Sage wrapped arms around Jace's neck. She just woke up, so her face looked a little red.Sage turned slightly and saw a beautiful courtyard nestled in a bamboo forest. Above the rustic wooden gate was a cracked wooden plaque with the word The Humble Cottage written on it. From the crooked handwriting, it looked as if a child had written it.Jace walked to the house with Sage in his arms. His hands were busy carrying her, so Sage took the pull ring on the wooden gate and knocked gently on it.The door soon opened without much effort. Then, the smell of flowers and the sound of running water came to welcome them.They saw an elegant bamboo house behind the gate with a beautiful arched bridge that led to a pavilion on a pond full of green lotus leaves. The elements in the courtyard complemented each other and looked like a scene out of a painting. The place reminded her of a poem that described the beautiful moon hanging in the sky and its reflection on the water.The Humble Cottage
The Humble Cottage was Florence's private residence. It took five and a half years for the builders to build the cottage in the bamboo forest. Florence had been working in the entertainment industry for a long time. After all the hustle and bustle, she longed for a serene life amidst the mountains and water. After the divorce from her ex-husband, she moved here and stayed here.Aside from the time when she needed to work with the production crew, she spent most of the time here enjoying life.A famous poet of the Middle Ages inspired her. A line from the poem said, "Living in a peaceful cottage is the virtue of my life."She occasionally invited her friends over to talk and laugh. From time to time, she would enjoy her hobbies in the cottage surrounded by nature. It was a really nice place with a good ambiance, but Sage was starving and more concerned about dinner."What are we eating tonight? Will Florence and Jack be cooking?"Florence's ears were sharp enough to catch her q
It was no secret that Sage was a terrible singer and dancer in the Norah family. Everyone knew she was tone-deaf and a terrible dancer. Even the maids would often tease her about her ability to do anything but sing and dance. She was talented in everything else except singing and dance.Jace and Jack had heard of it before, but they were still shocked to hear Sage sing. Their souls almost went out of their bodies. Florence burst into crazy laughter. "Hurry and get her out of here! I'll have to call the emergency services if she keeps singing." Jack was about to pass out from Sage's horrible singing. When Sage finally stopped, she said unhappily, "What's wrong? Am I a bad singer?"She tapped Jace on the shoulder. "You! Tell me!" Jace's mouth twitched. He said, "You're good, but let's not sing next time."Everyone was rendered speechless.…It took Jace a lot of effort to get Sage into her room. She was so drunk and would not leave, so they had to stay at Florence's place fo
Jace put his phone away after Primrose ended the call. When he turned his head to Sage, he was surprised by what he saw.Sage was undressing with closed eyes. She was probably too hot or something.After taking off her sweater, revealing her white bra and beautiful waistline, Sage began undoing her pants before Jace could react."Hey!" Jace quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand. His throat felt a little dry. "D…Don't take off.""It's so hot… I feel uncomfortable…" Sage frowned and grunted twice. He put his hand on the button on her jeans and muttered, "Take them off for me." Jace was stunned. Sage looked at him impatiently. "Do it…" Jace was lost for words.Then, he felt a rush of hot blood from his belly and through his chest to his brain. He flustered from the heat.Jace gritted his teeth. He inhaled heavily and then exhaled. He turned his head and took off Sage's jeans. After getting Sage's jeans off her, he flattened them and folded them. When he went to take o
Sage always had blackouts whenever she got drunk.She could not remember anything after her singing last night. Her throat hurt a little, and she did not remember much of the rest.However, all her clothes were off. She was worried. Did she just spend her first night with Jace in such a wasted situation?She regretted being greedy and drinking so much last night. Sage pursed her lips and sighed in frustration. Then, there was a movement behind her. Jace hugged Sage before waiting for her to turn around. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved his head closer. Jace rubbed his head against the side of her waist adorably. "Hm…"He hummed softly with a low and raspy voice. It sounded like he was trying to get her love and attention. Sage's heart softened at his actions. She put her hand on his head to ruffle his hair twice and tidied it for him. "Awake?" Jace finally opened his sleepy eyes slowly. His eyes were red. Clearly, he did not have a good sleep."Did you sleep
Jace fled immediately. Sage sighed softly and brushed her teeth in front of the mirror. She was irritated and wondered what had gone wrong.…The breakfast was very generous and full of variety. Sage had a good breakfast and chatted with Florence. After that, she left The Humble Cottage with Jace. Jace had not slept well last night and was a little tired. After dropping Sage off at Norah Group, he went back to Skye Hotel.He walked into his room and yawned sleepily. As he entered the room, he happened to see Yoel, who came out of the bedroom naked and yawning."You're back?" Yoel scratched his messy hair and went to the bathroom. When he was about to go in, he came out again in confusion. "No, wait. Why are you back at this hour? Didn't you go on a date with Sage last night?""Yeah." Jace went to the bar and poured himself a glass of water. He was so sleepy that his eyelids felt heavy."You look so sleepy. It looks like you had a rough night yesterday." Yoel gave Jace a meani
Shanie and Jenny laughed nonstop. Sage was already annoyed from yesterday. She became more depressed when they two laughed."Stop laughing." Sage glared at them. "Do you have any compassion?""Oh, dear. How can this be so hilarious?" Shanie wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. "It's my first time seeing someone date like this. Both of you are more innocent than college students." Jenny stopped laughing and said, "What's wrong with being innocent? Youngsters nowadays are too easily influenced by the world and money. Even sincere feelings are rare nowadays.""Let's get to the point. You drank too much and got drunk yesterday. If Jace really had sex with you while you were unconscious, that would be a mistake."Shanie agreed, "That's right. He's a rare species in the world today. It's really rare to find someone like him."Shanie reassured Sage with a smile, "Don't worry. There's no rush anyway. Sometimes, intimacy time between the couple would come at the right time.
Jace pushed Yoel out of the bathroom.Yoel gave a middle finger to the bathroom door and muttered as he returned to his room, "You watched it so quickly. Is it bad? That can't be. My collections are perfect…"Yoel opened the laptop and looked for his folder, but he could not find it. What was going on? Puzzled, Yoel rushed to knock at the bathroom door with his laptop in his hand. "Where's my treasure? Where did you put it?"Jace walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his hair after a shower. He said expressionless, "I deleted it.""You deleted it?!"Yoel got all worked up. "Why did you delete my collections? Are you crazy?!"He hurriedly restored the deleted files from the recycle bin.Jace urged, "Don't watch so much. You might hurt yourself.""Why do you care!" Yoel was furious. He roared, "You'll end up staying single forever!"Yoel then went into his room in a huff. He was very sad and aggrieved. Jace did not understand a lonely man's sadness at all. If he had a
Sage heard of the saying, 'Marriage is for happiness, and so does divorce.'Based on Wikipedia, the definition of marriage was, 'Marriage is a long-term contractual relationship between a man and a woman based on equal consent.'Someone once said, 'Marriage is like a siege. Those outside wanted to break in, while people inside wanted to break out of the siege.'Sage and Jace had been through marriage once. In their first marriage, they were both losers. This time, they were both determined to win. They wanted to live their lives well. Even if their passion were to fade in the future, they would never leave each other. There were eight couples in line ahead of them. Sage and Jace were the ninth.Jace was eager for their turn. He counted carefully and then said with a smile, "It's nine again. It's a good day for this number."Jace suddenly came up with a good idea, "Let's have a daughter and call her Little Nine, okay?"'Did he just come up with that? How brave,' Sage thought and
The ninth of September arrived quickly.Sage was worried that Jace would not be able to get up on time, but Sage turned out to be the one who overslept. Sage had not slept all night because of a certain someone. She was so sleepy, while Jace was full of energy.Jace carried Sage to the bathroom to wash up and brush her teeth. "Open your mouth. Ah…"Sage squinted as she saw the terrible dark circles under her eyes. She turned around in anger and bumped Jace's head.Jace was caught off guard and felt dizzy from the impact. He rubbed his head. "Dear, aren't you hurting yourself by doing this…""Look at my dark circles. They're so ugly. How am I supposed to take pictures? Sage complained in anger.Jace squinted and rubbed his eyes. "Let me see. What's ugly?"He held Sage's face and observed it. "What's ugly? It's not ugly. My wife is the prettiest in the world!"Jace did not care about the toothpaste foam all over Sage's mouth and kissed her anyway.Primrose opened the door and
Jace made Sage stay up all night. Sage was so sleepy that her eyes were closing."Sleep. I'll wake you up later."Jace leaned down and kissed her forehead. As he closed his eyes, he remembered something and sat up sharply."By the way, we have to wear white shirts for tomorrow's photo session. We haven't prepared the shirt…"Jace rolled over and jumped off the bed right after saying that. Sage could not stop him in time, so she turned on the lamp helplessly. She leaned over the bed and waited for Jace in silence.Shortly after, Jace came back with two shirts. His eyes were shining. "Dear, you've prepared for us?""Yeah." Sage nodded weakly. "I've got them ready. I've had Zamora iron them for me."Jace could finally put his mind at ease. "What about the documents and identifications…"Sage pulled open the drawer of the bedside table and took out the papers and documents she had prepared ahead. "It's all here."Sage looked at Jace. "Everything is ready. You've checked three time
Sage spread out the notebook and looked at the blurred handwriting. She slowly read it out loud, "Step one, conquer her with sweet talking. Use sweeter and flirtatious words that would make people blush. Forget about modesty and shame in bed. It's best to whisper them into her ears…"Sage read the notes with a straight face, making Jace so embarrassed that he could hardly keep his feet on the ground.Jace strode forward with a stiff face and tried to snatch the notebook away. Sage was quick to dodge and continued reading with her head down."Step two, be aggressive at your offense. Focus and remember this, being rough yet gentle. You can use props such as blindfolds, ties, handcuffs, and so on…"Sage's face turned red while reading it. As the images popped into her mind, she had to stop reading.Jace was about to go crazy. He buried his face in his hands, unable to look up at Sage."Where did you learn all these?" Sage threw the notebook at Jace. "Rough yet gentle? Are you seriou
'Electric drill? Seriously?!' Jace thought and got a headache.Seeing that Sage was about to open her mouth again, he panicked and kissed her directly to shut her up.Dean was stunned by Jace's quick action. When he saw the couple kissing in the light, he suddenly raised his hand and hit his head.'I must be on the set… Who else would be so shameless as to kiss in public like that?' Dean thought.Sage finally calmed down after a long kiss. Jace breathed a sigh of relief and picked her up. He told Logan, "I'll leave the other guy to you!""Oh," Logan responded. Then he picked Dean up like a kid and walked out the door.Jace was tired and sweaty by the time he arrived at the hotel. Sage was already soundly asleep. Jace put her to bed and took off her shoes, socks, pants, and clothes. He stripped her clean.Sage drank a lot and was reeking of alcohol. Jace did not want to wake her up, so he did not carry her to the bathroom and bathe her. Instead, he wet the towel with hot water to
In the words of the commentators, the basketball game was very smooth. The national team played well! At last, the national team defeated the opponent team by a score of 106-73.The crowd was thrilled that the national team had won the game. The internet was buzzing with excitement too. There were several hot searches about the national team's victory. The topic #RisingStarJim made the headlines too.Sage had lost her usual composure. She was following the fans and shouting wildly, cheering for the victory.Perhaps this was the power of sports. It made the audience exhilarated and trembling with excitement. Jace looked calm on the outside, but he was actually quite excited on the inside.Sage was cheering in excitement. She jumped up and down like a child while hugging Jace. Jace followed and laughed with her too.They were planning to leave after the game, but Sage was really happy and stayed for the team's celebration party. Sage even asked Jim for his teammates' shoe sizes and
"Is that so?" A trace of interest flashed in Jace's eyes.Sage did not understand, so she asked, "What does a small forward do?"Jace explained, "The small forwards are typically the tallest and most athletic of all players. They are responsible for scoring points and defending. The main goal of strong shooters is to score and create opportunities for teammates. In other cases, they would operate as off-ball specialists. They would wait for teammates to pass the ball, catch the ball, and shoot to score."Seeing Sage's confused look, Jace added, "James and Durant, for example, are playing as small forwards.""Oh!" Sage immediately understood after hearing the name of these famous basketball stars. Her eyes lit up. "Isn't that amazing?"Jace saw the sparkle in her eyes and found her really adorable. He said, smiling, "It is. Basketball is all about teamwork. Small forward is probably the most versatile of the five main basketball positions and carries multiple functions in the game.
The next morning, Sage, Jace, and Dean went to the basketball arena for the World Championships after breakfast.It was the men's basketball world championship, where their country's basketball team was up against another country. By the time they got to the arena, many people were in the audience.The staff guided Sage and the group to their designated seat in the family section.As soon as Dean sat down, someone next to him called out his name. Dean seemed unsurprised by this. He even smiled and waved at them. After that, he gestured for them to be polite and silent. It was not Dean's first time watching his younger brother's basketball game live. Many of his fans knew that Dean's younger brother was playing on the national team. They especially came over to get closer to him. Some were Jim's fans too. They knew Dean was Jim's brother, so they would greet him.After listening to Dean's explanation, Sage's businessman side as the owner of Norah Entertainment appeared again."If
Jace muffled his laughs and relaxed in the night light. He said, "I have to work harder, or someone will call me old.""Hey." Sage knew he would get back at her.She rolled over and lay on top of Jace. She played with his chest and said in a muffled voice, "I have a new nickname for you."Jace responded, "Hm?"Sage looked up at him. "Vengeance."Jace was stunned and soon broke into a peal of laughter. Sage leaned on him and felt the rise and fall of his breathing. As his chest resonated with his laughter, Sage followed along with his laughter. Both of them were laughing like fools. Sage and Jace lay flat on the bed after laughing nonstop. They opened up and improved their intimacy so much. As a result, their whole body and mind were very relaxed tonight. "Hey..." The two spoke in unison, exchanged a glance, and smiled again.Sage said, "Go ahead."Jace looked at Sage and muttered, "I'll say something, but don't get mad at it.""Just say it." Sage looked at him.Jace though