Love Began with the First Meeting

"Hmm.... Hm..."

Frightened, Molly groaned struggling to keep her eyes open and frantically fighting to pry away the hand that covered her mouth. The horror of it all felt surreal, like a bad dream you wished you'd wake up from. From somewhere, she heard someone say in a low voice,"You are such a stupid woman!"

The tone of those words tasted like salt and bile. Bitter, malicious words, but unmistakably a familiar voice. When she finally stopped struggling, the oppressive hand over her mouth was removed.

"Humph! Do you want everyone to hear you scream?" Brian took a contemptuous, sarcastic glance at Molly.

Glaring at him, Molly said in a huff,"Since you suddenly drew me, I was very frightened."

"Are you such a coward?"Sarcastically, with a straight face, Brian continued,"You only put on an intrepid face when you know it's me!"

Already, Molly had given up on her idea of making an apology to Brian. She bit her lips, stared him straight in the face and asked through clenched teeth,"Didn't you leave just now?"

In response, Brian snorted coldly,"I won't just leave you here alone. I would have to rescue you if you were to be abducted by others. I wouldn't want to let such thing happen again and be involved by any means."

"You could just stand by!" Angrily, Molly probed, her mood sour as green gooseberry.

The words made Brian sneer. With a raised brow, he asked,"Do you think Edgar will rescue you if I don't?"

Those words took Molly by surprise. She couldn't put her finger on a plausible answer. After a short silence, she spoke in a measured voice,"I think, it's you who's always thinking about him, not me!You're such a crazy man, Brian Long. I think you suffer from not only schizophrenia but also IAD! Illness Anxiety Disorder," she remarked.

jacket more tightly and walked straight on,

kindness she noticed in him, she'd concentrate on that. As flawed as he was, it wasn't lost on Molly that her own father had done her and the entire family untold injustices. It was on account of the indolent old-man's debts that Molly now found herself in Brian's hands. Unable to pay off the debts, she had agreed to being Brian's demi-mondaine for a month. A last-ditch, desperate means to financial settlement. But what other chance

"Ah!"

grabbed her arm again. Without a word, he pulled her and

and followed her right in. Tony cast a glance in the rear-view mirror and then started the car and drove away

happened earlier. Their car was just cutting a corner when Brian told him to stop. From there, they

among revelers, but she easily stood out from the crowd, looking so contemplative. She was completely out of place like a square peg in a round hole.

wrapped in Brian's coat, the waitress uniform underneath. The cold wind must

was willing to show his emotion like this. In

on Brian's mind. Perhaps, Harrow was right. Something had

Brian still didn't take any action to look for Becky. Tony had thought before that if Becky knew about Brian's philandering, she'd come

back. Moreover, Brian also seemed

Molly didn't talk to each other. Brian looked morose. Likewise, Molly kept a straight face, pensively taking in the neon lights through the car window, as if those lights were crystal balls that contained clues to the puzzles of her life. In her mind, she kept simulating possible alternate scenarios of surviving the following ten days without incurring his unreasonable anger. She also got a bit excited

lit up, although she was cautious,

point, the awkward

casting a dubious glance at Brian who was looking at her with interest, almost like he wanted

"Little Molly..."

her phone number. Now that Brian sat beside her, she thought it must have been Daniel calling. Without bothering to check who was calling, she was about to speak,