Chapter 2.1: The day I met you

After a hectic afternoon of discussing maths with Andrew and Sandra, Ivy had no time to continue history discussion with both of them as they had to get dressed for their college's induction event. The thought of the event tickled Ivy's stomach giving her butterflies as many new faces would be there but was glad for Andrew and Sandra's companion. College had started a week ago and she had noticed many familiar faces from high school. Everyone from Mane's City would leave high school for Mane's national college especially for its foundation courses not only because it's close to home but also for its prestige.

Ivy arrived later than expected as she was so exhausted from studying that she really wanted to take a nap. She practically was half dragging herself to the event. Andrew and Sandra had left earlier for the event as she was taking too long to prepare. Besides, they had duties as ushers to be done since they both volunteered for the event in hope that it would make a good record for their college certificate.

When she checked her text messages, she knew she was even later than her fake friends back in high school; Belinda, Laura and Lance as they asked where she was. She wasn't exceptionally close to the three of them anymore like how they used to in kindergarten.

They often think for a person of her age, they could not understand her train of thoughts. Some of it was too absurd for them to accept at their age such as enjoying solitary and mingling with Andrew and Sandra who are of poor backgrounds. The only reason they still stuck around Ivy was all thanks to the small fortune her grandma left for her that she was considered a well to do student in school and now college.

She never bothered to explain her reasons to the three of them although it wasn't an easy task to keep both parties at peace all these years as she secretly and patiently endured their discrimination alone. It was the only thing she could do to ensure the three of them do not bully Andrew or Sandra. She owed both Andrew and Sandra a huge gratitude for being the only genuine companions she had since young and to rely on sometimes ever since her grandma left.

Ivy never wanted to burden them both any further with her welfare; one of the reasons she never told them in full details about her sleep disorder state which had worsened ever since her grandma left. No matter how well oneself endure and bury their miseries away, every child with all the goodness in the world has their own dark stories to tell.

Ivy used to have dreams of places or things she longed for but would always end up as nightmares ever since she was a toddler especially when she had to sleep alone in the dark. She grew up sleeping with her grandma as a companion instead till she was a teenager.

Even the magnetic bracelet which her grandma made her wear since she was a toddler in hope to improve her sleep was to no avail. When she was older, she learned the bracelet was also her mother's last gift for her before she left them. Occasionally, when she thought she had outgrown the nightmares, they resumed again when she was under pressure but because she did not want to worry her grandma about it, she continued to endure them alone which had turned out to be overwhelming lately.

She strolled down the aisle from the main entrance to find the hall of the event but there were too many halls and she could not tell which one it was or a clue of direction. She looked around and found no familiar faces from school or college.

She decided to seek the hotel staffs' help instead. There was a guy wearing a suit standing by the corner of the aisle whom she thought must be the hotelier and perhaps he would do some help.

"Excuse me?" She said while unlocking her phone to check for the ballroom details as he looked up with a confused look.

"Where is ballroom number three? It's the one where the college induction event is. " Ivy asked hastily for fear she missed out on the food as she was really starving. She waited for a reply while checking if there were any new messages from any of her friends without making any eye contact with the person she spoke to.

He raised an eyebrow wanting to answer but he noticed Ivy was paying attention to her phone while asking which made his face grimace in distaste due to her rudeness.

Ivy waited a little while but was impatient as her stomach started to grumble. "Hello? I'm asking a question here." Ivy, who was still not looking at the person, said in an agitated tone while typing a message in reply to Belinda asking for directions at the same time.

"What makes you think I will answer?" The guy retaliated with a stern and rude tone as he folded his arms.

That question was adding more fuel to Ivy's patience and anger which made her snapped thinking the rudeness of the staff in the hotel is something she must make a complaint about. Being a great debater in school, she looked up to justice in nearly every single thing.

She finally looked up at a very pissed off guy in front of her and decided to purposely rub more salt on his ego. "You're the hotelier or bellhop perhaps, shouldn't you be telling me? Where is the manager? This is absurd!"

"I have never said I was the hotelier or bellhop! Who on earth knows what event is there here and you…" He walked up closer to her. "You should learn some respect while asking a question. You should learn to observe more!"

They got louder that some passersby were stealing glances at their commotion. Before Ivy could retaliate, two of the security guards came up to them.

"What's the matter here?" One of the security guards asked.

"Oh there, there. Get your manager here. I need to lodge a complaint on your colleague here for being rude and insolent. I was merely asking where ballroom three was. He couldn't even answer politely!" Ivy was raising her voice in anger but she also felt a tight attraction coming from her magnetic bracelet.

She noticed the guy had an identical bracelet as hers. He too noticed the magnetic attraction from his bracelet as he tried to unlatch both bracelets by pulling away but his force was so strong that it caused Ivy charging towards his embrace. Her eyes widened as he caught her in a nick of time. Ivy quickly pulled herself away but her bracelet was still slightly attached.

"Miss, ballroom three is the second last room down this hallway..." The guard pointed to their left and wanted to explain further but Ivy interrupted while trying to unlatch her bracelet completely from his.

"Why, thank you." Ivy said as she glared towards the guy's direction who forcefully pulled her bracelet away.

"Unlike someone here. Train your staff to do better." Ivy added the moment their bracelet unlatched each other and walked off towards the ballroom direction where the guard pointed earlier.

"Our apologies, sir. There must have been a misunderstanding." The security apologised to the guy.

"Don't worry. Jason. I am Jason, the emcee for the event in the same ballroom too. I shall make my way there too." Jason smiled as the security guards nodded and headed back to their work station while Jason trailed her from behind, smirking at her.

"Kids these days! Nuisance!" Jason cursed in his mind.

When Ivy arrived at the entrance of the ballroom, she was greeted by her fake friends as her eyes darted the ballroom and spotted Andrew and Sandra both were diligently escorting other students to their sitting place.

"Ivy!" Belinda instantly noticed her as she ran up to her from their sitting place. Ivy was still trying to calm her nerves and was even more upset to be caught by the three of them first.

"Oh, hello Belinda! You look outstanding today." Ivy complimented as she tried to coax herself to maintain her composure.

"Why are you looking as though someone had taken your earphones away?" Lance asked as he approached Belinda and Ivy with Laura who was always hooked by his side with her one sided love affairs for Lance. He was pointing out that Ivy's face had given away her hidden foul mood which often happened whenever someone tried to take her earpieces away to seek her attention.

"Oh, really?" Ivy realised she should change her face expression even more as she did not want to trigger anymore attention to the petty commotion earlier.

"I'm fine. No worries." Ivy affirmed them as Andrew and Sandra approached all of them while Belinda and Laura dragged Lance to keep their distance from the three of them instead. Sandra and Andrew couldn't help but to notice the gap as they snarled at the three of them while handing Ivy a paper bag of goodies which were the door gifts.