Chapter 5

As planned 

Just as he walked towards his private room, the room opposite his swung up, he was too excited to care. Leo, who had stepped out to avoid his friends nagging, happened to see the man leading Ivy, who was drunk, into his private room. 

"Hold on." Leo said, as he walked towards them. The man presented not to hear him as he rushed to pull into the room.

Leo realised what he was about to do, he pulled ivy away from the man. He kicked the man, sending him crashing into the private room. They drew the attention of the people inside, everyone turned to look at the man on the floor who was trying to get up.

"What's going on?"

"Shhhh. You better keep quiet if you don't want to disappear suddenly."

His voice wasn't loud but people around him heard what he said. They turned to him waiting for him to explain but he shook his head as he motioned for them to keep quiet. While they were still wondering what was going on, someone came and knocked the man out before taking him away.

Leo had long disappeared with Ivy in his arms. He carried her back to her private room before taking to the room she had booked earlier on.

He gently placed Ivy who had fallen asleep a long time ago on the bed.

"Why are you always careless?" Leo sighed as he helped remove her shoes while going into the bathroom to get a warm towel to wipe her face before leaving her to rest.

He stood at the corner watching her sleep, the thoughts of that night keep flashing through his mind.

"I've finally found you, there's no way I'm never letting you go."

Leo said walking towards her bed to sit, he ran his hand through her head as she slept.  The more he watched her sleep the more he was tempted to kiss her.

"Haha." He chuckled when he saw her pouting her lips. He leaned her and grazed her lips softly with his before pulling away, his finger tracing the corner of her lips gently. 

"Go away." Ivy said, using her hand to brush Leo's finger away. He smiled before laying down beside her.

Leo left just before Ivy woke up, Ivy woke up feeling hungover, she rubbed her temple trying to ease the pain.

"Where am I?" She looked around trying to figure out where she was. She looked down at herself.

"Thank goodness." She let out a sigh of relief after confirming that there was nothing off about her. Ivy picked up her things and left the hotel room. 

She couldn't stop wondering how she got to her hotel room in the first place. 

Ivy returned home, she still hadn't informed her parents of her success. When she got home her mother was in her herbs garden tending to the herbs.

Ivy knew her father wouldn't be home at this time, he should still be in his company so she didn't bother looking for him.

She walked to her room and sat at the window. She was looking at the scenery outside her window. Thinking about everything that had happened the previous day. 

It made her sad but she couldn't cry, she tried to find relief from her tears but they just refused to flow. Ivy sat there for a while thinking about what she should do next. 

After some thoughts she decided to follow her original plan of getting married to Dave after her graduation. Things with the family business were too tangled up and she didn't have solid evidence to prove her claim. 

"I should have taken pictures first before confronting them, now I am stuck with him. Since I won't be happy neither would they."

Ivy picked up her phone and called Lily. The phone didn't ring for long before Lily answered. 

"Ivy, I am really sorry ".

Before Ivy could say anything, Lily started apologising to her. Ivy wasn't in the mood to play nice.

"Lily, I don't care about your feelings for Dave, all I want to let you know is that my wedding with Dave will be held as planned. Since you've promised to stay away from him you better keep that promise. Remember to always keep your distance from him, your feelings are meaningless when you're the third party."

Ivy hung up after saying what she wanted. Lily was pissed, she knew Ivy won't give up easily that was why she sent the message to her. Lily never expected Ivy, who could be unforgiving, to actually continue with the wedding. 

Lily was certain that Ivy was going to call-off the wedding. When Lily picked up Ivy's call she never saw this coming. 

Lily thought that Ivy had called her to tell her that she had won and that Lily could have Dave, but that did not happen. 

How could Ivy forgive Dave and still hold the wedding as planned even after finding out how long they've been together.

After Ivy ended the call with Lily, she called Dave to inform him about her decision. 

"The wedding will hold as planned, inform your family so they can start preparing and you better not make another mistake cause I won't forgive you the second time."

Ivy didn't wait for Dave's reply before she ended the call.

CHAPTER 6

 Fine by me 

Dave was surprised at this, after everything that happened he had already given up on marrying Ivy. He knew how stubborn she can be and there was nothing she despised more than someone being unfaithful. 

Dave could not hold his excitement, so he called his mom to start preparing for the visit. Dave's mom was happy, to her Ivy and Dave had almost the same social status and she knew Ivy's family's company will be inherited by her in future. She felt like Ivy barely satisfied her, she had long forgotten that it was Ivy's dad that kept them where they are.

To Dave's mother there was no better way to boost the family better than merging it together with that of the Albert's family. After she received the call from her son she quickly started making arrangements, she made sure every gift she bought was up to standard. Catherine, Dave's mom, did not want to give the Albert family a reason to look down on them.

After making sure the arrangements were in order, Catherine called Ivy to inform her of the arrangement. She told her the date and time they planned to visit. According to the information she gave Ivy they plan on coming to Albert's family next week.

......

Ivy waited patiently for her parents to come home so she could inform them. She did not want a situation where she would end up forgetting and then they wouldn't make out time to host Austin's family. 

Ivy's brother was the first to return which actually surprised Ivy. From what she remembered it was either this brother of hers return when everyone is already asleep or he never returns at all. 

Since he was a well known doctor he was always on demand he had more on his plates compared to other doctors in the hospital.

"Hey bro! You are home early today, what's up?"

He glared at me without saying anything, he picked up some cherries from her plate and tossed them into his mouth.

"It seems you want to be taught a lesson? Is that how you welcome your elder brother? For someone who is to be married you still have a lot to learn. "

After saying that he hit the back of my head before walking to his room. 

"It's not as if being good at welcoming someone makes you a good wife. Mom does not welcome dad. Does that make her a bad wife? Okay then, I will let dad know that you said mom is not a good wife".

The moment Ivy ended her sentence, Williams ran back towards her.

"Don't you dare, when did I ever say that mom wasn't a good wife."

"Well you didn't say but you implied that she was not a good wife so it's still the same thing".

Williams was fuming, reasoning with this sister of his can be very annoying. He knew his father very well and he would believe whatever comes out of his daughter's mouth. Williams did not bother with her anymore, he rushed back into his room. 

Ivy laughed as she watched her brother return to his room defeated. This improved her mood a lot, since they were young she has always been treated as a princess whatever she says goes well except for taking over the company from  her father after she graduated. This was the reason a lot of guys set their sight on her, after all it was only a matter of time before she took over from her father.

A while later her parents returned, she quickly got up and ran to Mr Albert's side. She wasn't surprised her mom came back with her father, her herbs garden wasn't far from the house. She had her husband's car drive in which was why she came out. 

"Daddy! You are back! What did you get for your lovely daughter? And mom you finally decided to come back right when dad returned. "

"I just happened to finish what I was doing."

"Oh really? How convenient."

"Yeah."

Her mom pulled her out of her father's embrace as she spoke. Ivy giggled as she let go, she did not want to be on her mothers bad side. Her father was her mother's private property and no one was allowed to touch him.

Her dad laughed and rubbed her hair as he walked into the house. Ivy walked behind them so she did not end up annoying her mother.

Ivy let her parents freshen up while she helped the maids set the table for dinner. After everything was set she called out to them to come down for dinner. Not long after her brother came down first and her parents joined them later on.

After dinner as the maids were clearing the table, Ivy called for the attention of her parents. 

"Mom, dad I have good news".

"If it's about your project we know you have been announcing for over a month."

Ivy glared at her elder brother 'if you don't say anything no one will think you are dumb' she thought to herself. 

" That's not it, Dave and his family are coming over next week to propose so I am letting you guys know so you can add it to your schedule. "

Diana, Ivy's mom was not excited but since she wasn't against the marriage she did not say anything. For some reason she felt like Dave and his family's intention toward her daughter wasn't pure but since her daughter chose to be with him, all she could do was to try her best to protect her.

"Oh! Well that's good news I will start making arrangements to receive them next week. Just so you know I will not give you your dowry until the day after your wedding."

Ivy did not understand what her mom was doing but she didn't want to question her. She lets things be if she receives it earlier or later what difference does it make. She also felt that it was for the best.

"Fine by me".

After Ivy informed them, they all returned to their rooms. When Ivy entered her room she was still wondering why her mom decided to give her her dowry later.

Ivy suddenly had a thought 'maybe mom does not like dave' but she kicked against it, her mom has always treated dave well so that could not be the reason..

......

In Ivy's parents room Mr Albert pulled his wife towards the bed and sat her down. After their daughter broke the news to them his wife's mood had been off and he needed to know why.

CHAPTER 7 

"Honey, what's the matter, you don't seem so happy about Ivy getting married ".

"Humm it is not that I am not happy that she is getting married, I want to keep you all to myself and the best way I can do that is by marrying her off to someone ".

Mr Albert laughed at his wife's comment, this little wife of his is always protective of him.

"Okay, so what's the problem? Since you want to marry her off so badly, why are you unhappy? ".

"Well I am not happy with whom she's getting married to, I don't trust the Austin family. I keep having this feeling that they are not sincere towards our daughter. Even if I want to marry her off I need to send her where she would be loved and cherished. She is still my daughter at the end of the day and I want what's best for her."

Mr Albert sighed " Everything will be fine if they ever hurt our daughter I will make them pay".  He meant every word he said

He kissed his wife's head, pulling her closer as he kept reassuring her. He was finally able to coax her to sleep.

His wife's words really got to him, it wasn't that he had never thought about it. The problem he had was how to convince his daughter against it.

He fell asleep trying to figure out how to protect his daughter without hurting her 

.......

Early the next morning Ivy left home for school, she needed to finish with her clearance before the week runs out so she can focus solely on her wedding. When she got to the department she saw Lily who was also there for her clearance. From the look of things it seemed like she was waiting for Ivy there. 

Ivy did not want to bother with her, she walked past Lily as though she was invisible. Lily quickly held her back when she noticed that she was about to walk past her.

"Ivy since you have chosen to forgive Dave can't you forgive me too?"

Ivy turned and pulled her hand out of Lily's grip. She gave her a hard cold stare. 

"Can you even listen to yourself, I wonder where you got the guts to stand before me and ask such a question. I have always felt you are smart in the past but I never expected you to be this foolish. You know your question right now got me wondering if you are really mentally stable. This better be the last time you intentionally appear before me."

Lily glared at Ivy, every word she said was targeted to humiliate her. She could no longer bear it anymore. 

"Look at you always acting like a proud princess, I thought you were the school Bella but you could not even keep your own man how pathetic. Always flaunting your family wealth for everyone to see. How dear you say I am foolish, even if I was foolish I still took you man from you with ease."

Ivy turned to see Lily's gloating expression, every word she said hurt Ivy really badly but there was no way she could let her win this battle. 

"Well well well so this was the reason, but all these things you've listed are not my fault my parents gave them all to me. Be it the beauty, the wealth or..?" Ivy took steps closer to 

Lily said in a low tune " or even the proper home training to know that one should not do things that make them a slut".

Ivy dropped her words, turned around and left with a smirk. Her footsteps seemed lighter, she felt victorious. 

The same thing could not be said for Lily, Ivy's words reminded her that they were not from the same social circle and this further annoyed her. She looked towards Ivy's direction with her eyes filled with so much hatred. Her initial thoughts were to provoke Ivy but she was the one that ended up being provoked.

A few hours later Ivy was done with her clearance, she didn't feel like taking a cab home and she did not drive to school that day. She called Dave to come pick her up, while she waited for him she decided to search for a suitable wedding gown online.

Her attitude towards the wedding showed how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. 

Dave came over later on and rushed towards the department where she was waiting for him to come pick her up. On his way there he pumped into lily. At first he felt awkward but he glanced at her again and he noticed that her mood was not right. He suspected that she must have had a confrontation with Ivy which was unavoidable since they were in the same department. 

On the order hand when lily saw him she wiped off the hatred in her eyes and replaced it with sadness. When she noticed that Dave felt sorry for her she turned around and left without a word to him.

Lily knew how to play her cards well, by taking a step back she was able to retain Dave's attention.

Dave could not explain how he felt towards Lily, he was certain of his love for Ivy. His affection for Lily was not deep but he couldn't bear to see her getting hurt.

Dave hesitated on whether he should go after Lily, after giving it some thought he went ahead to find Ivy.

On the other hand Ivy was already coming out of the department when she happened to see Lily and Dave. She observed all of Dave's expressions, she also noticed his momentary indecisiveness. Ivy smiled and walked back to the department and waited for him to come over.

Ivy did not know what she hoped to gain from accepting Dave back, she did not know if she did it to split Lily and Dave up or because she loved him. That's other than their family business being intertwined.