James stood up. "I'll get a drink in the meantime. Do you want something?"

"Yeah, thanks. Just get me whatever you are having." Ivy replied

​​

"I'll get the drinks Ivy," Teo quickly went to get them. But Ivy waved her hand and stopped him as James had already left the room to go and get them both some drinks.

Thomas and Teo remained standing behind Ivy. Thomas had ordered Teo to be on the lookout at the front door leading into the press room. Ivy played on her phone as she then waited for her friend to return.

James returned and handed Ivy one of the glasses of juice he had got earlier from the waiter that circled the room. "So, is that you finished?" Ivy asked as she lifted her own glass to her lips.

James sipped his drink. "Yes, I am all finished up here. Where do you want to go after? Your treat of course."

Ivy chuckled and took two huge gulps of the chilled lemonade from her glass. "This is tasty. I wonder what's in it."

James sat in front of his computer and began editing the remaining photographs. "Thanks to you, we get to drink something nice for a change."

Puzzled Ivy turned sideways and stared at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"A waiter passed them to me. They said that they were from Noah Adler," James mumbled, his eyes never left the screen as he spoke.

That's weird, Ivy thought. Noah would never do this usually. Besides, she had Thomas and Teo with her so there wasn't any need to get another person to pass her a drink. She stared at her drink again. What sort of games is he playing right now?

Behind Ivy, Thomas couldn't help but share the same thought. Why would the boss ask someone else to deliver the drink to Ivy? Was he a new guard of Noah's?

No, it couldn't be. He did a quick calculation and realized that there were at least six guards in the building and according to his memory, none of them were in waiter's uniform. Did the boss change the security lineup at the last minute?

Thomas looked at the drink again. He watched Ivy take the glass, raising it to her lips; and he felt uncomfortable all over. Something was very wrong here but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He was positive that Noah did not order the drink to be sent to Ivy. Wait a minute, if Noah didn't order that, who did?

With that thought, Noah snatched the glass just as Ivy was about to take another drink.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Ivy shouted a bit confused at Thomas's actions.

Ignoring Ivy's questions, he whipped out his phone and called one of the hidden guards over who was a former policeman rushed in and before Thomas could explain his suspicions, Ivy started to groan, all the while clutching her stomach.

"I don't feel so good," she managed to say before closing another hand across her mouth. She grabbed the press souvenir bag he gotten earlier and vomited in it.

Beside him, James experienced the same symptom although his wasn't as serious as Ivy's.

"Teo get the car ready," he ordered before picking up Ivy and carrying her out. "Bring James too."

Teo raced to the entrance, ignoring other reporters' curious glances at them. He rushed through the long corridors to the back exit and pushed the doors open and rushed to bring the car around. He then stood with the car door opened. Thomas placed Ivy gently inside the awaiting car, he then waited for a sickly James to climb in before urging Teo to rush them to the hospital.

"What's wrong with Ivy?" Teo asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Thomas said, wiping the cold sweat on Akihito's forehead. Ivy's body was stiff and she began breathing rapidly. "But if my assumptions were right, both Ivy and James were probably poisoned."

Only one person entered both Thomas and Teo's head… Anna.

Back in the hotel, the event was in full swing Noah spoke to a few business associates. His trained eyes scanned the room, satisfied. The guards were all in place and there was no indication of a security threat.

The secretary checked his time. The event ended nearly half an hour ago and any minute now, Noah would be leaving the place.

Standing up and getting ready to leave his phone suddenly vibrated in his dress pants and while he usually does not answer phone calls, he found it compelling to at least check the caller. His heart sank when he noticed the caller's ID.

"Report."

Thomas's panicked voice rang out. "Boss, we're bringing Ivy to the hospital."

"What happened?" Noah asked, struggling to remain calm. What Thomas told him had his hair stand up. "Are you sure?"

The guard hesitated a little. "I'm not a hundred percent but Ivy showed symptoms of poisoning."

Hearing the news Noah put his fist into his dress trouser pocket and clenched it, he hid his emotions to the room. Noah then strode out of the hotel. His hidden guards quickly moved as he did and one of them brought the limousine around. Noah got inside and immediately gave out orders, "Find the glasses Ivy and James drank out of and bring them to the hospital."

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Ivy wouldn't stop vomiting. She felt she had lost control of her muscles because she couldn't even talk. She felt so sick, so terrible that her stomach began to cramp. Covering her mouth, she willed the nausea to stop but that only generated more saliva.

Ivy felt her chest hurt and by the time she reached the hospital, her heart was beating so furiously that it was about to burst. She breathed slightly better when someone placed an oxygen mask over her but that didn't last long. Before she realized it, she closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness.