Love Began with the First Meeting

"It seems like... Only one of us has lady luck on her side," Cora sneered, as she looked at Molly's cards.

As many factors were involved in changing the cards, Molly was convinced that Cora did not tamper with her. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I only hope that you will not disturb the life of our family after this game."

For some reason, what Molly said made Cora laugh hysterically. After getting herself together, she looked at Molly, her eyes narrowed. "Maybe... After this game, you, Miss Molly, would finally leave." She purposefully called her Miss Molly instead of Mrs. Long, as she wanted to rid her of her identity of being Brian's wife. With that, she once again laughed hysterically.

Indeed, the words that had come out of the two ladies' mouth have been nothing but full of gunpowder - explosive and dangerous. In such a gloomy atmosphere, the God of Gamblers looked at Brian suddenly and asked, "How does it feel having two women fighting over you?" As the statement was only meant for Brian, he intentionally made his voice quiet so that all the other people who were concentrated on the game would not hear anything.

With that, Brian's eyes got darker, and replied faintly, "The same as you felt about it."

The God of Gamblers was speechless at what Brian said. Not being able to come up with a smart comeback, he just glared at Brian and stayed quiet. He also understood that being silent would lessen his chances of shooting himself in the foot. That year, because he didn't know that Shirley had gotten married, he had done ridiculous things for her. At that time, he was depressed because his wife had just passed away and when he met her, she was so kind and loved laughing. Aside from that, she extensively offered him help when she discovered that he was suffering from depression.

However, the moment he knew the truth, he knew that she met him just because she was chasing her idol. But at that point, he had already been obsessed with her for a month and had already done numerous crazy things just for her. Well, that was until Richie came along. That period of time had really been unbearable for him.

It also had been the reason why he had hoped Cora would stop having feelings for Brian.

As he was having these thoughts, everyone in the room was holding their breaths, because the two women were already confronting each other.

Cora was sure that she would defeat Molly, but Molly wouldn't allow herself to be shaken, solely because of her love and devotion for Brian. Her uncertainty had already caused undesirable consequences for her and her relationship with Brian. Now more than ever, she would not let herself repeat the same mistakes she has made.

As she stared at Cora, her eyes were full of fire - a firm, steady flame - and it seemed to send a message to her opponent that she would never let her defeat her. And even if she lost, she had already readied herself to face the worst thing that would happen. If she would get misconstrued as a person who had drug problems and questionable dignity, there was no chance in hell that she would give Brian up.

That was the worst scenario, though. Molly was determined to win. That was the only way that force Cora to leave. To her, if Cora was gone for good, she and Brian would be at peace.

Looking at the two women with an indifferent expression, Shane said slowly, in a flat voice, "Please show the cards."

Just as Shane finished what he was saying, both Cora and Molly took action at the same time. They both knew that the first person who opened a card would successfully cease the opportunity. Because of that, both of them understandably didn't want to miss it. Snap! At the same time, two cards fell down on their four face-up cards respectively. Shane looked around the two cards and checked, while the God of Gamblers and Brian stood up to see what was happening. As the three saw the cards, Molly and Cora were still glaring at each other, not bothering to look at their own cards.

"You are cheating!" Cora suddenly shouted at Molly, her anger apparent on her face.

Molly feigned offense and in a high, ludicrous tone, as if mocking Cora, said, "Cheating? How dare you accuse me of that? Did you catch me doing anything?"

"You..." Cora said in a threatening voice, still obviously fuming. As much as she was set on accusing Molly of cheating, she did not have any kind of evidence. She did not see anything, and was just making an assumption based on how fast Molly put down a card. As Molly saw Cora's face turn red because of anger, she picked her last card and showed it to her. It was a Spade 5. With her Spade 6, 7, 8, 9, she had a straight flush of Spade. For she had 6, 7, 8, and 9, beside the Spades 10, she could also use a Spade 5 to form a straight flush! Of course, if the Spade 10 went to Cora, Molly was still losing.

As she could not make sure that everything would be perfect, all she could do was to not let Cora get a Spade 10, for changing cards required practice and skills that had been developed and practiced over a long period of time. Just when Cora got excited because she thought she got a Spade 10, Molly changed her card from a Spade to a Heart.

Now, even if Cora had a straight flush, but it would be smaller than hers.

"You lost, Cora!" Molly said, throwing the cards in her hand on the table. There was a firmness and possessiveness in her eyes. "Look, Cora. I do not care about your relationship with Brian, no matter what you call it." She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said with a loud voice, "Now, I am his wife, and he is my children's father. While this fact cannot and will not be changed by any type of game, I want to remind you that now is the right time to stop chasing after him, because he is not, and will never be yours!"

Still stunned by what happened, Cora's mouth was still opened wide. Truthfully, she was not convinced at all by what happened, but as the daughter of the God of Gamblers, she had to obey the rules that was set. As she did not catch when Molly cheated and had no evidence, she had to comply to what was agreed upon, even if she herself still was not at peace with the results.

**

It was truly a lovely night. The hustle and bustle in A City made the city lively, and it infected everyone in it. Luxury, as well as peaceful beauty, was everywhere.

Brian and Molly walked side by side, holding hands on the beautiful streets of the city. They didn't say anything to each other. They just quietly walked, taking in the city, and each other.

The street was filled with the sounds of people chattering, laughing together, and vehicles zooming by. At one point, Molly saw a group of people performing a dance routine and heard applauds from the onlookers.

How long had it been since they walked on a road as peacefully as now?

Molly couldn't remember. Aside from Brian not being romantic at all, he had been so busy that he had no time to walk with her like this. As hard as Molly tried to remember, she couldn't for the life of her go back to the last time they were like this. 'Maybe we haven't, and I'm actually just imagining that we did, ' Molly thought to herself, furrowing her eyebrows. ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐