Chapter 22.1: A warm listening ear

"Wow! New cap!" Sandra exclaimed the moment she saw Andrew at the entrance of the college main gate as she purposely left home late to avoid Andrew lately.

"Yo!" Andrew greeted in a cool way while showing off his cap and made Sandra giggled as they walked towards Ivy who was watching them from afar under a huge tree and laughing at Andrew's silly acts. Ivy had been trying to give them both space to talk things out that she left the house earlier than their usual timing and Sandra knew about it resulting in her deciding to head out later as she felt she wasn't ready to tell Andrew.

"Yo!!" Andrew was jumping all around Ivy the moment he saw her as he finally could show everyone his new cap. He felt it was strange for Ivy to arrive earlier but he knew she was trying to set up Sandra for him to have a chance to talk to but it didn't cross his mind that Sandra was avoiding him.

"Thank you for the job referral! See, my new cap!" Andrew danced around with his cap as both girls giggled. "No worries… Glad you bought something you like!" Ivy lightly tapped on the tip of his cap with her right hand while trying to hide her left hand in her pocket to avoid them from looking at her healing scar.

"Eaten breakfast yet? Breakfast, anyone?" Andrew asked them both from left to right while both of them shook their heads. "Come, let me treat you!" Andrew offered as both girls cheered. "I shall refer you to more jobs! Free meals!" Ivy cheered while a text message entered and she saw it was from Jason.

"Hey… Are your wounds healed?" He asked.

"Yes… but there's a scar. If my friends asked where I was last weekend, just say I was in the same roadshow as you…" Ivy replied.

"I know… Marcel briefed me. In fact, we missed a week of tutoring. Let me make up for it tonight?" He offered as Ivy pondered but instead Jason called.

"Hey… come over. In fact, this weekend, we will resume the part time emcee job. That's why…" Jason's explanation was interrupted. "Alright…" Ivy mumbled as he paused.

"You're alright?" He asked again. "Yes… I am… I gotta go. I am having classes. I will see you tonight then." Ivy said before hanging up. She sighed as she felt weird lately being around him but again when he wasn't around, she missed him. She knew she was struggling to control herself from falling for him with all the pretentious acts of being his girlfriend but sometimes, it just got out of hand.

"You! What do you want to eat?" Andrew asked loudly on purpose which startled Ivy from her thoughts.

"Usual one please. Oh, I won't be joining the study group till late… I had another tutor session tonight…" Ivy explained as Andrew nodded and went back to queue for the girls.

"How's things with him?" Sandra asked as she nudged Ivy. "Fine… All is well now…How's things with him?" Ivy asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Which "him" is this?" Sandra asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ivy blinked and realised Sandra might have thought she asked about Andrew.

"Both?" Ivy asked while raising an eyebrow. "It's going well with Jeremy… but for him…" Both of them sighed watching the goofy boy walk back with their breakfast while making funny faces.

"Breakfast!" Andrew cheered as the girls helped themselves to the breakfast before heading for class.

In the midst of Andrew trying to act like everything was normal by being his usual goofy self while Sandra joined in his silliness at times, Ivy couldn't help but to think about Jason intermittently between her classes. His tiny gestures lately had sent butterflies to her stomach and reminiscing his gentle gaze caused her cheeks to blush just by thinking about it. She recalled Phoenix's gaze was similar and she could almost feel Phoenix's warm embrace.

One thing she was grateful for was that her exams results were improving so much that she wondered if she had joined Andrew and Sandra in the other science subjects, would she excel well too. As though knowing how much Ivy missed him, Jason decided to drop by her college to see her as he couldn't wait to tell her about his band's performance in the upcoming town festival on Friday.

"You should recite it now… A whole day in school… Comes as a waste of time…"" Andrew joked while the girls burst out in laughter on the way to the bus stop. Jason stood cross legged as he folded his arms while watching the trio happily walk out of the college gate. There were a few college students who noticed him and were smitten by his charming looks as they walked away giggling.

Ivy's eyes couldn't help but to catch the sight of him as well. He was unexpectedly charming to her today, she thought as the trio walked over to him. Ivy couldn't take her eyes off him as she had been thinking of him the whole day.

"Hey…" He greeted her coolly. "Hey…" She greeted him gently which made Andrew and Sandra give her a strange look. They could sense something has changed between Ivy and Jason. Ivy noticed the awkward silence and decided to introduce everyone to each other. "Oh, here… meet Andrew and Sandra. And this is…" Ivy introduced before Andrew interrupted.

"Jason… Your boss… Yes, we know…" Andrew greeted with a handshake as Sandra nodded in acknowledgement and smiled.

"Oh yes…" Jason turned around to slip his hand into the open window of his car to take out three concert tickets and passed each to the trio. "Come watch my band and I perform for the town festival this Friday… Ivy would know where it is…" Jason winked at Ivy who was widening her eyes and squinting at him to stop him from telling them about her involvement previously.

"Hmmm...?" Ivy hummed to stop the conversation as she pulled Jason aside.

"What are you up to?" Ivy whispered.

"I was actually here to invite you and your friends to watch the band performing in the town festival as it was an invitation for the winners." Jason stood blinking while waiting for her response.

She stepped back out as she placed her arms on her waist.

"You do know I definitely cannot expose myself again considering we won and the press would cover the story in detail." Ivy scolded but tried to maintain her voice lower.

"It was only an invitation to watch." He raised his eyebrow.

She laughed as she walked back to the duo. "That's definitely a yes."

"Heading home? Want a ride?" Jason offered as Jason and Sandra looked at Ivy for an answer. Ivy primly nodded as they all hopped into his car as they rode in silence. When they alighted at Ivy's home entrance, Sandra and Andrew were greeted by Lucky as Ivy delightedly smiled at the sight of him.

"There… My insurance that you would drop by tonight…" Jason teased as Ivy snarled at him. "What are you up to? Stop scheming…" Ivy mumbled but loud enough for him to hear.

"Ivy… make sure you come… No, in fact, stay over the whole week. I need to tutor you and I have to practice for Friday and brief you about the weekend emcee job…" He explained while Ivy nodded her head and smiled. "Alright I will… See you tonight?" Ivy asked as he smiled and nodded in return watching Ivy's eyes twinkling at the sight of his smile.

The entire afternoon felt like it sprinted past Ivy as she quickly finished up her assignments and compiled her notes on a few topics taught lately before she got ready to send Lucky home to Jason's place. Andrew and Sandra were surprised at Ivy being obedient and diligent in studying without her usual daydreaming or disturbing them both for the day.

She left the house a little earlier with Lucky and told Sandra to lock up for her once they left. She intentionally wanted to leave them both alone to give Andrew the chance to speak with Sandra or maybe let Sandra tell him about her relationship.

She didn't really like the awkward situation she was in lately with them both she thought while unlocking the door to Jason's house. As she put down her bag and books, she went to stand by the sliding door and recalled the last time she came. She wondered if Nancy had gotten better. She then realised none of them had updated her about Nancy on the roadshow as she called Marcel to check for updates.

"Marcel… Free?" She chirped. "It's alright. Go ahead…" Marcel instructed as he showed Jason the caller ID while Jason signalled him to put her on loudspeaker knowing it was Ivy.

"I just wanted to check on the roadshows. How was it? My friends told me they were paid handsomely!" Ivy cheered happily. "Yes, we paid them your rate per hour…" Marcel replied in a formal tone which annoyed Ivy.

"Are you with Jason?" She quickly checked while Jason signalled him to not tell her. "Err... What else do you need to know? I have to go soon…" Marcel quickly said to cover up.

"Jason's not around right? I just wanted to ask how Nancy was when she worked with Jason. Was Nick there as well?" Ivy finally asked the question she was dying to hear an update about.

"She was alright. Things went well with the extra help. Yes, Nick was there as well." Marcel primly updated as Jason continued to type away on his keyboard knowing Ivy was worried about Nancy.

"Good! Are you alright? Have you been well? I haven't seen you around lately…" Ivy asked as she realised ever since she started the job, she liaised lesser with Marcel as he was always out and about. "I'm fine. I got to go now…" Marcel quickly said as Jason smiled knowing Marcel couldn't stand her pestering him.

"Alright… See you soon?" Ivy replied in a sad tone that Marcel hesitated to say nothing and just hang up. "Yes. See you soon, Ms. Ivy." Ivy smiled before cheerfully telling him goodbye and hung up. She paused when she heard the front door unlocked itself.

She thought it was Jason at first but she received a text message the next moment she hung up from Marcel. "Since when are you so close with my secretary?" He asked in the text message but her eyes went back eyeing at the front door opening in front of her as Lucky approached excitedly.