Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 1237 Extra Story 127 Of Charlie Love Required Effort

It was four in the noon when they arrived at Mpumalanga in South Africa. It was early autumn and the ground was covered by the many fallen leaves. Every time a car passed by, the leaves on the road would take flight, as if trying to reach for the sky once again. "It's so beautiful..." said Elsa. The pleasant scenery was impressive, but she also loved how peaceful and quiet the place was. She had never felt this kind of tranquility before.

Charlie was driving slowly across the beautiful country. He turned his head sideways to take a glimpse at Elsa. A smile appeared on his face. He wanted her to see everything that he had experienced in his childhood. Even though he would not be taking over XK intelligence Agency in the future, it was his desire to give her the Soul of K which symbolized that they belonged to each other forever. His dad had given it to his mom before marrying her. And he wanted to do the same for Elsa.

Charlie drove through the shady roads at a normal speed, while Elsa stayed silent along the way, enjoying the peace that she had never felt in the city.

She looked around and then suddenly straightened up in her seat.

"Something wrong?" Charlie asked, concerned by her sudden movement.

Elsa was still looking around the area, as if she was searching for something. She said nervously, "Don't you feel that? The air... it seems...denser." She looked frightened. "Something is different."

Charlie was amused. Elsa was after all a commoner; she wouldn't have been able to identify the aura of death surrounding them. But she did feel the immense pressure.

As the car turned a corner, Charlie said, "We are here. The XK training base camp."

Elsa had already bombarded him with a lot of questions on the plane about the XK Intelligence Agency. Although Charlie had earlier told her a little about it, she was still full of curiosity about the agency which was completely unknown to the common people, yet attracted the attention of forces from all countries.

Elsa scanned the area as they were slowly edged towards the base camp. Mercenary soldiers stood at the front gate with firearms. When the car reached close to the gate, it opened automatically, and the soldiers saluted them with absolutely no expressions on their grim faces. Elsa felt like she was in some sort of mafia movie.

Her body stiffened as they got closer to the destination, yet she couldn't stop looking around out of curiosity. The car came to a halt in an open area, where there were several houses and also some tents nearby.

"Here we are! Come on!" Charlie said, leaning towards Elsa to help her unfasten her seat belt with a big smile on his face.

Elsa felt relaxed when she saw that bright smile. Charlie held Elsa's hand and led her into one of the houses nearby.

"I lived here for almost two years soon after I was born. After that, I left and went to A City," Charlie explained along the way, "I don't have many memories of that time because I was still a baby. All I can remember is staying with my grandparents when I was on vacation from school. Later on, my father took us back to A City because XK was in some serious trouble." Charlie turned to Elsa with a teasing smile. "And my nightmare was finally over."

Soon, they reached Charlie's old house. It was a small room, around twenty square meters in area. There were small furniture inside a bed and a bookcase. There were many books in the bookcase-books about instruments, firearms, and of course, different kinds of gaming manuals.

"Do all boys like these kind of books?" Elsa asked Charlie as she skimmed through one of the firearm books.

Charlie answered with a small smile, "Everyone in XK is required to be the master in the knowledge of firearms." Elsa looked up from the book, her eyes full of curiosity. She asked, "What about Evelyn?"

"Don't underestimate her," A sense of pride filled his eyes as he said. "She is one of the top shooters in XK."

Elsa's mouth flew open. She stared at him in shock, not knowing what to say. When the shock about Evelyn being able to shoot stuff receded, a burning question appeared in her head and she asked Charlie in a low voice, "Would I have to learn this stuff too?" Elsa kept her head low, distressed and worried about what his answer would be.

But Charlie laughed. He replied, "No, Elsa. You wouldn't have to. I'm not going to take over XK. I'm already back in the National Congress."

Elsa was relieved to hear that and heaved a sigh. She then started to ask all sorts of questions. By the end of her questionnaire, she finally understood what kind of person Charlie really was. Charlie was not a pure gentleman as everybody thought him to be. Just like all other members of the Long Family, the devil slept deep inside his heart. He was gentle on the outside; it was a mask to cover his real face.

There was a ruffle outside the house. Charlie's smile faded and his face turned cold. Before Elsa could ask him what was going on, someone broke down the door and burst into the house. Charlie was quick to protect Elsa from the intruder. Elsa was scared to death. She hid behind Charlie, clinging onto his shirt.

"Sean, it's been a while," Charlie walked towards him, greeting him with a huge grin on his face and stepped on Sean's foot to hold him in place.

With his arms crossed across his chest, Sean pretended like he wasn't feeling any pain from Charlie's attack. "Well, well... Such brute strength as always," Just as he finished complimenting him, Sean kicked Charlie away from him.

A full blown fight broke inside that small house. Elsa stood at the corner, baffled by the sudden events.

At first, she was worried about Charlie's safety. But then she realized that this was Charlie's territory, so she assumed that they were just having fun. It did look like they knew each other well.

At that time, Charlie's foot made contact with Sean's gut. 'Oh my God! Are they fighting for real?!' Elsa's eyes widened as Sean was hurled backwards.

They finally decided to stop after Sean kicked Charlie in return.

"Are you guys done?" Elsa asked. She was surprised by her own calm demeanor. Her life was no longer simple or normal as it used to be. It had only been about half a month since she had gotten to know all about XK after her engagement, but she was surprisingly doing okay with all the information. She was part of the Long Family now and this was Charlie's life. She was now a part of it too.

Sean smiled at Elsa. "Nice to meet you. I am Sean, Charlie's brother," he said, reaching out his hand to Elsa with a big smile.

As Elsa reached out to shake hands with him, Charlie dragged back her hand and stood next to her. He glared at Sean and said, "All right, you can leave now."

Elsa was speechless. Feeling a little embarrassed, she said to Sean, "Nice to meet you too, I am Elsa. Did you just say that you are Charlie's brother?"

Sean snickered. He already liked this little girl. She was scared, yet still curious enough to ask him questions. 'No wonder Charlie had been fond of her since his childhood,' he thought. "Sort of," he answered with a grin. Elsa looked confused. Sean smiled and explained, "I was adopted by Mr. Brian Long."

"Okay! Don't talk to him, and don't make any deals with him. He is a freaking demon and he will demand your soul in return for favors," Charlie told Elsa in an annoyed tone. He then quickly dragged her out of the house, without allowing her to continue her conversation with Sean. As he walked out, Charlie turned around and said to Sean, "I am taking her for a walk around the camp. You go buy us some food, we are having barbecue tonight."