Chapter 11.1: It’s time to reconcile

Another week or more has gone and Jason was not giving up on Ivy. This time he decided to let her take on a tougher challenge; to meet clients with him. He knew it was risky for fear she would act up in the middle of the meeting but he knew she was desperate for money too. Hence, he doubled the wage from last time and added meals and transport allowances as the meeting would be in another town instead. He was convinced it was an offer Ivy would not be able to resist again as he instructed Marcel to bring Ivy in.

This time, Ivy was worried over her recent monthly exam's results which she had collected earlier. She sat at the cafeteria seeking refuge from a cup of ice tea while waiting for her next lectures to start. She scored averagely lower compared to her friends and some subjects were the lowest compared to other months. There wasn't anyone to bother with her results except herself and she was also the only person who was giving herself pressure and expectations.

She was rather disappointed with herself for not attempting accounts' exam this time round due to lack of confidence and having insufficient time to prepare. She was more agitated with Jason and Marcel for abducting her at the wrong time. It had clearly affected her studies despite solving her financial issues. Besides, she still couldn't find her lost pencil box and has been very upset ever since.

She sighed at the thought of being an adult. There was endless trouble coming her way and she was too tired to endure or fight them sometimes.

She reminded herself about the college's homecoming debate in two weeks time which was an event Andrew was keen on and signed them both up for old time sake. She didn't want to disappoint him as she knew he missed debating alongside with her just like the their high school time but they weren't going to take up debate as an extra curricular as Andrew had decided to pursue psychology and Ivy who was still contemplating on her choices of faculties to pursue didn't want to join alone. The competition itself gave her even more pressure to ensure they win it for a good memory and record on their college's certificate. In the midst of all her frustration, Marcel appeared out of nowhere at the cafeteria.

"It was only last week I met Jason, what else is he selling me this time." She thought to herself.

"What is it this time?" Ivy asked Marcel with annoyance as she looked away while sipping her tea.

"Mr. Rahi would like to meet you." Marcel said.

"I still have lectures. Why don't you wait for, say another hour and a half? I am sparing you and myself from trouble. I will explain the delay to him later." Ivy said as she checked the time on her watch. She was exhausted and tired of Jason's absurd ways that she thought she should finally find ways to compromise at least.

Marcel was skeptical at first but eventually thought she sounded serious about it as he sent a text message to notify Jason and nodded in agreement to Ivy.

"Good. I will see you at twelve. In fact, you could get to work on other errands first. I am thinking of driving over to his office. Don't worry I won't bail out on you this time. I need to speak with him." Ivy purposely emphasised on her last sentence to Marcel before walking away.

"I'm good. I will wait here." He sat on the bench as he watched Ivy walk back to her lecture hall. He could tell Ivy would want to make a negotiation this time as he wondered if Jason would finally achieve his goal.

Ivy did feel bad for Marcel as he needed to do such a ridiculous level of tasks for Jason that she decided it was time to end this once and for all with a compromise plan. She was trying her best to pay attention during her double lessons of math and single lesson of morals but Jason's internship offer kept bothering her mind. She knew Jason wasn't taking no for an answer and her results were out but not as good as she expected. Although she really wanted to accept the offer many times, her results were holding her back.

"Ivy, a triangle consists of 180 degree angles right? Then, what about finding cosines?" Andrew asked as they were trying to complete their math assignments in moral class where the lecturer instructed them to memorise the list of moral values by themselves which meant they were free to do anything they wanted.

"Just ensure all the three angles add up to 180 degrees, then whichever is found, take 180 and deduct both ends. Use the formula for cosine." She leisurely said while looking outside the window as she continued to contemplate on Jason's offer and questioned his recent aggressive approach. She knew she had to get him to meet her somewhere in the middle of their compromised plan otherwise, people would start to suspect her constant sudden disappearance, especially Andrew and Sandra.

Ivy peeped at Andrew's book while he calculated on the calculator and knew which question he was stuck on but she was too lazy to explain in detail. There were more tricks to it and it was on the format keyed into the calculator for the answer as she closed her completed math assignment book.

"But I couldn't get the sample answer. Come on Ivy, save my weekend!" Andrew pleaded. She was annoyed at Andrew's pleas as her mind was already frustrated with Jason and her poor exam results. She passed her exercise book to him as a reference instead. When he found out what to do, he corrected his answer and the bell rang signifying the end of the week.

"Still need my book? Otherwise, I am leaving it with you." She asked as she packed hastily.

"Hmm... " Andrew thought for a while as he flipped his pages. Ivy was getting impatient and restless as she had impending matters she had to settle with Jason as soon as possible.

"Hurry! I need to go somewhere." She urged while sounding annoyed.

"Chill, chill. What's the rush? Alright I'll take it then just in case." Andrew said as he packed too.

"Don't forget to return my book to me! Bye!" Ivy said as she quickly barged out of the lecture hall to find Marcel.

"What's with her lately? She seems very busy and distracted." Andrew said to Sandra who got back from the washroom but managed to spectate the last moments of Ivy being annoyed with Andrew about her book. Both of them had noticed her being disoriented but they thought it was due to exams.

Sandra shrugged as they both packed to leave the hall. "Boyfriend perhaps like you said before?" Sarah joked.

Andrew laughed while packing. "You gotta be kidding me, Sandra!"

"Happy weekend, folks!" He cheered to everyone as he walked out of the lecture hall with Sandra.

Ivy went straight for her car and drove behind Marcel when she caught him at the same spot she left him earlier. They were trying their best to get out of the mad jam at the college entrance.

While they slowly ease out of the jam, Ivy was still thinking of ways to stop Jason from his madness. She was considering to strike a deal with him if she was going to accept his offer where they both lay out their conditions and compromise if there were any differences. She shook her head thinking it would be a long day again with Jason.

She parked next to Marcel in the lobby of the office when they reached as she walked calmly into Jason's office by herself without Marcel having to guard her. Jason didn't notice her standing in his office till after a while.

"Very quiet of you today? Why did you make such a request?" Jason stood to greet her but couldn't help to tease her at the same time. He gave her a sinister smile while waiting for her to react as though he was feeding on her annoyance.

"Well, you're definitely not a guardian of mine. Hence, there's no need to listen to you. You paid your employee to work for you but if he went against you because of the law, that makes him right too. I'm in the position to sue you and bring up whatever you did to the authorities as well as the college's Dean. So let's see what consequences I should drown you in for harassment and abduction." She warned as she crossed her arms.

"Seeing you still standing here and for the previous times, you got paid for the jobs you have done, I don't see what I did wrong." He retaliated.

Ivy was on the edge of bursting with rage as she kept quiet while closing her eyes forcing herself to keep her emotions under control. Jason took the chance to explain himself briefly instead.

"I wanted your help earlier considering it's Friday and your last few lessons were your expertise. So I thought you wouldn't need to attend them. What made you want to stay?" He asked.

"How did he know all this? Has he been stalking?" She thought to herself and couldn't take anymore of his absurd ways.

"I have no idea how you find out all this but for goodness sake, I need time to study and maintain my grades! Despite having an expertise doesn't make my grades any better this month. Thanks to you for abducting me at the wrong time! Of all the time, why when I was about to attend an extra class for science which was my weak subject? Why take me in when I was studying for my accounts which I didn't even attend classes! I had to study outside of college hours for it, did you know that?!" It was another side of Ivy Jason met today and he knew he had crossed their boundaries.