Chapter 14: What's the secret?

Ivy spotted a drawer. She moved closer to it and opened it. She saw what looked like a journal with a leather red back and a letter 'F' stuck to it.

She picked it up and examined it. It looked like the one she had back home but hers had the home but hers had the letter 'I'. Just before she opened it, Clover appeared at the door.

"Ivy." She called and Ivy immediately dropped the journal. Clover hurried over to her and touched her shoulders to see of she was alright. "Are you alright? Did he scold you? I'm so sorry, I should've warned you about this room."

"It's alright. I'm alright, just tired." Ivy said.

"That's good to hear. Now get some rest, you don't need to do anything else, I'll handle things here." Clover assured her and Ivy nodded. "Now go." She urged her and Ivy started moving out.

'I don't mind being treated like an egg but what is the secret behind that Flora that I don't know?' she thought as she walked to her room. 'There are so many things I don't know and I wanna know. I'm anxious.'

She opened her door and looked out, no one was idle, everyone was doing one thing or the other.

'What's the secret?' she sighed and shut the door. 'I don't believe that I'm Flora but so many things relate me to her. The pictures, the journals and even the way I act. They must believe I'm her but I'm not her, I'm not!' she convinced herself and felt hot. She decided to take a bath. 'Why do I feel strange about him? What's he hiding? Why's he hiding? I just wish I could find the answers to all these questions but one thing's for sure, I'm not Flora.'

It was dark now. Layla had sent a maid to her room with a tray of her evening meal. She wanted to go out but the maid didn't let her, stating that the boss had instructed them not to let her out.

"From house arrest to room arrest? Could it be any much worse?" She asked as the maid left. It was a really sad thing to think about.

Ivy walked out to the balcony without touching the food. It was so painful to think about it that she felt so much like crying.

Damian was not himself at the banquet. He brought a lady with him but didn't really pay attention to her.

He was absentminded all through and didn't make any comments in their usual business talks. The host noticed this and cleared his throat.

"That's a fine lady you've brought." He said, trying to attract his attention. "I've known you as a single guy for some time now, so are you finally intending to keep her as a mistress?"

Damian looked at him and then at the girl, who now felt special, thinking Damian would take her as a mistress but she was disappointed when he shook his head.

"She's like the rest of them. Pathetic! I don't intend to keep her as a mistress or anyone else." He spat out to the surprise of all. He was fed up of all that was going on there and wanted to go back for Ivy.

Damian stood up from his seat.

"Please, if you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave." He said and moved away, leaving the lady there. She couldn't just watch him leave, she excused herself and trailed after him in a hurry.

"You can't just leave me there." She said and he threw a bundle of cash at her.

"Take a cab." He said and left.

She felt humiliated but there was nothing she could do, besides, she needed the money, so she bent down and picked up the money and left.

Damian drove back home. On entering the mansion premises, he spotted Ivy on the balcony. She looked sad and troubled. He couldn't see her clearly until he got out of the car. Taking a closer look, he noticed she was crying.

"Was I too hard on her?" He asked himself. "Why the hell is she crying? It makes me look like the villain." He walked up to her room door. "She hates me and yet I add to her burden. Why am I such a fool? How am I going to get her to remember if I do this?"

Ivy cried silently while wishing everything that went on was all a dream. Suddenly, she heard the doors if her balcony open and turned to see Clover. She immediately cleaned her tears to avoid Clover seeing them.

"You were crying, weren't you?" Clover asked calmly but Ivy tried to deny it even when Clover had seen her crying.

"Of course not. I just had something in my eyes." Ivy lied.

"You can't lie to me. I caught you and your expression shows that you're sad." Clover pointed out and that fake smile on Ivy's face immediately disappeared. "You don't like it here." She said and Ivy shook her head as the tears flowed down heavily.

"I don't know what I did to deserve this. All I ever wanted was to work and raise enough money to get my degree but then this happened. Why can't I have a normal life like the others? I don't know why he has to be so cruel to me, I didn't do anything intentionally, why is he treating me like this?" Ivy kept crying and Clover hugged her, placing her head on her shoulder as comfort.

"Don't think that way. He's not as bad as you think, it's his personality. If you get to know him better, you'll see he's not that bad." Clover stated.