Chapter 35.1: A lesson well learned, the hard way
Sandra decided to give Ivy a call around four in the evening on Friday asking her if she was ready for the party only to be disappointed by a voicemail box. She initially wanted Ivy to help her pick out a dress but ended up choosing one herself.
Knowing Jason would be back over the weekend, Ivy was busy trying to finalise the monthly accounts to be ready for his review that she had forgotten time. Only when Marcel walked up to her after most of the staff had left, that she realised she was already late for the party.
"Oh dear! I'm almost done actually. I just needed to generate the reports and email them to Jason for review. I will leave in a while. I have something going on tonight…" Ivy notified Marcel who was chasing her to leave.
"Alright, don't stay too late… After all, it's the weekend, time to rejuvenate…" Marcel said as Ivy nodded.
"You too! Don't work too hard… Your boss will be home soon to take over from you…" Ivy chuckled along with Marcel as she quickly wrapped up and drove to Jason's house to feed Lucky before she got herself changed and drove over to the party.
"What's with that worry look?" Andrew asked Sandra who was staring out at the street while they waited for Ivy to arrive.
"I tried calling Ivy earlier but she didn't pick up at all… Do you think she will come tonight?" Sandra asked. Andrew pulled her into his embrace and gently patted her back as she snuggled into his arms.
"Don't worry… She always forgets time and focuses too much when she is serious. I'm sure Marcel would take good care of her at work. Besides, he called me earlier asking about tonight's location. Your best friend is always so lucky that so many people are looking out for her…" Andrew comforted as Sandra felt much better after hearing him.
"I'm glad to know that… Shall we go in first?" Sandra asked as Andrew nodded.
The person Andrew thought would appear tonight turned out to be Jason instead of Marcel. Due to a slight delay, Jason arrived late and rushed to meet Marcel. On the way to the party's location, he dropped Marcel home as he sped off to meet Ivy at the address Marcel gave him.
As he parked his car at one corner of a crowded house, he stood outside his car and watched from afar. "What a revealing dress tonight, Ivy?" He thought to himself as he watched Ivy, who just arrived, entering the main door.
Ivy went into the crowded house and found Andrew and Sandra instantly by one corner.
Andrew whistled as Ivy approached them. "Looking hot, Ivy!" Ivy winked as she flared her skimpy deep "V" collar dress.
"Ivy!" Sandra greeted her with a hug. "Where's the boyfie? Just you?" Andrew teased.
"Was about to ask the same. Just the both of you?" Ivy asked in return trying to avoid the topic Andrew just brought up.
"Ivy…" Sandra snarled in agitation as she rolled her eyes knowing Ivy was talking about her trio of friends who were standing far away screening the room.
"Do you really think Lance, Belinda and Laura would really come over to hang out with us huh? Without you, it's impossible alright…" Sandra complained as she finished up her soda in her cup.
"Chill my dear… You look cute in this dress…" Ivy winked at Sandra as she placed an arm over her shoulders.
"A little break wouldn't kill really..." Ivy mumbled to herself while Sandra drank her beer. They both were watching an unfamiliar guy coming up to their direction.
"Careful girls…He is Melissa, our hostess' boyfriend and isn't a good guy." Andrew whispered to both of them as he instantly pulled both girls behind him.
It was Melissa, the hostess's boyfriend, Kyle. He was known to be a member of one of the underground mobsters and a notorious playboy. Andrew always wondered why of all guys, Melissa would choose him as her own criteria wasn't that bad after all. She was the "every guy's dream girl" in college.
Kyle got interested in Ivy the moment he laid eyes on her, knowing she must be easy as he went over to give her a drink and tried to ease his way out of Andrew's blockage.
"Hello folks! Here, have a drink!" Kyle called out as he passed Ivy a drink and sneakily slipped his arm by her waist after swiftly bypassing Andrew's arms. Ivy was taken aback as she quickly slid away closer to Sandra instead.
"Welcome, welcome! So I heard you're all from Melissa's school?" Kyle noticed Ivy's quick reaction as he continued to put on his welcoming act. Andrew was on high alert protecting Ivy and Sandra as he continued to stand in front of them firmly.
Sandra caught his arm and stopped him from going closer to Kyle as she knew Kyle was already getting on Andrew's nerves.
"Easy Andrew..." She whispered to Andrew's left ear before holding tightly onto his left arm.
Ivy on the other hand, was energised to protect herself and her friends that she knew such a guy like Kyle wasn't any good company. The earlier they ward him off the better it was and one way was to fulfill his request as reasonably as they could. She had seen enough in her grandma's spicy noodles shop to learn all these tactics.
"Why, thank you for being a warm hostess. Guess you should return to Melissa quickly as she tends to have the tendency of drowning too much of herself in the crowd." Ivy greeted trying not to be rude but threw hints of warning to him instead.
"Oh, yes... But before that, a toast to welcome you, shall we?" Kyle insisted on watching Ivy drink the beer he forcefully placed in her right hand as he held up his cup. By instinct, Ivy knew the drink might be spiked but she had no choice but to drink it as a toast to please him and ensure he left them for the night.
"Enjoy!" Kyle cheered satisfyingly as he walked away knowing Ivy had fallen into his trap with the spiked drink.
"Ivy, you didn't check the drink and you finished it?" Sandra scolded her as she immediately dragged her to a brighter corner with Andrew.
Ivy smiled and checked her consciousness. "I am fine. It's worth it to ward him off. Besides, I literally need that boost to ease my raging flames deep inside."
Ivy tried to cover up her suspicions and told herself she had to leave soon as her gut feeling was telling her something was wrong with the drink.
"Hey easy there... What happened? Had a fight with Jason?" Andrew teased which reminded Ivy that he wasn't around as she sighed.
"Even when he isn't around, he is so bothersome…" She grabbed the half drank glass of beer from Sandra's hand and downed it.
"Ivy! Easy there!" Sandra scolded as Andrew pulled the empty cup from her hand.
"Hey! We're here to de-stress. We shouldn't meddle with these issues till then shall we?" Ivy cheered as Andrew and Sandra looked at her skeptically. Andrew caught a glimpse of Kyle watching them from afar as he quickly turned on his protective mode again.
"Looking at how he is watching over us now, you better stay close to me." Andrew warned Ivy as he brought everyone's attention to Kyle watching from a distance.
Sandra and Ivy nodded as Ivy made an okay sign with her finger. Ivy began to feel a little tipsy. She knew it was the effect of the spiked drink as she alerted herself to find an excuse to leave quickly.
Through the transparent windows, Jason could see every action in the house. He noticed Ivy was drinking a lot while talking to Andrew and Sandra the entire night.
"They are having a great time..." He thought to himself and felt a little disappointed with her for not missing him like he did as he continued standing by his car watching her from outside.
"And so, I told her off today that I was going to sit for a major exam and if she wanna fight with me, she will need to wait till after October." Andrew explained his squabbles with his younger sister, Ally as Ivy and Sandra laughed.
"Could you please grow up? She is just thirteen." Sandra said as she giggled.
After a while, Ivy started to feel the dizziness which was getting uncomfortable. She knew something was wrong because her alcohol tolerance level was not this bad. She thought she might not have enough rest due to late night studies but she was more suspicious of the drink earlier.
"I need to head to the ladies for a bit, okay?" Ivy said as an excuse but in fact she wanted to head to her car and rest a while. Sandra and Andrew nodded without suspecting anything and went on discussing about his sister.
As Ivy exited the house's side door, Kyle who had been sneaking from behind grabbed her into the dark alley by the house. A jolt of shock made her know she was in danger and had fallen into Kyle's trap the moment she turned around to see his face with his hand covering her mouth muffling her screams. It was a tight grab which hurt her wrist while being dragged outside into a dark corner. No doubt the fresh air had worked miracles to make her feel better and much more sober but her visions were getting blurry.
"Let go of me..." Ivy was trying to fight him off but he was too strong for her especially when she was very dizzy.
"Chill girl…. It's me Kyle…" Ivy couldn't keep her head straight as she forced herself to think of ways to escape while she bent down to catch her breath.
"Hey, you're alright? I'm Kyle." He reintroduced himself while he pinned her to the wall. The sudden lifting made Ivy too dizzy to get a good look at him in the dark. She could sense she was in a very bad, dangerous situation. She was hoping Andrew or Sandra would notice her disappearance.
"Move away... Let me go!" She tried pushing him away as she prayed for Andrew or Sandra or anyone to come to her rescue while she squatted to attend to her dizzy head. She desperately wished Jason was around but knew it was only her wishful thinking as he was so far away in another city.
"Aww... Come on. I gave you a drink not to be pushed away just like that. Let's have some fun, shall we?" Kyle said as he started to pin her down to the wall again while she resisted with all her might. She could feel his lips all over her as she kept pushing him away.