Cassandra woke next to Jin who was wide awake in the early morning. He had been deep in his thoughts while they stayed overnight in Mrs. Soh’s house.

Cassandra kissed his left cheek which startled him for a moment. “Morning… What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” He tried to stay composed but his frowns gave him away. She knew he had not slept a wink.

“Stop worrying about Ivy. She will thrive and she always does. Now, sleep awhile. Close your eyes while I prepare breakfast.” Cassandra coaxed but Jin was too worried to be able to sleep.

“No, let’s prepare breakfast together.” He pushed his blanket away and walked out of the room as Cassandra sighed worriedly before he stood dumbfounded at the door.

She approached him and to her surprise, they both stood stunned by who was preparing breakfast.

“Hazel…” Cassandra instantly reached out to her. “You’re still not well…” Cassandra protested as she made Hazel take a seat before Jin continued frying the bacon.

“I am alright. I can manage. I always do this…” Hazel protested but Cassandra stared at her fiercely.

“Hazel, this is not where we came from before! It’s different!” Cassandra rarely gets angry and if she does Jin knew the other party had crossed the limit.

He held onto Cassandra’s arm as Mrs. Soh stepped out while rushing footsteps were heard from the washroom.

“Cassie… Hey, it’s fine…” Ray tried to calm her.

“I was preparing halfway before washing up. She was too hungry to wait.” Ray assured as Cassandra began to relax.

“I’m sorry… I understand your point. I will try to change.” Hazel stood and held Cassandra’s hand as both ladies embraced each other.

“I’m sorry too…” Cassandra apologised as Hazel shook her head. “No, don’t be… I understand.” Hazel said with a grateful smile as Cassandra gently patted Hazel’s hand.

“Looks like you all didn’t need me to prepare any noodles for breakfast…” Mrs. Soh said absentmindedly before the brothers stopped her in unison.

“We do!” Ray and Jin chuckled as Mrs. Soh turned around with a smile.

“This was just to keep Hazel not too hungry before you wake… Quickly prepare your noodles! I am starving!” Ray persuaded as he gently pulled Mrs. Soh to the stove.

“Now, have your appetizers first…” Cassandra served Hazel as they sat together and munched on the bacon and eggs first.

“What’s the update on Ivy’s side?” Jin could not help but ask Ray worriedly.

“Still the same as I last checked… I got to go after this…” Ray announced as his eyes darted toward Hazel.

“Go… She will be fine with us. I will disguise her later and temporarily we will put her in my basement. There’s a doctor there attending to Uncle Peter who can also treat her. He will surely be so happy for another daughter in law…” Cassandra teased.

“Cassie!” Ray retaliated as Hazel blushed while Jin and Mrs. Soh chuckled.

“How’s Peter doing?” Mrs. Soh asked. “He’s awake… But we cannot let the princess know yet.” Cassandra updated.

“Why? She would be the first he wants to see and she would definitely feel the same…” Mrs. Soh asked while mixing the noodles in a bowl while Jin helped cook the noodles.

“She has too much stuff on hand at the moment… Don’t worry we will let her know soon.” Ray assured as Mrs. Soh nodded skeptically while the brothers shared a knowing look to not tell Mrs. Soh any further details that could harm her.

That early morning, Ivy had a hard time sleeping in while recovering from her fever although Jeremy was coaxing her in bed. It was tough for Jeremy to steal time to have a brief conversation with Real after receiving news from him on abnormal activities in Dragon Island as Charles’ men were spotted.

When Jeremy thought he successfully coaxed Ivy to sleep, she stirred awake and overheard his conversation with Real about visiting the Dragon Island in two days by the balcony. She felt strange and her instinct could sense something wrong but she knew she should not let him know she knew.

She needed to get her hands on a ticket to Cantisole discreetly to be able to reach Dragon Island after doing a brief research on the location. Feeling anxious, she could not pretend to sleep but instead, she went out for a walk to clear her mind.

Think Ivy, think. I need an excuse to leave here but also not trigger them. If I were to say I go on travel alone, Jere would definitely not allow it. If he leaves in two days, I should too by all means…

With that, Ivy completed her payment for the air ticket on her mobile but to her surprise, someone unexpectedly appeared in front of her.

“Honey, looks like it’s time to head home and prepare for our engagement?” Kyle teased as he walked closer in a coquettish manner. Ivy was caught off guard.

“What… are you… doing here?” She stuttered as she tried to walk backwards away from Kyle who was approaching her.

“What else if it’s not to bring my fiancee home? Now, stop running away before we are forced to fight.” Kyle’s last line made her regain her composure and ran the opposite direction but Kyle’s men were surrounding her.

She wondered if it was too early in the morning that Melody and her crew were not awake yet. At the corner of her eyes, while fighting those men, she noticed Melody was distracted by a phone call by a corner. She sighed and knew it must be her brother. To protect Melody and her crew, she thanked her lucky stars that they were far off near the garden and that Melody would not be able to hear them fighting.

A thought crossed her mind the moment she accidentally slipped and nearly hit a rock. She knew she could balance herself from knocking into it but she also had a plan in mind. She let herself fall and knock onto the rock but at a much lighter impact. Though bleeding, she was conscious but pretended to have fainted.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Ivy!” Kyle panicked as he quickly checked on her to ensure she passed out before carrying her discreetly with the rest of the gang to their car and sped off.

Along the way, Ivy was alert of where she was as she planned to fake losing her memory later when they moved her to another place. To her surprise, she was sent to the nearest hospital.

During the inspection, she opened her eyes a little to notice the doctor and nurses were the only ones surrounding her. Out of habit, she had a penknife in her pocket. She drew it out to the doctor as all the nurses gasped.

“Ms…” Ivy put a finger over her lips and made the doctor come closer as she lowered the penknife.

“I’m in danger and kidnapped. I’m Ivy Ophal Ai Lee. Reach out to Jin Ophal, my brother to help.” She took the nurse’s paper board and jotted Jin’s number before returning it to the nurse.

“Out there is Kyle Oshia. Tell him and the rest, I have lost my memory.” Ivy instructed as the doctor was skeptical. When she raised her penknife again, the doctor finally agreed with his hands up in the air trying to calm Ivy.

“But first let me get you treated…” The doctor suggested as Ivy nodded and lay back down in bed and let the nurses clean her wounds while the doctor gave instructions to discreetly seek Jin Ophal’s help.

“Are you alright, Ms. Ophal? Can you hear me?” The doctor pretended to ask after the consultation. Ivy pretended to groggily open her eyes and signaled him that she was ready for the act.

When the doctor was certain Ivy was in good condition, he opened the curtain while Kyle eagerly went up to the doctor for updates. As predicted by Ivy, the doctor only told him she was in stable condition when Kyle rushed to her.

“Ivy, feeling alright?” He asked worriedly as Ivy squinted her eyes and began her act.

“Who are you?” Ivy asked as Kyle blinked.

“I’m Kyle… Kyle Oshia… Ivy, what’s wrong?” Kyle questioned.

“Where’s Grandma or Sandra and Andrew? I need to go home by evening or Grandma will be worried…” Ivy said before Kyle sprinted to the doctor and clarified the situation.

Looks like the trick worked. Now, let’s see what’s next. Ivy told herself while watching Kyle walk back dumbfounded.

“Ivy, I’m sorry you got injured this bad… I will protect you from now on…” Kyle pulled her in for a hug.

“No, I don’t know you!” Ivy protested as she pushed him away.

“I am your fiance Ivy. We are already planning our wedding…” Kyle immediately changed his tone to become gentle and Ivy knew he was beginning to take advantage of the situation as she frowned.

“Don’t worry. I will get everything handled. You just need to follow me to the Oshia’s home to have a look and pick your choices…” The name of Oshia’s home made Ivy grin a little as her mischievous thoughts wondered what could she hunt in their home.

“No, I want to meet my grandma! She will be very worried later!” Ivy screamed hysterically as the nurses rushed in to calm her but they knew Ivy was putting on an act.

One of the nurses instructed Kyle to bring her relative she mentioned. He had no choice but to negotiate for her to be discharged instead and be sent to Manes where her Grandma's house was. Since it was getting late in the evening, he decided to head home first. Ivy acted suspicious of him all the way but still was slowly making her way into the house.

“Come in… I promise I will send you to Manes your grandma’s house first thing in the morning…” Kyle persuaded.

“At least let me call Sandra first. My grandma will really get angry…” Ivy pleaded anxiously as Kyle let her key in Sandra’s number on his mobile.

“Hello…” Kyle said when Sandra picked up.

“Hi, who’s this?” Sandra asked.

“Sandra! Ivy here! Help me to keep Grandma informed that I am staying with you tonight please….” Ivy acted as Sandra was feeling weird but she was smart to nudge Andrew to listen to the conversation that she had put on loudspeaker.

“Ivy… where are you? Are you alright? What’s wrong?” Sandra questioned as Kyle interrupted.

“She’s with me. I will send her to Manes tomorrow morning. So be assured to inform her grandmother about what she pleaded.” Kyle said before hanging up.

It left Ivy a little taken aback at the abrupt cut-off but she quickly regained her composure to argue with Kyle.

“Rude!” She scowled at him as he smirked before leading her to his room.

She reluctantly entered it as she studied every corner she could and noticed his table was very messy. She knew it was her chance to look through stuff.

“Well, since you’re the fiancee, you get to stay in the room with me…” He went closer to her only to be pushed away.

“Get showered first!” She scolded as she moved around his room while he smiled and went on to the washroom. “Be good! My parents aren’t home but don’t leave the room!” He warned as she nodded obediently.

Ivy quickly grabbed the chance to rummage over the papers on his table. She saw all the reports related to the IPO for Ophal’s real estate and smirked in the bathroom door direction. She could not help but be tempted to leave the room.

With that, she left the room’s door open as she explored the next room which was a study. Unexpectedly, she stumbled upon Kyle’s daily schedule and saw a detailed bombing plan for Dragon Island. Her mind instantly was racing parallel to her heartbeat as she knew it was a lure for Jeremy to visit there.

The children! She snarled in the door’s direction. She also saw an air ticket to Cantisole in two days. She quickly flipped more stuff and glanced at his wallet where he still kept a pretty picture of Melissa.

She felt strange if he was pursuing her then why this? As she heard his footsteps and his agitated groans nearing the door, she knew she had to act again as he was done showering. She quickly put things back into place and sat by a cupboard, pretending to flip through his photo album.

“Hey! Not that!” He snatched the album away as Ivy sat watching him while smiling mysteriously.

“If we are to be married, why aren’t there any pictures of us? Or anything that belongs to me in this house?” She questioned as he stepped closer to her with just a towel tied to his lower body.

She noticed but was not smitten by his abs.

Jeremy’s one is better. She thought to herself before breaking into a grin.

“That’s cause you always don’t come when invited and there, look, you deny so much in the news too…” Kyle rolled his eyes before pulling her back to his room and locked the door.

“There your turn to shower…” He offered as she sat on his office chair and took a playful spin around.

“Go… You’re not supposed to see all this…” He said as he tried to keep the scattered papers and reports away.

“What are they? Are you a big boss of some big company?” Ivy asked and somehow her questions made Kyle feel dumbfounded. Little did he know one day he needed to explain all that she had done to him. It felt like he was slapping himself but Ivy was not giving up. Her continuous questions prompted him to sit patiently telling her one by one of the old events and adding his own twists to be favorable to him.

“Oh, so my father left his company to you and now we are to wait for him to be awake so that we can marry?” She summarised as he nodded. She grinned mockingly as she raised her eyebrow.

“Where is my dad? I want to see him.” She said as he sighed tiredly.

“Your brothers prohibited us from visiting 'cause they felt it was unfair the company is under my control… So, now do you understand princess why you’re the only one I have in this world?” He tried to convince her.

She ended up laughing hysterically.

“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction but I am so tired of running the company for your father the whole day. I am going to bed. Suit yourself if you want to shower or not…” Kyle was extremely exhausted, especially after chasing her down the whole day as he climbed to bed.

“Where is my grandma?” Ivy pestered the question on him by his bedside as he sighed and buried his face into the pillow ignoring her. Ivy smirked at him knowing she was successful in giving him hell.

While she enjoyed the moment, she did not stop there. For the whole night, the moment she noticed every time he fell asleep, she would make noises by flipping some papers or going through albums and be curious as she went on flipping the whole room just to annoy him. She was so impressed by how patient he was that she resorted to her last chip in her pocket.

She had enough of digging and knew nothing much was left for her to discover. She had to find a way to escape to keep up with Jeremy’s plan to Cantisole. Hence, she attempted to attack Kyle with her penknife in her pocket while he was asleep.

Kyle woke groggily as he felt a heavy weight on his body and the moment his vision was clear, he screamed Ivy’s name at the sight of the pen knife ready to pierce through his eyes.

“IVYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!”