Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 680 A Gamble On Everything (Part One)

Love is a gamble and if you lose, you lose everything.

*

Molly stared at Hannah in shock, her eyes wide open in disbelief. She thought she must have misheard her. After a long moment, she asked, "Wh-what did you say?"

"I'm pregnant," Hannah said slowly, in a serious tone, "It's Brian's."

"Huh..." Molly smiled wanly. Her mind suddenly went blank, "You-you- you are having Brian's baby?"

"Yes," Hannah nodded, "I'm carrying his baby." The devastated look on Molly's face pleased her. But she concealed her joy well. "Brian and I have been together for a long time. But he is married to you. That always makes me feel guilty," she said with a touch of wistfulness on her face, "I want to be with him, but deep down in my heart, a voice keeps telling me that I broke your marriage. I hate myself for it, even though..." She raised her head to look at Molly and continued with a slightly higher and slower voice, "Even though he only married you because of your son." She glanced at Molly's helpless face. Molly's eyes were dipped with sadness. Hannah enjoyed watching her suffer yet she went on with her performance, "However, I'm pregnant now. What am I supposed to do? Even if I decide to leave Brian, what about my child? It will have to grow up without a father. I can't let that happen. The baby is innocent. It shouldn't have to suffer because of the parents' mistakes."

"You say that your baby is innocent. Then what about Mark? Did you ever stop to think about my baby?" Molly demanded sorrowfully, her lips trembling. Tears threatened to fall from both her eyes, but she tried her utmost to keep her emotions in control. She glared at Hannah, trying to be strong. Hannah just stood there and looked at her, with a sorrowful look in her eyes. But inside, she was enjoying as she watched Molly's world collapse in front of her. After a while, Molly took a deep breath. The thought of Brian being with Hannah in bed disgusted her to the bones, but she had to know, "When...when did it happen?"

"It was unexpected. I always used protection," Hannah said, with a look of regret. She was a natural actress. The innocence on her face could have fooled the sharpest eyes, "But I hadn't expected him at my grandfather's party the other day. My grandfather had invited him, but at first, he had turned him down. I really didn't think that he would come." She pressed her lips, as if she was trying to suppress her grief. She acted as if she was the other victim in their love triangle. "That day at the party I was a little tired and decided to go to my room to rest. Then I saw him in the hallway. He had just had a nap and was coming out of his room. We saw each other and then we... we..."

"Stop! Stop it!" Molly shouted and held her hand up to stop Hannah. Her face was bathed in tears now.

She bit her lips, shaking. Tears burst out of her reddened eyes, blinding her. She felt like a loser. In front of her was Hannah, a dewy rose in the garden, seductive and delicate. She wasn't surprised that Brian would go after Hannah, instead of someone like her. Her relationship with Brian had been a lie from the very beginning, and she already knew it better than anyone else. But still, her heart was shattered.

Molly shut her eyes tightly, trying to squeeze out all the tears from her eyes. She sobbed, as her world collapsed around her. She had nothing left. She would never believe in love again.

'Hannah isn't lying, ' she thought. Hannah was that woman. Molly had listened to them at the door the other day. She still remembered her moans as Brian had made love to her. They rang in her ears, like a never-ending nightmare. 'Molly, you have lost again... You have lost everything. How pathetic!' she mocked herself bitterly.

She walked along the street lifelessly. She watched people as they passed by her in a hurry, going about their own businesses. There were so many different expressions on their faces. She felt out of place, like she didn't belong in their world.

She smiled wryly, looked around her and realized that she had come to an intersection. She stood there with a lost look on her face, staring at all the busy people on the road, going towards their desired destinations. Yet, she had nowhere to go. She was all alone. She didn't know how long she stood there. When she finally came to her senses, it was already dark. Brian had stopped caring about where she went or whether she was even coming back home. She guessed he was bored with his own game after all.

She scoffed at her own fate. There was only one person in the world now, whom she desperately wished to see. Molly took out her phone from the bag and called Shirley without thinking twice.

"Hello? Little Molly?" Shirley's voice came from the other end and she sounded tired and a little dazed.

Molly looked at the sky and realized that it was around three o'clock in the morning in Africa. "I'm sorry, mom. I-I forgot about the time difference," she apologized.

"That's okay," Shirley said with a smile. Afraid that she might disturb Richie's sleep, she tried to silently get out of bed and take the phone call elsewhere. But no sooner had she sat up than his big arms held her back. She rolled her eyes at him and asked on the phone, "Are you calling because you miss Mark?"

Molly lowered her eyes, swallowed her sadness and then said, "Yes."

"Don't worry, Little Molly," Shirley comforted her. "Although he is not recovering as fast as we had expected, he is getting better. We should be happy for him, right? When he is fully recovered, he will be able to take a plane. Richie and I will take him to visit you soon," Shirley giggled mischievously. "I'm looking forward to coming back to attend your wedding with Brian."

Shirley's last sentence opened the gate of tears. The grief was so overwhelming that Molly had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from crying out loud. But Shirley quickly sensed that something was off. She asked, "Little Molly, what's the matter? Are you-" "No, I'm okay," Molly interrupted her hastily. "I just miss Mark, that's all," she lied.

Shirley frowned, not knowing what to do. Mark was asleep. She didn't want to wake him up. Richie opened his eyes slowly. He had overheard Molly's words on the phone. The many years had made the man older and wiser. Looking at his wife with keen eyes, he said lightly, "I'll go get Mark."

Shirley turned to him. She was hesitant, but eventually she nodded.

Very soon, Richie came into the room with Mark in his arms. Mark was thrilled when he was told that it was his mom calling. "Mommy, Mommy!"

he kept calling through the phone. His voice still sounded a little weak due to the surgery, but it was so sweet. Molly felt a wave of grief run through her when she heard his voice. She trembled so violently that she had to gnaw on her lips with furrowed brows to calm herself down.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" Mark sensed his mom's distress very quickly. "Mommy, don't worry. I'm taking the medication on time every day. Grandma says that I'll get well very soon," he comforted his mom.

"Okay," Molly answered, a lump in her throat. "Mark..." She tried hard to conceal her sadness, but she couldn't even get one word out without sobbing.

"Mommy?" Mark called from the other end of the line.

Molly looked at the starry sky, took a deep breath and managed to ask, "Mark, if..." She bit her lips and knitted her brows to summon the strength to continue, "If mommy leaves daddy, will you..."

She couldn't go on any further. Tears kept falling like rain. She had to keep fluttering her eyelashes to clear her vision.

Mark was silent for a while. Then with his head down, he pressed his lips together and said thoughtfully, "I lived with mommy alone for four years. We will never be separated."

Although she couldn't finish her sentence before, Mark knew what she was going to say. He hoped that his words would soothe his mom a little. Hearing the sobbing through the phone, he added, "Mommy, I'll try my best to get better soon."

"Mark...Mark..." Finally, her grief crossed the threshold and seized her completely. Molly couldn't contain her emotions anymore. She started wailing in the street. Although her life was full of twists and turns, she was grateful that God had given her Mark. No matter how bad her life got, he was her rock, her most precious gem.

After saying goodbye to Mark and hanging up the phone, Molly wiped her tears and walked towards the villa with the phone gripped in her hand tightly.

"Molly, one of us has to leave Brian," Hannah had said to Molly. "If you stay, I will leave him. I won't tell Brian about the baby and I'll have an abortion." Molly looked at her in shock, wondering if she was serious.