Chapter 43: The mystery behind the sleep disorder

Feeling elated, Ivy sat on the large family dinner table at the hotel's restaurant watching her brothers help out each other. Jin and Ryu had gone to fetch some side dishes while Ray was busy ensuring everyone had a drink as he checked with each of them their orders. 

"Hmmm… It's alright, I will help myself…" Ivy rejected feeling awkward with such sudden changes as she tried to stand to fetch her drink only to be stopped by Ray. Peter and Ray knew Ivy was still trying to adapt as Ray reassured her.

"Don't worry… I'm also taking orders for everyone… Just let me know yours. Here you can pick from the menu…" Ray showed her as she shyly pointed to a glass of ice lemon tea.

"Alright, coming right up. Dad, coffee or tea?" Ray asked.

"Tea please, boy… Chamomile will be good…" Ray made an okay sign with his fingers before heading to the beverage section while Ryu came back to the table with some appetisers followed by Jin who brought a plate of desserts.

"Chamomile tea? Are you not sleeping well, daddy?" Ivy asked, not noticing Ryu and Jin were returning to the table as Peter shook his head with a smile.

"It's just dad's favorite tea…" Jin mentioned as he took a seat next to Ivy while Ivy turned her attention to Jin's plate of desserts.

"Desserts before meals? Seriously Jin…" Peter complained as Ivy continued to screen through the luxurious spread of salads to cold dishes and pastries in front of her. Ivy smiled as she wondered if Jin would share with her the desserts which looked very tempting. Jin was busy rolling his eyes, ignoring Peter that he didn't notice his sister had her eyes on his desserts for a while now.

"Can I have some?" Ivy shyly squeaked to Jin but was still loud enough for everyone on the table to hear as Ryu who was busy arranging the dishes' plates on the table thought she was talking to him.

"Yes, sure… All of these are to be shared…" Ryu replied nonchalantly. Ivy raised an eyebrow looking at Jin. Ivy chuckled when Jin finally realised she was talking to him as he widened his eyes and quickly munched on his macaroons.

"Me? You're talking to me?" Jin asked in a muffled voice, sending powdery macaroons flying out of his mouth as Ivy giggled.

"Yes… Can I have some desserts too?" Ivy asked as Jin pushed his plate to share with her. "Sorry, sorry I thought you were talking to Ryu.. Yes, please do…" Jin apologised as he wiped away some crumbs from Ivy's right sleeves.

"Oh my… not you too Ivy?" Peter whined as he held on to his forehead.

"What's wrong with having desserts only for dinner, daddy? Sometimes when I'm too tired I will find something sweet for dinner. It boosts the mood and fills my stomach…" Ivy giggled as she took a bite of the chocolate cake and shared each of the desserts half with Jin. Peter watched with a defeated smile as he gradually realised Ivy and Jin both are alike in terms of habits and body build. 

"Yikes… the both of you… anyone could just mistaken the both of you as twins, anytime…" Ryu teased the exact thoughts Peter had in mind as Ivy smiled shyly .

"My sister indeed! I have a gang now! Are you jealous?" Jin cheered and teased Ryu as he stood. "I will fetch us more desserts…" Jin told Ivy as he let her have the last bite to the parfait.

Ivy shook her head and stood. "Let me go with you…" Ivy requested politely as Jin nodded.

"Dad, try the seasoned jellyfish. It's good…" Ryu said as Peter nodded. While taking a bite, he quietly watched Ivy and Jin by the desserts section from afar admiringly. Ray returned to the table shortly later with their drinks and saw Jin's and Ivy's plates were left with crumbs of desserts and wrappers.

"Oh wow, desserts as main course again? Eh, but why two plates?" Ray questioned as he served each of them their drinks.

"Twins… twins…" Ryu nodded as he teased Ray.

"Ivy loves desserts, too?" Ray asked as he spotted Jin and Ivy at the dessert section with a big plate of desserts each.

"Guess they really are twins from a different mother…" Ray laughed as Peter shook his head.

"Dad, what would you want for the main course? Chicken, beef or fish?" Ray asked, sounding almost like a waiter.

"It's alright, let's finish the appetisers and see how. Considering those two might not even touch this full spread of appetisers, we could just order one or two main courses to share…" Peter said as Ryu squinted at Peter.

"Are you saying I took too much hmm? I have been dying to have their beef all to myself… How could you suggest we share the main course? Who always nags us to have more vegetables and cold dishes?" Ryu scolded jokingly.

Peter laughed as he said, "Blame the twins…" All three of them ended up with laughter as Jin and Ivy returned happily with their plates full of desserts.

That night, after a tiring and enjoyable day, Ivy fell asleep while talking with Sandra and Andrew over the phone. In mind she secretly wondered how Jason was doing but told herself to not bother about it as after all they were going to meet the next day. 

After not getting any responses from Ivy after a while, Andrew and Sandra both knew Ivy had fallen asleep as usual. They quietly hung up just when Peter stepped out from the washroom after showering. 

He stood momentarily in front of the bed, admiring the sight of his daughter who was finally returning to the family. When he noticed Ivy nearly dropped her mobile phone to the ground, he quickly ran over to save it and left it on the side table before reluctantly shifting Ivy over to the left side of the bed. Tears began to stung his eyes as he realised for the first time in years, he finally had the chance to tuck his daughter in bed. Feeling satisfied, he finally climbed up the bed and switched off all the lights as he lay by his beloved daughter's side holding on to her hand, slowly drifting to sleep.

Ivy could feel someone was holding her hand in her subconscious as she forced herself to open her eyes only to find herself standing behind a set of glowing orange feathers. She instantly recognised them as Phoenix's. The king whom she recalled was her father in her paracosm was standing side by side with her beloved grandma in front of Phoenix, trying to battle it out with her evil mother in her paracosm, Petunia in the yellow irises plains. Just the sight of the scene quickly sent chills down Ivy's spine as a rush of adrenaline made her charge forward to stop her grandma.

"No!! Grandma, no!!" Ivy called out as Phoenix realised Ivy was finally awake and managed to hold tightly to her arms.

"Ivy, this is not your battle!" The king yelled at her before he focused back on defending her grandma and strengthening the shield protecting the both of them. 

Ivy could only watch helplessly as she struggled in Phoenix's arms. As fear and anxiety gripped on her, she noticed some irises were turning black from the effect of Petunia's dark magic. Ivy tried using her magic to fight Petunia only to be stopped by her grandma who turned around and shielded both Phoenix and Ivy instead on one hand.

"Ai Yee! Stop! Leave with your father and twin brother! Go!" Her grandma scolded sternly at Ivy while fighting Petunia. 

Unfortunately, the slight distraction caused her grandma to lose focus and one of Petunia's fireballs caught up with her grandma before she could shield herself, sending her flying off into the air and blasted to the ground as the king flew up to the air and rushed to catch her in the nick of time before landing softly. 

However, her grandma was still affected by the blast's impact earlier as she vomited blood despite the gentle landing to ground. Ivy ran forward when Phoenix finally let his grip on Ivy loosen up as tears rolled down her eyes. However, she was caught in the middle of another fireball heading to her without her noticing as her grandma used up all her adrenaline to send a shield in front of Ivy to block the fire ball as it disappeared. 

Phoenix rushed to Ivy's side to check on her and before Ivy could catch her breath, she turned around to check on her grandma and the king only to find another fireball inching closer towards them as she screamed at them to move away while she tried to focus on her magic and quickly threw a shield in front of her grandma and her father which seemed to be a little too late.

"Grandmaaaaaaaaaa run!!!!!!" Ivy yelled in the midst of her wails and cries.

"Grandmaaaaa!!" Ivy forced herself to close her eyes as she began to grip so tightly onto Peter's hand that it woke him.

"Ai Lee..." Peter gently called out as he switched on the night lamp by the bedside but Ivy was still fidgeting.

"Is this the sleep disorder Jason told me?" Peter wondered to himself as he gently shook Ivy only to have Ivy open her eyes all of the sudden staring up in the air but couldn't move or speak as she squealed for help with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Ai Lee… Ai Lee… What's wrong?" Peter began to panic as he tried to help her sit up while hugging her tightly which helped her gain back her senses. When she realised she could finally move, she hugged her dad back tightly as her sobs turned into wails which were loud enough to wake all of her brothers next door who barged into the room and switched on the main lights.

All Ivy could feel in her dad's embrace was the long awaited warmness which cleared away all her loneliness and fixed her broken self from grieving over her grandma's death all by herself all along. For once, she finally felt like she was home as she poured all her agony out other than fighting away her terror in the nightmares. She may still miss her grandma but the accompaniment of her family had eased the pain she endured all alone a little.

"Ivy… You're alright?" Ryu asked gently as he rushed over to the bedside in the midst of her wails. She was too loud to notice her brothers were around her.

"What happened?" Jin asked their dad as he shook his head and put a finger on his lips to tell them to be quiet for a moment.

Ray held on to Ivy's palm which were gripping tightly into fists behind her dad as he gently rubbed them to comfort her. Her wails then were slowly calming down as Ivy began to realise there was someone else in the room and it should be her brothers. They must have been worried as she was really loud. 

Ray's gentle gesture of rubbing on to her fists were soothing as she began to loosen her fists and Ray noticed her slightly bleeding palms. He quickly took the first aid kit in the room and rushed back to help her clean the lightly wounded palms before putting on plasters. Ryu went to prepare a glass of warm water for her while Jin walked into the washroom and made a lukewarm wet towel for Ivy. After cleaning Ivy's wounds, Ray went into Peter's luggage to find a T-shirt for him to change into knowing Ivy must have soaked their dad's shirt.

Peter had been rocking Ivy gently all along as she sniffed occasionally in his arms. She slowly took a peep at her right as the bright lights greeted her. She winced and closed her eyes for a while. Peter quickly took the warm wet towel from Jin to wipe a little of her face that she was finally willing to reveal.

"Is this the sleep disorder Jason was talking about, Ai Lee?" Peter asked gently as Ivy slowly nodded while she sniffed and sat up in front of her dad. Ryu offered her the glass of warm water which she gladly took and drank half a glass feeling all warmed up and calmer but noticed the plasters on both palms as she pouted.

Ray patted gently on her head. "It's alright now… You'll have to cut your nails tomorrow alright?" Ray comforted as Jin covered her with the blanket while Ryu took the glass of water away from her.

"There, keep yourself warm first…" Jin said as Ivy snuggled into Peter's embrace.

"Have you sought professional help?" Peter asked gently as Ivy lifted her head a little.

"It's useless… All they gave was always antidepressant medication which I didn't need… I was told I had an imaginary world called paracosm… I know it may seem crazy but it does exist because it's where I put grandma in there and if it stays healthy and positive I was told I should keep it…" Ivy slowly explained as she adjusted her sitting position a little to let Ray help their dad change out his soaked T-shirt into a new one. Ryu wrapped Ivy into his right arm as he gently patted her to comfort her. 

"It's alright… We are all here for you now…" Ryu said as she nodded and took the half drank glass of water from him to finish it. 

"Do you want some more?" Jin asked as she shook her head and tried to smile which ended up with a sad one as she began to recall her other dreams and sigh as she looked at her dad whose eyes were on her all the while, looking worried while changing.

"There are times where I would dream of a face I couldn't recall standing on a tall building as I fall off the building calling out to her… as mummy but she doesn't look like Auntie Lenny…" Ivy looked down on the bed as she pouted. Peter was startled at her explanation as the memories of Ah Jiat trying to commit suicide with Ivy when Ivy was a toddler and how he saved the both of them were running through his mind. He forced himself to close his eyes to stop thinking about the memory. He knew it wasn't the right time to reveal to Ivy yet as he held out his arms for Ivy to come over.

"Sometimes I would also dream of being under the aurora night with you and Auntie Lenny… But… they all always ended up in nightmares of being sucked into a black hole… There are times where I couldn't move and all I saw were serpents or even at times, the face of the lady I didn't recognise whom I called out to as mummy to save me… If I am lucky, I will just wake up normally to cry… These nightmares don't happen very often… It's only when I am… stressed out…It has always been like this since I was young…" Ivy explained slowly as Peter gently combed her messed up hair.

He gently rocked her in his arms and coaxed her to sleep. "We should one day visit the psychologist again and maybe sort it out in a deeper depth alright?" Peter tried to convince her as she stayed silent from being sleepy.

"Daddy…" Ivy mumbled. "Yes, sweetheart…" Peter replied softly. "I cannot sleep in the dark as it easily triggers nightmares… Could you leave the night light on?" Ivy asked groggily as Peter kissed her forehead.

"Alright…" Peter assured her as he signaled the brothers to head back to their room but they were reluctant and were too worried. They were determined to accompany them asleep in the same room that night as Ray turned off the main lights and left the lamp by the table lighted before taking the sofa bed which was adjacent to Ryu's. 

Jin, being small-sized, was given the chance to take the left side of the bed as Ivy slept in between their dad and him with both her hands held by each of them. Feeling secure than ever, Ivy drifted off into an unexpected peaceful night sleep among her long lost family members.