After a hectic afternoon of discussing maths with Andrew and Sandra, Ivy had no time to continue history discussion with both of them as they had to get dressed for their college's induction event. The thought of the event tickled Ivy's stomach giving her butterflies as many new faces would be there but was glad for Andrew and Sandra's companion. College had started a week ago and she had noticed many familiar faces from high school. Everyone from Mane's City would leave high school for Mane's national college especially for its foundation courses not only because it's close to home but also for its prestige.
Ivy arrived later than expected as she was so exhausted from studying that she really wanted to take a nap. She practically was half dragging herself to the event. Andrew and Sandra had left earlier for the event as she was taking too long to prepare. Besides, they had duties as ushers to be done since they both volunteered for the event in hope that it would make a good record for their college certificate.
When she checked her text messages, she knew she was even later than her fake friends back in high school; Belinda, Laura and Lance as they asked where she was. She wasn't exceptionally close to the three of them anymore like how they used to in kindergarten.
They often think for a person of her age, they could not understand her train of thoughts. Some of it was too absurd for them to accept at their age such as enjoying solitary and mingling with Andrew and Sandra who are of poor backgrounds. The only reason they still stuck around Ivy was all thanks to the small fortune her grandma left for her that she was considered a well to do student in school and now college.
She never bothered to explain her reasons to the three of them although it wasn't an easy task to keep both parties at peace all these years as she secretly and patiently endured their discrimination alone. It was the only thing she could do to ensure the three of them do not bully Andrew or Sandra. She owed both Andrew and Sandra a huge gratitude for being the only genuine companions she had since young and to rely on sometimes ever since her grandma left.
Ivy never wanted to burden them both any further with her welfare; one of the reasons she never told them in full details about her sleep disorder state which had worsened ever since her grandma left. No matter how well oneself endure and bury their miseries away, every child with all the goodness in the world has their own dark stories to tell.
Ivy used to have dreams of places or things she longed for but would always end up as nightmares ever since she was a toddler especially when she had to sleep alone in the dark. She grew up sleeping with her grandma as a companion instead till she was a teenager.
Even the magnetic bracelet which her grandma made her wear since she was a toddler in hope to improve her sleep was to no avail. When she was older, she learned the bracelet was also her mother's last gift for her before she left them. Occasionally, when she thought she had outgrown the nightmares, they resumed again when she was under pressure but because she did not want to worry her grandma about it, she continued to endure them alone which had turned out to be overwhelming lately.
She strolled down the aisle from the main entrance to find the hall of the event but there were too many halls and she could not tell which one it was or a clue of direction. She looked around and found no familiar faces from school or college.
She decided to seek the hotel staffs' help instead. There was a guy wearing a suit standing by the corner of the aisle whom she thought must be the hotelier and perhaps he would do some help.
"Excuse me?" She said while unlocking her phone to check for the ballroom details as he looked up with a confused look.
"Where is ballroom number three? It's the one where the college induction event is. " Ivy asked hastily for fear she missed out on the food as she was really starving. She waited for a reply while checking if there were any new messages from any of her friends without making any eye contact with the person she spoke to.
He raised an eyebrow wanting to answer but he noticed Ivy was paying attention to her phone while asking which made his face grimace in distaste due to her rudeness.
Ivy waited a little while but was impatient as her stomach started to grumble. "Hello? I'm asking a question here." Ivy, who was still not looking at the person, said in an agitated tone while typing a message in reply to Belinda asking for directions at the same time.
"What makes you think I will answer?" The guy retaliated with a stern and rude tone as he folded his arms.
That question was adding more fuel to Ivy's patience and anger which made her snapped thinking the rudeness of the staff in the hotel is something she must make a complaint about. Being a great debater in school, she looked up to justice in nearly every single thing.
She finally looked up at a very pissed off guy in front of her and decided to purposely rub more salt on his ego. "You're the hotelier or bellhop perhaps, shouldn't you be telling me? Where is the manager? This is absurd!"
"I have never said I was the hotelier or bellhop! Who on earth knows what event is there here and you..." He walked up closer to her. "You should learn some respect while asking a question. You should learn to observe more!"
They got louder that some passersby were stealing glances at their commotion. Before Ivy could retaliate, two of the security guards came up to them.
"What's the matter here?" One of the security guards asked.
"Oh there, there. Get your manager here. I need to lodge a complaint on your colleague here for being rude and insolent. I was merely asking where ballroom three was. He couldn't even answer politely!" Ivy was raising her voice in anger but she also felt a tight attraction coming from her magnetic bracelet.
She noticed the guy had an identical bracelet as hers. He too noticed the magnetic attraction from his bracelet as he tried to unlatch both bracelets by pulling away but his force was so strong that it caused Ivy charging towards his embrace. Her eyes widened as he caught her in a nick of time. Ivy quickly pulled herself away but her bracelet was still slightly attached.
"Miss, ballroom three is the second last room down this hallway..." The guard pointed to their left and wanted to explain further but Ivy interrupted while trying to unlatch her bracelet completely from his.
"Why, thank you." Ivy said as she glared towards the guy's direction who forcefully pulled her bracelet away.
"Unlike someone here. Train your staff to do better." Ivy added the moment their bracelet unlatched each other and walked off towards the ballroom direction where the guard pointed earlier.
"Our apologies, sir. There must have been a misunderstanding." The security apologised to the guy.
"Don't worry. Jason. I am Jason, the emcee for the event in the same ballroom too. I shall make my way there too." Jason smiled as the security guards nodded and headed back to their work station while Jason trailed her from behind, smirking at her.
"Kids these days! Nuisance!" Jason cursed in his mind.
When Ivy arrived at the entrance of the ballroom, she was greeted by her fake friends as her eyes darted the ballroom and spotted Andrew and Sandra both were diligently escorting other students to their sitting place.
"Ivy!" Belinda instantly noticed her as she ran up to her from their sitting place. Ivy was still trying to calm her nerves and was even more upset to be caught by the three of them first.
"Oh, hello Belinda! You look outstanding today." Ivy complimented as she tried to coax herself to maintain her composure.
"Why are you looking as though someone had taken your earphones away?" Lance asked as he approached Belinda and Ivy with Laura who was always hooked by his side with her one sided love affairs for Lance. He was pointing out that Ivy's face had given away her hidden foul mood which often happened whenever someone tried to take her earpieces away to seek her attention.
"Oh, really?" Ivy realised she should change her face expression even more as she did not want to trigger anymore attention to the petty commotion earlier.
"I'm fine. No worries." Ivy affirmed them as Andrew and Sandra approached all of them while Belinda and Laura dragged Lance to keep their distance from the three of them instead. Sandra and Andrew couldn't help but to notice the gap as they snarled at the three of them while handing Ivy a paper bag of goodies which were the door gifts.
"You made it! Unfortunately, they have arranged for your seat to be on their table." Sandra squirmed excitedly at first but the excitement became a monotonous voice when she explained the last sentence. Ivy pulled both of them further away from the other three to distract their attention when she noticed Andrew was still snarling at them.
"Yes, I did...It's alright. Busy?" Ivy said as Andrew and Sandra nodded in unison, turning their attention away from the other three. The lighting in the room became brighter as the emcee went up on stage and it was the cue for the event to start.
Ivy was in disbelief when she noticed the guy earlier was on the stage.
"That ten pound twig. Indeed he was an employee after all. Bloody..." Ivy halted half way of her curse as she realised she unexpectedly cursed out loud enough for those around her to hear while everyone was staring at her for an explanation.
"Hmm... Sorry, nothing important to bother with..." Ivy said while blinking a couple of times, trying to brush off their curiosity as Belinda, Laura and Lance ignored her after a while . However, Andrew and Sandra knew Ivy was hiding something.
"Ivy... Come on... Spill the bean. What happened?" Andrew whispered as Sandra walked closer to her left side to hear her explanations.
When Ivy was done explaining, Andrew chuckled followed by Sandra giggling; knowing her, Ivy would pick fights with people for justice whenever and wherever. There wasn't a doubt they both knew Ivy would someday turn out to be a lawyer among them.
"Ivy, let it go. The night is young and it's for us to de-stress. Stop meddling in justice just for today." Sandra comforted her.
"But both of you are so busy... I am not in the mood to bother with them three tonight." Ivy whined.
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"Awww... poor girl. Get some rest by all means, we need to do our duty now.. Call you later tonight if you're not asleep." Andrew whispered as he walked off. "I practically couldn't sleep anyway..." Ivy said in her mind.
"Oh yes, go home first. Do not wait for us. We will be late, the lecturers will arrange transport for us. We'll call you later if it's not too late." Sandra hurriedly whispered and hugged Ivy before running off for duties. Ivy pouted to tease her as she sighed when Sandra wasn't looking anymore.
"Welcome folks, to tonight's 67th induction welcome party for the new students of Mane's college." Jason announced followed by a resounding applause from the crowd.
"I'm Jason, your emcee for today. Without further ado, let's invite the college's dean, Madam Sialan for a welcoming speech."
Everyone applauded again as the dean went up on stage with her speech.
Ivy decided to take a look at the spread of sumptuous food on the buffet table. She was eager to have some desserts but couldn't resist to have a small bowl of mac and cheese first which was her only favorite western carbohydrate dish.
At the right side of the stage, Jason was standing aside, observing Ivy while speeches were presented. "Indeed she is a student." Jason thought to himself as he chuckled in his mind, the plans to get back on her.
His part time job as an invited speaker or emcee for events in the hotel had always been ongoing ever since he started his consultancy business seven years ago. He was also in the midst of talking with the college's dean to collaborate on giving a career talk to the students which has been smooth sailing and considering he was an invited emcee for the induction party tonight, it was a plus point.
Ivy walked off to grab a drink and stood by a well known English lecturer, Mr. Bolapa whom she had attended his lecture once last week.
"The chocolate tarts are marvelous, Mr. Bolapa." Ivy praised knowing that he arranged for the choices of food to be served in every college event. He may teach English but he also had an exquisite taste for food according to their seniors and in college news spreads fast like fire. So, it was a well known fact to all.
"Should try the muffins. Sumptuous." He added and they exchanged a brief smile.
"Boring isn't it?" Ivy asked, trying to create more conversations.
"It's ending sooner than you know. Enjoy the night, Ivy." Taken by surprise at how he knew her name had given him the chance to slip away. Ivy cursed in her mind at the stupidity of having a name tag printed and attached to the door gift like high school students again as she rolled her eyes.
Mr. Bolapa was always known as a snobbish lecturer among the students but Ivy did not bother about status. Ivy chose to treat everyone both teachers and students back in high school as though they were her casual friends but to some, they dislike her for it because it meant she had no respect for anyone of their status. She would still respect them especially during classes where their official duties were carried out but she thought when times of events, they should at least give some leeway even in college.
However, he was one of them who didn't. It was unacceptable to him and knew his ways to avoid her casual talks as he walked off to mingle with other lecturers.
Ivy went on to enjoy the muffins as suggested but the music got louder for guests to start the buffet dinner. She disliked the ambience with loud music as it was very distressing and she didn't feel like having anything else except desserts. She took a plate of tarts and muffin as she quickly strolled to the side balcony to avoid the crowd while enjoying the view.
The wind was blowing gently which was soothing her mood as she noticed some lightning. She recalled the last time she felt this rejuvenated. With nine subjects and extra curricular in college, sometimes she wished her grandma was still around or at least her parents were around for her to vent her frustration or seek comfort from like when she was a little girl.
Jason saw her by the balcony and instantly recognised her. He came closer with the intention to pick a fight.
"Looks like someone has found ballroom three?" He said as Ivy turned around in surprise to find the emcee, her nemesis in front of her.
"Someone's after all an employee here. That still makes you rude." Ivy retorted as she took her last bite of the muffin left on her plate.
"I may be working now but am definitely not an employee of this hotel." He folded his arms and leaned towards the balcony with a sinister smile as the lightning continued to flash from afar making her squinted for a while.
"Working in this hotel makes you an employee. Attending this event makes you a guest." As though knowing her weak points of being unable to resist a debate, he successfully pressed on her to retaliate fiercely.
"Well, working for this event makes me a guest speaker for your college. Technically, I am also an employee of your college. Not the hotel." He further explained as he smirked.
"Regardless. You are working and you are obliged to be nice to your guests. But you weren't. And, the college should screen through its employees to avoid such insolent employees like you." Ivy instantly lost her appetite and left the plate of crumbs and tarts by the serving table nearby.
"Don't judge a book by it's cover. Haven't you heard, young lady?" He was trailing Ivy close by.
"Jason was it?" He nodded at her question.
"As an adult, allowing the younger ones to emulate your good deeds is a blessing. To emulate your bad deeds is notorious. Watch out. Plenty of young ones here." Ivy said as she smirked, walking off and leaving him satisfied with the fight he picked.
As the night continued on with the agenda of the ceremony, Ivy had no choice but to mingle with Belinda, Laura and Lance. Eventually, she was too tired of posing for Belinda and Laura's bad group photo taking skills which only emphasised on themselves. She was also tired of entertaining Lance who seemed to always have a hidden agenda trying to get closer to her. With a girl's sixth sense, Ivy knew Lance was not serious with Laura but still liked the attention she gave him compared to herself who has no interest at all with him or them.
Ivy had always been the obnoxious one among Andrew and Sandra but the mysterious one among them three. Witty, talkative yet edgy whenever Ivy was approached depending on the situation and person or simply just her mood. This was only made known to Andrew and Sandra. When it came to study, because Ivy always wanted to involve Andrew and Sandra whom the other three discriminated against, they preferred studying on their own eventually.
Ivy took one last glance around the ballroom in search of Andrew and Sandra who were as busy as bees at their duties to even notice her who had decided to leave the event earlier. Aunty Soh had let her drive her grandma's vintage car ever since she graduated high school. Ivy loved the car very much although it did not look appealing to youngsters but it has a terrific engine. Grandma had taken great care of this vintage which was initially grandpa's and now hers. She always felt so proud taking the little vintage around town for a drive.
As Ivy reached for her car keys, the thunder rumbled and poured the first drop of rain. She sighed as she slumped her shoulders and leaned at the side of the pillar.
"Friends, you're here again tonight. Are you missing me?" Ivy thought as she held her right palm out to collect some of the raindrop. She watched the rain pouring even heavier and decided a little music would be nice to take her mind off things for a while. Ivy plugged her earpiece on one side and played her classic library of songs which she created just for studies.
Her mind instantly spun back to her notes for accounts. This was one of the subjects she made sure to take up as it will be an essential knowledge and skill she needed if she was to run a business. It wasn't a tough subject but required a lot of practice and a strong understanding of its concept.
"First you start with the category; assets, liabilities, and equity. This is the balance sheet. Alright the basics. Then there is long term and short term. That's why current meant short while non current meant long." She closed her eyes in satisfaction of her memory as she recited the next line.
"Next, the nature of the accounts. Assets are on the debit side. Equity and liabilities are credit. Non current assets, usually basic ones are plant and equipment, property and investments. Current assets are debtors of trade and non trade, prepayments, cash and bank. As for non current liabilities are loans and hire purchase. Current liabilities would be creditors of trade and non trade as well as amount owed to directors, accruals and short term loans." She smiled and nodded with her eyes still closed.
Jason decided to take a break since there was another half an hour before the next agenda as he left the ballroom to take a walk at the patio by the car park. He chuckled at his luck when he saw a familiar figure standing by the pillar turned out to be Ivy. He stood by the steps of the patio's entrance, eavesdropping on herself mumbling.
"Equity." Ivy pondered long on it as it's the toughest for her to understand and decided to head for expenses first.
"Alright move on, profit and loss account. This records the expenses. Weird account but expenses are debit side as they were paid for. Hence, credit would be on the bank or cash under assets or if it's owed to a person, it's in creditors under liabilities just the same as purchases. Sales even weirder. Because money was received and debited to bank or cash hence it's a credit in profit or loss. If the sale was credit basis, then it would be debited to the debtor accounts." She paused for a moment.
"Perfect." She thought as she snapped her fingers in satisfaction.
"What about equity?" A voice came from behind as Ivy sorted out her thoughts to rest but was startled by Jason.
Ivy instantly rolled her eyes at the sight of him as she unplugged her earpiece. "There, the exact reason why I said you were rude. No courtesy." Ivy said while she paused her music player.
"Well, it's a public area. No one said you or I can't be here. Except you were seriously disrupting the privacy of others around you while memorising your dull concepts of accounts." Jason teased as he walked up onto the patio.
Ivy could feel her temper was rising to the tip of the highest mountain in the world. "You seem to have hearing problems don't you? The rain is freaking heavy out there and I was merely mumbling to myself. No one is around except you. Who knows if you're a stalker after all." Ivy retorted.
"It's funny how your friends are enjoying themselves but you're hardworking out here memorising your notes. Impressive young lady." He clapped his hand in amusement to further provoke her.
Ivy was too tired to debate any further as she decided the rain was lighter enough for her to slip into the car by the side.
"Mind your own business." Ivy snarled.
"Before you leave, take this. It would be a pleasure to work with you." He offered his name card and decided he could use a part timer to help out with his accounts administrative tasks.
Ivy turned around to face him and took the name card and read his consultancy firm's name. She pondered on the opportunity he could offer but thought it could be a trick to get back at her.
"You gotta be kidding me. Why on earth would I ever work with you? You're really a nuisance for being such an insolent and rude fella. I wonder how your poor clients stand your attitude. Is your profit deteriorating? Check your cash flows. Maybe you don't even have enough to pay your staff's salary or salvage your business's future as a matter of fact." Ivy knew she was crossing the line but she didn't care as she didn't want to be associated with him at all.
Jason was enjoying it. He attempted to explain many times but she just did not give it a chance. Besides, he enjoyed listening to her point of view and each time it had gotten him by surprise for such a young age girl to understand how a business runs and most importantly, pointed out his business current crisis and weak points. He indeed ran into some issues with expansion of his small consulting firm. He was trying to get more big events from clients or a collaboration or new investors but to no avail.
Ivy waited for his response as she watched his poker face and decided to push further to burn their bridges. "What now? Do you have a girlfriend?" He shook his head as though caught by surprise after zoning out for a moment.
"See, even more reasons for me to not deal with you. Guys like you do not even deserve a girlfriend." Ivy snorted while attempting to run to her car which she knew was more than enough to ensure there was no turning back at salvaging their relationship.
"Are you sure it is your car or are you pretending it is your car?" He teased again while chuckling, knowing she was about to leave after zoning out at all the points she threw at him which hit the right spots of troubles he was facing including the personal attack.
Ivy cursed under her breath that the car was to be operated manually without any remote as she ran to unlock the car with the keys and slipped in. She was taken by surprise at how he could go on getting on her nerves and chuckled as though he enjoyed teasing her.
Ivy swerved the car to a reverse gear and stopped in front of him before changing to the drive gear. Before she drove off, she rolled down the window and pointed her middle finger at him.
He clapped in satisfaction as though he knew Ivy would be watching from the rear mirror which she did and was so pissed off when she rolled up the window.
Ivy sighed in relief as she slowed down the car to cruise home after quite a distance she drove. "Oh, what a night!" She let out her frustration while she let her mind wander back to when the commotion first took place.
It was agitating at first but she realised it was funny that she mistook him as a hotelier or even a bellhop at first. She admitted she was rude for not checking since she was too engrossed in sending a text message to Belinda.
"Why on earth did you do that Ivy?" She asked herself as she chuckled while enjoying the peace and serenity again. However, as she enjoyed the sight of light drizzles on her car's window pane, she noticed an unexplained emptiness in her solitary life which she used to enjoy.