Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 823 Dealing With The Aftermath (Part Three)

because of what I said to that lady?"

Sara was wary of her at first, but after seeing the sincere expression on her face, she relaxed a bit. A different saleswoman walked over to them with a package in her hand. She raised her eyebrows at Molly and said, "That coat isn't cheap. Are you really giving it to me just Molly answered with a nod. She said, "My name is Molly Xia."

Sara gaped at her. "You're Molly Xia?!" Sara exclaimed. She couldn't believe that she had just run into the most controversial person on the island right now. But she soon got that out of her mind and said with a smile, "I'm Sara Xiao."

"Consider it a gift to commemorate our first meeting." Molly took the package from the saleswoman and handed it to Sara. "I don't have many friends. Would you like to be my friend?"

"Of course! It's my pleasure," Sara said, receiving the gift from her. She looked at it gratefully. After thinking for a few seconds, she retrieved a photo from her bag and handed it to Molly. "I'm sorry that I can't give you any grand gifts, but please take this picture. I captured it with my camera. I hope you like it."

Molly took the photo from her and looked at it. It was a picture of a sunrise and the sun was just peeking out of the horizon over the sparkling sea. It was beautiful.

"I hope your life is filled with love and happiness, just like the morning sun," Sara said with a sincere smile. "I have somewhere to be. I'm leaving now. I hope we meet again soon."

Sara waved her hand to say goodbye to Molly and left the store.

Molly watched her ride away on her bicycle. A faint smile appeared on her face, not only because of Sara's sweet wishes for her, but also because she knew that her future was going to be filled with love and happiness just as Sara had said.

"Please prepare the bill," Molly said, taking out a platinum card from her bag. The saleswoman from earlier took the card from her and swiped it on the machine. There was a look of envy on the woman's face. She probably wished that she had a rich friend who would buy her expensive gifts too. Molly shook her head slightly. She signed her name on the receipt and left the store.

She stood at the entrance of the store and raised her head to look at the bright sky. A smile appeared on her lips. 'Money is the most direct tool to measure humanity. It can easily show you if one's heart is beautiful or corrupted,' she thought.

When she got into the car, Vincent looked back at her and asked, "Miss Xia, where do you want to go?"

"Where is Bri?" Molly asked him.

"I assume Mr. Brian Long is at the Data Office."

"Eric had mentioned that Brian had something to take care of today. So, what does one do at the Data Office?" Molly asked. Although she didn't know precisely what the office did, she was more or less able to guess from its name.

Vincent shrugged and explained, "The data stored at the Data Office of the Dragon Island can be divided into public, confidential and royal data of the Long Family. It would be improper for the staff at the Data Office to process the data about what happened yesterday. So, Mr. Brian Long is doing that in person as a member of the Long Family."

Molly fell silent when Vincent mentioned the engagement ceremony. Although she had had no idea about Eric and Spark's plan in advance, she had been the key trigger of that incident. In all fairness, she should have been held responsible for all the farce. She was the one to blame.

"I guess I shouldn't bother him now. Let's head back to the Long Family Mansion," she ordered.

"Okay," Vincent said, as he started the engine and headed back to the mansion.

The press conference started at ten o'clock as scheduled. Since Eric had carefully prepared his responses for every possible question in advance, the conference was a walk in the park for him. In less than an hour, he had successfully sidetracked the conference topic from his engagement ceremony to the strategic development of Dragon Island in the future.

The reporters had fallen head first into Eric's manipulative play and most of them had forgotten completely about the fiasco at the ceremony.

The press conference came to an end by noon. Eric walked briskly into the elevator and headed straight to the underground parking lot. As soon as he walked out of the elevator, he took out his cellphone and dialed a number. When the line connected, he said, "Brian, are you done there?" "Yeah," Brian answered in a lazy tone. "I'm waiting for you at the entrance of the Dragon Gorge."

"All right. I'll be there in half an hour." Eric hung up quickly and was about to open the car door when he saw a girl leaning against one of his car tires. She was fast asleep with a camera in her hands. Frowning, he walked to the girl and said, "Excuse me, Miss?" Sara jerked slightly, but did not open her eyes. She grumbled in her sleep, "Boss, let me sleep for some more time."

Eric was speechless. While he was thinking about a way to deal with her, Sara opened her eyes slowly. When she saw Eric, her eyes widened in shock and she jumped as if a bucket of cold water had hit her. She sprang to her feet. She gulped, staring into his intense eyes and decided to bite the bullet. She stammered, "I..." She hung her head low to bite her lips once. Then she raised her head once again to finish her sentence, "Mr. Long, I would like to have an exclusive interview with you." Eric stared at her coldly and asked in an apathetic tone, "How did you get in here?"

*

Due to the press conference, the underground parking lot had been cordoned off. He wondered how she had managed to sneak inside without anyone noticing.

Leaning against his car, with a cigarette burning between his fingers, Brian was still waiting for Eric. He had said that he would get here in half an hour, but he didn't arrive until an hour later. "Why are you so late?" Brian asked. "Something unexpected happened." He didn't look happy. Brian noticed a camera on the front passenger seat of his car. "Let's go," Eric said.

Brian didn't ask any more questions. He got into his own car and they raced to the military base of the Dragon Island, which was located at Dragon Gorge.

It was not until evening that Eric and Brian had finished their work.

Molly felt a little bored as she sat alone in the courtyard of the Glamour Hall. Shirley had taken Mark with her, so she had been waiting alone for Brian to come back since noon.

When Brian finally came back, he saw Molly bent over the carved table, with a thick coat over her shoulders. It was evident that she was so bored that she was about to count her fingernails in order to kill time. He could not help but wear a pampering smile on his thin lips. He strode towards her with a square box in his hands. The box was twelve inches long. When Molly heard his footsteps and opened her eyes, she saw the box which he had placed in front of her. I