Chapter 12.1: Landsfield, the place where it all begins

While Ivy and Jason checked in their flights and boarded for Landsfield, Marcel as usual was on standby taking care of business in Manes while being off for the weekend. The plane landed within an hour with dinner served in flight. After a lengthy immigration process, they both headed straight for the hotel.

Ivy had been reading her crime novel since they boarded as she decided to ignore Jason for the rest of the day to avoid any fights. During their taxi ride, they sat in silence as Ivy enjoyed the pretty scenes of the city skylines in the dark. Landsfield was a very different town from Manes. Manes was more of nature by the countryside but Landsfield was all about its skylines. That was the reason Landsfield has the best university for business studies as it is situated in the heart of the business trading hub.

It was nearly close to ten at night when they checked into the hotel. The moment they alighted, Jason had to redirect Ivy many times to avoid her from knocking into things as she was reading and walking at the same time.

"We are checking in." He said over the reception and Ivy overheard it. She continued to read although she was also trying to pay attention to their conversation to ensure there weren't any tricks from Jason.

"One room?" The receptionist asked. He noticed Ivy wasn't looking as he quickly nodded. Ivy assumed he would have booked two instead as she walked away from the receptionist counter heading to the lift without any doubts.

She was still glued to her novel in the lift as Jason smirked at his surprise awaiting her. He noticed she was finishing a chapter as the lift stopped at their floor.

"Keys please." Ivy finally spoke as she held one palm out while her eyes were still glued to the novel when they walked out of the lift.

He initially wanted to play along to tease her but her rude behavior, which wasn't his first time experiencing it, has agitated him unexpectedly. He ignored her and tapped the room's card on the lock upon arrival. He held the door open for her to enter.

She was observing his actions and when she realised his point, she accidentally raised her voice in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me. I'm not sharing a room with you!" He instantly pulled her into the room and locked the door.

"You can be quieter as it's late. Yes, we are sharing a room. I have a budget to abide with. What did you expect? You could head to shower first at least.'' He scolded as he left his luggage by the side of the cupboard near the coffee table and opened the sliding door to the balcony. The view of the city skyline was breathtaking as he enjoyed the breeze to calm his nerves.

He heard Ivy obediently go into the washroom to shower while he popped open the wine he included in his booking. He thought to himself that he didn't intend to provoke her and he knew little about her background. He wondered about things he could do to improve their relationship if he were to work with her and her father on their future business dealings. The thought of meeting her father gave him the determination to mend their relationship as he sipped his wine and waited for her.

Ivy was furious and speechless but was too tired to retaliate against him as she started to feel a shot of sleepiness in her. She yawned many times while showering. She wondered how their sleeping arrangements would be as she decided she could make do sleeping on the couch since she often woke up from her dreams in the middle of the night and it would be easier to study there if she couldn't fall back to sleep.

As she stepped out of the shower, dressed in her shorts and t-shirt, she saw him sitting by the balcony enjoying his wine. She wanted the same thing she thought, as it seemed relaxing while grabbing a scarf on the way out to the balcony.

"May I have a glass of wine too?" She asked politely as she took a seat next to his chair and wrapped herself with her scarf.

"Is that your way of saying you wanna join me and end the silent treatment war?" He smirked.

"I can't? Oh, then I shall head in. Just let me know the sleeping arrangements while I unpack." She stood and turned around wanting to enter the room while lamenting on her wasted effort of trying to mend their relationship but she felt an unexpected gesture that stopped her midway.

Jason panicked a little at her, obediently listening to him ever since they got here as he quickly caught her left arm before she could move any further away from his reach.

"Just kidding. Sit." He smiled as she turned around and sat back next to him.

"Wine? My tolerance is really good, don't worry." She asked as she supported her head on her left arm looking at him.

"Not till you tell me, what's going on?" He put his legs down from the long chair and faced her, who gave him a questioning look.

"Now, I'm sorry about all the mischief I caused. I agreed to your deal. So you could at least fill me in with what's going on at your end?" His sudden counteroffer caught Ivy off guard as she sat in silence. "Your parents found out about what I did?" He prompted.

She looked down at her feet when she understood his concerns as she shook her head recalling her exam results. "Your lecturers or deans giving you a hard time?" She shook her head again as she tilted her head lower with a pout.

"Friends giving you a hard time?" He lowered his head following her actions while prompting further.

She twitched her mouth to the side as she sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Not really." She answered after a moment of hesitation.

"If you're not telling, then you're missing the wine." He was trying hard to create a conversation or help her by listening but to no avail. He gave up being nice as he concluded that teasing her was the only way to get her talking while he took a sip of wine.

She took a deep breath to calm her disappointment of her performance in her exams and her raging nerves as she half regretted her request while deciding she probably could tell him the main reason since he was part of the cause.

"I wasn't doing so well in this term's exams." She looked down at her feet.

"How bad was it?" He asked. "Averagely lower than most of my friends. No fails. Credit for science..." She was still looking at her feet.

"How many subjects are you taking?" He interrupted.

"Seven." She said while twitching her mouth and he caught the sight of that.

"That's a lot of pressure there. How're language subjects doing?" He prompted further.

"English and Chinese? High distinction! The same for Math and moral studies." She said proudly as she finally looked up at him and realised he was eagerly listening to her.

"So Science was the only credit?" He asked as she nodded with a pout.

"What about the other two subjects?" He encouraged her to tell more.

"History was just a distinction while accounts was an extra paper I took and it's self-studied. That's the one I'm very worried about. Thanks to you, you screwed up my first attempt and I bailed out of the exam. I don't even know how confident I am for the next." She sighed as she looked up at the pretty lighted sky.

"I've a friendly college debate coming up too and I must win it for my record." She sighed again as he finally poured her a glass of wine.

"You know how much pressure you're putting on yourself?" He asked while swirling the wine glass before he offered it to her.

"Are your parents complaining about your grades?" He asked as she shook her head and quickly took her first sip feeling satisfied.

"Great wine! Thanks." She smiled beaming at him as he smiled unexpectedly in return at how his simple gesture could lighten her mood so much.

"You're actually doing well, do you know?" He took pity on her as he finally patted her on her shoulders which he held back in the afternoon. She was caught off guard again at his gesture as her smile quickly turned to a frown while she tried to hold her sudden tears threatening to flow anytime.

It's been a while since she heard someone telling her the same or comforting her. Andrew and Sandra were often asking for advice on their studies and they all had forgotten about how well they each have performed to complement each other. She envied them for having parents who must have often praised and encouraged them. Ever since her grandma left, there was no one she could openly tell of her worries as she didn't want Sandra or Andrew, or even Aunty Soh to be burdened by her issues. She knew she must have run away from her emotions for way too long as they were slowly catching her off guard.