Love Began with the First Meeting

Edgar wasn't perturbed by Brian's words.

He simply said, "You owe me a favor. This is what I need now. You can pay me back with it." Molly replied brightly, "Edgar, you have learned to become shameless in the army. Ha-ha." After joking, she suddenly turned serious. "Daniel called Bri this afternoon. Since both of you requested it, Bri is sure to help."

Upon hearing this Edgar felt relieved. He turned to look at Brian, waiting for his answer. Brian took a file from his drawer and handed it to him. "Take this, but keep in mind that we are now even!"

After Edgar took the file, Brian added, "That's all I can do for you. As for how you care to proceed? That's none of my business."

Edgar grinned. "This is all I want. Thank you."

"Let Tony drive you back," Brian said flatly. "If everything goes as planned, you won't have much time to prepare."

Edgar nodded and left with Maggie. By the time they reached the hotel, it was already midnight.

Maggie shut the door and asked, "Why didn't he pass you the file while we were having dinner?"

Edgar opened the file, taking out the papers and replied, "I don't think he had this information at that time."

Then he flipped through the file, one page after another. On every page, there was information regarding a member of their opponents, from the leaders to the common members. The important ones even had photos attached to it. Even though most of the photos were not clear views from the front, he was still surprised by the efficiency of XK. Their power was simply intimidating.

Maggie was also reading the information. She couldn't help but murmur, "Could he have known beforehand that you were coming? Did he get a head start on collecting the information?" Then she turned to look at Edgar, anticipating a confirmation. It was the only explanation for the efficient and thorough dossier.

Edgar thought for a while and then answered, "He started when I gave him the call. When Daniel called him, it would have been after we boarded the plane. At the most he had five hours to gather this information."

Maggie blinked in astonishment. "Is he running a spy organization? Is XK full of spies?"

Edgar indifferently answered, "If you are not very smart, at least you should develop some common knowledge." After he put the stack of pages back into the file, he turned to the wardrobe, which contained two huge black canvas bags. Maggie was surprised to see the two bags, as they weren't there earlier. Lips twitching, she watched Edgar opening the bags and her eyes widened in surprise.

They were full of listening devices, parabolic microphones, guns and... Maggie took out a silk-like vest. It felt smooth and cool to her touch. "This is?"

"A bullet-proof vest," Edgar answered while he unpacked the equipment.

Maggie examined the vest and asked in disbelief, "This?"

Edgar shrugged and loaded the guns. "Don't underestimate it. it is too expensive to manufacture, which is why it hasn't been made available to the army yet. It's normal that you should find it strange. But it might save your life." Maggie scrutinized the vest curiously. If the opportunity presented, she would probably try out this one.

"Wear that later." Edgar started to put the parts of the parabolic microphone together and adjusted the channel. Then he gave Maggie a device resembling an ear-ring. "This device contains GPS tracking as well as a microphone component. Make sure that you don't drop it."

Maggie was slightly petrified by the upcoming action. When Edgar helped her to put on the ear-ring, she felt his breath gently brush across the skin around her ear, which sent a shiver of unexpected pleasure down her spine.

Her heart raced and her face flushed a modest pink. Swallowing at her dry mouth, Maggie tried to concentrate so as to suppress this strange and inappropriate feeling towards Edgar, as she didn't want to miss anything he said.

After Edgar set the parabolic microphone up, he turned and noticed that there was something different about Maggie's face. Frowning, he asked, "Is there anything wrong? Are you feeling all right?" They were on a really important mission and even the slightest of physical impairment could lead to a catastrophic consequence. Of course he couldn't allow such a thing to happen.

"Sir, I am fine!" Maggie reported, hoping that he didn't figure out why she was blushing. Then she blinked at Edgar, giving him a strange look, which immediately betrayed her.

It was not her fault in actual fact. Even though Edgar's image in her heart had been shattered, she had also secretly been in love with him for years and had striven to be close to him since then. It was just too hard for her to give up all of a sudden. In fact all her resentment towards Edgar was only because she hated his personal life. Everything else was still a mighty mix of desire to her. Edgar looked intently at Maggie and seemed to notice something for the first time. Abruptly, he asked, "Maggie, could it be...

you are in love with me?" Maggie's face blushed a hot pink now and her heart first skipped a beat and then pounded like a racehorse's. "What? What did you say? How can you be so conceited? You are more than a dozen years older than me! How can you even suggest such a thing?"

His eyes hardened and he coldly said, "Good to hear that. Just for your information, I have no interest in young, immature girls."

"Right. You only have interest in other men's wives," Maggie blurted out before she could stop herself. The moment she finished, she almost wanted to kill herself right there in front of him or vanish into thin air. Why was she so obsessed with that?

Edgar sat down on the floor and put on a meaningful smile. "When I was interested in Molly, Brian hadn't even appeared yet. If it weren't for my career in the military, I would have been together with Molly and Brian would be the intruder in my relationship. Understand?"☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐