Chapter 19.2: Tangled with your past

Ivy raised her eyebrow, acted as though she had fallen into further confusion but in mind she was certain that Nancy had misunderstood her relationship with Jason but couldn't understand the reason for her being feisty about it.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute… What does my part time job have to do with you or Nick for that matter?" Ivy tried to pry further and make more room as she stepped forward which triggered Nancy to move backwards a little but she snapped instantly hearing Ivy's question.

"Whoever told you Nick is my boyfriend is a fool! My boyfriend has never changed since Jason!" Nancy retaliated as she stepped forward again and pushed Ivy back to the pillar; wasting all of Ivy's earlier effort to escape.

Ivy was frustrated at the confusing situation as she tried to figure out who was the liar but knew she had to continue to play along with her confusion pretense as Nancy was getting out of hand. "Oh seriously! Then, Jason is the fool!" Ivy said as she tried to push her way out from being trapped by Nancy in a small area.

Jason was quietly creeping up on them till he was close enough to overhear their conversation. He could not help but to roll his eyes at Ivy's comments which were pulling her into deeper danger. He knew if he did not act fast, Nancy who was fuming and had no depression medication under control could do anything to harm Ivy. He sighed at the sight of Nancy's old self whenever she refused medication.

When Ivy noticed the awkward silence from Nancy, she knew it was the best chance to escape. "Nancy… know what… I have never heard Jason mention anything about your relationships. How peculiar? But again my job has no affairs with your personal issues. It's just business. So, please mind your own business." Ivy nonchalantly said before she hurried towards the main entrance but was caught by Nancy on her left shoulder as she spun Ivy around.

"Do you think I have not known anything? How could a college student like you sleep with someone else's boyfriend? You're such a slut!" Nancy went berserk as she lifted her arm close to slapping Ivy but Ivy managed to hold on to Nancy's arm. Ivy could feel the force was intense and knew she had crossed the line in provoking Nancy.

Jason could feel butterflies in his stomach just by watching Nancy nearly assault Ivy but Ivy's laughter in such a tense situation halted him from revealing himself.

"Now that's the joke of the day! Regardless of who your boyfriend is, I hope they put up with your childishness well. You're worse than the professional childish teenagers in high school for goodness sake."

Ivy turned around wanting to quickly dash for the main entrance where there were guards but she stopped when she heard Nancy calling out to Jason. Jason appeared out of nowhere blocking Nancy from moving further which startled her.

"Jason! Aww honey! How did you know I was here?" Nancy exclaimed as she cuddled into his arms making Jason uncomfortable. Ivy, feeling guilty than ever, turned around and saw Nancy in his arms while Jason was giving her the signals to leave but she didn't want to, knowing that he would get into trouble for the mess she caused. Instead, she walked closer to them which got into Jason's nerves as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Is this for me?" Nancy asked while noticing the tea Jason was holding on to.

Jason quickly moved away from Nancy's embrace and walked towards Ivy who looked as though she was walking into a war-zone to save him. Jason knew he had no choice but to use Ivy as a scapegoat at that point of time.

"Hey..." His stern look instantly changed into gentle and loving gazes as he softly called out to Ivy. Ivy blinked and halted midair in surprise at the sight of his sudden change in actions. She had been caught in such situations lately too often for her liking as she sometimes couldn't tell if it was a pretense or was it real.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked softly but loud enough for Nancy to hear as he hugged her by her shoulders, turning himself around to face Nancy with Ivy.

"This was for you. Your favorite, fruit tea and sandwich." Ivy was staring and blinking at him for an explanation as he was acting as though they were a couple. He pushed the tea and paper bag to her empty hand with his delicate gaze he held on to Ivy which drove Nancy even more berserk.

Jason could sense Nancy was at the top of her temper and as he continued to stall enough time for Nick to arrive. "And for you…" Jason said towards Nancy's direction.

"This is my girlfriend." Jason's last line caught both ladies off guard.

"Our relationship ended ages ago, Nancy. So please, stop bothering us. You should just get a life!" Jason said before drawing Ivy closer to him while Ivy fidgeted to loosen his arms but to no avail as Jason's will to keep her safe was stronger that she remained held tight in his arms.

"You better watch out if I catch you harassing my life again!" Jason warned as Nancy threw a fit watching Jason lead a very confused Ivy away.

On the way to the office building's roof-top garden, Jason noticed Nick's car arrived just in time, easing his mind of Nancy's safety. Ivy on the other hand, was still trying to digest the whole event during the walk to the lift.

"Girlfriend? I thought he said they were over. It cannot be Nancy being delusional, is she? She did look problematic and haggard. Perhaps drowned by depression? No, no, no… What had Nick been doing? Something doesn't quite match. Either one of them was lying." She thought to herself in the lift ride and didn't notice Jason was fuming with anger at her for putting herself in unnecessary danger.

When she entered the doorway to the rooftop with a gentle breeze greeting them, only then did she realised Jason had made her a scapegoat.

She turned around and put down her cup of tea and paper bag on the brick wall. "Are you out of your mind? Girlfriend? That was your ex out there!"

"Still my ex." Jason answered nonchalantly as he leaned on to the railings looking out to the skylines while Ivy snapped at him.

"Then you got back with her and then you dumped her again! What games are you both playing? Nevermind, I don't care what games it was but I don't want to be a part of this!" Ivy hissed while folding her arms.

"Listen, Ivy, it's not that simple. I never got back with her. She was with Nick. I had no idea what happened..." He was interrupted by a furious Ivy midway.

"Who gave you the consent to make me your girlfriend?!" Ivy yelled as he left his left arm hanging mid air for a moment.

"You're making your own decisions for yourself and your company, who cares but not for another insignificant person! I am not even connected to you in any ways other than being your student and part time intern! No girlfriend business!" Ivy was literally screaming at him at this point.

Jason knew he cannot speak to her nicely if he wanted her to understand the complicated situation.

"So you want to bring this up, don't you? How many times have you spoken to others without looking at the person? The first time I ever saw you, you did that... Landsfield you did the same… So should I say you deserve the treatment I gave you all along?" He was forced to tease her to provoke more anger in order to make her realise how dangerous the situation earlier was.

"What does that have to do with this situation?" Ivy yelled and kicked at the pillar next to her as Jason felt satisfied at letting her taste her own medicine for making him that furious too.

"You're not insignificant, Ivy... You're great in fact. Happy now that you know how furious I was with you provoking Nancy?" Jason added on in the midst of his anger, fuming further as she got even more pissed off.

"Do you know how dangerous it was for you to pull that stunt just now?! You were nearly assaulted by her! She has depression and the only reason she is like that was because she had stopped her medication again! You should have acted like you didn't know her! Run off into the office! Or even contact me! She could kill anyone without medication, Ivy!" Jason yelled back at her as he stepped forward at each sentence pushing her vulnerable self backwards one step at a time to avoid him.

The whole situation finally made sense as they ran through Ivy's mind and she realised the level of danger and its consequences if Jason didn't appear on time. She was shocked to learn about Nancy's depression and wondered what had triggered it. She couldn't help but to wonder if Nancy suffers the same as her while she sympathised with Nancy's situation.

"He's right. But that doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants…" She thought. Jason knew she was getting more tense again from the change in her facial expression.

"Will it be nicer to watch me being harassed by my pathetic psycho ex and waste all your precious study and work time than being my fake girlfriend?" He asked before she could retaliate. He walked towards her, sending her walking further backwards before pinning her to the wall while gripping to her right hand as he faced her closely. He knew she was waiting for an apology from him as she fought to loosen her wrist from his grip in anger.

"Look, I'm sorry I caught you off guard earlier." He said gently, finally loosening his grip as she stopped fidgeting at the sound of his long awaited apology.

"I'm sorry I shot a desperate move. I had never reconciled with her ever since a few years ago when we broke up... Ever since, she was cheating on me with Nick. I heard what she said. It's just her not on her medication but I am not sure what's going on... I have yet to speak with Nick properly on this… She might have misunderstood us from last weekend perhaps. Hence, I just played along to her misunderstanding." Ivy calmed down from his explanation.

However, she couldn't help but wonder if the song was written for Nancy while he was trying to forget her. As for Nancy, Ivy could feel something was amiss.

"I'm asking you now, would you please bear with me through this phase to ward her away from my life. Just till she subside her stalking games and continue her medications, would you please be the girlfriend till then?" He asked gently, seeing she had no replies. At the sound of his plea, she couldn't help but to smile which ended up bursting out in laughter. It felt surreal for her as though he was asking for real.

He was a little confused at her laughter. "Was it so hard to say please and ask for consent?" She asked sarcastically while pretending to be upset and walked away to fetch her tea and sandwich.

"I'm sorry. The situation was tense. I had to use all my ways to ensure she doesn't harm you." He explained further as he trailed behind her, trying to convince her further while he watched her enjoy her favourite tea.

"Yes." She said abruptly as she agreed to his request but he did not understand.