Chapter 42.1: A dream we don’t want to wake up from

 "Mummy, you're saying that Ivy has seletar origins? As in the olden days ancestors who live in the jungle as "orang asli"*?" Sandra asked over an early dinner with Andrew and her younger sister, Chloe at home. Auntie Soh nodded as she sat on the dinner table. It has been a norm for Andrew or Ivy to have dinners in Auntie Soh occasionally as Sandra would also do the same at Andrew's or Ivy's house.

"Yes, your Auntie Ah Jiat and Uncle Semai met because he often frequented Grandma Sim's stall as a seasonal traveler… Ah Jiat used to adore Semai so much that Grandma Sim was so worried Semai was taking advantage of Ah Jiat because after all Grandma Sim's family wasn't very well off and Semai's family was rich but Ah Jiat was very pretty… Grandma Sim was also worried Ah Jiat was not sincere with Semai and was only after his wealth …" Auntie Soh sighed.

"I heard from Grandma Sim before this that Semai's mother met Semai's father, who was a developer of a piece of land in the jungle where Semai's mother and her family used to live back then when the town wasn't so developed. Semai's mother and her family strike gold and from there, that's how their origins got blended into modern society. Fortunately, Semai and Ah Jiat were very fond of each other; like father, like son. Semai ended up marrying Ah Jiat despite both sides' families disagreeing. There was very little news about Semai's family thereafter…" Auntie Soh explained as she scooped a bowl of soup each for Andrew and Sandra.

"Wow, sounded like star crossed lovers…" Andrew commented, sending Sandra and Chloe into laughter. "No wonder Ivy is so pretty…" Chloe commented as Sandra smiled.

"Yes… Ai Lee has very good genes… It's a miracle that Semai fell for Ah Jiat but her postnatal aggression was very unfortunate…" Auntie Soh sighed.

"Mummy, how did you hear about Auntie Jiat's whereabouts?" Sandra questioned.

"It was Grandma Sim's wish to watch her daughter being taken care of properly before she left. She knew she was frail and would leave anytime soon… She might look as though she didn't care about her daughter but which mother would abandon their child?" Auntie Soh sighed again as Chloe mischievously answered her question.

"You…" Chloe pretended to sulk as Auntie Soh's mouth gaped open at her younger daughter's mischief.

"Cause you didn't scoop me a bowl of soup…" Chloe complained as Andrew and Sandra laughed.

"You already had your second bowl, fatty girl.." Sandra teased as Chloe continued with her pretense while Auntie Soh sneered playfully at Chloe.

"How come you never told Ivy about this?" Andrew questioned as Auntie Soh contemplated whether to tell or not. "You all should keep this away from Ivy unless her father had told her.. When she was a toddler, due to her mother's agression, Ivy was nearly hurled off from the roof top when Ah Jiat attempted to commit suicide with Ai Lee… Grandma Sim had no choice but to put Ah Jiat into the sanitarium thereafter…" Auntie Soh's explanation had stunned Chloe and Sandra while Andrew dropped his chopsticks to the ground.

Auntie Soh nonchalantly picked up the chopsticks and went into the kitchen to take a new pair of chopsticks for Andrew as she knew the three of them would be caught by surprise. It took the trio a while to regain their senses.

Andrew was looking at Sandra who was staring back at him. They both finally knew the source of Ivy's nightmares and sleep disorders as they both nodded in agreement without having to tell each other what's on their mind.

"Hopefully Ai Lee could finally seek closure with her family..." Auntie Soh said as she returned to the table and handed Andrew the chopsticks. Everyone nodded in agreement as they continued dinner somberly.

When the brothers checked into the hotel, Ray and Ray realised they had to book an extra room as there were five of them this time round instead of four. However, thanks to Jin for being smart as always, he could guess their dad would like to have Ivy staying in the same room as him to bond their long lost relationship. So, he suggested they book a twin room where three of them could share a room and still be next door whenever their father or Ivy needed something.

After the registration, the brothers obediently continued on to catch up with their school assignments and monitor their office tasks as they left the father-daughter duo in another room to catch up with each other.

"Do you like the room, my dear?" Peter asked nonchalantly. Ivy nodded as she observed the spacious space in a five star hotel's room.

"I often sleep in smaller rooms and slightly lower star hotels when I am on business trips with my company's director. So, this had really exceeded my expectations." Ivy complimented before pouring a glass of water for herself and her dad.

Peter couldn't help but to chuckle at her comments and knew it was Jason she was referring to. Peter wondered how in depth her daughter was taught during her internship that she needed to attend business trips with her boss.

"Your director must be on a tight budget I see… I'm surprised an intern could attend business trips…" Peter said as he took the glass of water from Ivy before leading her to the couch by the window panel.

"Hmmm…. Yes, they are on a tight budget. This company is a bit special… it's small but has plenty of potential. The management is the asset of the company, especially the director himself. Unfortunately, they are in a crisis at the moment…" Ivy sighed as her mind wandered back to Jason and her proposal. She had forgotten all about him after the reunion with her family as she reminded herself to catch up with him later.

"What crisis is it about?" Peter attempted to test how far Ivy knew about the deal before revealing the details to her as they both sat on the couch.

"They have received a large event request of conducting a roadshow at regional level for a rather renowned company and they require a lot of funds to support this including manpower as well. I know it may be weird for such a small company to be so ambitious to take on such a large scale event but the client insisted because of the prestige of the director himself. So, the company had been struggling to find investors or even collaboration due to another issue…" Ivy loosen her shoulders at the thought of the internal family rival Jason had.

"What issue is it?" Peter attempted to prompt Ivy to explain as he wanted to know if it would affect the merger he was going into with Rahi's Consulting business.

"Apparently, there was an internal family rivalry between his family and himself. Although he has all the prestige and recognition, each of his potential investors in town are being controlled by a more powerful upperhand superior which is his father. I'm not sure which industry or what business his father is in but all I know is that having power and money beats it all I guess. It's so unfair to the weak ones." Ivy pouted as she looked on the ground.

Peter wasn't aware of the severity of the family rivalry impacting Jason's business although he had heard from business partners about it but thought it was just a normal passing by comment.

"Ai Lee…" Peter called out as Ivy lifted her head to pay attention to her father. "If you're in power with money, how far would you go for this business?" Peter asked his daughter as Ivy looked surprised but pondered awhile.

"Hmmm… I will definitely save the company. I will invest in it as I know it's going to be worth it… I wrote a proposal lately… Suggesting on taking up a loan but I doubt the company can afford it as their equity in their accounts are close to becoming negative soon else they wouldn't resort to finding investors instead… In fact, they are still negotiating with one of them. I'm not sure what the progress is but I do hope it falls through…" Ivy gave a sad smile.

"Ai Lee…" Peter cleared his throat after calling her name solemnly.

Ivy noticed the seriousness as she felt something was amidst. "What is it? Why are you being so serious suddenly, daddy?" Ivy questioned as Peter took out a file from his office bag and passed it to Ivy.

"Like I said, if you're in power with money and after you listen to what I have to say, think again will your answer be the same on how far would you go for his business?" Peter held on to the file tightly while Ivy held on the other side of the file gently as he spoke.

She nodded skeptically as she wondered about the content of the file when she flipped it open. It showed a contract agreement between Rahi's Consulting and Ophal's real estate merger where her name was under the shareholder's signature column. There was another resolution on transfer of shares from her father to her.

"Your director's name is Jason Rahi?'' Peter asked as Ivy was surprised he knew. "How did you know? What is the meaning of this contract?" Ivy covered her gaping mouth in surprise, but she could half expect the answers of her questions as anger slowly slipped into her.

"Jason has been a great business partner all these years whether it's at the events we had as our emcee or referring clients to us. I met him during a charity event years ago in Landsfield where he was the emcee. In our family, we run a real estate business. Although we only focused on Landsfield because it's a trading business hub, we intend to expand into Manes." Peter took a sip of water before continuing as Ivy watched him meekly.

"Manes is known to be underdeveloped but there are alot of heritage buildings and properties where there's a potential the government would want to preserve them and lease out as tourist attractions and food stalls which many corporate clients in Landsfield had expressed their interest in this area. Hence, your brothers and I intend to also work alongside this goal with Jason's company. Because Jason and I had the same business ideas, I decided to offer Jason the financial help while in return he would ensure the presence of his office here would aid with the expansion of our family business as after all he runs a consulting firm and he would easily adapt to the sales pitch." Peter explained as Ivy was slowly connecting the missing puzzles in mind. Ivy was filled with rage at being deceived all along as she wondered was it his plot all along to get her sticking by his side and was all the fake relationship as his girlfriend all a show with Nancy. She couldn't bring herself to think anymore of it as she shut her eyes tightly before she opened them up again.

"Of course there are also other aspects of the business which we have yet to discuss in detail with Jason yet. We are slowly thinking of ways to let the business merge in terms of operations. As of now, he would be able to still run his consultations, talks, and roadshows as usual with the addition of our real estate roadshows. In every event of his company, he would need to allow our company to set up a booth as part of our real estate company's marketing strategy. In return, we will provide him with financial aid and also manpower…" Peter watched Ivy slowly understanding his point of view as she tried to nod meekly.

"The only thing that is holding us back with the business venture is… you…" Peter said solemnly as Ivy furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why?" Ivy asked but her voice came out as a whisper instead.

"Because you're the sole shareholder of the company…" Peter watched Ivy eyes widening. "When I left you and your biological mother to your grandma, I vowed to return one day and provide for you at least… I started this company right after I left all of…" Peter's voice unexpectedly broke as Ivy quickly went over to hold on to his hand as she squatted in front of him.

"Daddy… It's not your fault… None of this is… I …" Ivy paused a moment to control her emotion before she continued.

"I may have used to blame you but as I grew older, I realised you had no choice. She was, after all, very young. Both of you were so young…" Ivy looked sadly at the pair of hands she was holding on.

"Your mother was indeed very young. We were seven years apart, Ai Lee… But she was determined to get what she wanted and that was to have a family with me despite all the obstacles she had to face from my family as she was from a poor family. That's what moved me to propose to her… But her postnatal aggression…" Peter kept quiet as Ivy looked at him surprised at the new piece of news of her biological mother as tears welled in her eyes while she tried to blink them dry.