When Joanne got home after work, she noticed a cheque on the table. The cheque had been issued by... Wesley?

"What're you guys planning?" She asked Brian, picking up the cheque. "Why is Wesley giving you so much money?"

Brian gave the cheque a glance. "I won it yesterday by placing a bet on Germany."

"How did you know that Germany would win?" Joanne asked, feeling curious. "Gavin and the others told me that your bets have inconsistent win rates. Sometimes you win, while other times you lose. That's why they dare not follow your bets. What are your bets based on, anyway? Analysis? Statistics?"

Brian smiled. "I don't specialize in that area. How am I supposed to analyze any statistics?"

"Then? How did you decide which bet to place?"

"At random," Brian said.

Joanne, "..."

She was pretty sure Gavin would burst into tears if she ever told him that. The guy had been dying to know Brian's betting strategy, but in the end, it turned out that there was no strategy at all; Brian placed all his bets capriciously...

As she allowed her thoughts to drift, Joanne came to a decision; next time, if she were to join them in these bets, she would follow Brian's bet to the death! This was not her area of expertise either. But she would put her trust in Brian's choice!

Brian handed the cheque to her, "Here."

This was actually Joanne's encountering such a huge sum of money. She glanced at Brian anxiously, "Why are you giving it to me?"

"You can do with it whatever you like," Brian said. That amount of money meant nothing to Brian. "You can treat it as your pocket money or something."

"..." Joanne was speechless. Not even Chris was that generous with her.

Still, it felt strange to suddenly accept such a huge sum from Brian. In the end, Joanne stashed the cheque away in Brian's study. She figured would only use it for emergencies.

Shortly after, she got a call from Freya, who asked Joanne if she would like to join her and Chris for dinner.

"How many chances will you ever get to have dinner with my brother? Why are you asking me to tag along?" For the life of her, Joanne could not comprehend what was going through Freya's mind. "Don't you think you should make full use of this opportunity to enjoy some one-on-one time with my brother?"

"Enjoy my ass!" Came Freya's muffled tone. Joanne had no idea where Freya was calling her from since Freya had kept her voice very low. "Look, I feel like Chris's been acting strangely today."

That had piqued Joanne's curiosity. "How so?"

"He brought me home this morning, and then he slept on my bed. But nothing happened, of course! But when he woke up, he acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world!" Freya was at the verge of losing her mind at this point. "Then this afternoon, he asked me to go to his company to translate some document. And now, he's treating me to dinner? Look, it's all so weird. Things like these would never happen in the past! What do you think he's trying to tell me?"

"He's not trying to tell you anything," Joanne said flatly.

"..."

All of a sudden, Freya felt a surge of disappointment in her heart. Joanne was the person who knew Chris best. Plus, she was also Freya's best friend. Freya had been having vague doubts regarding Chris's behavior, that was why she had called Joanne to confirm a few things.

In the end, Joanne had told her that Chris's strange behavior meant nothing.

Yeah. She should have known. How would Chris fall in love with her all of a sudden?

"He's just making the first move," Joanne added suddenly.

"What?" Freya thought she had misheard Joanne. "You mean... Chris is making the first move?"

"Mmhm," Joanne said, nodding her head. "I already suspected it two months ago when you encountered that fake cab driver. My brother was at his company at the time. It was impossible for him to pass by Lambert Group Media Co. if he had been on the way home. Even if he was, in fact, passing by, he didn't have any reason to follow your cab at all. It can only mean that he was worried about you."

Freya was flummoxed. "And then?"

"Well, he must have felt something for you to worry about you, right?" Joanne said. "If some random stranger got into the same cab back then, do you think he would follow it?"

Freya realized something right then: what Joanne just told her made perfect sense!

"So, that's why I said he's making the first move. Although I can't tell whether his behavior was planned or that he just couldn't help himself, but..." Joanne smiled. "Freya, this is a very good sign."

"Could it be that I'm thriving in both my career and love life?!" Freya could no longer keep her excitement at bay.

"I guess congratulations are in order, then," Joanne said. From the bottom of her heart, Joanne was happy for Freya. Happiness favors the sincere; that old saying was not a lie after all.

"Hey, that's what people have been telling me when I was at your brother's company this afternoon," Freya said, feeling puzzled. "Why, though? Could it be that the employees of Everbridge Group can predict my future?"

"Come on, why else?" Joanne said as she began unraveling the mystery. "My brother had brought you to the company on his own terms. So they must have thought that there's something going on between you two. Well, what can I say? You've finally won my brother's heart. Congratulations."

Freya pressed her palm to her lips as she broke into a grin. "Now I only hope that I can give them wedding candies soon! Alright then, I'm hanging up now. I've got to go have dinner!"

Joanne stared at her phone. Freya had totally hung up on her. She sighed. "Sex before friendship indeed," she said.

At that moment, Freya had practically forgotten everything else in life let alone just friendship!

After hanging up, she dashed into the restaurant joyfully. As she passed by the bathroom, she suddenly halted her steps. She entered the bathroom and checked herself out in the mirror. Then, she meticulously made a few touch-ups to her makeup.

The service staff was serving the steak when she returned to their table. Freya picked up her knife and fork and began cutting into her steak. After a while, her eyes began drifting towards Chris until her eyes were practically glued to him. She ogled him openly. She could stare at him all day without ever getting tired of what she saw.

Chris had been at the receiving end of her stares before. Still, the way she was smiling today seemed far too strange to him. He set down his knife. "Is there something on my face?"

Freya flashed a smile. In fact, she might as well be sporting pink, heart-shaped eyes at this point. "There's only one thing on your face, and it's called handsomeness!"

"... Freya." Chris frowned. "Did you knock your head on something while you went out just now?"

"... You're the one who'd banged your head!" In an instant, Freya recovered from her stupor. She shoved a piece of steak into her mouth angrily. "Thanks for killing the mood you dense, obtuse man. I'm not in the mood to talk to you anymore!"

Just then, she realized something else.

She and Chris had ended up in precisely this kind of stalemate countless times in the past. He would throw out snide remarks while she would deftly throw out her own rebuttal. In the end, they would always part ways on bad terms.

They had been bickering with each other for over a decade now, and yet there was not a single time where they shared a nice, civilized conversation with each other.

Even if they did end up together, they would inevitably break-up considering both their personalities.

After that Freya realized that her view of fate and destiny had been overly simplistic. It was impossible for things to go that smoothly between her and Chris. "Yeah, right. As if it's that easy for us to be together," she thought.

When they were leaving the restaurant after dinner, Freya suddenly shouted, "Oh, crap!"

Chris halted his steps. "What's wrong?"

"I've been overeating for two days straight!" Freya said in an expression of pure terror. "When they take my weight reading on the scale tomorrow, my manager will definitely only allow me to have vegetable soup..."

"It isn't that far away from your place. I'll walk you home."

Freya glanced down at her heels. "I'll ruin my legs, and I still have a photo shoot tomorrow..."

Chris glanced around. After a while, he dragged Freya into a footwear store and picked out a pair of nude color flats. When the salesperson approached them and asked him for the size, Chris answered without hesitation, "Size 37, please."

"Alright, then. Please give me a moment. I'll bring it out right away."

Only when the salesperson had left did Freya realize what Chris had done. "Chris, how did you know that I wear size 37 shoes?"

Chris did not even remember how he knew. All he knew was that Freya had mentioned it to him at some point. He did not even bother committing it to memory at that time. He had no idea how, but today, the memory just came to him.

"I judged it based on what I saw," he said casually. He could not bring himself to tell Freya the truth.

"Tsk, tsk." Freya shook her head. "Gee, just how many women's legs did you check out in the past. You must be super experienced if you're able to guess my size with just a glance."

Chris, "..."

The saleswoman brought out the size 37 flats. When Freya tried it on, she realized that the shoes looked rather good on her; it was a good match for the dress she wore.

"Your legs are white and beautiful. This design won't look good on just anyone. But in your case, it does," the saleswoman smiled. "Miss, your boyfriend certainly has good taste."

"His taste is exceptionally good, I'll give him that," Freya said as she continued her appraisal of the shoes. "But he isn't my boyfriend."

"... Oh, I'm sorry for assuming. It's just that you two really look good together." The saleswoman's smile stiffened, and she quickly changed the subject. "So. What do you think of the shoes? Are they okay?"

"They're good. I'll just leave them on, then." Freya stood up. "Do you mind packing up the shoes that I was wearing when I came in?"

"Of course. Please head over to the payment counter while I pack up your shoes."

Freya was just about to head over to the cashier but Chris got there before her.

The store had quite a number of customers at that time, and for some reason, there was now a scowl on Chris's face, so Freya did not try to argue with him. She allowed him to pay for the shoes instead. Just then, a girl came up to Freya and asked, "Sis, is that big brother your boyfriend?"

Freya shook her head. "Nope."

The young girl instantly saw hope. "Then do you mind introducing me to him? I like him! My name is Mengmeng!"

Freya considered the girl's suggestion seriously. After a while, she shook her head. "Nope. It's true that he isn't my boyfriend right now. But he will be my boyfriend one day in the future. That's why, Little Sister, I suggest you look for another man."

"Um..."

The girl still had a confused look on her face when Chris walked towards them after he paid for the shoes. He took the package from the saleswoman and said, "Let's go."

Freya grinned and looped her arm in his. Together, they walked out of the store. "Did you see the girl beside me just now? She asked me to introduce her to you if I'm not your girlfriend."

Chris looked at her with interest, "And what did you say?"

"I gave her your number."

"..."

At Chris's lack of reaction, Freya grew curious. "Aren't you supposed to get mad? You know, back in high school, when Joanne gave me your number, you even gave her an earful!"

Chris felt the onset of a headache. "How can you still remember something from so long ago?"

"How can I not remember?!" Freya shot him a death glare. "Chris, you're planning to wait for her call, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Chris smiled back at her as if without a care. "It's not like I'm your boyfriend or anything."

He was right. Absolutely right. He was not her boyfriend.

Freya knew that she was acting like a petulant child right now. She should act in good taste and give Chris a generous smile. The problem was that she was unable to suppress the swell of anger she was now feeling in her heart. "Stay the hell away from me!" She snarled before she walked away, abandoning Chris.

"What the hell?" She thought. "He'd get pissed off when I got his number but act like everything's all fine and dandy when other girls got his number? What kind of man is he!"

In her anger, Freya had picked up her pace. Chris did not bother to keep up with her steps. Instead, he followed closely behind her. As he watched Freya storming off in anger, the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

Honestly, just how far did she think the payment counter was from where she stood at the couch? The fact was that he had heard every single word of the exchange between Freya and the girl while he was paying at the counter. Her response to the girl had extinguished the flames of anger that had ignited in his heart when she emphasized to the saleswoman that he was not her boyfriend.

The reason that Freya had lied to him just now was none other than to piss him off.

Then again, he liked it better if she was the one who was angry.

---------------

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