Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 715 Waiting For Him To Wake Up (Part Two)

Shirley just nodded. Love was such a mysterious thing. It had the power to divide people, and sometimes, it brought even enemies together. Shirley didn't know what Eric's love had taught him. Was he any wiser now? He probably did understand what his elders had been

telling all this while. Maybe, he just had to replace the answers himself. And now, it looked like he had managed to finally replace it.

"Where is Richie?" Eric asked.

"I guess he will be coming back soon," said Shirley in an unsure tone. One month had passed since he had left A City. During this period, tremendous changes had taken place in the State Parliament. The conservative faction and the reformist faction were fighting even more fiercely than they had five years ago. Although Shirley hadn't asked Richie about it, she knew that the drastic changes were his masterwork.

Eric didn't say anything.

During his international trips, he had kept close attention to everything that had been happening domestically. The session of the State Parliament had come to an end ten days ago. To the surprise of all political experts in the world, the most promising party had lost.

What most deserved to be mentioned was the collapse of Jonny Zeng, the former Vice President of the military. He was taken to the military court because of a case that involved military secrets which had happened many years ago. As a result, his son, an Army Commander had to accept an investigation too. Jonny Zeng's case also involved Jenifer, who was now working as the Deputy Mayor of A City. It was clear that the Zeng Family no longer had any influence in the military region. The only member of the Zeng Family who hadn't been involved was Howard, who was in a special troop of the army.

This tremendous change resulted in a huge impact on the whole State Parliament. The sudden collapse of one party had taken everybody by surprise. Without the check and balance between the parties, there would be negative effects on the politics of the country. Besides, due to Jonny Zeng's collapse, another mystery that had been buried many years ago had emerged from the waters, which had enraged the top leaders. As a result, the military discipline was to be rectified thoroughly. After the negotiation between embassies of the two countries, the skeletal remains of the brave soldiers had finally come back to their homeland after being away for so many years. Steven's case had finally come to a conclusion. But since the whole incident had come to light, the State Parliament could not contradict themselves beyond a certain extent. Thus, Steven was also cited first class merit, along with his dead comrades, posthumously. On the surface, he was one of those dead men.

*

Steven looked at the dispirited Daniel through the glass. His hands were quivering slightly. "Daniel," he called his son's name. "Papa," Daniel was so thin that his eye sockets were sunken. "why are you here?"

"I came to see you..." Steven looked benign, a quality in him that his son hadn't seen in many years. He stretched out his hands to stroke the glass, as if he was trying to touch Daniel's face. "How are you feeling? Are you fine?" he asked.

Looking away from his father, Daniel nodded. He had had a hard time surviving in the rehabilitation center. For the past several months, he had been sober and Eric paid close attention to him throughout the process. It took a couple of months for him to realize that the guards wouldn't torture him as long as he tried hard to restrain his drug addiction. In the beginning, he had thought that the beatings were better than the suffering caused by the medication and the treatment. But he soon realized that even if he rebelled and got beaten up, he still would have to undergo the rehabilitation, no matter what. Thus, he had decided to try his best to control his urges and cooperate, because then at least he wouldn't be tortured.

"I'm able to handle it for up to a couple of days now. I think I'm getting better," Daniel smiled bitterly. "But I still don't have any appetite."

Steven nodded at Daniel reassuringly. Steven had used everybody in his life for the sake of his comrades. Now in retrospect, he felt that he owed these people too much to pay back in this lifetime. He was done with his final gamble. But he didn't know if he had won or lost.

"Good, good..." Steven said, tears appearing at the corners of his eyes. "Molly is fine too. But your brother-in-law had an accident, so she can't leave his side at the moment. She will come by and see you later."

"What? How did that happen?" Daniel asked in shock. "I can't believe that a man of his caliber couldn't escape from an accident."

Steven didn't say anything. He just sighed. He talked to Daniel for a few more minutes and left.

As Steven walked out the door, he looked like he had aged much in an instant. Daniel frowned as he watched his father exit the building. He felt uneasy, but he couldn't tell why he felt that way.

Steven got into a car. He turned back and looked at the rehabilitation center several times, as if he was unwilling to part with Daniel. He didn't look away until the rehabilitation center disappeared from his sight.

He had meant to visit Molly secretly before he left, but he couldn't approach the VIP ward of the private Dragon Empire Group hospital. He couldn't do much about it, so he gave up.

Later, when everything settled down and Molly went back to their old house, she found a letter left there by Steven, who was now proclaimed missing. He was not found until later, when someone found his body in the jungle behind the mountain where his military camp had been located, the place where he had been together with his comrades in arms. It was identified as a suicide.

*

The first snow in A City arrived as expected. Molly stood in front of the window, looking outside at the snowy sky. The snowflakes danced and fell like little spirits that had lost their souls. Seeing that made her feel more depressed. She turned away from the window and looked at the man she loved with all her heart. He lay motionless on his bed, without a care in the world.

'Bri, I beg you. I beg you, please wake up. I'll do anything you say, as long as you wake up,' she thought.

Tears were ready to gush out of her red eyes, and she closed her mouth with her hands to keep her voice from coming out. She pressed her lips shut and looked up slightly to prevent her tears from spilling out. 00000☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐