Keeping his face completely neutral, Brian released a long breath and tamped down the frustration brewing inside him.

Clark entered the room to pack up their things.

Joanne had only been staying here for a day, so there was not much to pack in the first place. The only things that required packing were Brian's laptop and a bunch of documents. "Is there anything else, sir?" Clark asked when he was done.

Brian did not want anyone else to see the state Joanne would be in when she came out. "No. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Clark left the room with all their belongings. Around five to six minutes later, the bathroom door slowly slid open. Joanne walked out with her head hung low, not daring to meet Brian's eyes. All of a sudden, Brian picked her up from the floor, leaving no room for protests.

Joanne's skin was unusually sensitive after Brian had touched her just now in the bathroom. When Brian picked her up, she gasped and looked at Brian, the word "pervert" already forming on her lips.

But it occurred to her that Brian had acted like a pervert for countless of times in the past, so she stifled her words.

To Brian, seeing her red-faced and embarrassed look was a long time coming. Suddenly, he felt an urge to tease her. "Aren't you going to reward me for my help?"

"You? Helping? Please. This isn't you helping. This is just you being a pervert," Joanne retorted mercilessly.

Brian lowered his head, bringing his lips to her ears, stopping only when his lips were perhaps less than one centimeter from her earlobe.

Joanne felt a tickling sensation in her earlobe. The flush on her cheeks deepened instantly. She tried to pull away, though she had nowhere to retreat to. She tried putting some distance between them by shifting in his arms and curling into his chest. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked.

"When you get better, I'll let you know what 'acting like a pervert' truly means."

Brian's hot breath, which was about as erotic as the tone of his voice, caressed Joanne's delicate earlobe. The meaning behind his words was both overt and muddled at the same time. The heat on Joanne's cheeks was so great that she felt as if her face was about to explode.

She recovered after a while and started to struggle against him. "Let me down!"

Brian decided to stop making her life difficult right then. He placed her onto the wheelchair compliantly and pushed her out of the room.

When they got downstairs, the car was already waiting for them. The driver was a middle-aged man who spoke with the local accent of City Z. "Mr. Lambert, Mrs. Lambert, Clark had gone ahead to the airport. I'm here to drive you both to the airport."

Brian nodded to indicate to the driver that he had understood. After that, he carried Joanne into the car's backseat.

Joanne was unable to stay seated for prolonged periods of time due to the wounds on her waist. Despite the soft pillow that Brian had used to support her back, her wounds began to hurt again about half an hour into the journey.

"Step on it," Brian ordered the driver.

"Yes, sir!" The driver stepped on the accelerator, and the car sped up considerably. Still, the boost in the car's speed did nothing to alleviate Joanne's pain.

Brian pulled Joanne into his arms. "Do you want to lie down?"

Joanne shook her head. The car was not spacious, so she would not be able to lie down properly anyway. However, her pain was so unbearable that at one point, she pinched Brian's arm and said, "This is all your fault!"

Brian's heart ached to see her in so much pain. He pushed the bangs away from her forehead. "Hold on for a bit. We'll arrive at the airport soon."

It took another half an hour for them to finally arrive at the airport. After going through the VIP security checks, Brian quickly took Joanne aboard the plane.

They were using his private jet, which contained a small cabin that was large enough to be comfortable. Brian carried Joanne into the cabin and lay her down on the bed. The soreness on Joanne's waist, which felt as if something had bitten into her flesh, was considerably alleviated.

"I'll ask the flight attendant to stay here with you," Brian said, combing his hand through Joanne's hair, "I need to go take care of something."

"Nah. It's fine. I just want to sleep," Joanne said. She was not used to having someone there watching her sleep. "Just go do your thing. I'll call you if there's anything. Don't ask for the flight attendant."

"Mm," Brian said, draping a blanket over Joanne's body. He bent down and kissed her forehead before leaving.

Joanne did feel quite sleepy before. But now... it seemed like Brian had kissed her drowsiness away.

She touched the center of her forehead where she could still feel the warmth of Brian's lips.

Actually, Brian had done something like this before. But during those times, she could only remember herself being shy and embarrassed. She failed to appreciate the love and affection behind the gesture.

She wondered what her life with Brian would be like in the future.

Since she and Brian had feelings for each other, then would they have a happy ending like in fairy tales? Would they get their lives happily ever after?

No. That could not be right. She had to give Brian a child first. Two, if it turned out that he liked children. Ideally, they would have a boy and a girl. Their children would then carry their blood and legacy into the future as they grew up. She and Brian would steadily grow old...

Then again, in order to have kids... Um...

Joanne blushed for no apparent reason at all. She yanked the blanket over her head forcefully, warning herself to stop that train of thought. She had to stop thinking!

Kids? Please. She had not even confessed her feelings to Brian yet. Her top priority right now should be her love confession!

As for when her love confession would take place... Well, she had to pick a time that Brian would least expect, of course!

In her mind, Joanne pictured their future together to her heart's content. She fell asleep not long after. Perhaps the future she had pictured for them was too grand and it wore her out.

It was Brian who woke her up later. The first thing she heard when she opened her eyes was Brian's voice. "Joanne, we've landed."

Joanne's gaze automatically went to the window. She glanced outside and saw that the aircraft had indeed landed. But it did not look like the airport's airfield outside no matter how she looked at it.

"Where are we?" she asked suspiciously.

"The hospital," Brian answered while helping her to her feet, "We've done all the transfer paperwork. You'll be staying here for half a month."

Joanne had always had an aversion to hospitals. Upon hearing that she would be staying here for half a month, she suddenly felt disinclined to take another step. "I'll stay with you the entire time," Brian added.

In the end, she resigned herself to let Brian carry her off the aircraft, since it was unreasonable to hide inside the aircraft forever. That was when she realized that they were alighting from a helicopter instead of the private jet, and that the helicopter had landed on the hospital's rooftop helipad.

She could disregard the fact that he had opened and run a private hospital, but to build a helipad on the hospital's top floor...

Freya had been right. Brian was truly a top-class billionaire...

Once they got off the helipad, Joanne noticed that Iris and Freya were both there to receive them. When they saw Brian carrying Joanne off the helicopter, they ran towards them. "Joanne," Iris said with a pained expression, "how are you feeling now? Are you still hurting?"

Everything hurt like hell, but Joanne forced out a wan smile and held Iris's hand. "I'm alright, mother. Just some minor injuries that'll heal quickly."

"Minor injuries?" Iris said incredulously, "I've already read the doctor's report." Iris appraised Joanne. "I've already asked someone to prepare the room. Brian, take Joanne back to the room first."

Joanne was placed into a wheelchair once again. Freya observed her briefly before she remarked, "Good thing you didn't hurt your face."

There was a private suite on the top floor of the hospital's ward. The renovation was such that the suite looked exactly like a two-room apartment. The suite came with a kitchen and a living room as well. This was exactly the suite that Iris had arranged for Joanne.

"What's the difference between staying here and staying at home?" Freya exclaimed after taking in the room.

"Joanne," Iris said, "the doctor had gone through your reports from the hospital back in City Z and thought it best if you have to stay here for at least half a month to fully recover. You need to spend the time here to rest properly. And while you're here, you need to put your work aside."

Joanne nodded obediently.

Brian glanced at the time. "I need to take care of something at the company." He paused, turning to Joanne. "Mother and Freya will keep you company. I'll be back tonight."

"Mm," Joanne said, trying her best to keep her inner petulance at bay. Then, she watched Brian leave, heaving a sigh of relief when he did.

Iris sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I wouldn't even have known that you've gotten hurt if I hadn't forced Gavin to tell me. I went to him after I couldn't get in touch with you. How could Brian agree to let you go somewhere that far for a job trip?"

"I..." Joanne rubbed the tip of her nose guiltily. "Mother, it's not his fault. It's me... I just..."

"Got into a fight, didn't you?" Iris cut off Joanne's stammering, hitting the nail right on the head. Then, she sighed and shook her head. "Good thing you're okay. If something were to happen to you, I don't think I can face your mother after I die."

"Mother, please don't say that." Joanne said. Then, her tone turned serious and she made a promise to Iris. "It won't happen again, I promise. We won't get into a fight again next time. We'll deal with everything calmly instead of throwing tantrums."

"What's the reason you two got into a fight this time?" Iris asked.

"Just, just some trivial matters. Please don't worry. We've dealt with our issues." Joanne smiled, trying to breeze past the subject. She hugged Iris's arm and said playfully, "Mama, I miss your soup."

Iris laughed. "We don't have enough crockery here. I'll make some when I get home."

"Thank you, mum."

Freya approached her after Iris left. "Trivial matters? Didn't seem like trivial matters to me."

Joanne, who was now lying on the bed, stared at the snowy white ceiling. "Well, you've got it right. I even asked Brian for a divorce..."

"What the fuck?!" Freya nearly choked on her own spit. "So serious? And then?"

"And then, and then it was like I was in a dream."

Joanne came clean to Freya about everything. After hearing all of it, Freya, despite her claim that she was someone capable of accepting pretty much anything she heard, suddenly found herself too stunned to react. Dumbstruck, she stared at Joanne.

After a long while, Freya was finally able to process everything she had heard, not without difficulty, of course. "In other words, you and Brian had liked each other for so many years, but neither of you had decided to show it and had even stupidly thought that each of you has feelings for other people?" Freya summarized.

"..." Joanne nodded.

Freya was so worked up that she almost slapped the bed and stood up. "Holy shit!" Freya exclaimed. "Usually, you two seemed to me like people with high IQs. I mean, you triumph over us mere mortals in pretty much all aspects in life. But right now, I honestly feel like... I feel like you guys are fucking idiots."

"..." Joanne was speechless and thought, "Are we still friends?"

Apparently, Freya had taken an interest in the matter. "But what's your next move, huh?" she asked excitedly, "I mean, even the aloof Mr. Brian had confessed his feelings. What about you?"

"Of course I have to give him a proper confession in return," Joanne said, pausing for a while, "But I have to find the right time to do it."

"Clever!" Freya snapped her fingers loudly. "You need to string Brian along and keep him hanging. You can throw in a bunch of seductive plays occasionally and tease him out of his mind. And then, when the right time comes, bam! Confession! Take him in one fell swoop. He'll definitely be obsessed with you forever."

Joanne smirked. "He has already been obsessed with me. Otherwise, he would've looked for other women throughout these years."

"Aha!" Freya said as she suddenly remembered something, "That's not necessarily the case, you know. I mean, sure, I get that the gossip columns never revealed anything. But how sure are you that a man like Brian wouldn't have three or four ex-girlfriends lying around? Hell, that's just against the laws of science! Plus, he spent his time in the US before starting his company, right? And you know the people as well just how open they are over there."

"Well, I never did ask about it..." Joanne pondered for a moment. "But I know that Brian isn't someone who messes around."

"You'd better find out to be sure," Freya said, "If there's nothing, then all is well. But if it turns out that there is something, you should take the necessary precautions! Women nowadays have terrifying home-wrecking abilities. They're exceptionally good at stealing your man if you're not careful. And let's not forget that your man is one with deep pockets."

Joanne was speechless. "..."