Sage, who was surrounded by the group of seniors from upper management, turned to look at the vice CEO and asked, "There are a few who aren't here right now, right?""Yes."Finn Janssen, the vice CEO, approached her. He was polite in his reply, but the tone of his voice betrayed a subtle casualness. "The old guard led by Braxton Norah planned to intimidate you by not showing up to greet you today.""Oh really?"Sage looked unfazed. She exuded a cold and indifferent vibe. She then said, "Times have changed, and why is it that my dear uncles are still so clueless?"Braxton and five other directors of the board of managers were in the waiting room. They were all seated with one leg slung across the other while they sipped on cups of hot tea. At first glance, all of them looked calm and resolute, but in truth, they were all secretly panicking."Where is the new CEO?" asked Braxton who was seated in the seat reserved for the chairman of the board. There was a look of anxiousness on hi
As the new CEO, Sage was impressive from the moment she set foot into the company and had caused chaos on her first day at work.She had made tremendous personnel changes to the management department. She had more than ten senior management officers, a few founding members, and the directors— those who had taken orders from Braxton and Zane to intimidate her— resign from their positions. It was early in the morning, and Braxton's office was already filled with a group of furious people. Some were slamming the tables whilst others were kicking the chairs, and they were shouting wildly. "I don't give a d*mn about what she says! I have been working my *ss off for the Norah Group for the past few years, and I've dedicated at least half my life to this company! Who does she think she is to have me resign?! You better give me a darn good explanation. All I did was follow your orders, but now that you and your niece are back on good terms, you're willing to sacrifice me? Who do you think y
The clear skies darkened, descending into gloom in the blink of an eye. A sudden strong breeze whipped Sage's white blouse and her hair. Along with her icy voice, she looked very much like a ghastly ghost."Aaargh!" Yeva let out a terrified scream as she covered her ears, turned around, and shoved past the others. In fright, she tried to scramble away. Julian, on the other hand, was still startled, and he stared blankly at Sage before murmuring, "It's not me, it's not me who harmed you… leave me alone…"In a panic, he grabbed a pebble lying nearby him and threw it at Sage. Sage, however, caught the pebble in her hand and aimed it at Julian's head before launching the pebble at him. "Aaargh!"The two who stood by the door could hear the waves of shrieks. They were horrified to see blood streaming down Julian's head. They felt their legs weaken as they instinctively inched backward.Covering his head with his hands, Julian felt as if his head was about to explode, and then he rea
Sage had made plans to get her revenge on those who had wronged her, and she planned to start with Yeva. However, she was more than happy to change her plans if Braxton was willing to pay for what he had done now.Braxton squinted as he felt an ominous feeling.After surviving many years in the dog-eat-dog business industry, Braxton knew better than to move hastily. He knew the value of checking all the cards in his opponent's hand first. Ever since Sage had returned from the “dead”, Braxton sensed that she was different. It was as if she had transformed into another person, and there was something gloomy and sinister about her. She resembled his cruel and ruthless elder brother.Braxton forced a smile as he said, "Sage, we will move out, but you could have informed us so that we could at least have some time to move out. Look at us. There is so much stuff scattered about."Staring at her uncle putting on the pretentious face that he used to around her father, Sage scoffed.She
"Jace, what do you think of this? Does it look nice on me?"Sienna, in a wedding gown, stood in front of Jace in the bridal boutique. She was beaming. She was the perfect definition of someone who was about to get married to the love of their life.Her once pale face looked especially radiant today.For the sake of gaining favor with her future mother-in-law, Sienna had her curly long hair straightened. For a brief moment, Jace saw traces of Sage Luz in Sienna.Jace remembered that Sage was always smiling when they first got together. However, after long periods of being ignored and treated coldly, her smiles seemed to have faded away. Jace found his thoughts drifting. It was as if a vault in his mind had suddenly been opened, and all the things that he had never thought about came rushing out. For example, he suddenly recalled that he and Sage had never had a wedding. Jace had simply treated Sage as inconsequential since she was just someone he had randomly chosen to be his wi
Yeva, still clutching the mic in her hand, was drenched from her head to her toes.Yeva looked at the culprit standing in front of her; her lips trembled and she gritted her teeth before yelling at the top of her lungs, "Sage Norah!""Are you awake now? If not, I don't mind getting another bucket of water."The music, which was still blasting in the background, was loud enough to wake the entire town. Sage threw the bucket in her hand at the music player. With a loud bang, the music player fell off the desk, startling Yeva.The deafening music finally came to a stop."What happened? What's going on?"Braxton, who had been awakened by the loud commotion, came walking into the room. Catching sight of the drenched Yeva, he surmised that his precious daughter was being bullied. "Sage, what are you trying to do this time?""Daddy, she threw a bucket of cold water all over me. I'm freezing!"Yeva was shivering in the cold as one of the maids hurriedly wrapped her in a blanket. With t
Sage had finished inspecting every department of the Norah Group before lunch. The Group had initially started as jewelers and had featured only the most luxurious, high-end brands. Later, Sawyer Norah, Sage's father and founder of the group, had started venturing into other industries such as hospitality, racing, antiquary, film production, and housing estates. The Norah Group had once monopolized the businesses in Salem City with Norah Jewel being the world's largest diamond trading business, and their mines supplied many international industries. At that time, Norah Group was at its peak. While Salem City had the Norah Group, Nadeem City had the Yuriel Group. Both companies had only focused on expanding their business in their own city and had never interfered with each other.The employees were all pretending to work as they stole glances at their new CEO. "Damn, Director Sage is so gorgeous!"Sage's outfit today was rather different compared with the one she wore yesterday
By midday, the employees from the Operations Department and Public Relations Department of the Yuriel Group had been working relentlessly and tirelessly, asking media outlets to take down the article.In the CEO's office, the manager of the Operations Department stammered as he tried to explain the situation. "Director Jace, it was Miss Sienna who had us upload the article. She provided us with the content as well. She told us not to make any edits or changes to the article, and we thought that she had your approval."Jace looked calm as he went through some documents, but his dark outfit and the dark-themed office room made him look especially cold and distant.Before the manager could even finish his sentence, Jace placed down the documents in his hand and scoffed, "You thought?""I…" stuttered the manager as he trembled in fear. The manager looked toward Jace's personal assistant in desperation. Assistant Zayne said, "And I thought you had already handed in your resignation
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