Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 724 Add Insult To Injury (Part Three)

Ling only slouched in her seat as she frowned at his words and commented, "Apply tactics to the enemy and loved ones alike. Mr. Brian Long, you are indeed ruthless."

Brian just sneered at her words, and his gaze went back to the distance in front of him. The neon lights of the street shop signage shone brightly and stared back at him, as if to mock his sour mood with their happy colors. He was deep in thought. If he hadn't gone to the bar on that one snowy night, maybe he wouldn't have met her. Then, she wouldn't have gone through all these sufferings.

His eyes darkened at his thoughts and a tear threatened to fall from his eyes. Well, there was no "if" in life.

He firmly pushed back all his strong emotions and spoke to Ling again. "None of these is your concern," Brian said icily, "Just get your own job done."

"What do you plan to do to push her to despair?" The air was balmy as Ling asked. Even though Ling thought differently and had other ideas in mind, she would fulfill her task dutifully as ordered by the prince. After all, doing the prince's bidding was their team's lifelong commitment.

Brian looked at Ling with an unreadable expression and said, "That depends on you. Let's see how good your performance can be."

Their team was composed of five women, each with their own skill sets and different types of personalities. Some of them were sultry and siren-like, while the others were aloof or cute. They were trained by the royal family for special tasks and operations. They were superb in martial arts as well as in the art of disguise. They could play anyone one wished them to be. Their skills went far beyond the average person's imagination.

*

Molly's eyelids opened tentatively, and a masked woman came into her view. She felt them inside a moving vehicle. She had regained her consciousness halfway to the hospital, but she insisted on getting off the ambulance. The paramedics had no choice and soon relented. They stopped by the curb and put on the coat from a bystander for her, then let her out.

The dark navy blue down jacket obviously belonged to a man. She looked rather tiny as the large coat swallowed her lithe figure. She sneered bitterly at the fact that a male stranger put the jacket on her -- well he was a man, but it wasn't the man she loved so much. That said, the man she loved was instead holding another woman in his arms, and God knows wherever they were now.

That idea made her petite, pale face scrunch up in sorrow. Tears began to brim once again in her eyes, but she managed to force them back in and hailed a cab. When she got in, her weary voice asked the driver to take her to Smile Hotel.

The cab soon stopped to her destination. After she paid, she went inside the hotel lobby and made a beeline for the elevators. She went straight to the floor where Brian's suite was. She soon landed in front of Brian's door and bit her bottom lip, then knocked. After a few moments, no one answered. The knock of the door was the only sound that could be heard throughout the long, expansive hall. It was quite eerie.

Molly only stared at the still closed door. Eventually, she got too tired from standing too long and sat on the carpeted floor beside the door. She just waited and waited. She waited for the whole night, but Brian never appeared.

"Little Molly?" The soft clack of heels was muffled by the carpet. Shirley had gone up to Brian's room and was shocked to see Molly crouched there on the floor by the doorstep, her face buried between her knees. "Why didn't you sleep in the room?" Molly heard her and she looked up, but the state of her face only surprised Shirley more. "Gosh, your face. It's scarlet red. What's going on? Are you running a fever?"

She then extended her hand on Molly's forehead to feel her temperature. "You are having a fever!" she exclaimed. "You should take better care of yourself," she chastised Molly, her face wearing a gloomy expression. "Let's go. I'll take you to the doctor."

"I'm alright." Molly hastily said in a hoarse voice. She shook her head and her hair fell like a curtain around her face as she said, "I have to wait for him here. I have to wait here for Brian."

"No, you should go to the doctor first. You are running a fever."

However, Molly shook her head further. She was stubborn and insisted, "No, I am not seeing any doctor. I'll stay here." She choked, "Tomorrow is the deadline. I have to see him."

The poignant expression on Molly's face made Shirley stop in her tracks. She helped Molly loosen up first, then pulled out her own phone, and dialed a number. When the other end picked up she hissed, "Come back now! I don't care where you are, just come back." "Shirley, I'm busy."

"I don't care. You must come back now," she demanded. Shirley's voice was furious as she howled, "Brian, if you don't come back today, don't call me mom ever again."

At the other end, Brian went silent. After a moment's pause, he said, "I'm at the meeting. I'll come back after the meeting is over."

He then hung up abruptly, and Shirley was positively enraged. She turned to look at Molly and sighed at the sight of her miserable state. She squatted carefully and tried to comfort her, "Little Molly, you can't just sit here. You should go get some rest. I'll ask a doctor to come over. I will stay here and keep an eye on Brian for you, okay?"

However, Molly refused to accept her offer. She said in the best polite but resolute voice she could muster, "It's alright, I will wait for him here myself. Even if I die, I don't care.

I just have to see him."

Tears instantly welled up in Molly's eyes when she said that. Shirley was worried immensely for her and she pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her tears. She soon relented and said, "Fine, you wait for him here." She pulled out her phone again and called a doctor over.

A little while later, the elevator dinged and the doctor came over. He did a quick checkup first before prescribing an IV drip in the hall. After the IV drip was administered, Molly's temperature went back to normal. As Shirley sighed in relief, the doctor said some last minute reminders and bade them goodbye.

Shirley didn't ask about last night, but she could tell from Molly's look that either Molly didn't see Brian last night, or she saw him, but something bad happened. That morning, she called Eric and told him to send Mark to school so that he wouldn't have to see his mother's wretched state. She even called the school's principal to organize a sleepover for the kids in Mark's class, in hopes that it will distract him for now. Shirley was at sixes and sevens at all the things that were happening.

The gilded wall clock told them it was half-past ten. Brian promised to return, yet he didn't show up even after dinnertime.

Just as Shirley was about to dial him again for the umpteenth time, Richie stopped her and said, "He will come back today."

"How do you know?" Shirley snapped at her husband and vented her anger towards him. "Look at your son. He learned it from you. You all treat your wives badly."

Richie was caught off guard by her accusations, but he made no arguments. Experience told him that one should never argue with a woman when she was mad. The more one explained, the more she was likely to suspect things. She would think that things were being covered up. In any case, she would calm down eventually.

It was proven true as his strategy worked. After a while, Shirley calmed down and sat on the side chair. Her slender shoulders slumped as she turned to her husband and said, "Richie, why would Brian change so much after his memory loss?" However, before Richie could even answer, she sighed and said, "I should keep Little Molly company. I don't want to leave her alone upstairs. I'm worried."

When Shirley was about to get up from her seat, Richie grasped her hand and pulled her back down. "If you were there, how could Brian and Molly put things on the table and solve their problems?" He said gently.

Shirley realized his point, and she remained downstairs.

Meanwhile upstairs, the elevator doors opened. When Molly heard the ding sound her head shot up to look and polished leather shoes came into view. She made a move to get up without a second thought. However, before she could even fully get up, she saw another woman behind Brian--the woman at the bar.

Molly's eyes darted between Ling and Brian. She eyed their intertwined hands as they walked together towards her, and she felt her heart was ripped apart piece by piece. "Bri..."