Chapter 27.1: Just a broken trust

"Yo sicky Ivy! You're finally home!" Andrew greeted as Ivy opened the glass house at her grandma's house. She was sniffing a little as she blew her nose while Andrew and Sandra walked into the glass house. Sandra upon noticing Ivy was still sick, quickly wrapped a blanket around her.

"Why are you out here?" You should drink something warm and stay warm…" Sandra nagged as Ivy sniffed. "Hmmm… I am fine… I just needed some fresh air…" Ivy said as she sat by the table.

"Where are my notes?" Ivy asked with a raspy voice. Andrew quickly took out his notes and passed them to her. "Thanks buddy… I will try to copy them all today and return to you tomorrow in class…." Ivy said before taking more tissues to wipe her nose.

"You're staying here tonight?" Sandra asked as Ivy nodded. "Where's Lucky?" Sandra looked around for him. "He is at Jason's place…" Ivy said while flipping over Andrew's notes.

Sandra raised an eyebrow while looking at Andrew feeling strange. "You should rest more since you're still unwell…" Andrew said as Ivy looked at both of them while smirking, trying to change the topic.

"Come… spill the beans… I haven't got the chance to hear from you both about how you both started this whole dating story…" Ivy wriggled her eyebrow teasing both of them.

"You're still unwell… We shall save this for another day! Byeeee!" Andrew quickly exited the glass house as Ivy chased him. "Run all you want! I am going to knock it out of you today!" Ivy said while they all chuckled. "Are you sure you're still sick Ivy?" Sandra called out from behind them before they all settled down by the stairs looking out to the pretty view from the roof top unit with Andrew being caught by Ivy of no escape.

"Didn't I tell you not to confess that day?" Ivy nagged Andrew as she twisted his ears. "Ouchhh!! Listen, I can explain!" Andrew wailed as Sandra covered his mouth. Being seated between both girls, he couldn't help but to feel like he was being bullied. "Help! I am bullied! Anybody out there?! Help!" Andrew pretended to wail for help softly as Sandra chuckled while Ivy smacked him.

"Are you telling me or not?" Ivy pestered. "Alright…. Alright…" Andrew said in all seriousness as he looked at Sandra who nodded with a smile.

"There was a little misunderstanding…" Andrew said while putting out the action on his right hand. "What misunderstanding?" Ivy asked as she sniffed her stuffy runny nose.

"She thought I wasn't interested in her…" Andrew pouted as he blushed and buried his face onto his palm and pretended to sulk.

"What?" Ivy asked while giving a very surprised face. "And was that why you dated someone else?" Ivy asked while looking at Sandra who also blushed and nodded.

Ivy made sense of the entire misunderstanding and stood cheering. "Yessssss!!! You're both finally…." Before she could finish cheering, both Andrew and Sandra stood to cover her mouth and stop her from cheering any further. "Stop!" They both yelled.

"Nobody knows about us except you!" Sandra said in a lower voice. "Oh! Oh! Alright… sorry sorry!" Ivy calmed down and apologised in a lower voice as well. "Let's get into the house then!" She urged as the three hurriedly scurried into the house via the side door.

Ivy couldn't stop herself from being excited for them both as she jumped around the house. "Ivy, are you sure you are sick? You don't act like one at all… Are you faking sick to get your boyfriend's attention?" Andrew teased as Ivy sat on the couch with them. 

"Hey, fake boyfriend! And no, I was really sick while helping him while he was drunk at an event…" Ivy explained as she shook her legs.

"Drunk?" Sandra clarified in surprise. "Did he do anything to you? Did you both…" Sandra's imagination had gone wild as Ivy fanned her with her hands. 

"Stop thinking nonsense. Nothing happened. I just sat by his side and took care of him till he was sober…" Ivy explained. 

"That better be the case… Then, how did you get yourself sick like this?" Sandra asked as Ivy rolled her eyes.

"Got caught in the rain while helping him to get some necessities to stay sober… Don't worry, nothing happened…"Ivy attempted to assure both of them as Andrew smirked at her while Sandra snarled at her. 

"Don't ever let him touch you especially when it's all fake…" Sandra warned as Ivy stared at her sudden seriousness.

"Yes, madam!" Ivy saluted her as they all laughed. 

The thought of last weekend ran through Ivy's mind as she couldn't help but to smile even more at her first ball dance. If only she hadn't been so sick and slept so much the last two days, she would have caught up with Andrew and Sandra even earlier. She was then reminded of Jason's offer over the weekend for Belinda's birthday as she told the both of them.

"Hmmm… About Belinda's birthday party over the weekend… There's something a little different than usual about it…" Ivy said as she gave an innocent smile while the other two raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Hmm… It would be at the downtown hotel… I got work to do at night with Jason…" The moment she started to explain, both Andrew and Ivy couldn't help but to ambush her with questions.

"You're not coming?" Andrew asked shockingly and before Ivy could answer, Sandra asked her question. 

"Why did you spend so much? Do you know downtown hotels are always so expensive!" Sandra scolded. 

"Yet you're not coming! What a waste!" Andrew scolded her too this time as she kept quiet.

"Ivy, we told you to ditch them long ago… Why didn't you listen?" Sandra whined as Ivy waited patiently for both of them to finish venting their anger. After a moment of silence, she decided to continue and explain. 

"I haven't finished explaining…" Ivy said as they both turned at her and bombarded her with more venting.

"You don't have to explain. Just cancel the party… I will come with you to request for the refund…" Andrew said. 

"But…It's free…"Ivy said but her voice was drowned by Sandra's loud scolding. "Cut ties with the trio… they are not worth it too!"

Ivy sighed. "I said it's free…" 

Andrew and Sandra widened their eyes. "What do you mean it's free?" Andrew asked.

"Listen before you babble away… Jason offered me to utilise his resources. This weekend's event actually prepared us a free suite so the both of you could stay with us in the suite. The usual allocated budget for a room will be used to… well, he said book a room for the trio but I will let you both decide… As for the party, we are entitled to a free table. I will put the trio there and hopefully the both of you could keep them accompanied while I work backstage." Ivy smiled with puppy eyes at the both of them.

Andrew gave it a thought and felt it wasn't a bad idea but was against booking a room for the trio. 

"Hmmm… I disagree with using his money to book a room for the trio. In fact, who cares and that would mean the entire party is free anyway." Sandra spoke Andrew's mind as he looked at her eye to eye and she knew it was the same thing he thought about. They both couldn't help but smile.

"Alright then… I will let Jason know. Yay! We are going to have a great weekend!" Ivy cheered as she hugged both of them. 

She reminded herself to text Jason later in the evening only to forget all about it even when he called. Jason had been busy trying to finish up his proposals and meetings for the week while pushing some of the meetings for next week to this week as he was making time to Landsfield to discuss with Ivy's father in detail on their merger plans. 

He already had a confirmation email from Mr. Ophal earlier on Monday. Although his plans had made him tempted to call it off a few times but he drowned himself with work to distract himself. When night fell, he couldn't help but to find himself missing Ivy. The last two nights he had watched over her recuperating but when she told him she will stay at her grandma's place tonight, he couldn't help but to worry as Lucky wasn't with her. He saw it was past midnight and wondered if she had slept before calling her.

Ivy was still copying notes from Andrew's books as she answered his call and put him on loudspeaker without noticing it was a video call.

"Yes, boss?" She said while writing her notes. 

"It's so dim… Are you asleep?" He asked as Ivy suddenly noticed it was a video call and ran over to her bed as she put down her pencil. Jason smirked knowing she was still studying the moment he heard the pencil touch the table.

Ivy pretended to mess her hair and looked sleepy as she showed herself on the video. "Yes… What is it you want?" She asked while yawning as Jason laughed. 

"Stop the act… I heard the pencil…" He said as she couldn't help but to laugh in the middle of her second yawn.

"Feeling better?" He asked as she nodded and smiled. 

"Why did you leave him here?" He asked, showing Lucky who was by his side. "I'm busy trying to finish up my notes. I need to return the books to Andrew tomorrow… I will be fine. Don't worry, I have my night light." She said assuring Jason who nodded.

"I will see you tomorrow? I need to rush a bit more…" Ivy said as she walked back to her study table. 

"Alright, don't stay too late. Stay warm. You sounded like your nose is still very congested." Jason nagged. 

"Yes, it is. Don't worry. I have a sweater on…See you!" She said as she pressed the hang up button and continued on with her notes while Jason sat in bed hugging Lucky and thought about her and his plans. He sighed as he let his mind battle with his heart trying to make him call off the meeting next week with her father while he drifted to sleep.