Love Began with the First Meeting

Pursing her lips, Elsa felt so elated when she heard words of praise for Charlie. All the anger towards Charlie was soon put to the back of her mind. The days had passed, and soon it was the weekend.

When Elsa and Charlie were having lunch together on Friday, Charlie had informed her that they would be going back to H City to see her parents. The idea of them going back home together made Elsa's heart warm. She was an easily satisfied person. At times she would throw a tantrum, but it was rare. Once she had agreed to be Charlie's woman, she was very determined to make it work and adapt to his way of life.

There was no reason for her to regret the choice she made.

Initially, the plan was that only Charlie and Elsa would go to H City. However, two other people decided that they would tag along as well. They were Evelyn and Ezra. According to them, they would be serving as the bridesmaid and the best man.

Charlie found it amusing, but he wasn't against the notion. Evelyn didn't notice that Ezra took the opportunity to be close to her again. Maybe she had noticed, but she didn't mind.

They drove in two separate cars, Evelyn and Ezra in one and Charlie and Elsa in the other. It took over two hours for them to arrive in H City and it wasn't until this road trip that Elsa realized that she had been wrong. Evelyn's driving skill was reasonable in comparison to Charlie's. He was insane.

Once they parked their cars, Evelyn stomped over to Charlie's and opened the driver's door. "You didn't even let me win!" Evelyn complained.

Ezra hurried over to Evelyn to console her. "Evelyn, don't be angry. Your brother was just eager to see his parents-in-law."

"Hmm, that makes sense," Evelyn inclined her head and said. "Okay, I'll forgive you for this one."

Charlie and Elsa got out of the car as well. Caressing Evelyn's head, he said, "Don't drive so fast in the future. Otherwise, I won't let you win even once." Evelyn nodded. Hugging Charlie's arm, she turned to Elsa and asked, "Elsa, my sister-in-law, are you going home or coming with us to the hotel?"

"I.. I'll go home first..." Elsa stammered.

"All right." Evelyn let go of Charlie. "I'll drive you there."

Elsa glanced at Charlie and said goodbye before she got into Evelyn's car.

Tomorrow both of the families would meet for the first time. Elsa had to go back home and explain everything to her parents and prepare them for the meeting. Then the next day she would accompany both her parents. Although Evelyn was a playful girl, she understood what Elsa had to do, and she didn't pressure her to stay with them.

After Evelyn's car disappeared, Ezra got into Charlie's car. "What's happening with the matter about the Shen Family?" he asked.

Charlie's expression was indifferent. Then his lips curled into a sinister smile, and he slowly uttered, "If my brother does this, I'm afraid it's more than that." Then he started the engine and drove to the hotel.

Ezra sighed, "Someone is just too confident. I've read the news. To save themselves from the trouble, the Gu Family announced that the engagement between Rita and Allen was canceled. Even so, I'm afraid when the market opens on Monday, the share of Gu's Corporations will fall." While he spoke, he glimpsed at Charlie. "You either stay quiet, or you make a ferocious move. You're such a typical Long Family member."

Charlie kept silent for the rest of the trip. After he parked the car and walked to the lobby of the hotel, he calmly said, "I'm not a brutal person by nature, but I have given him numerous chances, and he chose to ignore me. I have no other choice."

Ezra sighed helplessly. George had approached him and was told that the things decided by the Long Family were final; the only people that could change the minds of the Long Family members were their spouses.

But was Allen going to beg Elsa for that?

Maybe not. Even if he did consider it, Charlie wouldn't give him a chance to talk to Elsa.

While Ezra was thinking about that, they had arrived at their room. After a brief rest, Charlie gave Brian a call. "Dad, we're at the hotel."

Brian was out shopping when the phone rang. "I'm buying gifts with your mother for the meeting with Elsa's parents tomorrow."

"Don't be too extravagant." Charlie frowned, afraid that his mother would go too far. "Elsa's family are middle-class. I don't want to pressure her family too much."

Brian's eyes turned deep when he glanced at the bird's nest in the shopping cart. "Your mother and I are in the supermarket."

Feeling that his words may have been inappropriate, Charlie smiled and apologized, "I'm sorry."

"Did Evelyn drive Elsa back home?" Brian asked. Since Brian couldn't hear Evelyn's voice in the background, he assumed that was the reason why Evelyn couldn't be heard.

"Right." Charlie confirmed Brian's guess. "Ezra and I will wait for you at the restaurant."

Brian nodded. After hanging up, he noticed Molly gazing intently at the shelf. He stood beside her and saw bottles of baby powder. He shook his head helplessly, and he laughed. "It's a bit early for that." A look of disappointment flashed across Molly's face. Brian rubbed her back gently and consoled her, "They will be using that soon. Don't worry. I'm sure they will get married."

"I know..." Molly shrugged. "I suddenly understand what my Mom must have felt back then. When she told me how anxious she was for me to conceive a baby, I didn't take it seriously. Now it's my turn. I can't wait to have a grandchild. I want to hug the baby tomorrow! Ha- ha!" The mere thought of holding her grandchild in her arms made Molly so content that she laughed delightfully.

While pushing the trolley, Brian hugged Molly's shoulders and sighed. "The children have their own lives, and we have ours as well. We may hope for them to do something to make us happy, but let's not interfere with their choices, all right?"

"I know." Molly leaned on Brian's shoulder. After heaving a deep sigh, she continued, "I am just worried about Mark. He is too absorbed in his work. If he's not busy with the National Congress, then he must be handling issues regarding the Dragon Empire Group. He has no time for himself." Pouting, she complained, "I didn't expect that he would be so busy. Dad wasn't this busy, was he? Eric seems quite relaxed. He even has time to spend with his kid."

Brian just smiled and listened to Molly grumbling. Even though Molly was complaining a lot, she didn't forget that she was there to buy gifts. The only thing she had to consider was the gifts had to be suitable, but not too expensive so as not to pressure Elsa's parents too much. In a short while, the entire trolley was loaded with the presents.

After they paid for the goods, they went to the car park. Molly was still going on about Mark's lack of progress of finding a girlfriend, until Brian finally said, "I'll ask Eric to give him one month for his holidays." With that, Molly stopped whining.

After they brought everything back to the hotel and asked the people in charge of publication to pack the gifts and transfer them to the restaurant where the meeting between the families would take place tomorrow, they drove to the restaurant where they would meet Charlie. When they reached the restaurant, Evelyn was there as well. For some reason, Ezra and Evelyn were quarreling. Both spoke in low voices through clenched teeth. Surely Evelyn couldn't win a squabble against a lawyer whose profession was to win arguments. "Dad, Mom."

"Mr. Long, Mrs. Long."

When Brian and Molly entered the restaurant, the trio greeted them warmly. Evelyn glared at Ezra before asking her father, "Dad, Ezra says that you've already agreed with the engagement. Is that true?"

Brian glanced at Ezra and answered, "Yes."

"Dad, how could you agree?" Evelyn put on a disgruntled look.

"Why not?" asked Molly. She could see that Evelyn was quite compatible with Ezra.

Evelyn cast Ezra another glance and sulked. "He's not romantic at all. How can I just say, yes? No way! Impossible! Ezra, let me tell you! You will be embarrassed!

Ezra argued back, "Well, let's just see about that. I bet you're going to cry when you see that I will be right."

Evelyn was dazed for a moment. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said." Ezra put up a smug smile. "On the day of the engagement, I will hire a few more girls. Even if you don't show up, someone will. The engagement ceremony will happen whether you come or not." He paused and chuckled. "So don't cry if you miss out. Who else besides me would be prepared to put up with the way you eat like a starving vagabond? Besides, no one would be willing to buy you the food that you desire. If you miss your opportunity with me, it's going to be very difficult for you to find another suitable choice." Evelyn was enraged to hear that. She felt like throwing the first object that she got her hands on, right into his arrogant face.

"May I know what's going on here?" Molly asked. Molly couldn't understand what the quarrel was about. She knew that Evelyn loved to be with Ezra, but she wasn't aware of what engagement they were talking about.

There weren't many customers in the restaurant, and the two of them had kept the volume low when they quarreled, so the incident was only kept to themselves. Charlie explained it to Molly, "Ezra told A City's media that he was going to hold his engagement in July without talking to Evelyn about it. His influence in A City was more significant than his influence in T City. So, it's not hard to imagine how crazy the media went. But it was when we came to H City. It has been a piece of explosive news in A City. Evelyn only found out about it when she saw it on the huge screens by the road after she took Elsa home. Naturally, she assumed that it was the engagement with her.

That was how the entire thing came about. However, Ezra only mentioned the engagement without revealing the name of the bride.

It was a trap set by Ezra, which Evelyn stepped in."000000000000☐☐☐☐