"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
However, Sage knew that if she did that, her brothers would be worried sick. Sage could only carefully hide her weariness behind a smile and enjoyed dinner with her brothers.No matter how hard Sage tried, her brothers could still see the lack of interest in her eyes. They stayed silent and did not say anything about it.They knew that time healed all wounds, but Sage still required some time before she could return to her former confident self.The topic of the conversation slowly shifted toward Yale's situation."He's still comatose, but there are instances where he'd wiggle his fingers. At least he won't be a vegetable, but we still won't know when he'll wake up," explained Nigel.Luther unconsciously said, "Who would've thought such misfortune would befall him? Even if he were to wake up, there would still probably be a lot of physical hurdles for him to pass before he could return to his normal life, just like how Jace was three years—"His words were cut short by a sudden
'To Sage:'I miss you.'Truth be told, there isn’t a moment since you left me that I haven’t missed you.'Every sleepless night, I would hold the only thing you left with me like I’m holding on to dear life. I would look at every nook and cranny of it and hope to see something new.'As of now, it's the dawn of a new day here in Saleem City. It should still be nighttime in Birmingham. Is it cold? Is it raining?'The only thing I can do is check the weather in Birmingham, but what I really want to know is your situation.'How are you? Who am I kidding? You'd be fine. After all, without me by your side and with your loving brothers around you, there’s no way you wouldn’t be fine.'Do you know how many times I've tried to go to Birmingham? I was under explicit orders from my doctor not to get on a plane after my surgery. If I took a ship, would you throw me into the sea?'I know how bad your temper can get; you're like a cat. You seem like a harmless little thing, but if something
'I jumped with joy when I saw that!'I've never been so happy, sending you messages and waiting for you to reply to me.'Every time I read your message, it would be like God had decided to bless me. Do you know how hard it is for me to contain myself, to not spam you with messages, to not annoy you with the endless questions I have?'There are endless things I want to ask and tell you, but I can't bring myself to send you any messages. I can only try and put pen to paper and hope that my feelings will be able to be conveyed through letters. Perhaps this is why we always have the notion that old letters are romantic.'My last letter should have reached your residence by now. You probably haven't read it since you're in Birmingham. That's fine. There's no rush.'My only worry is that you'd have torn it to shreds before even opening it up.'I have zero confidence in you reading that letter.'I'll assume that the last letter didn't reach you and that you haven't read it. That way, I