Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 103 The Banquet, Where Nightmare Began (Part Three)

his arm.

When Eric's car stopped outside the manor, a waiter came and opened the car doors for them. Eric gave his car keys to the waiter to have the car parked. Then, he walked to Molly's side, stretched out his arm and, wearing a playful smile on his face, beckoned her to hold But Molly didn't budge as she was hesitating. Baffled, she looked at Eric's arm and then looked at his eyes.

Ignoring her embarrassment, Eric grabbed her arm and wrapped it around his own. Raising his brows towards Molly, he said like a naughty boy, "You're my female companion tonight. Do you mean to walk in separated ways with me?" Without giving Molly the chance to say anything back, Eric had already pulled her to walk inside the manor.

As they walked through the crowd of people, Molly saw a lot of beautiful and elegant women and all kinds of celebrities there. Gradually, a sense of inferiority rose in her heart. She nervously gnawed on her lower lip and clenched her hands. Eric seemed to have sensed her nervousness. He gently pinched her cold hand and, slightly furrowing his brows, he said in an attractive voice, "As long as you are confident in and of yourself, you will be the focus of this party. Do you understand?" Molly looked towards him and saw the serious and affirmative look in his eyes. She slightly pursed her lips together which were painted with pink lipstick, and nodded her head.

Smiling, Eric held Molly's hand even tighter and urged, "Hurry up. It's so cold outside!"

Rubbing Molly's cold hands to give her warmth, Eric picked up his pace and walked toward the hall.

Molly suddenly felt warm and moved by Eric's care for her. Although he could be very annoying at times, he was considerate enough to make her feel moved. He always showed his care in a casual way. And those things might be insignificant to other people, but to Molly, it was already a big enough gesture to show his care for her.

As soon as they entered the hall, a surge of warm air blew over them, keeping them away from the cold outside.

Eric's and Molly's presence attracted many people's attention. The guests started talking about them, and some of them were surprised to see Eric Long showing up there. They did not expect that he would come and show respect to Mr. Song. But for most of the guests, they had more interest in scanning Molly, wondering whether this woman was the new star of the Dream Media Company.

It was Molly's first time to have so many people's attention on her. Molly was extremely nervous now. She felt like she couldn't breathe. If Eric hadn't been holding her hand now, Molly believed that she would've already turned around and run away. "Don't be afraid. I'm by your side, okay?" Eric drew her close to him and whispered in her ear. His tender voice made her relax more and she instinctively nodded her head. Eric grinned playfully and whispered, "In my eyes, you're the most beautiful one here." Although Eric meant to comfort Molly, in his mind, he indeed believed so. Molly wasn't an outstandingly beautiful woman in appearance, but she was very delicate and had a good plasticity to become better. She especially had quite a good body shape. Earlier, he just handed her to the designers, without any expectations. However, after she was dressed up with that evening dress and uneasily stood in front of him, Eric was shocked to replace out her undiscovered beauty. At that moment, he was well aware that this woman would be able to conquer a lot of men easily, if she wanted to.

"Eric, you boy!"

A low and happy voice, with signs of age, came to their ears. Eric stood up and looked at an old man who was dressed in a red traditional Chinese suit. Eric smiled and said in a polite manner, "Mr. Song, happy birthday to you and many happy returns of the day! Wishing you good health!" Then, he took out a red envelope of money from his pocket and handed it to Mr. Song.

"Hahaha..." Mr. Song laughed happily like a child. He wasn't like any other eighty-year old man. After he beckoned his servant to take the red envelope, he said to Eric, "Thank you, boy. I will keep my health in check and live for more years as you wished. Haha..." "Some more years are not enough. See? You look so energetic and healthy. You will live a long life," Eric said in a naughty voice.

With keen interest, Molly looked at the old man and Eric greeting each other happily, all the while paying no attention to the other people's curious gazes. She grinned, not knowing why. She didn't feel that Eric and Mr. Song were flattering each other, but they spoke to each other in a sincere way like old friends. It was quite a warm scene.

And right now, Eric wasn't the usual dangerous man. He was just a boy who was trying to show his respect to the elder.

"Boy, who's this girl? Did you steal a woman again?" looking at Molly, Mr. Song suddenly asked Eric.

Molly's face instantly flushed red as she didn't expect that Mr. Song would suddenly turn the topic of their conversation to her.

Eric slightly held on to Molly's shoulders, curled his lips and said with discontent, "Please don't say it that way. Why did you say the word 'steal"?"

Mr. Song's eyes brightened up after he heard Eric's words, and he asked, "So...did you mean to say that she's your girlfriend?"

"Hahaha..." Eric chuckled. He didn't admit it, yet he didn't deny it, either.

Slightly frowning, Molly wanted to say something to explain, but Eric pinched her shoulder. Perplexed, she tilted her head to look towards him, and right then, Eric also turned his head to wink at her.

Eric meant to signal Molly with his eyes, asking her to stop blurting out the truth. However, in Mr. Song's eyes, he thought that the couple were flirting with each other. So he immediately burst into laughter and said, "Boy, I am so glad that you finally stop playing around and have a girlfriend now. This is the best present you gave me today."

Keeping his hand on Molly's shoulder, Eric went on to talk with Mr. Song some more.

Eric was wearing a calm face, however, Molly felt so uneasy, because she could feel the envious and sharp glances from the other women in the hall. Discreetly peeking at the people around her, Molly could see the great fury in them.

Frightened by these sharp glances, Molly felt out of breath. She wanted to struggle out of Eric's arms, but whenever she budged even a little bit, Eric would imperiously hold her even tighter.

Suddenly, she heard a commotion from the door, as if someone's presence had caused an uproar among the guests.

Mr. Song and Eric stopped their conversation and looked towards the door. Molly also curiously shifted her eyes towards the door. However, upon seeing the person coming in the hall, Molly tensed up and her heart started beating rapidly. She felt like she couldn't breathe properly now and started to black out. 000000