Gavin grew embarrassed, and decided to escape first. "I'll be going back to work."

Brian extended his hand to Joanne, and she held it obediently. With the thermal lunchbox in her hand, she hastened her pace to match his.

Joanne took special notice when they passed by the assistant's office.

It seemed like everyone was even busier than before, but the atmosphere in the office had not changed much. The typical panic at the verge of danger was not present; not a bit of chaos. Everything was in order and steadily progressing as always.

After entering the office, Joanne pushed the lunchbox to Brian. "I've brought you lunch."

Her dainty face was grinning from side to side. Brian's heart fluttered for a moment, and in the next moment, he pulled her in by her waist and kissed her on the lips.

They thought they were going to stop just after having a quick taste.

But they had been too busy lately, and the only time they had together was to exchange a few words before sleeping. It was only that time when Brian realized that he had missed the little monster's sweetness more than ever.

It was Joanne who forcefully pushed Brian away in the end. She pursed her lips, and asked, "I heard Gavin mention some Southern Union Bank earlier on. Are you going to get a loan from them?"

Southern Union Bank was a foreign investment bank. Joanne had heard that their newly appointed loan manager was a returnee, who had grown up overseas. He was very young, yet farsighted and accomplished.

Could he give Lambert Group the hope to survive?

Brian said, "I will be attending a cocktail party the day after, to meet their loan manager."

The previous group of people at the golf course had left Joanne tramautized. She was hesitant, "Would this person..."

"They won't." Brian knew what Joanne was worried about. "Oscar grew up in the United States, and is Westernized in his ideas. Even if he was going to reject the deal, he would be doing it in a gentlemanly way."

"..." Joanne looked at Brian speechlessly-it was a crucial period. How could the man still be so at ease about the possibility of being rejected?

Considering that the chance of Southern Union Bank rejecting Lambert Group' loan request that time, then Lambert Group... would really be done for.

Brian ironed out Joanne's knitted brows, and decided to reveal his plans to her anyway, "If Southern Union Bank were to reject my application, I will still have other ways to help Lambert Group. "Stop knitting your brows. You look like a little old granny."

"What ways do you have?" Joanne's eyes were shimmering in curiosity.

Brian acted secretively, pinching her face. "I'll tell you when it's time."

Joanne pouted, refusing to continue fooling around with him. She said, "I'm heading to the police station."

Two days went by quickly; Joanne accompanied Brian to the cocktail party.

Joanne dressed in her usual style: a simple long gown, her hair bunned up simply. She used light makeup, making her small face look incredibly charming.

She held a cup of cocktail in one hand, the other arm was locked to Brian. She would often receive praises like, "Mrs. Lambert is so pretty", but regardless of whether they were sincere or diplomatic, she would accept them all with a smile, and adroitly reciprocated with compliments.

She had been to many of such occasions with Brian, and had learned so many more things than she did in school.

They were already done walking around the event hall, and suddenly a man's voice called from the side, "Mr. Lambert."

It was a strange but somewhat familiar voice. Joanne subconsciously looked in the direction of where the voice came from, and she was stunned.

The man who Rosalyn was kissing at the top floor of the hotel, was right beside Rosalyn at that very moment.

They were locking arms according to social ettiquette. It was not particularly intimate, yet anyone could see right through that they had an intimate relationship.

Brian leaned towards her, and said into her ear, "The loan manager of Southern Union Bank, Oscar."

"Boom-" It was like something had exploded in Joanne's head.

-He listens to me. You better remember that.

Joanne finally understood why Rosalyn had said those words to her.

She subconsciously tightened her grip on Brian. She asked, "Why is Mr. Evans together with Rosalyn?"

"I'm not sure," Brian said. "I've never heard of them knowing each other."

"..." But, did Rosalyn not say that Oscar had been wooing her for a year?

Among the state of confusion, the four people had come to meet.

Oscar initiated a handshake with Brian. "Mr. Lambert, nice to meet you."

Brian shook hands with Oscar, and introduced Joanne to him, "This is my wife."

"I had heard that Mrs. Lambert was young and beautiful. Now I get to see it for myself in person." Oscar shook Joanne's hand very gentlemanly, and then looked at Brian. "Mr. Lambert, shall we go somewhere else quiet to speak?"

Joanne loosened her grip on Brian. Brian whispered to her, "Go look for Gavin. I'll come look for you after I'm done."

She nodded, and watched Brian and Oscar walk into the lounge, then turned to look at Rosalyn. As expected, there was a smirk of sarcasm on her beautiful, charming face.

"Joanne," Rosalyn said. "I hope you haven't forgotten what I told you."

"What are you trying to say?" Joanne paused and then said, "Or shall I ask you, what do you want?"

Rosalyn had told her, Oscar strongly obeyed her.

She was simply hinting that, if she were to pull some strings, chances that Oscar would grant Lambert Group' a loan would increase greatly.

But, with such a good opportunity, why did Rosalyn come to her to request for conditions, instead of Brian?

"My condition is-for you to initiate a divorce with Brian."

Just when Joanne was feeling perplexed, Rosalyn gave her command in the most arrogant way.

Joanne could not help but sneer. "Rosalyn, you must be crazy."

"That's right. I've gone crazy." Rosalyn closed in on Joanne. "Since I can't have him, then neither can you! As long as you divorce him, then I can convince Oscar to grant the loan to Lambert Group. Otherwise, you can wait and watch him be burdened with debt and eventually go into bankruptcy!"

Joanne shooked her head with determination, "Even if he went bankrupt, I would stay with him to rebuild what we had. Rosalyn, you've miscalculated."

Heh, did you think it was a clich soap opera?

Even if Southern Union Bank did not grant the loan, Brian would still have other ways. Even if Brian had no other way to go, he would still not agree to a divorce just to get a loan from Southern Union Bank.

"Rosalyn." Joanne looked at the glamorous star with pity for the first time. "Do you really like Oscar?"

"I don't like him." Rosalyn was honest, smiling as she said. "But Brian needs something from him. This is why I had agreed to date him."

Joanne was left speechless, and was no longer willing to say another word. She turned to leave.

She started liking Brian even before Rosalyn did, and she believed that her love for Brian was not any lesser than Rosalyn's. Yet, she would never lose herself like that.

Rosalyn was no longer the strong and independent queen her fans saw her as.

Gavin was chatting with a few people when Joanne approached him and said, "Brian asked me to come look for you."

Gavin took her away, and replaced the cocktail in her hand with fruit juice, saying, "Don't indulge on cocktail like it's not alchohol. You'll get drunk once you drink too much of it. If you get drunk, I would be doomed."

It was only then that Joanne noticed how Gavin was being a rather considerate and attentive person. She looked at him curiously and asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

As far as she could remember, Gavin had been following Brian forever; it had not seemed as if there had been any women around him.

That made no sense. Even though Gavin could be a bit frivolous, he was surely reliable whenever he was working. And he was comparable to Brian in terms of looks. Unless...

Gavin asked back instead, "Sister-in-law, do you want to introduce anyone to me?"

Joanne took a sip of juice, and said calmly, "Before I introduce anyone, I need to first confirm your sexual orientation."

Gavin glanced at Joanne, and said in a lighthearted manner, "Don't worry. My orientation is very mainstream, very normal. Your Mr. Brian is very safe."

Joanne glanced at the lounge. It seemed like Brian would not be done with the talk so soon, so she decided to nose around with Gavin a bit more, "Have ever had a girlfriend?"

"It's your Mr. Brian who never had a girlfriend up until this age," Gavin said. "Too many female celebrities had exhausted all ways to try to stick by his side, but he had never looked at any of them properly. Now that I've mentioned it, Mr. Brian is really a somebody."

There was a sense of blissfulness in Joanne's honesty as she spoke, "That's because he likes me!"

Gavin smiled all of a sudden; his tone changed to a sentimental sighing, "Yeah, he has always liked you."

He liked her to the extent that, even when Lambert Group was in such a serious crisis, he would rather lower himself to seek everywhere for a loan, in order to not let Joanne down and not put her in danger. He would probably have never agreed to such extreme methods to save Lambert Group until the very last moment.

When the two of them were still chatting, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around Joanne's waist. A familiar presence enveloped her. She turned to see; it was indeed Brian.

She asked excitedly, "How did your talk with Mr. Evans go?"

"Mr. Evans said he would need time to consider," Brian said.

"... Oh." Joanne allowed only disappointment to surface, while repressing the uneasiness inside her.

Would Oscar trully obey Rosalyn completely?

Brian lifted the sides of Joanne's lips with his fingers, "The fact that Mr. Evans is willing to consider, means that Lambert Group still has chance. You should be happy."

Joanne forced a smile, and continued to follow Brian around to meet people.

The business world was transitory and ever-changing. For anyone to be accomplished, they would have to become extremely shrewd. If not because Joanne had deliberately taken note, she might not have been able to tell the subtle difference in attitude those people had towards Brian.

They were still polite as ever, but there was an additional attitude akin to a spectator who was waiting to watch a good show.

Everyone was waiting for Brian to lose that battle, and watch him become the butt of the joke.

Joanne could not fathom, what sort of faces they would be making by then.

It was already past 11 p.m. when they got home after the event ended. After Joanne was done removing her makeup and bathing, she lay in bed as Rosalyn's voice uncontrollably resounded in her head.

-initiate a divorce with Brian.

Initiate... a divorce...

She turned over and buried herself in Brian's embrace, ordering herself to stop thinking about it. But her mind was beyond her control, being completely filled with Rosalyn's voice.

She transformed into the Little Monster, crawling onto Brian.

Brian was surprised for a moment, then squinted his eyes, and solemnly looked at Joanne.

Joanne mustered her courage and dived in, going right for Brian's lips, kissing them.

Just like when she had stolen a kiss from Brian, her heart was pounding, then turning flustered very quickly-what should she do next? Who was going to tell her what to do next?

Brian raised his brows at her. She bit her lips, and let go of him at once. "I won't do it again!"

"Stupid."

Just as he finished speaking, Brian had already gotten the tables flipped, flipping over to pin Joanne down instead.

He brushed her fringe apart, and smirked. "Mr. Lambert is going to give you a lesson. Learn carefully."

"..."

When she woke up the next day, Joanne had forgotten how many times Brian had taught her.

Of course, she still could not master it.