Chapter 13 - For better or for worse

Jason stepped out from the washroom as he heard chatter from outside on the balcony. He noticed a head-wrapped Ivy was sitting still with her head tilted to the side and her phone was where the chatters came from.

The receiver was chatting with each other while trying to get Ivy.

"Ivy?? Hello? Andrew, the equation for question one in page nine should follow the formula sheet." Sandra said. "Receivers." He corrected his mind when he noticed there were two of them on the line.

"Yep correct. Ai Yee, hello?? Are you listening? We are in science now. In case you want the answers." Andrew lied to coax an answer from Ivy but to no avail.

Jason was on the verge of bursting out in laughter. He was tempted to reply to them both when Andrew spoke again.

"I guess the queen of debate has dosed off. Will call her tomorrow then. Sandra, let's do history tomorrow instead when the queen wakes." Andrew said.

"Alright, goodnight Andrew. Goodnight Ivy!" Sandra hung up.

"Ai Yee? Hello? Ivy?!!! Oh gosh! Why do you always dose off when I have questions for you?" Scolded Andrew who was annoyed while he hung up.

Jason burst out in laughter when Andrew hung up but noticed Ivy didn't barge at all. He noticed Andrew called her Chinese name twice; Ai Yee. He couldn't help but to check his email for the attachment from the potential investor. He scrolled to the particulars section and saw the full name appeared as Ivy Ophal Ai Yee.

He was more affirmed it was her whom he was looking for as long he confirmed with her on her surname. He walked closer to her with a plan in mind to get her to fill up the application form from his human resource department. When he was closer to her, he finally understood the reason she was so quiet. She was plugging her ear pieces on both sides. He noticed her wine glass was empty while he scrolled through her music player list as he was curious about her songs list.

It was a mixture of both old and new songs but not too mainstream and there were some underground bands. He thought it was not bad.

He increased the volume but then lowered it back as realised he shouldn't be so mean to her. After all, she was tired from the rushed flight and her roller coaster emotions.

He paused her music player and unplugged her ear pieces as he carried her to bed while tucking her in the blanket as she eased in and slept. He decided to take the couch and turn off the lights next to her bedside table.

She stirred in bed while gripping on to her palm into a fist ball the moment the darkness sipped in.

"Phoenix, what were the other ingredients missing other than the venom of the serpents?" Ivy asked in the midst of admiring the sunset view but Phoenix was hesitating to tell as he held her gaze.

Phoenix was remembering bits and pieces of his lost memory lately when he was with grandma alone. He recalled the decree which came from his father as confirmed by grandma and his guards that he was assigned to take down everyone and everything in this kingdom. Grandma was going all out in protecting Ivy as she begged Phoenix to do the same. He was confident that his deal with Ivy on their fake betrothed would help him to fulfill grandma's request. As he recalled the last two ingredients to complete the portion were none other than Ivy's blood and the roots of irises, the cliff was hovered by unexpected dark hazy portals of serpents appearing to attack the kingdom.

"They are here again!" Ivy panicked as Phoenix patted her hand to comfort her.

"Don't worry, my guards and I will defend. Stay here!" Phoenix echoed as he transformed into his mystical self. Ivy saw the guards were already in their mystical form and fighting to harvest the venom of the serpents and trying their best not to destroy the plains of irises.

Ivy stood with the glowing yellow bouquet trying hard to think of ways to protect the plains or help to end the swarms of serpents quickly. She summoned her sword and flew up to the second portal as she laid the bouquet on the ground. "Stay lower to collect the venom while I kill them!" Ivy instructed the guards as they nodded and flew lower.

Ivy slashed a bunch of them in one hit as she watched the guards collect them. Feeling satisfied, she waited for the next swarm but this time a twin serpent head with four huge sharp fangs appeared which startled her to react within a nick of time. Phoenix, seeing Ivy who was struck by surprise, instantly flew in front of her to defend her before the twin serpent's attacked, which released lots of its venom on three fangs. The guards continued to harvest them but Ivy noticed one fang was out of her sight.

She looked at Phoenix who was still looking at her for a reaction but both of them were not sure which of them took the hit. Ivy, being quick witted with rage instantly took her sword on her left and wanted to slash both serpent's head while looking eye to eye with it but Phoenix stopped her by holding on to her body. She was struck by the fact that his flames weren't burning her nor was she feeling any burning sensation except his warm embrace.

"Princess, we still need to harvest more venom. We should let it go." Phoenix echoed gently in his mystical form as Ivy slash a thin cut near one of the serpent's head which made it retract all of its fangs in agony. A sharp piercing pain on her right hand sent her flying down as blood splattered everywhere in the sky. Her blood was included in the venom load which Phoenix was relieved that at least one hidden ingredient was collected but couldn't help to worry at the load of blood was collected. Ivy saw eye to eye with the serpent in anger while it retreated in its portal as Phoenix, who was extremely worried about Ivy who could die instantly from the poisoning and excess blood loss was flying faster towards her to catch her.

The terror of her nightmare awoke her as she was greeted by an overwhelming darkness. She was still gripping tightly to her palm as she dashed outside the balcony where there were street lights for comfort while catching her breath. She was grateful she could move this time as she pondered if it was because Phoenix was defending her as she squatted trying to calm herself. She noticed the faint shimmering hues from her bracelet as she tried hard to pay attention to them as a distraction.

Jason caught sight of Ivy panting at the balcony from inside as he was awoken by the cold morning breeze. He wondered if she was not used to the room being dark when asleep as he went to switch on a dim light from her table lamp before walking over to check on her as he watched her pacing at the balcony and squatted again. Ivy was still unable to shake off her terror despite directing her focus on her shimmering bracelet earlier which has now turned normal into a light pink bracelet.

"You're alright?" Jason squatted to check on her as he held her arm. It startled her as she stood and nearly stumbled.

Jason held her by her shoulder to keep her from falling but instead she fell on to him and was leaning on his shoulder. He could hear her fast beating heartbeat as she was trying to catch her breath while gripping on to Jason's left hand for comfort. Jason was taken by surprise as he wanted to pull away but her heavy head was still leaning on to his shoulder. Her grip on his left arm was tightened as she held with both hands while she closed her eyes for fear he would leave her. He slid his arm higher to meet her left hand and held them with his fingers intertwined into hers. The warmness and refuge she felt from him was all she needed to shake her terror away. He noticed his bracelet was once again attracted to hers like before as he decided to stand still for a moment till he couldn't hear her pounding heartbeat to try untangle their bracelet.

"Was it a bad nightmare?" He finally asked as he gently patted on her shoulders.

Somehow it was calming and assuring for her to have someone to hold on to, just the same as when her grandma was around that she had forgotten it was Jason whom she was leaning on to. She tried to muster up some courage to face him in embarrassment as she swallowed her saliva and took a deep breath before loosening her grip on his arm and looked at him while nodding. He was busy using a strong force to pull apart their attracted magnet bracelet.

"Tangled again. Magnets…" He grumbled while Ivy watched him untangle them. When it was finally untangled, Ivy noticed there were blood stains on Jason's sleeves as she opened her palm to find her right hand was bleeding.

"Oh no! Come in, I will get the dressing for your wound." Jason quickly sat her down on the couch as he went to take the first aid box in the room. Ivy finally could feel the pain from her wound as her senses were returning when he came back with the box and tried to move her right hand to check on her wound.

"This will sting a little. Bear with me for a little while." She nodded while wincing a little as he dressed her wounds. He quickly cleaned the wound and added ointment to them as he watched her bravely endure the stinging pain without making a sound.

"Thank you." She said when Jason finally put a plaster over her wound.

He looked at her exhausted self. "Does this happen often? Are you having sleep disorders?" He asked as Ivy looked away trying to avoid the question.

"You do need to seek medical attention if this worsens." Jason casually said while he patted her head as he understood she didn't want to discuss it. He went to keep away the first aid box.

Ivy wasn't ready to open about it with Jason as she was still trying to distract herself from the nightmare and assuring herself her condition was getting better but it was hard to coax herself this time when she had injured herself in sleep. When Jason returned, he decided to not pry on it any further as he led her back to bed and tucked her under the blanket.

Jason went back to the couch to catch up on sleep but Ivy couldn't bring herself to do the same. It keeps worsening whether it was saving Phoenix or about her sleep disorders. All she wanted was to spend time in her grandma's company in her dreams but Phoenix's seemed to be intruding these days. Her confusing dreams were making her contemplate on seeing a psychologist as suggested by Jason but she knew it could come out to be pointless and wasting money.

She decided to grab her accounts notes and tip-toed to the balcony to study instead. She sat breathing in the early morning cold breeze as it soothed her anxious self to calm down even more while recalling the majestic pledge made by Phoenix. She beamed and closed her eyes to remember the sight of the glowing yellow irises. As she began to recall her concepts for accounts, accompanied by the bright street lights, the gentleness of the early dawn continued to ease her.