The car finally pulled over at Tasteful Restaurant.Holding an umbrella for Sage, Ross walked into the restaurant with her.From afar, it looked like a scene from a movie; Ross who wore a white long-sleeved tee, and Sage who wore a long red dress, both walking under the rain.Jim who served the dishes noticed Sage right away and a smile found its way onto his face. However, his smile faded away slowly the moment he realized the man standing next to her, had his arm placed around her shoulders.Ross handed the umbrella to a waitress and he noticed a tall-looking young lad that stared at him. The gaze of the young lad was cold.Ross felt a sense of rivalry from the young lad.Ross guessed who the young lad could have been when he heard Sage calling out to him, "Jim."When Sage called his name, the young lad immediately beamed and pulled into a wide grin. The coldness in his gaze melted away and was replaced by warmth.He walked over to them. "Hey, sis!"Ross arched one of his br
Acting like a child around Ross, Luther wrapped his arms around Ross's neck and planted a kiss on Ross's cheeks."..."The scene caused quite a big stir in the restaurant.Customers stared at them and some were even ready to take photos of them. Sage hurriedly dragged Ross and Luther upstairs to stop them from further embarrassing themselves.Ross was Primrose Norah's godson and he was also good friends with Sage's brothers. The guys formed an alliance when they were young as they stayed together at Rosa Garden. The brothers received training together, were punished together, and even resisted together.Their friendship and brotherhood were formed during those years.Luther was the closest with Ross since young and hence he was over the moon when he saw Ross."Where's Emily? Didn’t you bring her with you?"Luther poured Ross a glass of wine. "I thought you were going to bring her with you?"Ross replied, "She's acting up these days. I've grounded her."Sage took a glance at R
Sage was completely rendered speechless by her two brothers.Did they think that they were stand-up comedians?Ross, on the other hand, was satisfied with their reactions. He felt as if he finally found someone who understood how he felt and shared his feelings.The three guys started judging and criticizing Yoel. They even came up with a plan to put an end to Emily's silly crush. Their ideas were more terrifying than the others."Emily cooped up in the house for too long and everyone at the school of Samuels is all decent and well-mannered people. Hence, Emily would of course see someone as sly and cunning as Yoel to be special.""I don't mind if Emily gets into a relationship at this age, but it matters who the guy is right? Yoel’s a notorious player and I even heard rumors that he changed 29 girlfriends in just one month. That's a different girlfriend every other day, ain't it?"Sage asked, "What about that one day? Where could he be doing that one day?"No one cared to respo
For her age, it was not weird that Sage would be treated as someone else's aunt but that was the first time she was seen as a mother.Sage looked up at Jim. "Do you have a death wish?""..."Jim immediately shook his head frantically.With a hardened expression on her face, Sage continued applying the ointment on his finger, sounding rather unfriendly, Sage said, "I'm okay with you calling me sis, but don't push it further."Jim replied obediently, "Okay."He then asked, "Is the man one of your brothers too?"Yeah," Sage wiped her hand clean, put on the cover of the bottle, and added, "he's my godbrother."Nodding his head, Jim murmured, "You have so many brothers…""You too, aren't you?"Sage thought that Jim was simply being jealous. Chuckling, she said, "Not everyone’s as lucky as me. You're already lucky to have one brother."Jim looked up at her and smiled, "You're right."Getting up from the chair, Jim said to Sage, "My brother’s recovering quickly all thanks to you.
Ross and Kane looked at Luther and nodded their heads at the same time. "Yes, you did."The both of them burst into laughter.Luther, "..."Inwardly, Luther thought to himself, 'Why am I always the one who ends up being hurt in the end?"The gathering between Sage and her brothers only came to an end at midnight. By the time they left the restaurant, all of them were already tipsy and drunk. Jim waited for Sage. When Sage came downstairs and noticed that he was still around, she asked, "Mm? Is that you Jim? What are you still doing here? Hop in, I'll give you a ride home.""It's alright, sis. I've brought my car."Holding Sage by her arm, Jim asked, "Are you alright? Why’d you drink so much?""Ah, just because!"Sage pulled into a wide grin as Luther took Sage by her arms. She then waved at Jim and said, "Train hard, Jim! I'm waiting for the day you become the world's best player/"Staring at Sage who walked away from him, Jim clenched his hands tightly together into a fist.
Zamora woke Sage up and made sure that she took an aspirin.The aspirin might have worked on her and after going to the washroom in the early morning, Sage was wide awake and did not feel sleepy anymore.She wanted to check the time so she reached for her phone and realized that Tim did not end the call since last night.Sage's eyes were shot wide open. At first thought, Sage thought that she must be dreaming.After realizing that it was not a dream, Sage got worried.Putting the phone next to her ears, Sage asked, "Tim?"On the other end of the call, Sage heard the wind howling and hitting the windows. Soon after, a man's voice was heard. "Hmm? You're awake?"He spoke fluent Chinese.Sage too, replied to him in Chinese. "Why didn't you hang up the call?""It's been a long time since I heard you snore, I didn't want to miss out on them. I was hoping to get a good night's sleep while listening to your snores.""..."Tim was not only fluent in Chinese, he could even use diss S
Ross's grandmother was also a practitioner of yoga since young. She was at an age of ninety years old but she was still healthy and did not have any problems with moving around.Dressed in an oversize white tee and standing underneath the overcast gray skies, Ross gave off a somewhat mysterious vibe. His movements were smooth yet precise. Sage warmed up at a side before joining Ross for yoga.The yoga that Ross and Sage practiced was rather different than the ones that most people practiced. The type that Ross and Sage practiced involved elements and movements portraying characteristics of certain animals according to the practitioners' body size.For instance, Ross would practice movements that were similar to that of a bear or a tiger whereas Sage would usually practice movements that were similar to a bird or a deer.Wrapping up his practice, Ross glanced over at Sage's movements and pulled into a pleased smile. "Not bad, Sage. You haven't been practicing for years but you're
After ending a meeting, Jace walked out of the meeting hall with his phone in his hand. Walking toward his office, Jace typed and deleted a message.[There will be a thunderstorm at Nadeem City today. Be careful when you go out.]Jace thought, ‘This won't work. It's too formal.'He thought that perhaps he should be more informal and thought of adding emojis.Jace tried to recall how Zachary usually talked and typed another new message.[I heard that there'll be a thunderstorm soon. Do take care of yourself, alright?]Jace wondered to himself. 'Does it sound too informal?’Jace was slightly disgusted by himself.Hence, he deleted the message and typed another.[Sage, there'll be a thunderstorm today. Make sure to stay safe, okay?]He then sent the message.Jace was slightly nervous but he was reminded of what Zachary told him - that he should not suddenly be concerned with Sage out of the blue as this would give him away easily. Most importantly, he should ask for a favor to
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