Today, the temperature outside reached as high as thirty degrees. After washing up, Joanne changed into a T-shirt and a pair of washed jeans. With her long hair up, she looked neat and no-nonsense, just like a student.

When she was done packing up her things and was just about to head downstairs, the door of her bedroom opened. Brian sauntered in as if he owned the room and was heading straight towards her bed.

"You...you..." Joanne stammered. It seemed like Joanne was the spineless one. "What do you want?"

"I dropped something here," Brian said, pulling aside the covers to begin his search.

"What thing?" Joanne asked. She walked over and then picked up a pillow. "Tell me, I'll help you look for it."

Brian picked up the necktie that had been under the pillow. He smiled and said, "Found it."

Joanne had to do several double-takes just to make sure she had seen it right. A look of surprise formed on her face at first. Then she blushed. "You-you... you... That isn't yours!" She reached out and tried to snatch the necktie away.

Brian avoided her grasp with ease. "But last night you told me that you bought this for me secretly while you were getting that milkshake. Oh, and you also mentioned that you've splurged nearly a month of your salary on it. You were even crying when you begged me to wear this tie today," Brian said casually.

"..."

The truth was that Joanne did not have much recollection about whatever that had happened after that. But now that Brian had brought it up, it all came back to her.

Before, she had kept the necktie stashed away because she had no idea how to give it to Brian. "Can't believe I had let the cat out of the bag after getting drunk!" she thought.

Well, shit. It seemed like she had lost not just her integrity, but all her dignity as well...

"I... I just thought that it suits you, so I bought it." She tried her best to make it sound like a spur-of-the-moment thing. "I really didn't think too much about it at the time!"

Brian raised his brows. "Yesterday, you also asked me whether I like you."

Joanne's eyes went round. "You must have heard wrong! Actually I was just asking if you like the necktie! Well, I must've misspoken, then. I mean, I was drunk. So it's normal to make a few mistakes here and there!"

The flush on her face had deepened amidst her explanation. Brian decided not to drop any more bombs on her, so he handed the tie back to her instead.

Joanne was taken aback. Disappointment settled inside her heart. "Are you returning it back to me?"

Brian lifted his finger and flicked her forehead. "I'm asking you to help me tie it."

"Oww," Joanne said, rubbing her sore forehead. Begrudgingly, she tugged the necktie towards her and began making a Windsor knot with practised ease.

Her actions made Brian suspicious. "You've done this before," Brian said in a dangerous tone. "Who is it?"

Joanne nearly blurted out that it was Chris.

Joanne had just returned to the Americat that time, and asking her to tie his necktie seemed to be Chris's favorite thing back then; he claimed that it would allow him to take a good look at her before he leave for work, which would in turn make him feel motivated. After a while, she became familiar with tying all kinds of knots.

Then again... why bother telling Brian the truth?

She adjusted the necktie's length and chuckled. "Whoever it is, it isn't you, that's for sure!"

That answer actually hurt more than if she were to just tell him a name. Joanne made her escape as soon as she threw out the answer. Gritting his teeth, Brian's mind began entertaining thoughts of numerous ways that he could use to punish Joanne.

After breakfast, Joanne found herself unable to make up her mind about whether she should drive her own car or have Winston drop her off at the police station. Just then, Brian took his keys and said, "I'll give you a ride."

Oh. Well, Joanne could not come up with any excuse to turn down an offer for a ride by a handsome private driver and in a luxury vehicle, no less. She followed Brian happily.

This time, Brian unabashedly stopped his eye-catching car right in front of the entrance of the police station

Joanne got down. Then she turned around and waved at Brian while flashing him a smile. After that, she grabbed the snacks she had bought the day before yesterday and headed into the police station.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

The last time Brian had dropped her off work had been the third day after they into their marriage. In truth, she had been very happy back then, just that various obstacles had prevented her from showing it: she had to keep her marriage a secret from her colleagues, and at the same time, she had prevent Brian from noticing her true feelings.

That was why she had acted as if she was spurning his efforts; back then, she had asked Brian to stop his car at a junction one kilometer away from the station. How everything had changed in just less than four months.

She hoped that positive changes like this would never stop. She wished she could walk down the path of happiness with Brian until its very end.

"Tsk, tsk. It's like you're a completely different person!" Hannah teased. "We haven't seen each other for nearly a month. Now you not only look healthy, but you're also practically glowing! Ahem. So your Mr. Brian must have... fed you well?"

On the surface, it seemed like a no-nonsense, business-like comment; however, Hannah's suggestive tone gave it all away. Joanne shoved Hannah lightly before pulling out Hannah's favorite pineapple cake. "Keep spouting nonsense like that and you can stop coming to me for snacks!"

Hannah glanced at the huge bag of snacks in Joanne's hand. "You bought this yesterday while you were shopping at the mall with Mr. Brian, didn't you? We saw it in the news!"

A blush crept onto Joanne's tiny face. She made a beeline into the office, carrying the snacks with her.

Today also happened to be the day that Shawn would return to work after his injury. When he saw Joanne entering the office carrying a big bag of snacks, he headed over and started rummaging through the contents of the bag in search of his favorite dried fruits and vegetables. Shockingly, there were none! In the past, Joanne would always buy them for him!

"Why didn't you get any dried fruits and vegetables?" he protested.

Joanne did plan to buy them, just that Brian would not let her...

Instead of telling him the truth, she made up a random excuse. "Well, you know, I got too caught up with shopping and forgot. Next time! I'll get them for you next time!"

A meaningful look formed on Shawn's face, and he smiled. "Nah. You don't have a bad memory at all. How's it possible that you forgot? Is it because you were with your man?"

Joanne tossed him a bag of dried pork. "Shut up, and get back to work!"

Arlington's had always maintained stellar public order, that was why no major cases had occurred during the time of their break. There were a few scuffles among civilians, though those required nothing more than a simple evaluation of the injuries involved. In other words, they did not have a heavy workload at all. Their first day back at work was thus far very relaxing.

Joanne thought that she would be able to get off work on time today; however, Captain Turner alerted them to an emergency situation just when she was about to leave work.

"There's been a homicide at Sunnybrook Apartments. There's one victim on the scene. Female. We've already ID-ed her. She's the daughter of the Bennett Family, Maeve."

"Maeve is single, and she has been holding an important position in her family business. Bennett Enterprise has been facing a crisis recently, so she was no doubt under a lot of pressure. Local police claimed that the death didn't look like a suicide."

Joanne felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, as if she knew that trouble was looming in the horizon. The deceased was Ava's sister. Now that this had happened, Ava would have a very good excuse to create trouble for her.

Upon their arrival on the crime scene, Joanne and Shawn got to work and began combing the crime scene for evidence. Once they were done, Captain Turner took over so that she and Shawn could return to the police station.

On the way back to the station, she received a call from Brian. She told him about her new case, and that he should head home first. She also told him that she would ask Winston to pick her up later.

"I need to do overtime as well," Brian said. "What time will you be done?"

Joanne did a rough estimation in her head. "Around ten I guess."

"Alright," Brian said. "I'll pick you up at that time."

Joanne hummed her agreement and then hung up. She looked up from the phone and noticed Shawn staring at her meaningfully.

"What?" she said, the corner of her lips tugging downwards. "Go find yourself a wife if you're jealous."

"Do you realize something?" Shawn said. "Your conversations with Brian these days are very natural. There's no more of that shyness, avoidance and resistance. Joanne, do you know what that means? It means that you're already used to having him in your life."

Joanne's confidence faltered slightly. "We've only been married for less than half a year. How's that even possible..."

"Haven't you heard?" Shawn smiled. "You can take up a habit in just twenty-one days. You've been living under the same roof for almost four months."

When she heard that, the first thing Joanne felt was fear. If she had somehow gotten used to having Brian around, what would become of her after their divorce in the future?

Then again, who said that she could not be with Brian till the end?

She raised her chin. "So what if I've gotten used to him? It'd be weird if I haven't gotten used to him by now!"

Upon their return to the station, they put on their masks and protective suits. Shawn worked on estimating the victim's time of death while Joanne began the autopsy. When she removed Maeve's clothes, however, Joanne was stunned.

There were clear marks on the victim's wrists which suggested that her hands had been bound together by a rope. Various lesions and cuts riddled her upper torso, all of which came in different lengths, sizes and depths. Also, the victim's lower body looked like a complete wreck. All these signs told Joanne of precisely the kind of things that the victim's body had been put through before her death. In fact, she was certain that there was more than one person hurting the victim.

Shawn looked surprised as well the moment he came in. He handed a scalpel to Joanne. Joanne took the scalpel and began slicing the victim's chest with practised ease. Frowning, Joanne said, "She's got many years of history with drugs. She's inhaled a huge amount heroin with high purity before she died."

"Ugh," Shawn sighed as he began extracting the victim's tissue for examination. "She's so young. Why would she torture herself like this?"

Joanne shrugged. There were tons of people out there who did not know how to love themselves. Still, that was the life they had chosen for themselves, so she had no intentions of making any kind of judgement. She only hoped that these people could understand that whatever consequences they suffered down the road was their own doing.

It really was around 10pm by the time she was done. Joanne removed her protective suit and headed back to the office. At the office, she was surprised to see a familiar figure sitting at her desk. She was caught completely off guard. "How did you get in?"

Brian set down the little notebook that she had been using to jot down notes. "The chief brought me inside."

Brian stood up and began walking towards Joanne, but Joanne reacted by taking consecutive steps back. "Don't come any closer. I just finished an autopsy, so I smell. Let me take a shower first."

After that, she left and headed to the dormitory bathroom to take a shower and get changed. She ran into Shawn on the way out of the dorms. "I'll be going first," she said.

"Your man came by?" Shawn smiled. "Go. Get out of here."

Joanne waved at him and headed back into the office. "I'm done," she called Brian, "let's go."

Brian took her hand and led her out. On the way out, Joanne had some time to think things over, and she found herself a little surprised by Brian's behavior just now. Other than her colleagues, nobody would wish to be near her whenever she just finished an autopsy. Not even Freya, someone whom she shared a revolutionary bond with, would approach her. The excuses were usually the same: either it was some kind of taboo, or that she smelled weird after the autopsy. But Brian... He really did not seem to mind at all.

In the car, Brian did not start the engine right away. Instead, he asked her, "Have you had dinner?"

"I did," Joanne said. "Shawn and I are handling this case together, so the workload isn't heavy enough for me to skip dinner."

Brian frowned. "You're telling me that you can still eat while you're in the middle of an autopsy?"

"It used to be a problem for me. But that was back when I was still in the forensic academy," Joanne said. "The professor showed us a bunch of photos in class, and guess what, nobody in our class ate a single thing that day. After that day, we were shown other photos that were even more disgusting. But all of us were already immune to it by then. Then came the time when we were brought to a police station to watch the professor perform an actual autopsy. A lot of people threw up, but I didn't, because I imagined that I was still looking at a bunch of photos instead of a live autopsy. I still couldn't eat anything after watching it, though. After a while, I got used to it."

Brian knew that if he let her go on, Joanne would no doubt delve into the nitty-gritty details of autopsies. Wisely, he changed the subject. "The chief told me that the victim is Maeve."

"Yeah. It's Ava's older sister. Maeve was a drug addict according to our preliminary examinations. Her body shows signs of torture, both voluntary and coerced. She also had frequent sexual intercourse with multiple men simultaneously," Joanne said as she contemplated her findings. "But here's what I don't get. Her file said that she was a top student at a good school. She also performed well in her job and had good leadership skills. She was admired and looked up to by a lot of people. But despite all that, she degraded herself in private. There must be a reason for that."

Brian's eyes held an unnatural glint. "Joanne, you're not at work now. You need to put work-related matters aside. When you're home, you need to rest."

"Oh," Joanne muttered. That was when she suddenly realized what she had just told Brian. At that realization, she wanted to bite her tongue off.

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