The shoe store owner had been flexible with Ivy returning as a part timer ever since her high school days especially on weekends. This time Ivy knew the urgency and volunteered to work on every night except Mondays.

Four hours, six days a week with ten dollars per hour for two weeks, it would be enough as she only needed five hundred dollars and she could top up the balance.

Jason had assigned Marcel, his personal assistant and driver to seek for Ivy's help since she didn’t turn up after sending her the timing and address nearly a week ago. In addition, he thought treating her to a meal would be a nice gesture to thank her. He has not had the chance to catch up with Ivy himself as he has been attending to other events on hand and was scouting for new investors as his business has seen the potential of expanding soon.

"Her shift is about to end. Will bring her over." Marcel updated over the phone.

"Wait, wait, wait... Her shift? What do you mean?" Jason asked.

"Ms. Sutol has been doing part time jobs every night and…" Marcel was interrupted.

"Nevermind. Just bring her in." Jason was holding his pounding head from the annoyance Ivy was giving him.

"Yes, Mr. Rahi." Marcel said as he hung up.

Jason was wondering how desperate she was to make money and sacrificed her nights. His mind drifted to his heavy workload and the idea of getting a part timer to help with the administration. He was toying with the idea to offer her to become his part timer, one which she wouldn't be able to resist as he winced looking ahead of the sunset.

Ivy's shift ended earlier on Saturday as she received her first week wage. She happily skipped towards the car park wanting to drive to the town’s club house restaurant which Laura had chosen as her birthday party location and make a booking with the wage she received. While she looked forward to her next plan, she could feel someone was tailgating her.

Marcel who had been waiting and watching her from afar had been following her closely trying to not trigger her to run away but she was panicking as she walked faster. He started to speed up in a jog to speak with her whereby his footsteps were echoing in the car park. Her first instinct was to run to her car but Marcel managed to halt her by blocking her way as he stood in front of her. She began to panic thinking he could be a robber but she noticed he had no weapons as she ignored and walked past him when Marcel spoke.

"Ms. Sutol, Mr. Rahi would like to see you in his office. Please come with me." Marcel firmly stood in front of her while explaining.

"I…” Ivy finally thought about the Dean. If she didn’t at least meet Jason once, she worried he might get her in trouble. “What does he need..."Ivy stuttered.

"Some finishing touches. This way, I will drive you." Marcel showed the valet parking.

Ivy raised an eyebrow indicating she drove. "We will send someone to drive your car to the office."

"No, no. I will tailgate you." Ivy had a plan to escape instead at this rate as she went into her car and drove slowly tailgating Marcel who was walking to his car before he led the way on the road.

As she slowly tailgated Marcel's car, she saw a chance at the traffic light when it was changing from yellow to red. She quickly stepped on the fuel and swerved a sharp left turning leaving Marcel unable to rush the traffic light in time.

She sped all the way to the town’s club house and went on to make a reservation. She was fortunate that the traffic wasn't congested as she parked by the side of the main entrance. She decided to take a seat by the lobby to catch her breath and update Laura about the reservation via text. While she was about to send the text, she stumbled upon a familiar figure standing in front of her.

When she looked up, only to find it was Jason.

She raised an eyebrow questioning his presence as she was caught off guard and was contemplating to run or to play along.

"Welcome. Thought you wouldn't make it to dinner tonight. Glad you came." Jason greeted her.

"I'm sorry but I just escaped Marcel who said it was in the office. Besides, I have errands I need to attend to." Ivy retaliated as she got up wanting to drive off.

"Finish what you need to and join me at the restaurant." Jason sternly instructed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

She knew she had no choice but to obey him else she might end up in trouble with the Dean. She walked over snarling at Jason before she sat.

"Waiter!" He called as he snapped his fingers.

"But I haven't decided." She gasped.

"Mac and cheese as always. Your favorite isn't it?" Jason asked as Ivy could only stare back clueless and stunned at how much details he knew about her.

As he placed their orders, Ivy still couldn't get over Jason's overwhelming surprises. She even wondered if he was stalking her.

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"Well, this is just a small gesture to thank you for finally willing to sit with me over a meal to talk about work. Anyway, do you have spare time? I would like to pay you for a part time job with us. Nothing much, just administrative work but may require you to travel over the weekend and will definitely pay more than what you earn now."

Ivy blinked as she tried to digest it all and forgot that she wanted to ask how did he know the only favorite Western carbohydrate meal she would eat was mac and cheese.

"I erm... I..." Their drinks were served as it interrupted her.

"There's no need to rush. Let me know when you have decided. Anyway, do you have time after this? I need some help to interpret some feedback forms we had from the recent talk. Considering you had no feedback on the revised questionnaires we decided to use that copy. I thought since you helped out with the criticisms, you might want to know the result of the questionnaire built based on your effort." Jason asked as he sipped on the orange juice he ordered.

She looked rather lost and skeptical. "I will pay for these services inclusive of the previous ones. Oh, and today's meal too." Jason added as he watched her scrutinising his every act closely.

She was getting suspicious of his real motives and intention considering for a stranger he knew a lot about her circumstances. She gave it a quick ponder and thought it would be better to have more than less. At least, she could gain the experience she needed from a proper company.

"Deal on the questionnaire first." She quickly replied as she scooped her first bite of her Mac and cheese which was served while she pondered further on his part time job offer. Jason smiled at his triumph self as he enjoyed his meal with her.

After dinner, he drove her to his house and Marcel was waiting for them as he passed her car keys to her. She nodded in acknowledgement to thank him and tried to make it less hassle as she knew she would be paid for her services but the moment she entered his rather huge unit of condominium on the ground floor and a beagle was greeting her, she couldn’t help but to feel insecure a little.

"See, this is getting awkward. How did you know I like mac and cheese? You stalked me didn’t you? Then you offered to hire me for part time jobs and how did you know I needed them? Now what? Your house? What are you trying to do?" She clutched her bag closer to her while the beagle puppy was standing close by her. Jason noticed his beagle, Lucky, who didn’t like strangers and would bark at them seemed to like Ivy a lot.

Jason chuckled. “About time you ask…” He thought to himself.

"Don’t worry it was all a coincidence and because you ran away hence I need to take my questionnaire along and it's a far drive to my office. I needed a laptop and it's at my house. So can we get down to business that you can leave early?" Ivy sat by the sofa with Lucky whom she didn’t mind after a while. Lucky was getting comfortable with her as he went on top of her lap as she embraced him while waiting for Jason to set up his questionnaire.

Ivy observed Jason who was headed towards the dining table which was the first thing to be seen when entering the main door. She noticed there was a stairs leading up to the second floor on the left of the entrance and on the right was a small kitchen. The living room itself was very spacious.

“Oh, he seems to be getting comfortable with you. His name is Lucky by the way.” Jason said as he brought his laptop over to the sofa and sat next to her. She nodded as she patted Lucky continuously on his body.

“And I have seen you having a bowl of mac and cheese in college when you’re with your friends for lunch by the stairs once. That was what you had that night too.” He winked before he opened an excel file.

“That’s practically the only nice western carbohydrate I eat other than my grandma’s spicy noodles…” She mumbled to herself but was loud enough for Jason to hear as he smiled.

"Alright, since you're in a hurry then here is the final draft of compiled answers in soft copy prior to the talk questionnaires. You can take a look and let me know your thoughts. Then, we will look at the second set of questionnaires which will be used after the talk." Jason explained as she flipped through the hard copy first but couldn’t help bursting out laughter recalling the day she mocked him.

"What's so funny?" He asked as he quickly found the word file of the second set of questionnaires.

"Look who’s fixing these pathetic questionnaires?" Ivy laughed.

He laughed looking at her expression as he recalled the day she criticised them.

“Thank you. Once you’re done, I will let you go. So, hurry. The talk’s in two days.” He went on to the kitchen to get her a drink while she wanted to retaliate but she knew it wasn’t wise to fight with the person who is paying.

He remembered to text Marcel to thank him for his good job today. All thanks to Marcel updating him about Ivy’s whereabouts else he wouldn't even get the chance to work on his questionnaires. However, it bothered Jason about her having to burn her nights off for a part time job. “How bad is her financial situation?”, he wondered.

She finally finished touching up the second set of questionnaires and noticed he was very quiet for a long moment sitting in the kitchen. She decided to update him and make a move instead as she walked towards the kitchen. She saw him staring in the air with a drink in hand instead.

"Hey... I have finished them including the ones you will be using for the talk. The one for the talk looks way better." She said as she appeared in front of the kitchen door. "If there's nothing else, I would like to make a move."

"Oh. Come have a drink before you leave?" Jason invited as he realised he was away too long.

"I guess it's fine. I need to update you with some stuff. The ones I highlighted are the changes I made and…" She giggled at the thought of saying the polished pathetic questionnaires looks good now.

Jason smiled at her easily amused self and nodded as he walked over to pass her the can drink.

“And?” He asked. “Do you really want to hear it?” She asked as she cracked open the can of grape juice. He raised an eyebrow.

“The polished pathetic questionnaire looks good now…” She mumbled before taking a sip but decided to finish it since it was quenching her thirst while trying to not giggle.

"Thank you.” He smiled as he glanced through her amendments and he was satisfied.

She quickly threw the can into the dustbin and collected her bag to leave. On her way out she couldn't Help but to pat Lucky.

“I will see you when I see you? Let me know if you're up for the part time job offer." Jason spoke as she nodded while they walked to the main door and she got into her car.

"Goodnight!" She said from her car as she wind up her window and drove off from his car porch.

She had fun indeed as she wondered if she should take up his offer but her studies are bothering her especially science and accounts. Extra lectures weren't helpful and a waste of time since they had plenty of practice which she could do at home. Problem was she didn’t have a clue on some stuff taught in science especially when there were equations of chemicals and her accounts were still far away from catching up with the latest lessons.

There wasn't any chance to even try to understand the concepts of her weak areas or maybe she had with Sandra and Andrew but she just couldn't grasp it for some syllabus in science.

She sighed as she drove home lamenting at her upcoming exam next Monday. She hoped she would do well considering the delay tonight had taken time up for her to study on accounts.

Her accounts concepts were pretty much messed up especially if she didn't catch up daily. She was glad her part time job at night was over since Jason's payment would certainly be able to cover the remainder of the birthday party cost. As for the new offer, she decided to think about it after her first exams.