Entering the house with heavy legs. She found no energy to go back on the table with her parents. There were no more reason to pretend. The show was brought to an end.
She entered the house, and when directly in her room. Climbing the stairs in hurry, she didn't want her parents to see her in such a state. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She should be smiling and happy, not sad and distraught. It wasn't fair for her parents.
She walked in the hallway, head down, not wanting any domestic to see her in such a state. It wasn't the persona she wanted to display in front of them. Only the strong and happy Ivy should be known by them. Not the defeated one, coming back from the war wounded without haven fighting.
Pushing open her bedroom door, surprise watched over her face seeing an identical room as the memories she held from three years ago. When she decided to leave.
There were no change in position of any object. The room was clean and organized as if she just left it in the morning and was back home. Her sweet scent was still laying in the air. It made her broke a smile, even though drought in despair. At least, one thing didn't change.
Nostalgic took over her. Her eyes watered and her vision became blurred. Covering her mouth from making embarrassed noise, she pushed close the door with her back and lean on to it. Her legs weakened, making her squad down. Seeking comfort, she embraced herself.
Finally alone, the tears she was holding back fell down, running down her beautiful face. She controlled herself not to shade a tears since she arrived but now it was beyond her, she let it all fall.
Her room, identical as it used to be, made past memories play in her head, how she decided to leave everything behind.
No matter how much she loved Liam, she never told him and never minded the different girls with whom he was with. She knew he didn't love them and was just using their body, at the end of the day, he was hers, and he would be her husband. It was a fact for her. Her confidence was shattered when Shirley arrived. She came innocently. Ivy putted her guard down and accepted her in their group of friends.
Liam, Andy and Ivy have always being together. They were childhood friends, even at school, they were inseparable. It was always the three of them but Ivy got fond of Shirley when she arrived in their college. She introduced them to each other. Little did she know, she was digging her own grave.
She didn't feel threated by Shirley beauty because for her, Liam and Shirley were too different from each other, they were like the day and the night. It was the reason she liked her, she was different from them. She was innocent and pure, unlike them. She never thought Liam could fall for that too.
Ivy laughed hysterically, running her hand in her hair long black hair. Tears stopped falling but her red eyes was pulled out.
Thinking about it, may be she was too similar to Liam. As the saying goes, opposite attract.
The other boys easily accepted Shirley in their group. She thought was a good thing back then because they weren't the type to let people in their private space. Later, she noticed the way Liam was looking at Shirley. It was already too late. When they announced they were dating, her world fell. She was lost, how could they be dating? Liam was hers!!
The pain was soon replaced by hate. The love she once had for Shirley turned into hate. She never let it show, and continued to behave as if nothing happened. She thought may be with time they would fall apart, but it never happened. They were getting closer each passing day. She bottled her anger, resisting the urge she had to tear them apart, to destroy her. Something she could easily do but she didn't let her emotions take control. She couldn't let them take control, or else she would have done something she may regret after.
And three years ago, she gave in. She couldn't control herself anymore, her jealousy became too strong for her. She came up with the perfect plan to get rid of her.
After graduation, she decided to work as Liam's assistant. He was the vice president back then due to his father accident. With her position, she knew all about Shirley way about. She had a group of men kidnap her.
They were supposed to beat her up to death. She didn't want her to have a peaceful death. Each punch for all the time she broke her heart. At the last moment, she regretted her decision. Shirley was innocent in all of this, they didn't choose to fall in lo with the aim of hurting her.
She asked her men to retract and let her off with few punch, to let it seems like a reckoning. She would never forget how Liam hugged Shirley, kissed her when they found her. He was so desperate even though it hasn't been hours since she disappeared. Shirley was crying in his arms and Liam was treating her like the most delicate thing in the world.
That scene made her regret her decision to retract, seeing them, all she wanted was to kill her. She also realized, if she had not changed her mind, had done something against Shirley, Liam would have never forgave her. The thought of what he would have done scared her. Would he have remembered they were friends if she really killed Shirley?
At the airport, the moment her eye laid on her, the desire to kill her appeared but she knew better than to touch her.
Tears ran down her cheek, once again. Pain. It was all she felt. She embraced herself, trying to control the rage and anger burning inside her. Her grip increased every passing second, but the physical pain was nothing compared to what she was feeling inside.
"Can I come in?" Karl knocked the door.
Ivy rapidly stood up and wiped off her tears. Her father shouldn't see her in such a state. It would only intensify his already existing animosity towards Liam.
"Sure dad" she said once ready.
He slowly opened the door and peeked in. A single look on her confirm what he was thinking. His face fell as he entered and closed the door behind him.
"Are you okay?" Karl asked, standing at the door.
At the sight of his daughter's smiling face, he knew she was all but okay.
"I'm fine," she manage to say with her choked throat, and broken smile.
Karl came closer "You may be able to lure your friends but not me, I'm your father. I know you better than all of them." he caressed her wet cheek, to confirm what he thought, she was crying.
It pain him to see her like this. His daughter has always be strong, even as a child she rarely cried but now, he couldn't say how many time she cried for Liam. He pulled her in his embrace.
"I…" She wanted to act strong. She wasn't weak. She was Ivy Stone, the cold queen. She wasn't weak.
The more she repeated it in her head, the more distraught she felt. In the warm of her father's arms, she wondered who was she trying to fool. Letting it go, she cried. She was tired of faking smile and say she was okay when she truly wasn't.
She was not okay.
Karl let her cry in his arms. His daughter was a strong woman, seeing her crying hurts him more than anything else. He never want to see her sad, only smile should be see on his princess face, nothing else.
After some time her sobs finally died down.
"Just say a words and I wipe her off. If she's the cause of all these tears, if her disappearance will make you happy, just tell daddy, daddy will deal with it." he let go of her.
Ivy chuckled and wiped off her tears. Her father words calmed her down. He was always protecting her, taking her side even if she was the one in the wrong. If she killed someone, he would be there to hide the corpse.
Though his words only aimed to make her smile, it didn't reduce his depth. She knew her father would always be there for her. No matter what.
"I know you love me the most, but it will not be necessary."
One of the reasons she decided to leave was for her father. If she had continued to pursuit her impossible love, to go after Shirley life, they were a possibility that in the end, she turned the Black family against her. Her father being how he was would always support her and it would have cause the downfall of the family. They may be influential but the Black was much more. She couldn't risk it to a battle she already lost without even starting.
"What about me? Aren't I important?" Sofia walked to them. She has been watching them the whole time.
"Of course you are." she hugged them both.
"You love me the most." she loves her parent so much, they doted and care for her to a point she couldn't explain.
"Now you need to rest. The stupid party organized by your father will start soon," Sofia said in a grumpy voice, she disapprove of the party. Her daughter need to rest after a long flight not to entertain irrelevant people.
Sofia dragged Karl out of the room. Ivy needed some time alone and the stupid husband of hers won't get it and stay around.
Ivy smile looking at them. Even after all these years of marriage, they were still in love with each other. That was what she was aspiring to but it seems it has been refused to her, after all, villain couldn't have a happy ending, right?