The second day-

The shade curtain couldn't block the sun, but Joanne still slept unconsciously.

She had always loved to sleep, but this time, the sleep seemed to last forever. When she woke up, it was as if she had slept for a long time, but it also seemed to have only been a few hours. She couldn't tell which the day it was.

"Awake?"

Brian's low and magnetic voice sounded overhead, like a pulling string, connecting everything to Joanne's mind.

Her cheeks were suddenly red.

Not daring to look at Brian, she silently pulled up the quilt, trying to hide herself under the quilt and make herself disappear from his sight.

At this time, a gust of wind swayed the curtains, unexpectedly making a ray of the sunlight penetrate the room for a moment, and then it disappeared.

This sunlight was enough to make Joanne wake up. She blinked her eyes. "What's the time?"

Today was Monday! Monday!

Brian looked at the time, and obliviously said, "11 o'clock..."

Joanne closed her eyes, and she only wanted to pretend to be dead.

Brian softly smiled and gave Joanne comfort. "I helped you ask for leave."

"With what reason for taking time off?" Joanne unconfidently asked.

"Discomfort."

His tone was gentle with clear words, and it was not different from his usual tone. But the smile at the final sound made Joanne feel that there was a deep meaning.

Her little face became redder abruptly.

Brian was quite satisfied with her shy appearance and jokingly teased her. "And what about the reason for the leave?"

"Well!" Joanne couldn't help but shrink into the bed. "Good, very good, very good..."

Brian raised the corner of his lips and suddenly leaned over to her ear. "The gift you gave me is also very good. "I like it very much."

"Whoosh!" Joanne pulled the quilt up and completely covered herself. "Don't say it again!"

Brian said nothing, but Joanne clearly heard his pleasant laughter.

When time passed, the sound of Brian washing up came from the bathroom. Joanne kicked the quilt off with a long sigh of relief, and her cheeks were flushed like bloodshot.

As Brian came out with a tidy suit and saw Joanne clutching the quilt and entrancingly looking at the ceiling, he went over to her.

Joanne heard the familiar steps, and looked at Brian like a frightened deer. A noticeable unnaturalness flashed across her face, and then she quickly looked away.

"You, you go away, I'll get up!" After saying that, Joanne felt strange again. "Are you also taking time off?"

It was a reasonable thought because Brian was much busier than her. But at this time, he was still at home, it wasn't rational!

"No," Brian said, "I'm skipping work."

His look was so calm and the smile that stretched from his eyebrows was so pleasant. Joanne naturally thought that Brian might just have not wanted her to wake up alone.

The apex of her heart was as sweet as honey, soaking the whole heart.

She got up, thought about it, then swept the bedding, and sneaked into the bathroom.

The smile around Brian's lips was as big as before. He walked over and drew back the curtains, and the warm sunshine poured into the room and shone on the furry white carpet by the bedside.

He suddenly felt that this small bedroom was not so crowded.

Joanne changed her clothes and saw Brian standing by the window as she came out. The sun was shining into the room onto her feet, and she felt inexplicably warm.

She and Brian were really a true couple.

She no longer had to use the reports about him to comfort herself with fantasy, and no longer needed to secretly feel hurt while watching him and Rosalyn's anecdote.

Joanne walked over and took Brian's hand. "I forgot to ask you one thing yesterday."

"Why didn't my mother say 'happy birthday' to me herself?" Brian asked.

Joanne nodded. "And it's strange that you haven't celebrated your birthday for so many years. By rights, your mom likes to keep busy, so why she didn't help you celebrate your birthday?"

Brian pulled Joanne to sit down on the sofa. "Because a few days later is the anniversary of my father's death."

Joanne was shocked, and many doubts in her heart instantly unraveled.

It turned out that this was the reason-Brian's birthday was too close to his father's deathday, so he dared not to celebrate his birthday.

At this time, trying to joyfully celebrate would be extraordinarily heavy.

Iris never really forgot the sadness of losing her husband. Those few days each year should be the most difficult time for her.

How could she be in the mood to help Brian celebrate his birthday?

"I don't know." Joanne was a bit confused. "I helped you celebrate your birthday yesterday, whether or not Mom will..."

"Little fool, Mom won't blame you." Brian kneaded Joanne's long hair. "You did what she wanted to do, but couldn't. How could she blame you?"

Joanne raised her eyes to look into Brian's.

They were really beautiful.

The sharpness in his eyes made them look deeper, but she still couldn't understand the emotions hidden by those eyes just like 14 years ago.

Joanne opened her mouth and wanted to ask about Brian's father's car accident. But those words turned into other words. "When you get off work in the afternoon, let's go to the Orchid Gardens to see Mom!"

She also had lost her closest relatives, so she felt empathy, but she still wanted to wait for Brian to tell her voluntarily.

When Brian could calmly accept the fact and fully recover from the hurt, he would tell her.

After lunch, Joanne rested at home and Brian went to the company.

Before going out, Brian seemed to have a few words with Simon. Joanne didn't listen carefully, holding a mobile phone and chatting with Freya.

Freya said that she also just got up.

Hey, wasn't she insisting on going to bed early and getting up early for a long time? Did she break that trend today?

An afternoon was very short, and time slipped by fast from the fingertips. Joanne woke up after taking a nap and the time for Brian to get off work hadn't arrived yet, so she simply lay in bed and played with her phone.

Inadvertently, she saw a piece of entertainment news-

The Hollywood film Return of the Jedi was completed, and Han Ruoyi returned to China.

Rosalyn...

This woman who had a winning claim to Brian hadn't appeared in Joanne's sight for a long time. If it weren't for her sending a club from the United States back to Brian, Joanne almost wouldn't have been able to remember her.

It's not that Joanne's memory was not good, but during this time, Rosalyn had very few news pages about her.

During Lambert Group' anniversary celebration, Joanne and Rosalyn wore the same outfit, but Joanne unexpectedly didn't lose to Rosalyn. In addition, the diamond thing made Rosalyn lose face. After going abroad, she concentrated on filming, not to make herself news, so the public had naturally forgotten her disgracefulness.

Joanne also almost forgot her rival.

But now, was she back?

The photo in the news was taken at the airport. Rosalyn wore a fitted casual outfit with a big pair of sunglasses, holding her hands in her pockets, and slightly headed toward the exit with long steps. Fans and entertainment reporters surrounded her, and it was really the style of a queen.

Joanne felt that Rosalyn was "returning with a momentum", which gave her a very bad feeling...

In order to stop herself from thinking blindly, Joanne called Iris and said that she and Brian would go to see her later. Not long after she hung up the phone, Brian came back.

She let out a sigh of relief and jumped out of bed and grabbed Brian's hand. "Let's go to the Orchid Gardens. I just called your mom, she said that she would prepare some foods and wait for us."

When they were inside the Orchid Gardens, Iris just prepared the food and warmly said, "You've must be hungry after a day of work, come and eat."

Joanne almost forgot everything when she saw the food on the table and blurted out, "Mom, I didn't go to work today."

"Today is Monday, why didn't you go to work?" Iris confusedly asked.

Joanne just said, "Emm," and later discovered that she had dug herself into a pit, so she silently asked Brian for help, hoping that he would think of a persuasive excuse...

Arm around Joanne's shoulder, Brian smiled while saying, "She overslept."

Joanne was stunned, but Iris expressed her understanding. "I was carefree when I was young, and I also liked sleeping."

However, as she aged, she had more and more regrets and lost more and more, and those regrets slowly ate away at good sleep.

Joanne vaguely noticed the sadness in Iris's tone and gave her some broccoli. "Mom, try this."

After the meal, Brian received a call from the company and went into the study to answer it, while Joanne accompanied Iris to chat in the living room.

Joanne saw that Iris's spirits weren't high, then she thought about it, and said, "Mom, how about I take another day off tomorrow and call Mrs. Megan and the others to come over to play cards with you?"

Iris smiled and held Joanne's hand. "Joanne, I know what you are thinking. I'm not unhappy, I just miss Brian's father."

Her gaze was unfixed in the air, and a bitter smile was on her lips. "He was very busy during that time, and didn't even have time to celebrate Brian's 16th birthday. According to our plan, when he ended the lawsuit, our family would go on vacation and make up for Brian's birthday. Later, he finally won the lawsuit, and just the day before we were ready to go on holiday, the car accident happened and he suddenly left us..."

Joanne remembered her mother's death, and it was so sudden that she was still immersed in happiness the day before, but after 24 hours, her world had collapsed...

"When the car accident happened, Brian was also in the car. His father was desperately protecting him, so he was fine." Iris's eyes gradually became wet. "The person in the most pain is actually Brian. He saw his father die in blood. Until now, I still dare not to see the report of that car accident, and I dare not to look at the pictures of that time. But that scene, the beginning and the end of the tragedy, are in Brian's mind.

"It has been so many years, I don't know if he has forgotten it. I don't even dare to ask him about the scene. Because I didn't dare to face it, I didn't give him many comforts. I am not a competent mother."

"Mom." Joanne hugged Iris, like a child in her mother's arms. "Brian won't blame you. I will accompany him in the future, and no matter what it is, I will face it with him."

Iris nodded and erased the tears that burst out from her eyes. She said with a smile, "You don't have to worry about me. Once these few days have passed, I'll be fine."

"You could move to live with us," Joanne said again, "so that we can stay with you every day!"

"Thank you for thinking about me." Iris patted Joanne's hand. "But I'm probably unable to move out from here for the rest of my life. But I promise you, I'll occasionally go to stay with you for several days and make you a good meal."

Joanne nodded. "OK."

She understood that Iris was still immersed in the past memories and was not willing to leave. It was rare for her to say that she would go to stay with them occasionally.