It felt like a wooden stick.A hoarse, weak voice was heard uttering into his ears, "Take care of her, for me."Who was she?Yale knew without having to ask.That wooden hairpin belonged to Sage.However, he had no knowledge of its history.Did the hairpin signify their past in some way?Jace had a long dream.In his dream, a wispy figure crouched before the tomb, sobbing endlessly. Her shoulders shivered uncontrollably.The sound of her cry was heart-wrenching.He slowly approached the tombstone. Upon having a closer look at the portrait on the tombstone, he realized it was him.His face was serious, his brows knitted tightly together.Jace had forgotten when the photo was taken.The figure that was weeping looked even more familiar, and he could picture the face just by looking at her back.It was the person he had been yearning for, day and night; it was the person who had his soul.Was Sage crying for him?Not only was she crying, but she was also scolding him.She
No, that was not Sage.Jace slowly snapped back into his senses.The woman before him looked almost identical to Sage; her eyes, her nose, they looked like they had been sculpted with the same mold.However, she looked way older than Sage, a charming and mature lady.Who was she?Why did she look so much like Sage?Jace had all sorts of thoughts running across his mind when the man walked into the room.The man was well-built with refined facial features, and his gaze was sharp as a blade; an attractive and youthful man in his fifties.He emitted a noticeable powerful aura.Jace was stunned upon seeing the man.It was a face that he was familiar with.Jace had seen the man's face in television, newspapers, and financial magazines before. He was crowned the 'Genius Businessman', the founder of the Norah Group— Sawyer Norah.Sage's father.Which meant that the beautiful lady standing next to him was Sage's mother?Jace could not believe that he would see Sage's late parents
"I don't cook." Primrose said stubbornly, "Do you want me to set the kitchen on fire?"Jack was at a loss for words.He was reminded of Primrose's attempt to roast some walnuts a few days ago, where she had almost burnt the whole kitchen down. Jack sighed defeatedly and went to the kitchen unwillingly.Jack turned back before disappearing into the kitchen and said, "Don't bully my student.""Of course." Primrose waved him away and added, "I will."She had put in a lot of effort to save him. Of course, she would bully and tease him all she could to avenge her daughter.Primrose sat on the chair where Jack was sitting and looked at Jace.He was pretty handsome. Even though he was sick, his facial features were bright and refined.Sage was just like her mother. They both preferred handsome men."You know who I am, right?"Jace moved his lips and struggled to utter, "Y…e…s.""You don't have to speak, just nod and shake your head."Jace nodded promptly after."Good boy," said P
In the middle of October, Sage and her brothers flew to Paras.They were off to attend Nigel and Sean's wedding.Nigel and Sean planned to get married while traveling. They took two months of leave and decided to fly to Europa.They decided to have their holiday and their honeymoon together.They simply decided to invite their family members and some of their close friends to have a meal together for their wedding.Sage and her brothers had arrived a day earlier and helped to decorate their place for the wedding.Sage was almost out of breath from all the blowing of balloons. One of the balloons came loose, and it went flat immediately."Silly, why are you blowing it? You could have used the air pump instead."Luther walked over and started teasing Sage.Sage replied, "It's faster to blow it than using that thing."However, Sage was already at her limit after blowing the balloons. After ten balloons, she felt like she had run for five meters. Sage lay on the sofa and started
Hence, Nigel's father gave Sean a huge sum of money as a wedding gift.Holding the envelope of money in his hand, Sean understood his father-in-law's intention; hence he received the gift gratefully and thanked him, "Thanks, dad."After Nigel's father had left, Nigel looked at the thick envelope and teased, "You're now one of us after receiving the money from my dad."Sean arched one of his brows and said, "Aren't I already considered as one of the Jetts? Honey."Nigel's face turned red. "Who are you calling, honey?!""You, of course!""Oh, shut up!"Sean brought his parents over to their house. Sean's old folks were retired, and they were dressed clean and politely. They were interacting friendly with Nigel's father.Ever since their sons came out of the closet, Sean and Nigel's parents were reluctant to accept the fact that their sons were gay, but as time went by, they slowly came to accept it.Both families had been through a lot to be able to sit together at the same tabl
After sending off most of the elderly, the night had befallen, and the most important part of their wedding was spending their first night together.They had a lot to drink, and Nigel was already feeling exhausted. He wanted to take a hot shower and hurry up to bed.However, he did not expect his friends to barge into their room before he could stop them."Woohoo, first night together! First night together!"They were chanting together.Nigel felt annoyance thumping in his veins. With his eyes shot wide open, he hissed, "Do we really have to do this for two adult guys?""Nonsense, of course, you'd need to."Luther added, "Spending the first night together is the 'essence' of a wedding, don't you all agree?""Yes!" Everyone in the room agreed at the same time.Nigel was wordless.He wanted to kick all of them out of the room, but their eldest brother was around, so he did not dare to say anything. He had no choice but to send signals to Sean and ask him for help.Sean, howeve
"Tim broke the rules!" Sage complained.Tim responded, "Yeah, so I'm out."He then strode out of the room to have a smoke.No one dared to stop him as he was the eldest.Sean turned and started walking toward Seth. He was touching Seth all over. In the end, Nigel could not stand it anymore and said, "Ish, this dumb*ss!"Nigel walked right up to Sean and planted a kiss on Sean's lips.With that, the game was over."No! They broke the rules!" The crowd was not going to let them go easily.Irritation pricked at Nigel, and he finally exploded, "You brats, are you not planning to get married in the future? Aren't you worried that karma will get back at you? Now get out of my room. We're going to bed now!"An on-edged Nigel then kicked all of them out of the room.The party was finally over.Sean was still blindfolded as he pulled Nigel into his arms from behind. Leaning close to Nigel's ears, he chuckled, "To be honest, I was able to recognize your smell, and I knew where you wer
With the wedding over, Sage decided to head back to Salem City with her brothers.Tim was planning to go with them.He got into his private car."Tim, are you not planning to visit Yale at Nadeem City?"Sage was surprised."It's not like he's unable to move or there are not enough people taking care of him. It's good as long as he's alive."Tim added flatly, "I have other things to attend to."He did not elaborate and left, leaving his brothers and sisters puzzled.Neither of them dared to ask or say a word.On their ride back to Salem City, Luther was scrolling Sage's social media non-stop."Damn, Sage, you are really on a whole different level, aren't you? You already have over a thousand comments for the post of Nigel and Sean. They're all going nuts about how Sean and Nigel are good-looking and look good together…holy sh*t, there is even a fan that claimed to be their mother."Luther pressed into the comment and clicked his tongue. "Who is she to think that she can be th
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