While Joanne was knotting his necktie, she realized that Brian had chosen to use the same one that she had given him last time as a gift.

Now that she thought about it, that necktie had made quite a several appearances these days.

Having dealt with work-related matters, Brian hung up the phone. That was when he noticed Joanne staring off into space. Although she was still holding on to his necktie, her hands were not moving.

He flicked her forehead. "You can even daydream in the middle of knotting a tie?"

Joanne rubbed her forehead. "Brian, do you like this necktie that much?" She asked. "You've been using it a lot these days."

"Well, it's placed on the outside, so it's easier for me to grab it. That's why I use it often." All of a sudden, he looked as if he had just thought of something. "Is this the one you gave me?"

Joanne had thought that the reason Brian wore this necktie so much was precisely that it was her gift to him; she thought that maybe it held a deeper meaning to Brian compared to the rest of his ties.

But judging from his tone now, it seemed like he had forgotten that it had been her gift. It made sense, though. He had a huge collection of neckties, after all. How could he possibly remember which necktie was given to him by whom?

Still, she felt pretty mad. She tightened the necktie around Brian's neck with more force than necessary, nearly throttling him in the process. When she saw the change in Brian's face, she eased her hands on the tie and left to start brunch.

Brian ignored the tangled mess that was his necktie. He sat down across from Joanne and scowled at her, "Joanne, were you trying to murder your husband just now?"

Joanne flicked a glance towards the collar of his shirt, which was completely askew courtesy of her use of excessive force while she secured the necktie around it just now. "Nope," she said. "I've got no plans on becoming a widow at such a young age. My hands just slipped."

"Ugh. So unfair. How could he still look so damn handsome while wearing that mess of a necktie?"

Amidst her thoughts, a tiny smile tugged at Joanne's lips. When she looked back at him right then, her expression was completely innocent. "Dear, you're not mad at me, are you?"

"..." Brian gazed at her through narrowed eyes, though he said nothing.

Admittedly, Joanne was starting to feel a bit scared that Brian would be mad at her for what she did. He was the President of Lambert Group after all. Pretty sure nobody had the guts to treat him this way in the past...

"Ahem!"

Joanne stood up and walked over to Brian. She stopped beside him and then reached out to straighten his necktie. "There. Satisfied?"

Brian was still scowling at her with that handsome face of his. Joanne decided to ignore him. Pouting, she turned around and began to walk away. Before she could take a step, something hooked around her waist and yanked her downwards. The sudden movement threw her off balance, and she fell right into Brian's lap.

"..." Joanne stared at Brian with parted lips. There was a look of wariness in her expression, and her eyes were filled with something that was a mixture of innocence and confusion.

As Brian stared at her, his work, his career, and pretty much everything else, slowly faded away from his mind. The only thing he could see was Joanne; slowly and gradually, her image had begun to take over every nook and cranny of his mind.

Desire resonated through his entire body.

As if having a mind of its own, his head bent down, and he kissed Joanne right on her lips.

At that moment, Joanne felt her pulse shooting through the roof. Every fiber of her being was thrown into utter shock.

Brian's eyes held so much profound depth just now. It was as if he could suck her soul right out of her just by gazing at her. When he kissed her, she found herself kissing him back instinctively. By the time she realized what she was doing, her arms had already found its way to the back of his neck. She nearly jumped in shock at her actions.

It was as if Brian could read her mind; just when Joanne was about to withdraw her arms, he suddenly tightened his grip on her waist. She made a sound from the back of her throat as her arms tightened around his neck.

A smile formed on Brian's lips, and he deepened the kiss.

Through the thin fabric of his shirt, Joanne could seemingly feel the rise in Brian's body temperature. She, on the other hand, was slowly losing the ability to breathe properly. As a result, the rising and falling of her chest became increasingly noticeable.

"Brian..." She called out his name, weakly.

Just when she felt the first hint of suffocation, Brian finally released his hold on her lips. He immediately sought out her lips again and gave her two gentle kisses. Only then did he ease his hands on her waist. The profoundness of his eyes as he was looking at her right now was far more intense than it had been just now.

Heat rose in Joanne's cheeks, and her face was soon as red as a pile of glowing embers. She averted her gaze, not daring to meet Brian's eyes. Then, she started to struggle against him, wanting to get off his lap. Then, she felt a sudden pull from Brian's hand. With a cryptic smile, he leaned forward and said into her ear, "I knew it was your gift."

Did he know? So he knew all along?

In other words, Joanne had guessed right before. He was wearing the necktie more often because it was her gift.

So just now he was just... acting? And this? What the hell was this? Did he do it so that he could take advantage of her?

Joanne gave him a hard shove and leaped off his lap. "Brian, you're a liar! You're a goddamn liar!"

Meanwhile, a certain liar was feeling very sated, so he was obviously in a good mood. He smiled back at Joanne even though she had just yelled at him. His endless staring made Joanne feel shy instead, so she lowered her head and went back to her meal.

Due to the stunt that Brian had pulled, it was already 12:40 by the time they finished their meal. Worried that she would be late for work, Joanne urged Brian to pick up his pace.

Brian changed his shoes lazily. "It'll only take five minutes by car to get from here to the police station. You can chill, you know."

"Chill? You're the only one who can afford to chill," Joanne said, poking at his shoulder. "Nobody will deduct your salary if you skip work. Nobody will bite your head off, too. I'm different, you know. I still have superiors to answer to. So step on it, will you?!"

By the time they went downstairs to retrieve their car, it was already 12:45. But Joanne soon realized that the apartment was quite near to the police station. Plus, with good road conditions and light traffic, she found that she had no reason to fret after all. She turned on the music and played a few of her favorite songs.

Brian did not prefer to have any music on when he was driving, which was why his car was devoid of any CDs in the past. But ever since Joanne began riding his car back from work, the CD compartment of his car was loaded with all kinds of CDs. Brian did not raise any objections to the addition. In fact, on some occasions, he would even launch into discussions with Joanne about which singers had superior voices.

Right now, Joanne was playing the song of the singer that he hated the most. He frowned and asked Joanne to switch to another song. Joanne just smiled at him, "Actually, this song sounds nice when I sing it."

Brian raised his brows; his eyes held nothing but doubt.

"Don't you believe me?" Joanne tilted her chin upwards challengingly. "I'll sing it to you next time!"

"Are you sure you won't end up scarring me for life?" Brian commented drily.

"..." She would have socked him twice if Brian was not driving right now.

They spent the rest of the car ride in an amiable and relaxing manner. When they arrived at the police station, Joanne suddenly realized something- right now, her life with Brian was no different than that of a real married couple.

Other than the fact that they had not consummated their marriage, other than the fact that they had agreed to a two-year marriage before they had even gotten their marriage license, everything else about their life together showed that they had become an actual married couple.

Except that she had no idea if their relationship could even last long and forever like those of real married couples.

On another side of the city, Brian arrived at the company. The moment he stepped out of the elevator, he saw Gavin trailing after him with a gloomy expression. Brian released a rare laugh. "This is the first time I've skipped work in seven or eight years. Aren't you overreacting a little?" He joked.

"Old Mu is here. He's in your office right now."

Due to the sensitive nature of his identity, Wesley never once came to Lambert Group. But today, Wesley had arrived at Brian's office completely unannounced. Plus, with the way, Gavin's face was looking...

The smile vanished from Brian's countenance. He stepped into his office with Gavin. At their entrance, Wesley lifted his chin in greeting. "Have a seat. There's something I need to tell you."

Wesley stared at Brian. There was an unprecedented look of distress in Wesley's eyes.

Brian knew right then that this was not a simple matter. He leaned back against the couch and crossed his legs. "Give it to me straight."

"I've got the word about it a month ago. I didn't know for sure until fairly recently," Wesley said. There was a brief pause. "He's returned to Arlington."

The three of them knew better than anyone else who this "he" was.

All these years, with Wesley working the dark, and Brian working in the light with Gavin's assistance, the three of them had been widening their influence and securing their power. All that, so that they could finally face that person in a head to head showdown.

Brian knew that he would return for sure; he would return to reclaim all the things belonging to the Kent family, and he would try to restore the Kent family to its former glory. What Brian had not anticipated was for the man's return to be so soon.

"What do we do?" Gavin asked with a frown. Gavin was the type who could smile no matter what kind of trouble he was thrown into. For the first time in his life, Gavin was frowning in the face of an obstacle.

"This day is bound to come anyway. All the preparations we've made all these years, aren't they for the arrival of this very day?" A look of danger was slowly creeping into Brian's profound eyes. "The earlier he returns, the sooner we can deal with him."

Gavin steepled his fingers. "No. I'm not worried about Kang's return at all. I've been waiting for the coming of this battle for a long time. What I'm asking is, what should we do about Joanne?"

Wesley glanced at Brian.

Brian, on the other hand, descended into silence.

With his brows drawn together and his lashes lowered, he looked like a commander in chief about to make a tough decision. Hesitance and indecision flashed across his eyes before he closed them. "I don't know."

For the first time in his life, Gavin heard those three words coming out of Brian's mouth.

He had always been the invincible, decisive, and quasi-omnipotent Brian. His far-reaching vision and shrewdness would always ensure that things went smoothly as planned. To many, he led a godlike existence.

Never in the man's life had he claimed to be clueless about something. But now, Gavin believed that Brian had no idea how to handle Joanne.

"I've already told her the worst case scenario before we got married," Brian said, raising his head. His eyes looked sharp and confident once again. "Right now the priority is to deal with Steven."

Gavin understood where Brian was coming from. He was looking out for Joanne's future; no matter what happened, he wanted Joanne to live out the rest of her life safely.

"Look, man. Maybe it's because I don't know anything about this romance mumbo jumbo, that's why I don't understand what you're doing here," Wesley said. "But why are you hiding everything from her? Did it ever cross your mind that she might want to know about these things too?"

"No. She wouldn't want to know. I don't want her to know either," Brian said. "She had been living a clean life for the past 20 years or so. I don't want to drag her into the darkness with me. Besides... She has someone she likes."

Yes. The fact that Joanne had someone she liked was one thing that Brian had never forgotten.

"Holy shit!" Gavin exclaimed. "I would've forgotten all about that if you hadn't reminded me. Back then, Freya did mention that there's some guy whom Joanne's been crushing on for many years. Then again, seeing her together with you for the past six months... I wonder why I failed to remember this particular thing?"

Wesley chuckled. "Because they seemed like they have the hots for each other, that's why," Wesley said, hitting the nail right on the head.

"Damn right!" Inwardly, Gavin gave Wesley kudos. Smiling, Gavin glanced at Brian. "Maybe you've already captured your Joanne's heart after you two got married, and you just didn't know it?"

"Shut the hell up, all of you," Brian growled, his cold gaze sweeping from Wesley to Gavin. "If either of you let it slip before Joanne, don't ever think about showing your face in Arlington."

Yeah, as if Gavin was afraid of Brian's threat. He resumed teasing Brian to his heart's content. "Say, I don't get you, man. You've got the guts to have me alone as your backup last time during the business negotiation with that highly dangerous person in Cambodia. And yet you're chickening out when it comes to letting your wife know you- oww!"

Brian kicked him before he could finish.