The unfamiliar surrounding jolted Ivy’s senses awake as she spun around the gold-plated pillars in the hall of seven swords kingdom with Phoenix trailing behind her. The guards stood straight on attention greeting both of them as they entered the hallway.
The spinning made Ivy dizzy as she fumbled while Phoenix held her from falling off. She finally had a good look at who was seated in front of her; the King who is her father in this kingdom and Jason’s grandma. The seat next to her father was empty as she assumed it must be Petunia’s.
A continuous loud bang caught her attention on the far right where Petunia was trapped inside. Ivy breathe a sigh of relief as Phoenix raised an arm on her shoulder to comfort her. “We are officially greeting father and resuming our positions as the prince and princess of the seven swords.” Phoenix echoed as Ivy kept her gaze stuck at Jason’s grandma.
“Is that the mother of …” Ivy’s question was cut short when Phoenix replied with confirmation. “Yes, Petunia’s mother. Our grandma too.” Ivy smiled wider with tears trickling down her face. Deep down she knew this was her paracosm and the fact that she had already kept Jason’s grandma in here shows that Jason’s grandma was one of the loved ones she held dearly in her life. The blurry face of Jason’s grandma clouded by her tears made her trip as she lost herself in her thoughts. Instead of finding herself falling to the ground, she awoke to Jason being in her arms in the back seat of his car.
The sky was brightening as she was reminded it was the funeral day of Jason’s grandma. She pushed aside her dream and ignored her sadness to stay strong for Jason throughout the entire funeral. Jeremy on the other hand was attracting a lot of attention from Rahi’s relatives and acquaintances as he was heavily guarded by his underlings. He was about to make a scene after the funeral on the inheritance announcements but instead, Mr. Rahi had requested for the lawyers to postpone till Daisy was discharged from the hospital.
Instead, Jeremy began to notice Ivy whom he had seen around Jason often. His interest in her grew even more despite being engaged to his pregnant girlfriend. It has always been like this since they were young. Anything Jason has, Jeremy would try to take it away from him. Little did he know, the fate awaiting Jason and Ivy would change his plans entirely. As he continued with his plot to take over from his father who had never trusted him, he began to put his attention on the company Jason had just merged with Ivy’s family business.
“Uncle Charles, we should look into Ophal’s real estate business…” Jeremy said abruptly as he finished smoking his cigarette with Charles by the hospital entrance after being rejected away by the guards of Rahi’s family since the reading of the will was postponed and Mr. Rahi didn't want the sight of Jeremy to agitate Daisy who was resting.
Charles raised an eyebrow thinking to himself that it was the firm Peter had just merged with and wondered was it really worth a lot for them to invest time to research about the merger. “It’s a newly merged company… I don’t think there is any value…” Charles was interrupted by Jeremy’s hand raised.
“Just look into it! Find out what is Ivy and Jason’s shareholdings in the firm.” Jeremy instructed as he quickly trashed his cigarette butt into the dustbin and walked off to board his car.
Charles who was confused was bowing to him while watching his car drive away. He couldn't afford to offend him since he needed Jeremy’s money and Jeremy needed his gang’s protection for his own from their rival gangs. It was a win-win situation but Jeremy’s earlier reaction made Charles wonder if the rumors he had heard of Jeremy trying to get everything that belonged to Jason was true. This move was risky as he didn’t want Peter to find out he was sneaking around with Ophal’s business. Otherwise, who knew what Patricia would do to him when words travel to her from Peter. However, money was his tip-top priority. He instructed his underlings to dig into the merged company’s details discreetly.
In the midst of a few unsettling weeks, Daisy didn’t manage to recuperate fast enough to attend the funeral. When things were finally settling down, it was nearly two weeks later. Daisy sat in her wheelchair with Jason one afternoon by his grandma’s garden as Daisy told Jason his grandma’s last wish.
“Boy, do you know what your grandma’s last wish was?” Daisy asked Jason weakly as she looked up at the clear blue skies with a smile. Jason who was reading a book, shook his head as he rested one arm on her shoulder.
“She wanted to see you bringing Ivy back again to visit her just like how you both had promised her. She…” A crack in her voice stopped her from continuing as Jason patted her shoulder gently. “Oh, I am sorry…” Daisy mumbled as Jason passed her a tissue and squeezed her shoulder to comfort her.
“The only regret I had was not able to comfort her better and left her grumpy…” Daisy sniffed as Jason pulled his mother in for a hug.”I should be sorry as I didn’t fulfill this wish of hers.” Jason mumbled as Daisy looked up at her son and sighed, reminded of news about Ivy taking over Jason’s workload.
“You should head back to work. You worked so hard to get this deal. You shouldn't leave such a heavy workload for Ivy to handle.” Daisy said as Jason looked worriedly at his mother.
“But…” He mumbled as Daisy shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t worry about me. I have your father and his preparations. I will be fine…” Jason pondered for a while as he nodded and finally agree to head back to work. “I will head back after the hearing of grandma’s will tonight…” Daisy nodded as she gently rested her head on Jason’s chest. “Mum, I will try to fulfill grandma’s wish and make things clear with Ivy.” He promised to Daisy as Daisy smiled weakly while caressing his hand; half anticipating good news but half of her knowing that she should stay prudent for the opposite outcome instead.
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Nancy who had been visiting them every day without fail despite the long distance from the city center had been standing outside of the garden eavesdropping on their conversation. A part of her was no doubt jealous but she knew she still had the pact with Ivy. Somehow, she was confident Ivy will not break that promise.
From inside the house, Jeremy who had arrived shortly before Nancy had been watching Nancy sneakily eavesdropping while overhearing about his grandma’s last wish. Jeremy knew Nancy who had been coming daily since his grandmother passed away was showing that she still hasn’t given up on his brother.
He was in fact interested in Nancy before this but due to the fact of her unstable mental health and he never yearned to snatch her away from Jason as he was lazy to deal with her insanity. In fact, he was glad to watch karma getting back at Jason when Nancy cheated with Nick. However, plans never go as planned. Time has changed. He knew if he wanted to have Ivy and her family’s business in order to use them to destroy Jason, he must find ways to get closer to Ivy first and it was tough. Using Nancy would be a good start as he plotted in mind while watching Nancy greeting his mother and Jason in the garden.
Ivy initially wanted to stay all the way in Manes has ended up only visiting Manes two days a week as she began her duties assisting Jin in Ophal real estate. Ophal real estate had been preparing to participate in the leases for the preservation of Manes’ old town and there were plenty of paper works to look through. In Manes, Marcel was busy coordinating Mr. Jing’s product launching event with Ryu and Ray on logistics as well as integrating marketing strategies for Ophal’s real estate during Rahi Consulting’s events.
“The preservation works should be starting soon. It would take them quite a while maybe a year depending on how bad the conditions are. Instead of waiting for everything to be completed, the management decided to open up in phases. Hence, leases of the tenancies need to be filled before their soft launch which is estimated to be six months from now.” Ivy explained to Jin who was reading the proposal Ivy had prepared while holding on to his pounding head.
“Alright. I will include it in the briefing to prepare the sales agents. The lease offers are not bad. We will start working on it with the sales team. How’s the progress on Mr. Jing’s event? Get Ray and Ryu to send me updates on their progress especially on the marketing integration into Rahi Consulting’s events.” Jin instructed as he grimaced in pain. Ivy noticed as her instinct was telling her that he didn’t look very well. She quickly text Cassandra about his condition and told her to come over quickly before she answered Jin. “I will get them both to send to you in a while.” Ivy walked over when Jin finally gave in to his aching migraine.
“Jin, are you alright?” Jin raised up his right hand to try and assure Ivy he was fine but that didn’t work as Ivy was already lifting his head up and making him rest on the chair’s headrest before running to the first aid kit box to look for some aspirins. A knock on Jin’s front door made him jolt up and sat up straight. The sight of Ray entering the office made Jin give in to the aching pain of his migraine as he groaned and rested his head on the table while Ivy quickly rushed over with aspirins for Jin.
“Oh no.. the migraine again.” Ray gasped as he quickly passed Jin a glass of water.
Ivy and Ray stood watching Jin take the aspirin before Ivy made him rest his head on the table. “Hey… Enough for today. Let me handle the rest. You need to rest.”
“No, no… I must settle this before you head to Manes tomorrow.” Jin forced himself to stay alert as he kept shaking his head. Ivy and Ray watched him helplessly as Ivy finally decided to compromise on her trip. “Alright, I will delay my trip to Manes by one day. We will resume discussion tomorrow when you’re better.” Ivy offered as Jin being stubborn shook his head as he continued to read his documents.
Ivy eyed Ray who shook his head knowing Ivy wanted to pursue further as he dragged Ivy out of the room. “It’s not a good idea to keep him working, Ray,” Ivy whined as Cassandra rushed up to them.
“Hey, life savior!” Ivy greeted Cassandra with a hug. “Oh goodness, thanks for dropping by in a rush. He really is so stubborn.” Ivy complained.
“Alright… Don't worry. I will make sure he gets some rest.” Cassandra reassured. “He has taken aspirins so he might be drowsy soon anyway,” Ray informed as Cassandra nodded and headed into the office.
“One less problem to solve!” Ray teased Ivy as Ivy smiled. “So, are you really going to delay your trip?” Ray put an arm over her shoulder as she nodded. “Yes! Hey, let’s go train on our sparring. Train me more!” Ivy urged as Ray patted her head. ‘Alright, let’s go!” Ray cheered.
What was a peaceful evening with Jason, turned chaotic for Daisy at night with Jeremy causing commotion during the hearing of the inheritance of their grandma’s will.
“How is it that this bastard could get more than me?! I stayed in this family all the while and I am working my way up to help the family’s business! Where was he all this while?! What did he do to deserve this much from Grandma?!” Jeremy bellowed out his anger as Daisy closed her eyes enduring her sadness. Though she had anticipated it, it still hurts more than she could ever imagine. “John, I need to rest…” Daisy called out to her husband as Jason finally realised how pale his mother was from all the pressure.
He didn't want to continue the entire hearing either. “Mum, wait.” He stopped his father from helping his mother to stand from the sofa before heading upstairs. He walked over to face the lawyer. “Sir, I would like to give up all of my inheritance portions. Please transfer them all to my mother.” Jason instructed before walking off without waiting for a reply.
“Jason, no!” Daisy stopped him but Jason was determined with his decision as he left the door slamming behind him echoed throughout the entire house.
Daisy was furious not at Jason but at Jeremy for his greediness. The only thing her mother-in-law left for her favorite grandson, Jason was now all taken away from him. She was determined to keep them safe for him as she instructed the lawyer to proceed with Jason’s instructions before heading upstairs with John. Jeremy was very furious but he knew he had no choice but to let Daisy hold them temporarily till he finds other ways to transfer them over to himself. His greed knew no limits at this stage neither did guilt ever exist in him.