CLARK MANSION
It hasn’t been easy for him pretending to love Camilla. He had tried to make his dad understand that he didn’t want the marriage when he got back from Winslow but it didn’t help solve anything. It was as if there was no way out of this marriage. But the moment he found his son and Ivy again, Ace knew he had to be the to break free. And of course it wouldn’t happen without him taking a step, and the first step was calling off the wedding before he moves on to his next plan. In all, Ace was prepared for the worst things to come.
“Now what are you still going to do? Ace, you know I have always supported you in everything. If you had explained things to me I wouldn’t have agreed to you marrying someone you don’t love. I will never force you to spend the rest of your life with someone you don’t love. I thought you loved her that’s why I agreed to your marriage.” This time Mrs Clark had tears streaming down her wriggled face. “I am.. so sorry son.. I feel like a bad mother to you for not knowing my son’s feelings. I should have known you didn’t want this marriage the moment you tried to dodge the wedding plans with works.”‘ She sobbed.
Ace Clark went to his mom. “Don’t be too emotional mom, it’s okay. You are not a bad mother to me. You are the best!” He embraced her.
“Forgive me.. son.. you must have suffered a lot during these past years trying to keep up with our decisions. We never gave you the chance to make your own decisions.” Mrs Clark apologized.
“It’s alright.” Ace mumbled as mrs Clark pulled away from the embrace.
“Your grandson is really handsome and smart just like his dad. He asked about you and I told him a lot of things. I am sure he can’t wait to see you.” Ace said just to put a smile on his mom’s face.
She smiled happily. “I have been anxious about him since I read the news.” Mrs Clark sniffed and wiped her tears. “So what’s next? Ace, what do you plan to do about your wedding?” She asked with a worried look on her face.
“The last time I spoke to dad, I mentioned calling off the wedding. So I am doing it for real this time. I am going to call off my wedding to Camilla.” Ace Clark asserted with a determined look on his face.
A terrified look crossed Mrs Clark’s face. “You know how mad your dad will get if you tell him that. Let’s do it like this.. you won’t show up on your wedding. You can go somewhere far with Ivy and Leroy.” Mrs Clark suggested.
Ace laughed. “That makes me a coward. I will talk to dad and I hope that he will understand now that his grand child is involved.”
Mrs Clark shook her head in disapproval. “No.. no son, your dad won’t understand. He is a stubborn man who always gets what he wants.”
“I have a plan. I will talk to dad and apologize to Anderson.” Ace stood up from the bed. “I don’t mind paying the expenses they have spent on this wedding. But I can’t bare the thought of being away from my son and Ivy anymore. I want to be a good father to him and be there in everything he wants to do.”
Mrs Ace smiled. “You have my support son.”
Ace bent over and kissed her softly on the cheek. “Thank you mom.” He whispered before walking out of the room.
Ace knocked on the study door before stepping in after he heard an order to do so. He cleared his throat to get his father’s attention. Mr Clark stood by the window taking in the view of the beautiful garden below.
“Good morning dad.” Ace greeted.
“I am sure your mom must have showed the news.” Mr Clark turned away from the window and walk back to his desk. He opened the drawer and brought out some news papers and gave it to Ace.
“Mom already showed me the news.” Ace said as he picked up the news papers.
Ace saw a picture of him, Ivy and Leroy on the headlines of every news paper. “CLARK HEIR AT THE RESTAURANT WITH A CARBON COPY.”
“CEO OF CLARK CORPORATION ACTING AS A FATHER FEW WEEKS TO HIS WEDDING.”
“WHO IS THIS WOMAM WITH CEO ACE CLARK?”
“ACE CLARK’S DATE WITH A SON.”
He saw pictures of him, Leroy and Ivy in the paper standing on the street, probably the day he found out about his son. Ace remembered vividly. And one thing was clear from all the pictures on the news, the person who took these pictures must have been following him around for a while even before he found out about his son.
“Do you have anything to say to me about this?” Mr Clark demanded, distracting Ace’s from his thought.
“I don’t really have much to say. But there is no need gathering all the newspapers in town.” Ace mumbled as he dropped the papers back on the table.
Anger crossed Mr Clark’s face. “Tell me Ace! I want to know if this whole news is true?!” He yelled out.
“Yes, it is true. I have a son.” Ace replied.
“So you truly had a son without telling me? Without me knowing? How could you do this to us, Ace?!” Mr Clark fussed.
Ace furrowed his eyebrows. “No dad.. I wasn’t hiding him all this while. I just found out few days ago.” He countered.
“Is that woman in the picture the mother of your child?” Mr Clark breathed out.
“Yes, she is the mother of my child. And please dad try to understand that I am just getting to my son.” Ace lisped, hoping his dad would really understand him.
“Getting to know your son? After how many years? Nine years!” Mr Clark snorted.
“Dad, it’s better than if it was after twenty years.” Ace interjected.
Mr Clark sighed. “And this woman has she asked anything from you?” He asked.
“I assume you mean money?” Ace muttered.
Mr Ace hummed a positive response.
Ace shook his head. “No, she hasn’t asked for anything and I am sure she won’t. Ivy is a successful woman in the entertainment industry so that’s not what this is about.” He answered.
“It’s always about money in situations like this one. If It is not money then why is she just introducing your son to you after all these years? It is because she want money. She is only bent on destroying you, your wedding and our reputation. And this is what I have been warning you about when you were sleeping around with all those girls. I should have known that one day, a strange woman will come and present her a child to you even if the child is not yours. That woman will be determined to get what she feels she deserve!” Mr Clark grimaced.
“That’s not true, Ivy is not that kind of woman. And I am sure without the need of undergoing any test that Leroy is my son. Even if she ask me for money so what? He is my son and I am responsible for him. I want to contribute to raising him, monetarily or otherwise. There’s nothing wrong in wanting to do these things for my son.” Ace countered.
“Well find a way to sort things out with the mother of your child because I am not going to sit back and watch this whole thing destroy your relationship with Camilla Anderson.” Mr Clark pointed at his son with a deep frown grazing his face.
Ace flared up too. “Why is it always camilla?! Why are you more concerned about Camilla and not your son or your grand son?! You really don’t care about my feelings?! And what do you even care about – Camilla?! I don’t get it.” Ace breathed out just to calm down.
“Don’t you dare-”
Ace cuts his father off his intended statement. “I am calling off the wedding.” He lisped slightly.
Mr Clark mouth dropped slightly. “What?!”
Ace nodded his head. “I am not ready to spend the rest of my life with someone I don’t love. I don’t love Camilla.” He added.
“You will give up everything we have worked for all these years because of your son?”
Ace screwed up his face. “I am not doing this anymore. I am no longer a kid that you can make decisions for dad.” Ace muttered.
“Then be ready to lose the company and everything you have Ace!” Mr Clark bared his teeth.
Ace stared at his dad in disbelief. “You are going to do this to me again?” He asked.
“Yes!” Mr Clark replied as he sat back on his swivel chair.
“I can’t believe this is really happening.” Ace chuckled as he ran his hand through his hair. “But you know what? I don’t care if I lose everything. As long as I am with the woman I love and my son, then I am fine.” Ace sighed.
He wasn’t going to let his dad win over him this time. Mr Clark was surprised by his son’s words when he had only meant to threaten him.
“You are not calling off the wedding! You are going to get married to Camilla Anderson!” Mr Ace argued.
“You can’t force me to get married to Camilla. I have put up with you throughout these years because I was trying to be a good son. But you have failed to understand me. You only care about yourself and I don’t want to live like this anymore. Do you think I changed for better because you sent me off to Winslow to work as a hotel boy? No, I didn’t change because I didn’t want that life. I changed because I wanted to be a good man to this woman.” Ace pointed at the paper. “If you had not insisted on bringing back that day, I would have been with her throughout these years. I would have been in my son’s life even before now.” Ace ranted while his dad just simply watched him.
“I will do what is necessary to the Anderson, I will wrap up things at the office and turn in my resignation letter to the Human Resources Department. You can get Camilla to take over from you.” Ace uttered a profanity as he stormed out of the study room.