Jace was dumbfounded.Was it Sage's birthday soon?Freya was greatly displeased looking at her son's obvious surprise. She raised her thin and long brows and reprimanded her son, "Is this how you get her back? By forgetting her birthday?"Jace's lips were tightly compressed together. She continued scolding him, "Men are all the same. If you love her, you have to take action, not just say it with your mouth! You'll never get her back in a thousand years if you keep this up!"Jace looked down and responded with a hoarse voice, "I know. I'll prepare a birthday gift as soon as possible.""I've already prepared it for you," Freya signaled the maid to hand over a box.Jace took two steps forward and received the box from his mother. He opened it and was instantly blinded by the golden ray in the box. He could barely keep his eyes open.There it was, a brooch of the shape of a daisy, and the core was a cat's eye emerald. It even shone ever so brightly in its place.Jace's pupils const
Sage suddenly remembered she promised Jim that she would have a taste test with his cooking today.She looked at the time and said, "Let's go, get the car around.""Right away, Miss Sage."It was the rainy season in Salem City, so the air was humid. It started pouring heavily on the way to Tasteful Restaurant. The raindrops pitter-pattered on the car.The car slowed down as they reached Bridge Lane. People were hurriedly running around and it was chaotic.Sage hated rainy days. She never got out to play whenever it rained, and her mother always made her stay in the room. She was only allowed to practice the piano or read educational books that were accompanied by the sounds of rain and wind.She suddenly missed those days. She now no longer had anyone forcing her to do anything.'Those were the good old days,' she thought to herself.Sage suddenly felt stuffy in the car as she thought about many things. She rolled down the window and let the rain seep in. Her face was moistened
Jim could not believe that he had been exposed by Sage. He felt embarrassed."You did something out of kindness. Why are you so embarrassed by it?" Sage teased him as she glanced at his soaked shirt, "Go get changed before you get ill."Jim touched his shirt and said nonchalantly, "It's fine, it'll dry up in a minute."Sage kept quiet. Meanwhile, Hunter walked in with two shopping bags, "Miss Sage, I've got the clothes."Sage signaled a sign, and Hunter immediately stuffed the bags into Jim's arms, "Miss Sage ordered these for you. It should fit you perfectly, go try it on."Jim looked at the clothes in the bags and said surprisingly, "Miss Sage?"Sage said lightly, "Go get changed quickly. It’s time to get to work.""How much was it? I'll transfer it back to you." Right when Jim was about to take out his phone, he found another lollipop in his pocket.Sage laughed again as she looked at the lollipop. She grabbed it from his hands and said, "I'll take this in exchange for the c
Sage went straight from the office to Tasteful Restaurant. She didn’t get the chance to remove her makeup. Her eyeshadow, rose-colored hair, and red lips looked sharp and gorgeous.Sage’s outfit was rather casual today. She had a red sleeveless top on, paired with navy trousers and black stilettos. She had an incredible figure. Her tiny waist gave her an hourglass figure, and her skin was fair and bright. It certainly attracted others’ attention.“Oh my gosh, is this girl a waitress? I’ll be damned.”“No, she can’t be. Have you ever seen such a pretty girl as a waitress? She’s probably either the restaurant owner or the owner’s daughter.”“Oh, how I wished I had her figure! She’s tall and slim. Not too slim! Look at her sleek shoulders and those arms! Perfecto!”All the praises were from girls, and as for the boys, they couldn’t take their eyes off her.Myles lifted the curtains and got a shock.“Oh my gosh, why are they taking photos of her?”Jim was extremely busy and focus
Jim moved his lips to say something, "Miss Sage, do you… hate your photos being taken?"He thought girls loved taking photos.Jim had seen the girls in his school taking selfies everywhere with various poses and outfits. However, they often looked bad doing it."Yes." Sage added as she saw the confusion on Jim's face, "I don't bother taking my own photos.""I see," Jim responded. He thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. He took out his phone and asked, "Can I keep this photo then?"Sage looked over to his phone and saw a photo of them together.The photo was edited to look brighter. She was wearing a white shirt paired with a pale-yellow skirt, and the young man beside her wore a white sports T-shirt and had a bright smile.Sage just realized they had a huge height difference as they stood together. Jim was much taller than her. She never noticed it. Sage sighed a little and immediately realized what was wrong with the photo. "Where's the rest of the people i
"I don't need you saving my money!" Sage pretended to be angry. She placed her hands on her waist and said, "You must accept this today, otherwise you can’t walk out of here tonight."Everyone cheered, "Accept it! Accept it!"Jim didn't know how to react to such a situation. Myles laughed along and said, "Quickly, everyone's waiting for you."Jim took one of the envelopes and opened it— it was more than anyone had gotten here. Everyone started cheering, "Jim must have done it on purpose! No way, he needs to give it back now!"Jim was used to it by now. It was the same with his basketball team."Okay, hold on." Jim went and prepare a few envelopes.Before he started, he specially looked at Sage and said, "Get ready, Miss Sage.""I have to join in, too?" Sage was shocked."Of course," Jim used the same tone she had just now. "Okay, I'll participate. Watch out, you guys," Sage raised her hands and pointed at everyone.As Jim raised his arms, everyone looked like they were abo
It was late by the time she reached Rosa Garden. The lights were kept bright outside, almost as though someone was waiting for her to come home.There were two cars parked on the front porch. Other than the car Sage got Leah for her graduation, there was another car Sage could not recognize.She thought they had guests, but when she walked in, to her sight was both Yeva and Leah seated on the couch. Yeva lay casually on the couch as if she was still in her own home.Yeva picked up a piece of fruit with a fork into her mouth and complained, "It's so troublesome getting married! I can't eat anything…"Leah was clearly disinterested in her wedding stories. She kept yawning, and she became awake once she saw Sage come in."Welcome home!" Leah stood up and walked over to Sage. Sage hadn't seen Leah for days and was happy to see her, too. Sage pinched Leah's cheeks and said, "You're finally back? I thought you'd end up staying at Ada's home forever.""Heehee, of course not," Leah hel
Leah stopped laughing as she leaned on Sage. "Sage did," she said.Yeva widened her eyes, she couldn't believe her ears. "I'm asking you again, who proposed to bring you over to Rosa Garden? Who saved you from Hell?"Sage insisted, "Sage did."No matter how many times Yeva asked, the answer would always be Sage.Yeva was speechless. She couldn't believe they had just easily casted her out. Leah wouldn't agree to be her bridesmaid no matter how she asked. She would just have to look around again.Yeva wouldn't have come to Leah if she had already found someone suitable. She had friends, but they were all indecent people. She took her wedding seriously as it was a once in her lifetime experience. She didn't want anything horrible to happen on her wedding day.The only person left who was pure and would not steal her limelight was Leah, but she refused to help her. She had no other way but to look for her acquaintances.Yeva had already gotten her marriage license with Julian and
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