She was only away from home for two days, but it felt like a long time to Joanne.

Entering the living room and seeing those familiar faces one by one, a smile finally registered on her face.

Freya rushed over and hugged Joanne. "I was almost scared to death, and Chris wouldn't let me see you."

"You would only have been stopped by the police, so you might as well be with my brother at home." Joanne patted Freya's shoulder. "I'm fine now! And you can see me anytime!"

As she finished, she heard a rustle and felt drops of water from above her head.

Joanne wiped her face and looked at Iris in doubt, who was sprinkling water on her with leaves.

"This will help you get rid of bad luck!" Iris handed a towel to Joanne. "Dry your face. In the future, all the unlucky things will stay away from you!"

There was no such custom in Arlington, so Iris must have heard it from someone. However, she usually wouldn't believe in such things. This time, she might be really scared, thus she used this kind of folk method, which was only comforting to the people who practiced it.

Joanne wiped the water drops on her face smilingly.

Anyway, at this moment, she really believed that back luck would no longer fall on her head.

"All right. As long as you've come back, let's eat." Martha reminded everyone.

After the meal, Joanne wanted Iris to stay the night here, but Iris insisted that the chauffeur send her back to Orchid Gardens.

"I'm old. I can't fall asleep in a new place." Iris rolled down the windows and waved at Brian and Joanne. "I should go back, and you should rest early too."

Chris and Gavin left subsequently as well. The servants cleaned the dining room and went back to their rooms. Only Joanne and Brian stayed in the spacious house.

Joanne threw herself onto the soft king-size bed and dragged a pillow to bury half of her face into it. She was now completely relaxed and then felt the mattress beside her slightly sink. She didn't need to guess to know who it was.

She lazily lifted her eyelids and looked at Brian. "Won't you take a shower? "I've prepared your clothes."

"Do you remember you asked me how I knew that Ava was involved?" Brian said, "Rowdy dropped the lead."

"He-" Joanne was a little dazed. "Why did he save me?"

Brian looked at Joanne for a while and said, "Be careful with him in the future. And don't run about by yourself." Once was enough for her to be seen as a murderer.

Joanne nodded, threw away the pillow, and got off the bed. "If you're not going to, then I'll go take a shower."

She carried her clothes into the bathroom and casually pushed the door closed. However, she didn't hear a click when the frame and the door met after a long while.

She twisted around in doubt and saw Brian's hand holding the frame.

"You..." Joanne widened her eyes and said only this one word. By then, Brian had already gotten in. "Together."

"Why?" Joanne put both arms in front of her chest for protection.

Brian dragged her into his arms and she couldn't tell if he was smiling or not. "To save water and time."

However, the fact was taking a shower together did not save time at all...

At the same time, Freya and Chris were on their way home.

Mr. Norris knew Joanne was fine, so he called Freya a long time ago to ask Freya to come home early.

Nevertheless, Chris's car was driving toward his apartment.

Freya let out a heavy "ahem" and hesitated for a while before saying, "I'll go home after I collect my things at your place."

After that, she secretly glanced at Chris and felt upset. His face did not change at all and he just blankly nodded.

Had he grown tired of her?

Freya soon dropped the idea, which only belonged to those bored women.

Well, that was fine. If Chris wouldn't let her go, she would have to deal with a problem from both sides.

After collecting her things at the apartment, Freya clutched the car keys and waved at Chris. "I'm leaving."

Just when she walked out of the room, someone pulled her back by the wrist.

He pressed her against the wall.

Freya couldn't breathe at the moment and widened her eyes in front of Chris, whose eyes grew dark. Her lips moved but Chris chimed in. "Do you really want to leave?"

He stared at her like a crouching lion waiting in the dark.

"My dad wants me home!" Freya used Mr. Norris to threaten him. Only in this way could she sound confident.

"I'll see your parents the day after tomorrow."

Mr. Norris had been refusing to meet with Chris, and things couldn't continue like this. Chris initially planned to visit the Norris Family recently, but no one had expected something big would happen to Joanne, so he had to put off his plan.

It was all of a sudden to Freya, and she didn't react at all when Chris had kissed her on the lips.

Recently, because of Joanne, Chris hadn't been in the mood. At the moment, he kissed her so hard and so tenderly that her walls broke down inch by inch. She had utterly forgotten Mr. Norris's order.

...

The next day when Freya came home and saw Mr. Norris sitting sullenly on the sofa, she knew she was doomed. She dryly smiled and walked over to pour tea into the cup in front of Mr. Norris. "Mr. Norris, don't worry anymore. Joanne's fine and went home yesterday!"

Mr. Norris sneered. "Joanne went home yesterday, then where were you yesterday?"

Freya looked guilty and became speechless.

"Bang!"

Mr. Norris thumped on the tea table and knocked down the entire tea set. A few drops of tea splashed onto Freya's instep, but she seemed to not feel the pain and just looked at the furious Mr. Norris, dazed.

"Am I wrong for having spoiled you?" The veins on Mr. Norris's temples stuck out. "Freya, do you know how degrading you are in Chris's eyes? You didn't even come back after I called you. You don't listen to me anymore, do you?"

Freya was trying to tell Mr. Norris that Chris would visit him soon. However, now she was so scared by Mr. Norris that she couldn't say a word.

"Go get the marriage certificate with Travis!" Mr. Norris ordered in a nonCnegotiable way. "Or you can get out of this house and I won't be your father. You won't call me dad forever!"

Hearing him, Mrs. Norris hurried downstairs and stopped her husband. "Freya is wrong, but do you have to be so upset?"

"I don't have such a shameless daughter! Don't defend her!" In the heat of passion, Mr. Norris tossed away his wife's hand, and Mrs. Norris awkwardly fell onto the sofa. "Or you can leave with her too!"

In Freya's memory, this was the harshest words Mr. Norris had ever said to her and her mother.

She hurried to pick her mother up from the sofa. "Mom, are you OK?"

"I'm fine." Mrs. Norris waved her hand and kept tugging the hem of Freya's shirt to signal her. "Go apologize to your dad."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Freya stubbornly looked at Mr. Norris. "Why am I wrong for being with the one I love? Why am I shameless because of that? Dad's being stubborn! All he talks about is Travis this, Travis that. I won't come back if that's what dad wants!"

Freya kicked away the scrapes of the teapot on the floor and left the house without so much as a backward glance. Seeing this, the bodyguards came over to stop her, but her look was crueler than ever. "Don't follow me!"

Those tall and robust men became timid due to Freya just like that, and just watched her leave in her car. When she rushed out from the house, Mrs. Norris couldn't even see the taillights.

Freya didn't have any appointments in the morning and didn't know where to go. In the end, she drove to the building of Everbridge Group.

She used to come here often. However, since she once leaked Chris's proposal, she had not come back again.

She still felt nervous about showing up here, so she asked Jack to fetch her from the underground garage, and take her directly to the president's office.

"Miss Norris, Boss Scott will finish the meeting in 30 minutes. Please drink something while you wait." Jack put a glass of juice in front of Freya, closed the door, and left.

Freya felt bored, so she ran about in the office, but still couldn't figure out what the painting on the wall was about even after thinking for a while. She didn't know how long it had been before she heard Chris's footsteps. He walked in and looked her up and down. "Didn't you say you were going home? Why are you here?"

Freya bit her lip and told Chris about the big fight between her and Mr. Norris.

Chris held her hand, and she hurriedly asked, "Where to?"

"Your home."

"No way!" Freya stopped Chris. "I know my dad. If we see him now, we can't even get in the house. We should wait until he calms down."

Moreover, if Chris had arranged to see Mr. Norris tomorrow, he must have had important work to do today. She didn't want to interrupt his plan.

"And don't go tomorrow." Freya added, "He won't calm down until a few days. This time, he's really mad at me..."

"I'll go home with you and we'll apologize to him together," Chris said.

"I don't think he'll accept a random verbal apology now." Freya thought about it. "Well, how about this! I'll be having my last knockout round in a few days. Get me two tickets for them. Mr. Norris hasn't seen my performance live yet. If he wants to forgive me, he'll show up there."

Jack soon sent two tickets. Freya merrily put them away, and then wrapped her arms around Chris's neck. "What's your arrangement in the afternoon?"

Chris pressed her against the wall and stared at her lips with a pair of urgent eyes. "I'll discuss the purchase of Scott Group with Brian. But I can put it off."

When he lowered his head and was about to embrace Freya's lips, Freya stopped him.

Freya asked in doubt, "With Brian? Why?"

"Patricia has been giving TV interviews and it has affected Joanne a lot. He suddenly wants Scott Group too." Chris pushed away Freya's hand. "Any other questions?"

"No." Freya smiled. "But I've got work to do in the afternoon." Pushing Chris away, she straightened the neck of her shirt with a serious face. "So, no!"

Chris frowned. "What work?"

Freya thought about Chris's rules about her work, she didn't dare to tell the truth. She tried to avoid his eyes. "Just some photo shoot!" Afraid of more questions from Chris, she grabbed his hands and leaned toward him. "Do you have any appointments at noon? Can we have lunch together? I want hot pot."

Chris didn't miss the guilt in Freya's eyes, but he didn't say it out loud. He asked the secretary to send in two magazines. "Wait for me. I'll take you to a friend's restaurant after finishing the work at hand."

"Which friend?" Freya didn't remember which friend of Chris's was in the food business.

"You've met him." Chris said, "Wesley."