Zachary must have charged the phone. The phone's battery was still full.This phone was manufactured locally. It had a starry sky wallpaper, but the screen was pretty much empty. All the software was deleted, except for WhutsApp.The strange feeling in her heart grew stronger.Sage clicked on the WhutsApp icon. There was only a name in his contact list. It was her.She clicked onto the chat interface and read the latest message. 'Zachary' gave her Jace's contact and even sent her a Yay emoticon.She scrolled up and saw a voice message for her. "Be a good boy. I'll bring you good food when I get back."[Zachary: Forced to stay in? So sad. Who did that? Why did they force you to stay in?][Zachary: That's great. Are you in Yathein now? Is it fun there?][Zachary: Sage, how are you? We're all worried about you. Are you feeling better?]Sage put down the phone and walked into the bathroom with messy steps. She turned on the shower to the maximum and closed the bathroom door. She s
Sage never thought she would cry so much for Jace one day.She had once loved him with all her heart and soul. Now, she cried for him the same way. She wanted to finish all her tears for him.She never knew love was such a torturous thing. If she knew, she would rather not love him. She would rather stay as the same princess who lived in the fairy tale world.She would rather be naive, unaware of the sorrow of the world.She was happiest when she looked at the photo of her crush, imaging that one day she would be with him. She wanted to put on a wedding dress and be his bride.Unfortunately, things did not work out the way she wanted them to. Her happiest moments were gone. She could never turn back in time.In the end, did she owe it to him? Or did he owe it to her? She did not know anymore.After Jace's funeral, Sage was ready to go back to Salem City with her brothers.Before she left, she received a call from Freya. Freya wanted to meet her at the coffee shop downstairs in
Freya looked at her with sincere eyes. "When Jay divorced you, he gave you a two hundred billion check. However, you didn't take it and left it behind. I know you don't care about his money, so I scolded him after that.""You took care of him for three years. How could he use a two hundred billion check to get rid of you? It's shameful.""After that, he explained that he didn't want to give you so much money at once. He was worried that it would be unsafe for a girl to have too much money in hand, so he planned to give you the rest of the money after you settled down.""He got the property in Nadeem City a long time ago. He wanted to give you the Fairview Residence unit. He probably bought the unit in Salem City much later. The keys are with me…"Freya turned back to Aunt Wendy. Wendy handed two sets of keys to Freya, which Freya, in turn, handed to Sage."Aunt Freya, I don't…" Sage wanted to return it, but Freya held her hand and stopped her."Sage, please accept it. You can t
"Sage, look at this."Laura handed the card to Sage. Sage looked at the familiar handwriting on it and felt a prick in her heart.Twenty-sixth birthday gift… Her birthday had not arrived yet. He must have prepared it ahead of time.She opened the gift box with cold fingers.There was a pair of pearl earrings inside the box. It was cute and delicate. Even someone like Laura, who never wore earrings, thought they looked great.There was a card in each of the other gift bags.It read, "Year XXXX Easter gift for Sage. From Jace.""Year XXXX Christmas gift for Sage. From Jace.""Year XXXX New Year's eve gift for Sage. From Jace.""Year XXXX New Year gift for Sage. From Jace."There were a wide variety of gifts in the room, including jewelry, clothes, toys, books, and everything else possible.Laura stared at the piles of gifts in the closet and hangers. She exclaimed emotionally, "Jace has prepared gifts for you for all kinds of occasions in the next three years."Sage could bar
Laura gave Sage the cutleries and pushed the food to her. Laura watched Sage eat.Sage moved her cutleries and ate a little."Eat more." Laura filled her plate with more food and kept urging her to eat. However, Sage had no appetite and could barely eat.Her heart felt empty and terrible.Outside, it was hot and sunny.She thought the autumn rain would remain cold, but it had been unbearably hot for the past few days.They sat in the restaurant with air conditioning and cooled down, but the restlessness in her heart refused to go away."I remember having a meal like this with Jace and Yoel when we were on a break from the army. At that time, he found a roadside restaurant and enjoyed the meal and drinks."Laura chuckled. "At that time, the three of us didn't know each other well enough yet. I wasn't good at reading people, so I thought Jace came from a family of public servants. I assumed that his parents worked as civil servants, which influenced him into a quiet and cold man.
Sage went to the Yuriel Treasure Museum with her brothers before leaving Nadeem City.Jace was gone, but the Forget Me Not restoration project was still ongoing. This was a very important project in Yuriel Jewel's ten-year plan. It played a crucial role in the development of the Yuriel Group.After the announcement of Jace's death, the official media's main concern was the follow-up of the project.Wayne Norah was the main person in charge of this project and the soul of this project. He would spend a long time in Nadeem City.When Sage and the group arrived at the Yuriel Treasure Museum, they found a lot of people crowding the courtyard.Wayne, who was supposed to be working on the carving inside, crouched under the eaves and smoked with a sullen look on his face.He was not the only one who was not working. The other jade carving masters were also hanging out in the yard on strike.Meanwhile, Mendoza was trying to chase the group away. He was trying to chase those men in suits
Wayne tapped his pipe on the side of the stairs to get the ash out.Luther saw Wayne trying to get up and quickly went forward and gave him a helping hand. "Take it easy, Gramps.""Everybody's here. Time to go back home," said Wayne. There was a certain warmth behind his gaze.Wayne put the pipe in his mouth and walked out of the room with Luther's help.All the directors were shocked to see him leaving. "Mister Wayne, where are you going?""Are you deaf? I said home. I'm done. I quit," replied Wayne.Wayne's declaration stunned the entire board of directors.Sage propped the broom up by the wall. Before she could turn away, Mendoza stepped in and stopped her from leaving."You know how bad your grandpa's temper can get, especially when he's already unsatisfied with how things unfolded. However, this whole project is riding on his shoulders. You know how important this is. Try to talk some sense into him. I'll handle the directors and wait for him to come back," said Mendoza.
"Is this… the actual Starry Night? The actual painting?" asked Nigel.Sage rolled her eyes at Nigel. "The real Starry Night is currently placed at the Museum of Modern Art."Nigel knew that he asked a dumb question, but it only further accentuated how good the forgery was.Even Wayne was surprised when he saw it. "Spectacular. Some techniques are still quite underdeveloped, but the ability to replicate such minute details is astounding."Wayne even stopped smoking in fear of damaging the replica.After carefully examining the replica, Wayne finally turned to Sage and said, "This replica is even better than yours.""I think the technique seems identical to what you'd usually use. Are you sure it's not one of your disciples?" asked Sage.Both Sage and Wayne were infinitely more interested in the replica than anything else that happened in the afternoon."I don't have any disciples except for you. After all, our family has been working in the jade industry for years."Besides, I
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