Love Began with the First Meeting

Maggie turned around looking for the person who had just called out her name, it was Tompson Lin. As their eyes met, they looked each other up and down, from head to toe, each forming completely different opinions of each other. Maggie was very angry to see her nemesis, while Tompson was excited to see his childhood friend.

"Maggie, it's been a long time. It's good to see you, but you still look exactly the same," Tompson smiled. "You still look like a kid, refusing to grow up. I still remember you pretending to be a middle-school student five years ago. Now, you are pretending that you're a high- school student. You are, so to speak, a major now. Could you please be mature? Shame on you."

Look at him, the devil! He was born to humiliate her!

Maggie was already angry because of what Edgar and his friend, Claire, had said about her earlier on. Now she was being humiliated by Tompson as well! Maggie was so furious that she felt like spoiling for a fight, to work off her anger. Seeing her reaction, Tompson couldn't help laughing and he chided, "Maggie, you are so childish. Calm down. Take a look at your epaulet and then at mine."

Maggie was so furious that she didn't think of either them being in the military area or them being ranking officers. At Tompson's suggestion she finally glanced at his epaulet. Much to her surprise, Tompson was a lieutenant colonel! "Maggie, technically, you should salute and call me sir. Don't you know the rules?" Tompson smirked.

"Oh my god! Tompson, do you really think that you look like a lieutenant colonel?" Maggie gnashed her teeth in anger. Cooling down a little bit, she stared at him asking, "Why are you here? And... How did you become an army medical corps officer?"

Tompson shrugged then answered confidently, "Well, I graduated from Military Medical University. If I am not supposed to be here, then where should I be?" He continued after a pause, "Well, I know that you graduated from the National Defense University, but don't you dare underestimate me, do you understand? Besides, I am three years older than you. So it's quite acceptable for me to be your senior, okay?"

Maggie sneered, then she responded scornfully, "Don't tell me that you still bear a secret love for me." She continued taunting, "Tompson, how can you still be so stubborn? Do you love me so much that you, knowing my information, even joined S Army because of me?" Tompson sighed helplessly. Then shaking his head, he said, "You are wrong about two things. First, it's not a secret, okay? Everyone knows that I have a crush on you. Second, I was here before you were here. So do you know what it means? It means that it is you who has come here for me, not me who came here for you!"

Maggie was speechless. How could he be so self-conceited and thick-skinned? She scoffed at him angrily. 'You are no better than me, okay? You're still the same arrogant bastard as before!' Thinking of this, she rolled her eyes, and taunted, "Tompson, you are, after all, almost thirty years old. So don't be so childish to argue with me, okay?" Maggie then arched her eyebrows with a sense of pride.

Tompson was in a good mood, so he didn't stop her from taunting him. He knew that she had been admitted to the National Defense University and she had then worked as an intern with the Eagle Special Brigade in S Army, but he had never gone to visit her. Things had changed over the years. After all, change was an inevitable part of life, even though people at a young age would like to believe that they wouldn't change. As for how things had ended up, no one knew except for him.

"It's rare to see you here. So how about... How about a special date at the canteen tonight?" Tompson joked. 'There are rules in S Army. And even though he is a lieutenant colonel, he doesn't have the authority to arrange for favored treatment,' she thought, but then she formed a brilliant plan to show him up.

"Good idea, but I'm not going unless it's a lavish dinner," Maggie demanded with a challenging tone. Knowing that it was impossible for Tompson to arrange this, she sneered, "If you can't manage that, I will certainly look down on you."

Without any astonishment, Tompson leaned forward to Maggie with an even bigger smile on his face. While Maggie instantly stepped back to avoid the pressure which his closeness brought, he said slowly, "What if I succeed? Will you then promise to come?" He smiled again. "Maggie, soldiers should be frugal. How could you waste food? Do you want to know what it feels like to be put in confinement?"

She felt a bit nervous at his low and cold voice, so she argued, "Let me guess, you are saying that simply because you know you can't do it."

"I think you may have forgetten that..." Tompson laughed. "There aren't many rules restricting army medical corps officers."

Hearing this, Maggie was left speechless. She knew it! He was playing tricks on her. Maggie couldn't figure out why she had always stuttered nervously in front of Tompson since she was young, even though she had been the queen in their neighborhood.

At that exact moment, while Maggie and Tompson were standing there in a dubiously close posture, Claire came walking out of Edgar's ward. She came forward with a suspicious little smile on her lips, then she spoke to Tompson, "Doctor Tompson, you still have the same old habit of flirting with young girls, I see." Although, Maggie knew that Claire was just joking, she just couldn't tolerate to see the smug look on her face every time she made a snide remark.

She pushed Tompson away, while glaring at Claire and said, "It seems that nowadays women think that 'the older, the better'."

Claire's face turned pale, but she managed to stay composed. Finally, she decided to ignore Maggie deliberately and instead spoke to Tompson. "Doctor, can you please look after Captain Edgar for me while I'm away? I'll be back tomorrow."

Glancing at Maggie who was still fuming, Tompson suddenly had a flash of insight and he realized that there was some cause for conflict between these two ladies. He then answered, "No worries. It's my job to take care of the patients." He looked at Claire and continued, "However, I don't think it's such a good idea for you to come here so often, unless you have urgent things to discuss with Captain Edgar. After all, he needs some rest to recover before he can conduct more military drills."

Claire responded with a jaunty smile on her face. "I don't want to come and bother him either, but I still have some details to discuss with Captain Edgar. So I don't have a choice."

As Claire sighed to show her helplessness, Tompson didn't argue anymore. Instead he nodded to show his agreement.

After glancing at Maggie, Claire said goodbye to Tompson and then left. The moment Claire disappeared from their sights, Tompson leaned in and asked Maggie, "Did you... Did you fall in love with Captain Edgar?"

"No!" Maggie denied, just a little too hastily. She then murmured, "His moral issues are a huge problem. No one will love him unless he changes that."

Looking at Maggie's reaction, Tompson was touched by sadness, however, he bound it up in his heart, and pretended to be careless. To hide his feelings, he started making fun of her again. "Fortunately not, after all, Edgar could be your uncle, considering his age." Hearing what he just said, Maggie's mouth couldn't help convulsing. He just couldn't give her a break. 000000☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐