Chapter 2 Defence

Chapter 2

Defence

Leo who had been hiding finally came out after Ivy and Cynthia had left. He smirked as he watched their figure fade away. He had walked behind a pillar to wait for Mr Simon when he heard them talking, who would have thought that this single act would lead him straight to who he had been looking for.

He was certain that Ivy was the one he had been searching for.

His brows frowned when he heard Ivy's call him a middle aged man but eased up quickly as he thought of ways to prove to her how capable he was. Caleb, his good friend who had insisted on coming with him, found it difficult to hold back his laughter. Leo glared at him, it would be awkward if they were caught eavesdropping. Caleb held back immediately; he knew it would be embarrassing to have to face them If they were caught.

"Leo, you're here, come quickly they are about to start. let's go." Mr Simon led them into the hall where the project defence was held. Leo and Caleb had their mask on to avoid drawing attention. As they walked past the student Leo's gaze met Ivy's but she looked away quickly.

Due to Leo's presence the defence took. longer than expected, some students had to redo their project because of him.

"I really don't know what is wrong with Mr. Simon's student. I get that he's intelligent and all but that doesn't mean he should make things difficult. After all, it won't make much difference."

Lily, who had returned from speaking to her friends, spoke as she looked towards the hall. She never expected to encounter such a person, Lily began feeling uneasy as she wasn't ready for such strict defence. She could only hope that her connection would work in her favour.

"I guess they should have been prepared for the worse. He's just doing what he's here for." Ivy replied not bothered by what Lily had said.

"Oh." Lily replied upset by her reaction, she moved away from her and walked towards the rest of her group.

Luckily for Lily and her group, Leo received a call and stepped out to receive it just as they were about to walk in.

"I want you to convince me to sign this contract." One of the supervisors asked as he glanced through their project.

The contemplated on who would lead the group, no one agreed initially.

"Don't worry, I will represent the group. My aunt, who is a manager at Leo's corporation, was the one who coached me." Lily said this, audible enough for the supervisors to hear. After saying this she walked forward and gave the most mediocre speech ever but due to her mentioning Leo's cooperation earlier they had to smile and praise her. She smiled at them as her gaze kept moving from them to the figure at the other side of the hall.

Leo had his back against them and was too focused on his call to pay attention to what was happening.

Lily's group was dismissed quickly before Leo returned. Lily skipped happily out of the hall. Everyone was surprised to see her group out already but no one asked why.

"Good luck to you guys. I'm off to see my baby." They were already used to her always flaunting her relationship but never for once had they seen her boyfriend when asked about him she always made up excuses.

Leo came back to see Ivy's group inside when he saw her, the image that had been blur all these years finally became clear. He picked up the project on the table and started looking through it as he tried to keep his emotion in check.

"This is a really bold approach." Leo said after going through the report.

Ivy didn't respond to him, she stood there waiting for him to ask the necessary questions.

"Can you give me a brief summary on your topic?" Leo said, staring intensely at Ivy as he spoke.

She was flustered by his gaze but still tried her best to not let it affect her much. After all, she didn't want to be blamed for the failure of the whole group.

"Our research is aimed at identifying the difficulties and providing suitable solutions to further promote supply chain efficiency."

"What made you believe that your approach was suitable to resolve this issue?"

"We came to this conclusion based on our research and interviews we had conducted." Ivy replied boldly meeting Leo's gaze as she spoke.

"Do you think your solution can be applied in a real life crisis?" Leo asked with his brows raised, he was surprised by her boldness. Not everyone could withstand his gaze.

"Definitely, we didn't come to this conclusion based on assumption."

"I love your confidence. So what is the rate of success for this project." Leo asked, his pen tapping the table gently, a smile played on his lips as he looked at Ivy waiting for her response.

"The rate of success is as high as 70 percent."

"I'm impressed, you are as smart as I was told. Well, I hope to see you around."

"Thank you sir for your compliment." After saying this Ivy and her group left the hall.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief but she still couldn't calm her racing heart. When she had stepped into the hall earlier she felt a sense of familiarity when she saw Leo but she couldn't recall where she had met him.

"That was intense, Ivy. I don't know how you were able to withstand the pressure. I'm glad I'm in your group." One of her group members held her arm as she spoke.

"It wasn't difficult after all, everyone had put in a lot of effort on the research I just presented to him."

Everyone knew that she did not want to take credit for their joint efforts so they left it at that. Seeing there was nothing else for them to do, they all went there various ways.

Ivy, eager to share the good news with her fiance, gathered her things and headed for Dave's house. She had grown fond of always celebrating her winnings with Dabe first, her first thought after her success was not to call her family but to rush down to Dave's place as he had promised to wait for her there.

She couldn't wait to see the surprise he had planned for her this time around. He hopes were high as she made her way to his place

Which was exactly why the blow she received was difficult for her to bear.