Love Began with the First Meeting

Referring to what Molly had just said, Ximena's understanding of Aaron's character was the most pleasant surprise he had obtained. Hearing it from Molly, Aaron was pleased to know that at least his wife was in some ways proud of him. Lately, there had been a knot between the two of them, which prevented them from being close and intimate to each other. Eventually, now with what Ximena had told Molly, Aaron assumed that she was gradually untying the knot herself. How wonderful that was for Aaron!

As days and months passed by, the effect of the financial crisis in the economy had created a chain effect. Because of the rapid globalization, economies in other parts of the world were more or less affected as well. Unfortunately, Dragon Empire Group's big projects were all based in Australia. Naturally, it wouldn't be an easy thing to bounce back to the right track after hitting ground bottom.

With the crisis at hand, all the manpower of the Dragon Empire Group had been utilized to the fullest in preparation for surviving the major fall back. It was an unprecedented challenge for the company, yet it was not the first time that the Dragon Empire Group was in its most vulnerable state and in the most perilous situation since its establishment. The company had been through many tribulations and so far survived all of them. The bosses and all the employees were with high hopes that this one too would pass. If there was one challenge to the company that could be compared to this one, it must be the oil exploration at Sun Island during Richie's term. But they were different in nature, yet one could say that when it comes to the worst effects in the company both crisis were at par with each other. First, oil exploration wasn't really a problem relating to the company itself. Second, Richie was fully prepared for that. Thus, when he accepted to take over XK, he had requested to merge Mr. Xie's businesses, except for those which were in the dark. The incident gave birth to the company's merger with the Dragon Empire Group. As a result, the Dragon Empire Group wouldn't have to risk a lack of funding due to the oil project. To sum it all up, this time, the Dragon Empire Group was in real danger.

As the work required, Brian hadn't slept for a few days. He was in Australia, while Eric was overseeing the entire process back in the home country. Not only must he manipulate the stock market to a large scale limit down, but also he had to utilize the most brutal methods to pull the Dragon Empire Group out of this financial crisis. Any deviation in his move would result in irrevocable results and Brian didn't want that to happen. There were just too many employees that relied on him and he couldn't afford to let them down. "Mr. Brian Long, please drink some coffee." Entering his office with a steaming hot mug, Harrow had made Brian a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

It wasn't Brian's habit to drink coffee. He used to drink some, but Molly forbade him from doing that because she believed it was bad for him. Most of the time, she would replace his coffee with milk, so drinking milk instead of coffee became his habit. Recently, though, he had been too exhausted to sustain himself. Coffee had become a necessity for him to function. He believed that the coffee he had taken in these days was more than the amount he had taken since he had been together with Molly. Gradually his body learned to adapt with the mug-full of coffee as to stay awake while doing his tasks.

He was about to take a sip from his mug when suddenly his phone rang.

Because of the vibration of the phone on the wooden table, the sound of the ringtone was particularly piercing. Brian put down the coffee and answered the call. When he saw the name on the screen, a rare smile was plastered on his tired face.

He felt elated and a warm smile was etched on his face as he placed the phone to his ear. His raspy voice was suppressed and he tried his best to talk in a light tone. "It should still be early morning at your side. Why are you calling me so early?"

"I am checking if you are sleeping or not!" On the other end of the line, Molly took some milk from the fridge and poured some into her cup and asked, "Are you drinking coffee?"

Out of natural reflex, Brian took a look at the coffee on his table. The pleasant scent of coffee permeated the entire room as if inviting him to take a sip. "No!" His reply was rather firm when in fact he indeed hadn't drunk it yet. Before he could take his first sip, Molly called to interrupt the action.

With disbelief, Molly rolled her eyes. "Bri, I know you're really busy and you may need coffee to keep you awake. But you have stomach problems. When you are so occupied with work, you surely only take a few bites when you feel hungry instead of having proper meals. Coffee would be a must, but..." Her voice trailed off as she started to feel her nose turning sour thus she wasn't able to finish what she was saying. Molly was just worried for her husband especially that they were now thousands of miles away from each other. Knowing how things were working out at the company, she knew that he was busy, but she couldn't offer any help. Sometimes, she was envious of her own mother, who was able to help her husband in every aspect and to give her all her support. But in her case, she was left to look after the twins and all she could do was to check on Brian from time to time through her phone. As much as she was willing to help, she was left with no choice. Thus checking on him was her only way to as much as possible "help" in the best way that she could. "Mol, don't worry, I am not drinking coffee," Brian replied gently with a soothing voice, signaling Harrow to take the coffee away. "I've already instructed the secretary to prepare milk for me instead of coffee. I will have some supper as well."

Upon hearing that, Molly felt a mix of feelings in her heart. She intended to care for Brian, but it turned out he had to console her. She didn't want that to happen in fear that she might disturb him in whatever important tasks he was doing. "I will ask the secretary to keep an eye on you!" Molly said firmly.

The smile on Brian's face turned into a grin. "Sure."

Nothing could expel more tiredness away than Molly's words, and nothing could replace her care and concern for him. She was the most special person in the world, his Mol, his love.

Extremely worried, Molly continued to nag him until she felt she had occupied too much of his time already, then she hung up the call. With the call done, Molly was saddened and suddenly felt that she terribly missed Brian. She had to hug herself and imagine that Brian was giving her the warmest embrace while kissing her on the forehead. Moly lingered at the moment and wished that her husband was just there with her.

When Brian placed his phone on the table, the secretary had brought him the supper which was just delivered there, and a cup of hot milk. Harrow felt a bit strange. It was less than five minutes since he gave the staff in the secretary room a call through the internal line. How could the secretary be that fast? Could she predict the future?