saw Ansel act this way, and Brigham truly wanted to follow his instincts, afraid that he might regret not doing so.

"Miss Morgan truly saved the project team," Brigham said, catching the attention of Ansel, who looked rather distracted with his thoughts.

"It is uncalled-for," Ansel replied curtly.

'Being too stubborn is not healthy for you,' Brigham thought.

"But still," Brigham interjected. "Without her, the problem would not be solved that fast."

Ansel stared at Brigham for a few moments, perhaps trying to grasp the meaning behind Brigham's words. Afterward, Ansel merely sighed and shifted his attention away from Brigham and onto the reports piled on his desk. Taking this as a sign to continue, Brigham said, "This is merely a suggestion from your humble assistant, but," Brigham trailed off, searching for the proper words to say next.

"Since Miss Morgan helped solve the problem of the project team while you were away, wouldn't it only be polite for you to appropriately thank her for it?" Brigham paused, waiting for Ansel to take the bait. Once Ansel shifted his attention back to Brigham, his eyebrows furrowed questioningly, Brigham continued, "It does not have to be something grand. Perhaps, a dinner would suffice?"