If he could get everything to return to the way they used to be, he would at least be able to pretend like he felt nothing when she left him.

Joanne lay on her bed. Despite all the tossing and turning she had been doing, sleep eluded her still.

She could not comprehend Brian's sudden change of attitude towards her. Things had been fine at noon yesterday. He had even made her heart race...

Or... Could it be that there was some misunderstanding between them?

The next day, Joanne wanted to clear things up with Brian once and for all. When she saw him, Brian only glanced at her before he walked away, claiming that he was in a rush for time. He left without breakfast.

As she watched his car disappeared through the driveway, Joanne was suddenly overwhelmed by fear.

There was probably no misunderstanding between them. Her only fear was that Brian had... grown tired of her.

He was tired of this "marriage" between them. Tired of this life. Tired of... Tired of his so-called wife.

Could it be that their marriage would not even last for two years?

Like a fist, fear and panic struck Joanne's heart, creating a bottomless chasm there. Like wildfire, a sense of dread spread through her entire being...

As she drove to the police station, there was a brief moment when Joanne was acting completely on autopilot. As a result, she nearly had an accident; she almost ran into the car in front. Good thing she reacted in the nick of time and avoided a tragedy.

It was also during then that she noticed the car behind her.

It was a plain-looking Mazda, though it had been tailing her ever since she drove away from the villa district.

Was it just a coincidence that it happened to be heading in the same direction as her all this time?

She drove away through the overpass and arrived in the city area. Joanne had deliberately made two rounds around the police station; the Mazda was still tailing her.

It was now without a doubt that the car had been tailing her. Still, the stalker did not seem to notice that she had been deliberately driving around in circles.

She was practically half a cop, thank you very much. And yet it never crossed the stalker's mind that she might have discovered that she was being tailed. The stalker was stupid.

The white Buick LaCrosse pulled into the parking lot beside the police station. Joanne got out of the car, pretending that she knew nothing about her stalker. Nobody was aware that she had been snapping photos with her phone.

She scrolled through the photos the moment she entered the office. She did manage to capture a few shots of the Mazda. A few other shots showed Ava standing beside the Mazda, glaring at her back with hatred.

Brian had been right to worry; Ava did have a vendetta against her. For the past month, Brian had insisted on driving her to work and back. That was why she never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Today she was alone, and Ava had already begun tailing her.

After the fall of the Bennett Family, Ava had probably been waiting for an opportunity to exact vengeance on her.

"Ugh..."

Sighing, Joanne deleted all the photos. What a tough way to live.

"Argh..." Another long sigh was heard as the door of the office was pushed open. It was Shawn.

Joanne stared at him in surprise. "What's the matter with you?"

"Arranged marriage, what else?" Shawn set down a bunch of documents on his desk. Frustrated, he plopped down in his chair. "My dad told me that since I'm not willing to take over the family business, I should give him a grandchild; that way, he can turn the grandchild into a successor. Just yesterday, he forced me to look at a bunch of photos of women. And this morning, he forced me to pick one woman out of those women to become his daughter in law."

"Pfft..." Joanne laughed openly.

"Hey! I'm in deep shit here, and yet you're over there laughing! Are we even friends?" Shawn covered his face with a folder. "Do you know what it felt like yesterday when I'd been forced to look at those photos? It feels like picking out pork meat at the wet market."

Joanne shot him a look of sympathy. She patted Shawn's shoulder. "If push comes to shove, you should pick one and then meet her. I mean, it's not like you have something to lose. What if you end up falling for her? Then you'd get your happily ever after."

"You think everyone's so lucky as you? You're married to the person you have feelings for," Shawn said, pulling at his hair. "Whatever. Let's not talk about this and get to work. We didn't crack that homicide last night."

After a day of hard work and through the combined effort of the entire team, the case was finally closed by afternoon. The murderer was arrested and brought to justice. It took merely 48 hours for their team to close the case, for which the chief commended them.

Captain Turner proposed that they all have a celebratory meal together, and Joanne was the first one to agree, "Nice! It's been a while since we've all shared a meal."

"Hey, correction," Hannah said. "You should add 'after I got married' to that. People like us who are single and lonely would still have gatherings from time to time."

Everyone gave Joanne teasing looks which were decidedly inappropriate. Redness crept up to Joanne's cheeks. "Well, I won't absent from today's gathering, that's for sure!"

"Why don't we skip the restaurants. It's getting old and boring, to be honest," Hannah said excitedly. "Why don't we hit a bar instead?"

The team was filled with young adults, each of which had a strong yearning to let loose after work. One after another, everyone agreed to the suggestion. They had a simple meal at the station before driving towards the bar.

Joanne and Shawn rode in the same car. During the ride, Joanne was chewing over a thought. In the end, she decided to call Gavin anyway to ask if Brian had gone home.

"Nope," Gavin said. "We're all doing overtime today. Just wait for two more hours, and then he'll be back."

"I'm not trying to badger him to come home," Joanne said. "I'm out with my colleagues right now. Can you let him know?"

There was an unprecedented aloofness in Joanne's voice. "Oh," Gavin said woodenly. After that, Joanne hung up.

There, she had called him today. Surely, Brian did not have a reason to be mad at her now?

"So you guys got into a fight, huh?" Shawn said, shaking his head as he drove. "I knew it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have agreed to go with us to the bar."

"He's the one who's been acting strange." Joanne swiped at her phone's screen to kill time. "I don't feel like going home to face him."

It was more like she was scared to face Brian.

She was afraid to see him treat her with nothing but indifference. It would only intensify her internal turmoil and fuel the panic brewing inside her heart.

At the bar, the group of seven or eight squeezed into a booth. Some of them played games, while others flirted with other bar-goers. The waiting staff brought pint upon pint of beers to their booth. Joanne remembered Brian's words,"You're not allowed to drink alone."

Would he be angry at her if she drank?

"Joanne, what's with the doldrums? Why are you staring off into space? Miss your Mr. Brian already?" Hannah opened the beer bottles with practiced ease. "You up for a game of dice? The loser has to drink!"

Joanne gritted her teeth and made her decision. "I'm in!"

"Now that's more like it!"

Hannah handed her the dice, the dice cup, and a bottle of beer. Joanne took all of them. Shawn watched Joanne's "I've-got-nothing-to-lose" attitude. "Aren't you worried that your Brian will be mad at you?" He asked her in a muted tone.

Joanne lifted her chin. "That's the plan. To make him mad!"

If there were a game where its players would find it outright impossible to stop playing, it would be the game of dice. Although Joanne was familiar with the rules of the game, the others were all experts in the game; it would be impossible for her not to have a drink or two. It did not take long for the space in front of her to be occupied by two empty beer bottles.

Shawn knew that she could not hold her liquor well. He stopped her when she was about to keep playing. "Joanne, time for you to stop playing."

Joanne pushed Shawn's hand away. "How can I be a spoilsport and ruin everyone's fun?"

Seeing that she was dead set on drinking herself under the table, Shawn did not bother to stop her. Instead, he drank together with her. After a while, another empty beer bottle appeared in front of Joanne; Shawn had an entire row of them.

"I'm done," Shawn said, rubbing his head, which was already spinning. "Joanne, why don't we get some air outside?"

Joanne's head was spinning as well, so she allowed Shawn to drag her out.

They were in Arlington's famous bar street. The foliage of the London plane trees which lined the two sides of the streets had already begun browning. By the time autumn arrived, this entire street would be covered with a layer of golden leaves. If a car were to speed along the street, the leaves would dance and flutter behind the tires, creating a beautiful view.

"Ugh-"

Joanne felt sick to her stomach the moment she took in a breath of fresh air. She crouched down and started dry heaving. Shawn patted her back. "Feels bad, huh? Come on. I'll take you home."

"No." Joanne shook her head and stood up indignantly. "I don't want to go back."

Shawn had no idea if the alcohol had messed with his mind, but he found his hand traveling upwards to hold Joanne's cheek. "Joanne, what's going on between you and Brian? Aren't you happy?"

Joanne's eyes turned red at the rims. She lowered her head and bit her lip without saying a word. There were happy times, but Brian... he was acting so strangely.

For the first time, Shawn saw Joanne's dejected look. He hugged her gently, the type of hug shared between friends. "How nice it would be if the person you like isn't him."

Hot tears stung Joanne's eyes. "I wish the person I like isn't him too."

That way, she would have no reason at all to be panicking right now, nor would she have to fear the demise of their marriage before its promised two years; she would not feel so miserable.

Shawn heaved a long sigh. "Don't go back inside. Wait here for me. I'll go get my keys and drive you home."

Joanne nodded and then crouched down on the ground, hugging her knees to herself.

It just so happened that now was the hour for energetic night owls to make their appearance. A few of them came up to flirt after seeing Joanne crouching there all by herself. Joanne barely spared them a glance as she dismissed them with a simple "I'm married". After that, they all left with sheepish looks.

Soon, Shawn came out with his keys. "Hail a cab for me. I can go back on my own," Joanne said.

"As if I dare to do that. Have you forgotten what happened to Freya last time? What if you encounter the same kind of a douchebag, too? What would you do?" Shawn passed the key to the designated driver and opened the door of the backseat. "Either I send you home, or you call Brian to come to get you. I won't let you go back alone."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Joanne climbed into the backseat of Shawn's car.

She did not know if she would encounter those douchebags, but Shawn's warning had reminded her of the fact that Ava was tailing her. Plus, she was inebriated right now. It was best if she is cautious. At the same time, she did not want Brian to come to pick her up.

That was why she allowed Shawn to take her home.

The white BMV weaved through the night. Joanne leaned in the seat lazily. She remained awake, though she did not feel up for conversation. Shawn did not ask her anything either.

Not 50 minutes later, the car pulled up in front of a villa.

"Thanks," Joanne smiled hazily at Shawn and opened the door to get out. She did not expect to see Brian getting out of his car.

She smiled again. "Oh, what a coincidence. So you just got back as well."

Brian detected the reek of alcohol on her the moment he got close. His eyes darkened instantly. "Where were you?"

Joanne blinked a few times, seemingly incapable of coming up with an answer. Just then, Shawn pushed open the door and stepped out of his car. "We broke a case, and the entire team went out to celebrate. We played some games at the bar. Joanne had a few drinks."

"Why are you the one who brought her back?" Brian asked coldly.

Shawn shrugged. "I did ask her to call you, but she didn't want to."

"I didn't dare to call you," Joanne said as she stumbled her way to stand in front of Brian. "Gavin said you guys had to do overtime. What if I called and disturbed you while you were in the middle of work? Honey, am I a kind and considerate wife?"

She had gotten herself drunk again.

Brian grabbed Joanne's hand and began to drag her indoors. Joanne struggled against him all the way. "Brian, let me go!"

He yanked her towards him and stared her down dangerously. "Have you forgotten everything I told you?"

"No." Joanne shook her head innocently. "You told me not to touch alcohol if I'm alone outside. I never forgot."

"Then what have you been drinking back at the bar?"

"Alcohol!" Joanne said. All of a sudden, she noticed the angry look on Brian's face. She patted his chest. "Don't worry. I didn't drink alone. I was drinking together with Shawn! I'll be fine as long as Shawn's there."