Chapter 18: Broken vase

Ivy was so fascinated by the way the office was decorated. It was just her style and everything was arranged for a two person run. She saw a flower vase on the table, it was filled with her favourite flower, white camilia. She looked back but didn't see Damian. She turned to the flower.

"I never thought the cold-hearted CEO would have such a taste in designing and also add a camilia to his office. He has two different sides that I just don't understand." She said to herself and moved closer to sniff the flowers when Damian popped out of nowhere, startling her.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Boss!" She accidentally knocked over the vase out of shock and it fell, shattering into a pieces. She looked down at it.

Damian looked at the broken vase on the floor. He looked angry. He turned to her and took hold of her hand.

"Why are you so clumsy? Now look what you've done!" He said angrily and it scared her. When he realized she was scared, he quickly let go of her. "Sorry." He said and quickly left the office to avoid causing trouble with his temper. "How could I have lost my temper on her again? I really scared her but..." He paused. "She broke the vase. She broke Flora's vase." He said pitifully.

Ivy stood there frightened. She never believed he would get angry over a flower case. Tears gathered up in her eyes, threatening to fall but she wiped them off before they had the chance to fall.

She bent down to pick the broken pieces but accidently pricked her finger with of one of the pieces.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed and sucked her finger. "Never thought I'd get injured as an assistant." She said with a sarcastic tone and tried to laugh but she was sad all through. Her laughter could only be accounted as a fake.

She wanted to pick another but she pricked her finger again.

Jones walked in and saw this.

"Hey!" He rushed out to her. "Be careful with that."

"You, you're..."

"Jones, Jones Lee." He introduced himself while looking at her hand.

"You're the boss's friend." She said.

"Yes. Why are you so clumsy? You pricked your finger twice? Isn't it painful?" He asked caringly.

"It's not as painful as getting a scolding from him because of a vase."

Jones was surprised. He didn't know Ivy would get hurt by Damian's scolding. But he was more surprised that he actually scolded her.

"Wait, he scolded you?" Jones asked and she nodded. "I don't blame him, it's probably because it was Flora who put it there."

"Flora? You mean the girl he was in love with?" She recalled.

"How'd you know, princess?" He asked, surprised.

"Well, it's a long story but I heard I look just like her and I've seen her picture. It's no joke." Ivy said a bit solemnly while getting up with the broken pieces all gathered up in her hands.

"Careful, princess, make one wrong move and you'll cut all your pretty fingers." He warned.

"Thanks for the concern." She said, heading for the waste bin and threw the pieces in. "So tell me." She clapsed her hands together. "What was Flora like? I've asked but no one would tell me anything." She inquired.

"Well, Flora was a tough, bold and know-it-all lady. She was like a person who would set a house on fire but still go in."

"Wow, that's... dangerous." She weirdly described.

"She was so talented and intelligent. Everything she did was perfect."

"Wow! That sounds like the complete opposite of me." Ivy said, looking down.

"Don't look too down on yourself. You're just new and haven't gotten used to the system yet and that's why you're still a bit jumpy." Jones said and she looked up, trying to find a little hope but it was really hopeless.

"So tell me, how did they meet? Was it in the office here or roadside?" She asked, looking really excited to hear it.

"Sorry, princess, but that information is out of bound. If you want to know, you can ask Damian instead."

"No way." She shook her head. "I'd be giving myself a death wish." She disagreed.

"Come on, he's not that scary. He's just arrogant."

"I'm scared of him any way you put it. His face is always so serious and I'm always scared to make a mistake in front of him but I just end up making a lot of unreasonable mistakes anyway."

"So the problem isn't him, it's you." He smiled but she looked at him confused. "You just don't know how to adjust to his nature. Flora would cause him trouble alot and that would really make him angry although that's her goal to begin with; to make him angry." He laughed.

"That's it!" She snapped her fingers.

"What did you find?"

"Boss is always so strict with me because I'm the lookalike of that same girl that always caused him trouble. I'm such a fool." She hit her head.

"You've got it the wrong way, princess. He actually loved the trouble and got used to it. Damian isn't strict on you because of Flora. He's just...well..."

Ivy was expecting a hard description of Damian but Jones didn't really know what to say, leaving her disappointed.

"Let's just say he's strict but it's not his fault that the lookalike of the girl he loves lives under the same roof and works under his nose." Jones said. "He sees you every single day and it makes him remember her. It's just like Flora being there and pretending not to know him at all, turning their love into a meaningless word."

"Oh!" She exclaimed. Somehow Ivy felt guilty. She thought of it as her fault that he would feel that way. "In the end, it's still my fault."

"What?" Jones didn't get her clearly. He didn't want to make her feel guilty but it looked like she was already at it.

"If I hadn't been so clumsy and dumped the whole tray of lathe on him, he would never have seen me and we would live our lives separately without having to cause trouble for each other." She blamed herself.

"That's not what I meant, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" She snapped. "I wish I could go back in time and stop myself so, then I wouldn't be here, like this." She referred to her situation and felt teary eyed.

"If anyone could go back in time, you would probably not be the way you are." He mumbled. "Princess, can you not cry?"

"I can't help it!" She used the back of her palm to clean the tears but had started flowing down.

"There there, you shouldn't cry. It wouldn't solve anything. It just makes you look like a weakling." He said and she stopped. She seemed to have remembered something and her face went numb. "Are...you okay?"

"I think I just had a deja Vu."