Love Began with the First Meeting

The young man smiled. Shrugging, he replied, "How would I know?"

The manager rolled his eyes. "Sir, please don't tease me. I will treat you to dinner afterwards. Please tell me what he wanted me to do." "Pipe Organ Bay," the young man said with a grin. It was one of the most luxurious restaurants in the city.

The manager whined, "Oh my goodness..."

"Fine, I'm leaving." He got up from his seat and turned to leave.

The manager pulled him back and pleaded, "Alright. Please don't go." Clenching his teeth, he said, "Fine. Pipe Organ Bay. Just tell me!"

The man smiled and turned his head to the manager. "Charlie will not be able to make it to this meeting with the success he has right now. He has to make some real progress. So, what is the biggest shortcoming of DSS series right now?"

"What is it?" the manager asked, staring at the man blankly. He had inspected the phone himself, but he couldn't think of any shortcoming.

The young man rolled his eyes again, ridiculing the manager's ignorance. He continued to explain, "To be able to support larger games and applications, the phone would need a more powerful processor. But, it is a technical issue that can't be solved overnight. Naturally, he would think of the Z series processor." The moment he finished, the manager's eyes gleamed with realization. Smirking, the young man strode out of the meeting room.

For Charlie, a computer science genius, it wouldn't be hard to construct a powerful processor, but it would take a long time to test and manufacture. He didn't want to wait that long.

Moreover, in essence, Dragon was still part of the Dragon Empire Group. As a member of the Long Family and a candidate for the Ruler of the Dragon Empire Group, he surely wouldn't completely detach Dragon from the Dragon Empire Group. The competition between the Z series and the Z-DSS series was a stimulus for them to improve, but since they belonged to the same business body, cooperation between the two was inevitable.

A few years later, when the Z-DSS3 was released, the Z Dream series was released simultaneously. The two series established a monopoly in the hand phone market-Z-DSS, targeting the middle and lower class, and Z series targeting the upper class.

During the celebration banquet, the CEO of the Dragon Empire Group praised the two series in his speech. This laid the foundation to the long-term co-operation between his two sons, and also showed the importance of Dragon in the Dragon Empire Group.

For the banquet, Elsa was wearing a simple white gown. In the past, she would have been shy and reserved, but now, she was Mrs. Long. She elegantly attended all official occasions with Charlie Long.

Elsa's eyes were filled with pride and love as she watched Charlie giving his speech. It had been five years since they had established their relationship, but the love in their eyes had only grown through the years.

"I thought Ann was coming as well?" Olivia was wearing a sapphire skin-tight dress. Holding her glass of champagne, she looked around in search of Ann. "She didn't pick up my call."

Anna, who was in a very sexy black gown, shrugged and assured her, "Don't worry. She will be here."

"I'll step out for a minute and give her a call," Elsa said, walking towards the exit.

"I'll come with you," Olivia said. She followed Elsa, and so did Anna.

Because of some issues with Ann's family business, the four of them hadn't met in a year. Now that Ann's company was back on track, she finally had some time to meet her friends.

Though Charlie was delivering his speech, he had his eyes glued on Elsa. Charlie noticed her leaving the hall, but continued with his speech without showing any reaction in his perfect face. In the end, he announced, "I wish everyone a wonderful evening. Thank you all for coming!"

With a warm round of applause, Charlie walked off the stage. And the party began. Charlie knew that Elsa was with Olivia and Anna. She had told him that Ann would be coming as well. He wanted to give her some privacy and some much needed time with her best friends, so he didn't follow her outside.

"You don't want to let her out of your sight for even a second, do you?" Ezra teased him.

Charlie scoffed, "Have you been abandoned by Evelyn again? Is that why you are here, ruining my peace?" Charlie looked towards Evelyn, who was talking to Bess and some other women.

Ezra scrunched his nose in annoyance. "Just look at your sister. She is pregnant, yet has absolutely no restrain. And she finds it annoying when I am with her! I mean, what the hell? I am the baby's father. Why does she find me annoying?" Laughing, Charlie shook his head. "You are on your second child. How old are you? You are still jealous of her friends."

"Hey, age has nothing to do with this. It's called romance. You wouldn't understand." Even though he was talking to Charlie, he had his eyes fixated on Evelyn, as if he was worried that she might deliver any second. "Speaking of romance and what-not, when do you plan on having a baby with Elsa?" Ezra threw a quick glance at Charlie and then returned his gaze to Evelyn. "I think mother is pretty worried."

The bitter smile on Charlie's lips reached his eyes. "Elsa has issues conceiving. You know that. But I am not very concerned about it. We are just taking it easy. We can still enjoy a pleasant life without a baby. Moreover, Mom has one grandchild to take care of already. And now, Evelyn is expecting a baby in two months. She will have no time to think about..."

Ezra sighed, "Charlie, I know that you don't want Elsa to get hurt. I also know that you want a baby. Why not go for a check up? You can't hide your emotions from me, man. Every time you look at my baby, your eyes light up like Christmas trees."

"Isn't it normal for me to want a baby? I love her. And I do want a baby with her. It will complete us," Charlie replied, frankly admitting his feelings. "But she is much more important than having a baby. I don't want Elsa to be pressured." "How do you know that she doesn't want a baby?" Ezra said, finding his words so unconvincing. "Perhaps she thinks that you don't want a baby. And maybe secretly feels disheartened by it."

While they were still talking, Olivia rushed into the hall, looking pale. She scanned the hall till her eyes landed on Charlie. She dashed towards him and stammered, "Char- Charlie. Elsa... Elsa tripped and fell. She's saying that her stomach hurts." Charlie didn't wait for her to finish and had already sprinted out of the hall. Ezra and Olivia ran after him at full speed.

"Elsa, we'll get you to the hospital now," Anna said frantically. She tried to lift Elsa off the floor, but she couldn't muster the strength. While she was on the edge of tears, Charlie came running to her side. Squatting down, he asked anxiously, "Elsa, are you okay?" "Charlie... My- My stomach hurts." She managed to utter a few words in pain; there were beads of sweat on her forehead.

His heart ached when he saw her pained expression. Charlie immediately scooped her up in his arms, and held her close to his chest. He walked briskly down the stairs. He placed her gently onto the backseat of his car and rushed to the nearest hospital. While Elsa was being diagnosed by the doctor in the emergency room, Charlie sat on the bench outside the room. His fingers were interlocked, and he was using too much force that his knuckles turned pale.

Ezra and the others arrived soon after. After quickly throwing a nervous glance at the emergency room, he asked, "How is she?"

Charlie just shook his head. He couldn't muster any words. He regretted letting Elsa out by herself. He shouldn't have allowed her out of his sight.

Addison rushed to the hospital as well. Seeing the cold expression on Charlie's face, he patted his shoulder, giving him some mental support as he waited quietly with his brother.

After about half an hour later, the emergency room's door was pushed opened from inside.

Charlie sprang to his feet and asked the doctor nervously, "Doctor, how is my wife?"

The doctor pulled down his mask and replied, "Mrs. Long is fine. She just tripped and fell. But I gave her a thorough check-up. The baby is fine. It is nothing serious. She just needs to get some good rest tonight."

After Charlie heard that Elsa was fine, he felt so relieved that he didn't really pay any attention to what the doctor had said after that. But after a moment, he raised his head to look at the doctor, with a blank expression on his face.

"Did you just say 'baby'? Is she-? Is she pregnant?"

The doctor nodded with a smile. "Yes. She is pregnant. Almost two months."

Charlie couldn't describe the feelings that were surging through him at that moment. He was surprised, excited, afraid, anxious and even grateful. He walked into the emergency room immediately. He didn't know how to accept this sudden surprise in his life. A contented grin appeared on his thin lips when he gazed at his dear wife..

Elsa, though, wasn't as exhilarated as Charlie. Biting her lip, she mumbled, "I-I am pregnant."

"I know," Charlie nodded happily.

Biting her lip again, she asked, "Charlie... Can we keep the baby?" She raised her head, and saw that Charlie's face had suddenly turned stiff. Fearing that he might not want the baby, she stuttered, "I-I- Evelyn is already having her second baby... - Charlie, I want a baby too." Charlie felt like crying and he remembered what Ezra had told him earlier. He felt heartbroken. Scooping her into his arms, he said, "Silly Little Bun, this is our baby. Of course, we will keep the baby."

Elsa's eyes turned hazy and she hugged him back gratefully. Tears fell down her face, but she smiled through it. "I thought you didn't want a baby. When the doctor told me that I am pregnant, I was really excited. But I was also scared that you wouldn't want this baby." Tears swam to the surface of Charlie's eyes as well. Lips curling into a wide smile, he said, "I want everything you grant me with. Everything."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐