Chapter 155：The Man Behind the Star (5)

Joann could not help but notice this. Then again, other than suddenly going silent, Xu Jing kept his gaze locked onto his wife's face. Therefore, it would have been impossible for Joann to miss that.

The fieriness of his gaze made Joann feel uneasy and that was a rare emotion to evoke in Joann who was familiar with dealing with public appearances.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Xu Jing smiled and said, "Nothing..." but that was before he added, "Joann, have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

In spite of herself, Joann could not help but blush. In their marriage, Xu Jing was not one to be stingy with his compliments but sitting there with the great view of the city just next to them, it felt special in a way.

Due to both of their hectic schedules, Joann had to admit there had been a lack of romance in their lives. However, if viewed from Xu Jing's perspective, while he had been ready to kick up the romance in their lives, his wife wasn't always receptive towards it. She would give excuse like she was too tired from work, they were too old to do something like that or something along those lines.

Xu Jing told himself to brush it off as his wife being a person who was not a natural romantic. However, as his advances kept getting rebuffed, the man was forced to ask himself, had his wife stopped being attracted to him?

Xu Jing, being the kind of man that he was, never once brought this up with his wife. He internalized it as his own problem and tried his best to work on it.

The truth lied something in the middle. Joann did love Xu Jing in her own way but as the man continued to debase himself before her, she slowly become contented inside their marriage. She was given the impression that Xu Jing would never leave her nor escape from underneath her fingertips.

After all, if you're one hundred percent certain something will forever be yours, why would you waste energy and time to fight for it?

Joann stopped working that hard to maintain their marriage since Xu Jing was working hard enough to fill in for the both of them. However, at the end of the day, a single hand could not clap.

Unbeknownst to either of them, the romantic night-out was something they needed to rejuvenate their relationship.

The night was going well and it felt like they were slowly getting into groove but suddenly...

The maitre 'd returned with a bottle of wine. He coughed and turned to address Joann, "Miss Joann, the flavor profile of this wine will go perfectly with the main course that you've ordered. Would you like to open it now or keep it frozen until the food is served?"

Thus, the magic of the moment was broken. Joann turned to the maitre 'd with confusion written plainly on her face. "But the wine we ordered has already arrived. I don't remember us ordering an extra bottle."

The maitre 'd explained, "It's on the house."

Joann took the cue and flashed a professional smile. "Thank you and in that case, would you please put the bottle to the side for now, thank you again."

This was something she was used to doing when she was recognized in public. It had become sort of a systematized response for her.

Before Xu Jing's eyes, Joann shed the identity of his wife and took on the cover for the celebrity, Joann Fong. The intimacy from before was gone because his wife had now taken on the public persona.

Even though Xu Jing hated to think that way, he sometimes wondered whether his wife prefer to be a celebrity more than she preferred to be his wife.

This was actually in line with what was stated above. Since Joann did not feel the need to spend so much of her effort on maintaining her marriage with Xu Jing, it meant that she could expend her energy elsewhere and one of the larger aspect where Joann took pains into maintaining was her persona as a public figure.

Joann did not see anything wrong with that. We have been telling our boys that they have to be focused on their career and while not explicitly stated, we're also saying in the same vein that family can come second. Viewing herself as an independent woman, Joann failed to see what was wrong with her adopting that philosophy. If it was good enough for the men, then it was definitely good enough for the women as well.

After the maitre 'd left, Xu Jing said, "Where were we?" in an attempt to recapture the magic but it was already gone for good.

When they passed through the restaurant earlier to get to their table, they, well, mainly Joann had managed to attract the attention of many of its customers.

Out of politeness, they did not want to jump on her so directly. They were dining at an upscale restaurant and it was decorum to not disturb other guests but Joann was that big of a star. Even the upper society would not mind having her signature. They decided to give her some time to enjoy herself first and that time was coming up. People had been throwing sneaky glances their way and they were probably waiting for someone to go first and they would follow behind.

Needless to say that was not conducive for a romantic atmosphere.

In the end, it was a pair of sisters who led the way. Based on how they were dressed, they were probably the second generation of a rich family.

"Miss Joann Fong?" The elder of the two asked cautiously as they approached Xu Jing and Joann's table.

"Yes?" Joann turned and flashed them a smile that she reserved for her fans. To be honest, she had noticed their arrival from the corner of her eyes a long time ago so she was more than prepared to deal with this.