Soon, it went dark. On the quiet island, a girl could be heard crying loudly. Tim was hugging his sister in one hand. He did not coax her to stop but allowed her to cry her heart out. His other hand with a cigar patted lightly on her back, like petting a kitten that was throwing its tantrum. Finally, she was done crying. Sage looked up at him with her teary eyes and uttered, "Why did it take you so long…"Her tears rolled down her blushed cheeks, her shoulders shuddering lightly. "I thought I would not see you anymore," said Sage.Tim laughed slightly at her crying face and said gently, "There, there, here I am…"Sage sobbed and said, "Right."Then she finally released her hold on her brother and stood on her feet. Tim placed the cigar in his mouth, draped his coat over Sage's shoulders, and wiped away the tears under her eyes, saying, "You crybaby."Sage stared at him and said, "You are a crybaby!"She could bicker with me, which meant she was fine. Tim's blue eyes wer
Sage stared at Tim with her innocent, big eyes. The corner of her mouth moved slightly as if she was about to cry again. "Tim… I left my reflections on the plane,” said Sage.The plane remains were, however, shipped away by the authorities. Most importantly, her bag was not waterproof.Therefore, the 3000-word essay that she had poured her heart and soul into writing was all literally down the drain.Now Sage really felt like crying.Tim looked at her calmly with his blue eyes. He seemed not too convinced and asked, “Did you really write that?”“I swear I did!”Sage was more sincere than she ever was, and she was so anxious that she started stuttering, "You need to be…believe me! Yale, Captain Yale saw me writing it, you could ask him!"Tim was amused to see her panicking, but his face remained expressionless."Yale Yadeev saw you writing?""Yes!" Sage said, "he is my witness!""Fine," Tim took a puff of the cigar, the tobacco scent wafting through the air. He then said wit
Rosa Island was exquisite. Sage dropped her phone in the ocean when swimming, so she took Tim's phone and snapped pictures all around the island, planning to share it into the group chat to show it off to her other brothers.Tim was smoking a cigar and smiling while she was at it. When they were leaving the island, Sage plucked some Blue Fairies. The Blue Fairies were the royalties among flowers. They were alluring, and they meant promising to stay together. Sage carried the pile of flowers in her arms, and took Tim's yacht back to Birmingham at night. They went back to Tim's place, Meadow Castle.The castle was built with Gothic architecture in mind, and looked absolutely classy. As soon as they arrived at the door, a row of servants was already waiting outside. Sage went into the beautiful white carriage, and sat next to Tim like a beautiful princess, except that she was a little clumsy.It took them ten minutes for the ride to finally arrive at the main block of the castl
"What?" Sage was confused, "Are there any benefits to it?"Kane smiled mysteriously, the lines on his face suddenly softened, "Laura heard about what happened to you, and she told me about it."Sage jumped, "Did she get fired?""I guess, she ended her leaves and was back on the team.""I see." Sage smiled, and winked at Kane, "Kane, hopefully I'd get to hear good news from you soon?"Kane was confident, "Sure you will."However, Nigel said, "Kane, stop it. I've not heard enough. Sage, tell us about Captain Yale, he was definitely a hero."He was so excited to talk about him that his face glowed. He even complimented him excessively.Sage understood the assignment. She grinned and said, "Nigel, you're a married man, Captain Yale's heroic story should be irrelevant to you. You should stay loyal and be careful…""Who… Who is having funny thoughts?" Nigel stared at Sage defiantly while looking sheepishly at Sean. He saw Sean moping while quietly walking to the study. He quickly hu
"A queen?""I meant a king," Sage corrected, "That is a complement!"Tim's forehead smoothened out. He strode to the bar cabinet and took out two crystal glasses, poured the wine into the glasses, and waved to Sage for her to go over."Come on, have a sip, warm it up.""Alright."Sage had always been a good baby sister in front of her brother. She would listen to just everything he said. So she strode to the bar counter obediently.Looking at the label on the body of the wine bottle, Sage took a sip of the wine, savored it, and said, "Tastes good, is this a new type of wine from the winery?"Tim responded, "Hmmph.""Have you received the wine that Nigel and I sent to you?" Sage blinked her watery eyes, and looked at Tim, "Have you tasted? How was it?"Tim looked up and said, "Ordinary.""..."Sage pouted, "It was a good wine! Your tongue must be faulty. Next time we will only send to Kane, Seth, and Luther, none for you anymore!" She was obviously annoyed. Tim puffed his
He was almost whispering, "I miss her, and I miss our baby."Sage looked at the mist that clouded her brother's eyes and then subsided, as though they never appeared. Her heart twitched upon the sight.Her beloved sister-in-law, Tim's dear wife, passed away five years ago.She had a baby of five months in her womb when she did.Sofia was her brother's only love in this life. She died to save her brother, however, a part of Tim seemed to die too after she passed away.The Shelby's had an old myth, passed down from a century ago, "Mister Shelby's wife, will be sacrificing her life for the family."There was not one Mrs Shelby in history who seemed to dodge the curse. After Sofia passed away, Tim was living like a walking corpse for a long time. His mother came to see him in Yathein, and she remembered Tim saying to her, "There were numerous times I felt myself nearing death, however this time, I felt it the closest."Maybe, his soul died.The one living right now, was not Tim
The Y1106 incident was widely covered by the media all around the world.All 10 of the cabin crew and 300 passengers were all safely evacuated and sent to safe places. The remains of the plane were retrieved from the Blue Sapphire Sea, the investigation team were retrieving information from the blackbox for investigation. Captain Yale's conversation with the control tower, his flying statistics, and statements by the passengers and cabin crews, all reflected the pilots' professionalism. Yale and Johnson both became an international hero overnight. As for Sage, when the authorities called, she flattered Yale unnecessarily excessively. Tim rolled his eyes numerous times hearing that. Sage saw Tim's expression when she hung up, "Why? Did I say anything wrong? Your friend was really cool.""He was the pilot, protecting the passengers was his duty, there was nothing exceptionally heroic about that," Tim remained expressionless.Sage tutted, "You guys are really buddies, Captain Yal
In that case, Tim's relationship with Yale, was like Jace's relationship with Yoel. They were comrades who fought on the field together, there was surely a unique bond between themThe only difference was, unlike Jace and Yoel's plastic friendship, Tim and Yale were related as cousins-in-law too. No wonder they were both close but awkward.More or less like, they had complete trust on each other, but because of Cece Yadeev's death, things were not the same anymore.Sometimes fate really fools people around like this. Sage took some time to settle down, and was ready to live her holidays to the fullest.Once titled the "Capital of All Businesses", Birmingham had a lot of attractions. The locals were good at discovering and developing fun activities. After surviving a near-death experience, Sage was especially appreciative of the present moment, and to live every second happily. She thought, if she did not have fun now, then when?Tim's work appointments were usually tight, an
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