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Ian Sterling looked a little embarrassed. He rubbed his nose, though his tone was stubborn.

“I’m not that kind of person.”

For once, Lynn Winslow played along. She nodded, took out the box Ian Sterling had been so eagerly anticipating, and dangled it before his eyes.

“Guess what this is?”

Ian Sterling reined in his thoughts, forcing himself not to guess it was a ring. “Cufflinks? A tie clip?”

Lynn Winslow chuckled and flicked Ian Sterling’s forehead. “Tell me what you’re really thinking,” she said with mock disdain. “Stop making wild guesses.”

Ian Sterling let out a small sound, his voice pitiful. “I want to guess it’s a ring, but I’m afraid you’re just teasing me and messing with me again…”

‘I’ve teased the poor guy so much he has PTSD,’ a flash of guilt crossed Lynn’s mind, but it was gone in an instant, vanishing without a trace.

“Close your eyes.”

Ian Sterling obediently closed his eyes, biting his lip as he waited in nervous anticipation.

He felt Lynn Winslow take his hand, and his heart began to pound. A cool object was placed in his palm, but it felt nothing like a ring. He snapped his eyes open and stared at the cufflinks resting there.

“You—” Ian Sterling looked like his hair was about to stand on end. “See?” he said loudly, his voice full of grievance. “You are just messing with me!”

Lynn Winslow took a step back to lean against the nightstand, unable to stop herself from bursting into laughter.

Just when Ian Sterling looked like he was about to cry from frustration, she took the ring from the box and slowly slipped it onto his finger.

“Don’t be upset.”

Ian Sterling couldn’t quite process it yet, sniffling pitifully as he stared at the exquisite diamond ring on his finger.

Lynn Winslow rested her hand on the back of his. The two rings—different in size and design, yet clearly a matching set—now lay side-by-side. At last, Ian Sterling’s grievance subsided.

He held Lynn Winslow’s hand next to his own, examining their ringed fingers together before asking seriously, “When did you order this?”

“When you were having the engagement ring custom-made for me.”

Once she realized Ian Sterling was having an engagement ring made for her, she had secretly contacted the designer through Jasper Jennings and their other friends. She’d asked the designer to create a pair of rings, sending the woman’s version to Ian and the man’s version to herself.

Only then did Ian Sterling understand. Lynn Winslow had been secretly planning this all along, preparing a surprise for him for after his proposal.

The entire evening had been a rollercoaster: from feeling wronged to being happy, then back to being shocked and wronged, and finally to an indescribable state of excitement, surprise, and elation. Ian Sterling felt like his brain had short-circuited.

His lips parted, but whatever he wanted to say seemed to get stuck in his throat. Lynn Winslow held back a laugh and pinched his cheek. “What’s wrong? Are you in shock? Still haven’t recovered?”

Ian Sterling nodded and stammered, “You… you were… you were secretly planning this for so long.”

“Yup. Pretty impressive, right? Being able to keep it from you for so long.” Lynn Winslow lifted her chin, looking a little proud. “You have no idea how hard it was. I wanted to give it to you so many times, but I had to force myself to wait.”

“…”

Suddenly, the smile vanished from Ian Sterling’s face. He stared at her quietly, his expression not at all what Lynn Winslow had expected from her surprise.

Lynn Winslow asked in confusion, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”

Ian Sterling pressed his lips together and said, enunciating each word, “If you can hide this from me now, what else will you hide from me in the future?”

“Huh??” Lynn Winslow was baffled.

“What if you fall out of love with me in the future? If you can’t bring yourself to leave me, so you find someone else on the side, would you hide that from me completely, too?”

Lynn Winslow was finally getting a taste of her own medicine. She had used a similar excuse just yesterday to kick Ian Sterling out while she prepared this surprise, and now he was using the same logic to render her speechless.

“Can’t you be a little more reasonable?”

Lynn Winslow sighed, but Ian Sterling stubbornly held on to her, pressing her for an answer.

“It’s already four in the morning. If we don’t sleep now, we’ll sleep until evening tomorrow. Can we just wash up and go to bed? We can talk about this tomorrow,” Lynn Winslow said, trying to change the subject and stop his incessant questioning.

But Ian Sterling wouldn’t let it go. Annoyed by his persistence, Lynn Winslow stood on her toes, bit his lip, and mumbled a threat, “Say one more word and I’m taking the ring back. You hear me?”

“Wicked woman.”

After saying that, Ian Sterling picked Lynn Winslow up and carried her into the bathroom.

By the time they returned to the room, the sky was already beginning to lighten. Lynn Winslow, sleepy and exhausted, was already passed out. Ian Sterling, however, sat on the edge of the bed, staring intently at the ring on his finger.

The more he looked at it, the happier he felt, and his excitement became impossible to contain. He grabbed his phone and started snapping photos, even pulling Lynn’s hand into the frame for a joint picture. In the end, he assembled a nine-photo grid and posted it to his social feed to show off.

At this hour, probably only Nigel Abbott was awake. He casually left a “Congratulations” in the comments, earning a grinning emoji from Ian Sterling in return, as if bestowing a great honor.

He was wide awake now and feeling clingier than usual. He pulled Lynn Winslow into his arms and laced the fingers of his ringed hand with hers.

He only stopped when Lynn’s hand grew sore and she swatted him away in annoyance.

So, he got up, crept downstairs, and sat on the rug, where he proceeded to unwrap every single gift Lynn had given him, taking a picture of each one and posting it to his feed.

Matching watches, cufflinks, a tie clip, matching earrings, gaming gear…

Every single item suited Ian Sterling’s taste and hobbies perfectly. He loved them all.

People on his friends list, bored during their morning commute, opened their social media only to be astonished to find their feeds completely spammed by Ian Sterling’s endless stream of show-off posts.

Spencer Sterling was in the courtyard getting some fresh morning air. When he saw the posts, he looked disgusted, but the corner of his mouth twitched into a small smile.

‘This younger son of mine is a bit of an embarrassment,’ he thought, ‘but he also makes me look good.’

Without caring whether his old family friends had already seen it, he took screenshots and sent them out to each one individually. After that, he left his phone downstairs and ambled upstairs to find his wife.

Ian Sterling’s ostentatious display had a singular consequence: his childhood friends, and even his nodding acquaintances from the social circuit, were all suddenly being pressured by their families to get married.

Jasper Jennings and Kenneth Keller had it the worst. Zachary Quincy managed to escape the ordeal because he woke up late and constantly claimed he still wasn’t over Esther Abbott.

「At the top floor of the Jennings Group building.」

Jasper Jennings stood before Mr. Jennings, listening to his own father’s lecture, one reprimand after another. When he was finally dismissed, he gritted his teeth and called Ian Sterling.

“Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through?”

At that moment, Ian Sterling was wearing the matching watch and earrings, gazing at the ring on his hand. A smug smile spread across his face as he drawled, “What’s wrong?”

“My dad is pushing me to get married now! He said you got lucky and found a great girlfriend, so I should go find one too.” Jasper Jennings sounded like he wanted to punch Ian to feel better. “Stay out of my sight for a while,” he said viciously.

Ian Sterling pretended he didn’t understand. “Oh?” he asked, his voice laced with amusement. “Why? Did Mr. Jennings set you up on some blind dates, so you’re too busy to see me?”

“…Ian Sterling, I hate you.”

Jasper Jennings hung up. Before Ian Sterling could even laugh, Lynn Winslow’s voice called from upstairs.