Three days later.

With the joint effort of two squads, they made a breakthrough in the case involving the small town. Still, the past few days had been gruelling, and Joanne and the rest were all exhausted.

Also exhausted to the point of paralysis was Gavin.

Brian had been a complete workaholic for the past few days. Every morning, he would arrive early at the company and get straight to work. If he had no business-related social gatherings to attend, he would have his lunches and dinners in his office. Every day, he would be at work for 16 hours straight.

As Brian's special assistant, Gavin was also dragged into this madness. Brian's other secretaries and assistants suffered the same fate as well. Nonetheless, everyone could tell that Brian was in a foul mood, so they did not dare speak up. The only thing they could do was ask Gavin about it in private.

Gavin shook his head. "It's better for you guys not to know."

Only work could numb Brian at this point. The only way he could stop himself from thinking about Joanne was by exhausting his mind so much that it could no longer function. The exhaustion would also allow him to fool himself into believing that Joanne was right beside him whenever he lay deliriously in her bed at night. It would allow him to fall asleep amidst his own lie.

That heaviness would hit him square in the chest when he opened his eyes the next morning and saw the empty bed. When that happened, his only option was to dive head first back into work.

That was how Brian's life got trapped in this vicious cycle.

Not a few days later, Gavin could no longer tolerate the high workload and was practically foaming at the mouth. Gavin burst into Brian's office around 11pm that night. "Enough of this shit! I'm going to tell Joanne everything right now!"

"Gavin," Brian growled. It was rare for Brian to give Gavin such a dangerous glare, but right now, he did. "I told you before. She can know absolutely nothing about this."

"Then, what, you're going to keep this up?!" Gavin roared. "Do you know that you'll soon collapse?! Who do you think you are, huh? The man of steel?"

Brian suddenly realized that Gavin had been doing overtime together with him for a few days straight. He put down his pen and said, "You're allowed to go home and rest."

"I'll bring you home first," Gavin said in defeat, loosening his tie. In the car, Gavin said, "Giving Joanne the right to choose, my ass. How is she supposed to make a choice if you don't even have the guts to tell her the whole truth?"

Brian shut his eyes. "She has already chosen Shawn."

Gavin went silent for a moment. "But why do I feel like things aren't the way they seem?" Gavin muttered. He had looked into it before, so he knew that Joanne and Shawn had always been on friendly terms with each other. But even so, he was absolutely positive that their relationship was platonic. There was only pure and innocent friendship between them and nothing more.

Gavin decided to conduct another thorough investigation, and this time, he would use Chris as the starting point. As Joanne's brother, Chris must know everything about Joanne like the back of his hand.

Gavin did not expect to receive a call from Chris just after he had sent Brian home.

"Do you have time to meet?" Chris asked him on the phone. "But don't let Brian know."

"Yeah. Just as well, since I was planning to see you too." Gavin turned the car around and drove away from the villa district. "Where are you?"

Chris was currently sitting inside a booth in a bar. Gavin drove quickly and arrived at the bar in just thirty minutes.

The first thing Gavin did the moment he sat down was rotate his shoulder blades and arms to loosen the knots in his muscles and joints. Chris poured him a glass of alcohol. "You only got off work now?"

"Big boss had gone off his rocker. Pawns like us can only indulge his craziness by doing overtime with him." Gavin swirled the glass in his hand. "So, you're asking to meet me to discuss the thing between Joanne and Brian, I presume?"

"Indeed," Chris said, pinching the bridge of his nose to soothe his headache. "It's only been half a year, and yet they are talking about getting a divorce."

"Joanne had admitted that she's in love with Shawn," Gavin said, thinking that this was a good opportunity for him to probe deeper into the matter. "She's the one who asked for the divorce. I'm sure you'll agree too if you were in Brian's shoes."

"Seriously? Did Brian not use his head to think things through?" Chris frowned. "Do you really think Joanne's personality would allow her to marry Brian if she really has feelings for Shawn? Let me tell you something, man. She would rather herself be kidnapped by Steven than go through with the marriage."

"Right? That's what I though too. I mean, Joanne doesn't seem to me like the type of person who would tolerate-" Gavin stopped short as the penny dropped. He stared at Chris with wide eyes. "What did you just say? What do you mean by that?"

Chris swayed the glass he was holding; the sparkling and transparent liquid formed a beautiful arc as it swirled inside the glass. "I meant it exactly in the way you've understood it."

Gavin was thunderstruck, so much so that he was rendered immobile.

People used to say, "What is clear to bystanders often eludes those who are directly involved." In this case, the aphorism was perfectly fitting. From the perspective of a bystander like Gavin, Joanne's shyness and awkward blushes during her interactions with Brian were all clear signs of the affection she had for him. Add to that the fact that her face would turn beet red whenever anyone teased her about her relationship with Brian. Was it even possible for someone with Joanne's personality to react in those ways without romantic feelings being at play?

If Joanne harbored no romantic feelings towards Brian, her only response to such teasing would be a cold stare followed by a simple, "Don't joke around."

"I knew it!" Gavin thought. "What? Joanne had feelings for Shawn? Bullshit! That doesn't even make sense!"

"This is Joanne's secret. The reason I'm telling you this is because I want you to be frank with me about something," Chris said. "How does Brian really feel about my sister?"

"Well, let me put it this way, then." Gavin smiled. "The main reason Brian had agreed to Joanne's demand for a divorce was because Joanne had admitted that she had feelings for Shawn. He was hurt, but at the same time, he wanted Joanne to find genuine happiness. But get this. Ever since Joanne left for Sanquill Town, Brian started acting abnormally. He worked sixteen hours per day every day, and when he went home, he didn't even sleep in his own bedroom. Instead, he slept in Joanne's room. In fact, Joanne's room was the only place he could fall asleep in. So, why don't you tell me how he feels about your sister?"

Understanding dawned on Chris. He massaged his temples. "This is clearly something that can be easily resolved if they could just sit down and talk things through like adults. Man, what are those two even thinking?"

The smile on Gavin's face froze at that comment.

He had forgotten entirely about the most crucial aspect of everything: Rowdy.

Rowdy was actually the biggest reason that drove Brian to agree to Joanne's request for a divorce; it was no longer safe for her to remain by his side.

Then again... should he tell Brian about Joanne's feelings?

"Forget it," Chris said, putting down his glass. "I'll have a chat with Brian after Joanne returns from Sanquill Town. I'm actually curious about how the guy would react if Joanne really does end up together with Shawn."

Gavin released a hollow laugh and left the bar with a troubled heart.

When Brian arrived at the company the next day, he immediately noticed the strange look on Gavin's face. Then again, he had often seen such a look on Gavin. Every time when someone asked Gavin about that look, Gavin would just smile gleefully at them and then show them the pictures of two women,"Hey, hey. Who do you think I should ask out tonight?"

Brian no longer paid Gavin's facial expression any heed after the second time he had seen it today. That was until the afternoon, when Gavin had decided to linger around his office after dropping off some documents for him. Somehow, Gavin seemed reluctant to leave, and he looked as if he had something to say. "Is there something you need?" Brian asked finally.

"I..." Gavin trailed off in hesitation. "Argh. Forget it. Better to let Chris to be the one to tell you."

Brian narrowed his eyes. "So this has something to do with Joanne," he thought.

He closed the folder he had been reading. "What did Chris say to you?"

"You'll know about it soon enough!" Gavin said, walking towards the exit. "All I can say to you right now is that it's better for you should think carefully about your divorce with Joanne! Things aren't... Things aren't what they seem."

In the end, Gavin chickened out and did not tell Brian the truth. Gavin knew better than anyone else the lengths that Brian had gone through all these years for Joanne. If Brian found out about Joanne's true feelings... Well, the whole of A City might start to shake.

Brian failed to guess what it was that Chris had told Gavin. Still, Brian's understanding of Gavin's character told him that something was not right. "What the hell did he mean by 'things aren't what they seem'?"

What the heck did Chris tell him?

He suddenly remembered something from a few months back. Chris had come to him that day and requested him to sign Freya on as part of Lambert Group Media Co. . Chris had promised him back then that he would return the favor by revealing a secret about Joanne. Could it be

...

When office hours ended today, Brian did something completely unprecendented: he skipped overtime. He had called Chris's office himself and asked to meet Chris.

"I was planning to come see you after Joanne's return," Chris said. "But since you've called, why don't you drop by my office?"

Brian ordered Winston to drive him to Everbridge Group's building. Downstairs, he was received by one of Chris's assistants, who brought him straight into Chris's office.

In the spacious office, Chris sat on the couch with a frown, holding a cigarette between his fingers. He was obviously awaiting Brian's arrival.

Brian sat down on the armchair beside him. "Isn't it about time you fulfill the promise you made a few months ago?"

"So now you remember?" Chris laughed helplessly. "I honestly thought you would've discovered it on your own before I even get the chance to tell you. After all, Joanne was already acting so obvious around you, and I even gave you three months."

Brian had a feeling what it was that Chris wanted to tell him.

For the first time in his life, Brian actually felt nervous, like he could feel his own breaths clearly and distinctly. His heart drummed against his ribcage, beat after beat, as if his heart could burst through his flesh any second.

"What do you mean?" Brian tried to keep his voice steady and calm. "What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

Chris put out his cigarette. "You know, there was a period of time when I really hated you," Chris began slowly. "Do you know why? Well, here's the thing, I practically raised Joanne, and I see her like my most precious treasure. It was also because of my fondness for her that she tended to ignore most of the guys her age. Until you showed up, that is.

"That was when I suddenly discovered that my younger sister would talk about you all the time. She was only ten that year, just a kid who wore her heart on her sleeves, not knowing how to hide her own thoughts from others at all. And she was so happy every time she talked about you. Hell, the way she said 'Brother Brian' sounded even more affectionate than the way she called me, her biological brother. Tell me, how was I supposed to like you with all that going on?

"Seeing her like that back then, I knew right away just how bad things were. Indeed, my fears came true by the time she got older. Although she never told me a thing, I still noticed the way her eyes would brighten up whenever I mentioned your name. She would never miss out on a single news article about you. One time, I deliberately revealed to her that you'll be playing golf every weekend. And guess what? She followed me right to the golf course. But it just so happened that you didn't show up that day. I teased her about it, and after that, she never attempted to have a chance meeting with you again. I guess you're the only one who could vary her skin's thickness, so to speak."

"What about the time when she was applying to study abroad? A lot of famous universities had sent her offers back then, and yet she chose Columbia University. She picked it because that was where you had gone to study. When she returned to the Americand I told her that I could arrange a meeting between you two, she was so happy that her eyes were practically glowing. But that glow didn't last long at all. It disappeared from her eyes almost as soon as it appeared, and I saw it vanish with my own two eyes. She felt unworthy of you. She thought you were out of her league. For all she knew, you were no longer that Brother Brian from fourteen years ago. You're now a glowing beacon in the business world with a beautiful celebrity as a girlfriend. She thought there was an unbridgeable gap between you, that you were beyond her reach, and that it was impossible for her to be with you. That was why she did not even have the courage to see you and had chosen to keep her feelings carefully locked up.

"She's such a proud person, and yet she felt inferior because of her feelings for you. Did you honestly think that I'm incapable of protecting her and was therefore forced to ask you for help? I just wanted to give my silly sister a chance to approach you. I knew that there was nothing going on between you and Rosalyn. I also believed that you would eventually discover her feelings for you.

"And yet you ended up buying all that crap about her and Shawn? Do you think she would even agree to marry you if she really is in love with Shawn? Do you still not understand her personality after living under the same roof for half a year?"

"Brian," Chris said, looking as if he was currently experiencing a massive headache. "Everyone says you have sharp, discerning eyes. But why? Why did you fail to notice the affections that Joanne had harbored for you for over a decade?"