I chose to ignore the dried purple rose and called for Smokey instead. Smokey obediently ran over and jumped onto my bed swiftly without even acknowledging me. I put the dog tag around its neck and adjusted it left and right. It looked pretty good. “Do you like it? This is your ID card from now on.” After playing with Smokey for a while, I glanced over to the cylindrical container. I raised it high up in the air and admired it from my bed. The light from the incandescent lamp shone through the crystal to the rose inside, making it look ethereal. Dominic was tight-lipped and did not even give me any clues, although he would call me every day.He even made James do this errand for him. Considering that it was James, Dominic probably owed him a huge favor now. As I fell into a trance looking at the rose, my phone rang and Dominic's name appeared on the screen. As soon as I picked up the call, Dominic asked, “Did you receive it? Do you like it?” I placed the rose on top of the bedside drawers and accidentally caught a glimpse of my smiling face in the mirror. “I guess so. When did you prepare this? You didn't even tell me about it.” Dominic chuckled and answered casually, “If I told you beforehand, it wouldn't be a surprise.” I made a face, but it did not hide my good mood. After chatting for a while, Dominic requested to switch to video mode so that he could see Smokey. Smokey was strange too. It only met Dominic about two times, but it seemed to remember him. It could not stop barking when it saw Dominic on the video call. If I did not stop Smokey, it would have started licking my phone. I could not stand how much of a lackey Smokey was and kicked it into the living room and locked my door. Once Smokey was kicked out, it stopped barking obediently. Its obedience was one of the reasons why it was everyone's favorite. When there was no more commotion outside my room, I continued my video call with Dominic. Although we met during New Year's Eve, it had been almost half a month since we saw each other. No matter how much I did not want to admit it, I knew that I missed him deeply. I did not feel much when we did not see each other. However, seeing Dominic suddenly made me miss him so much that it felt torturous. I got to hand it to those couples that are doing long-distance relationships. Even if technology is very advanced, and they can meet each other online anytime and anywhere, it is still only through a screen. It's sad that they cannot touch or hug each other. Looking at Dominic from the screen, I felt a pang in my heart and my eyes reddened. I did not want Dominic to see it, so I quickly ended the call. After that, Dominic called me again, and we finally ended the call after chatting for a while more. Hanging up the phone, I let out a long sigh full of helplessness and frustration. I turned off the lights and lay on my bed, staring at the rose on my bedside drawers for a long time before eventually falling into a deep slumber. Because of the lack of proper rest, I was not my usual self and kept yawning when I went shopping with Mom in the afternoon. Mom even berated me for that. After shopping for the entire afternoon, I could not take it anymore and went to sleep without eating dinner and picking up Dominic's calls. It was midnight when I woke up, and there were dozens of missed calls and messages from Dominic. Taking into consideration of the time difference, I decided to return a message to lessen Dominic's worry. Two minutes after I sent my message, Dominic called me. He scolded me and demanded to know the reason why I ignored him and did not return his calls and messages. I was perplexed. I did not sleep well last night because of you. I shouldn't have replied! He's so fierce to me. “Mr. Hartnell, I accidentally fell asleep. Why are you so worked up? It's midnight here and if you keep on talking so loudly, the roof is going to fall.” He scoffed coldly and lectured, “How is sleeping an excuse? Why are you sleeping so soundly? Did you not hear the dozens of calls I made? Are you deaf?”I was exasperated as I had accidentally switched my phone to silent mode. Luckily, it was midnight for me, so after lecturing me for a while, Dominic let me off. However, before he hung up, he made me promise to inform him if I wouldn't be able to pick up my phone. I found it annoying as I did not understand why he would make such a fuss about such a small thing. However, I was rendered speechless upon hearing his last sentence. He said, “I will worry if I can't find you.” At this moment, I really wished for Dominic to return soon so that I could make a decision. Two days went by and it was the day of Nicholas' press conference. He had told me the day before that Jake would fetch me beforehand. Then, we would go to the airport to Yaleview together after the press conference.When Jake and I arrived at the hotel, he wanted to bring me into the press conference room, but I rejected as I knew there were many reporters inside. I decided to wait in the car for Nicholas as the press conference would not take too long. True enough, after half an hour, Nicholas got in the car in a good mood. As we were familiar with each other, we naturally started chatting. Arriving at the airport, we entered through the VIP lane and came to a private lounge. We boarded the plane earlier with no issue when it was time to go. Upon reaching Yaleview, we rushed straight to meet the film crew. I thought Nicholas would have to start filming immediately. I was slightly concerned about his health as he had just recovered. However, the film crew was very caring and did not arrange any scenes for him that day. They requested him to rest instead and to start filming the next day. Since I came with Nicholas, our rooms were arranged next to each other. I entered my room and lay on the bed after putting my luggage aside. I was slightly tired from all the traveling, although I had not done much. As I was about to fall asleep while hugging my pillow, I heard a knock on my door.