Love Began with the First Meeting

"You may withdraw now. I need to consult my superiors first," the commissar said to Edgar.

Edgar saluted and withdrew himself from the office. However, he didn't go far but waited outside the door. About half an hour later, he was called to come in again. He knocked at the door and then walked in. "Sir?" he queried. have to stay at the director center."

The commissar looked embarrassed. He heaved a sigh and said, "The higher-ups have agreed that they can go along with the Blue Force, but they can only stay at the command center. They are not allowed to go to the front-line. If you agree, it shall be so. If not, they will Edgar wasn't surprised to be informed of this result. His original intention had also been for them to go to the command center. "Sure! Thank you, sir!" Edgar replied and gave a crisp salute.

The commissar shook his head and sighed, "How many times have you gotten injured since you've returned to the army? When can you stop making us all worry about you?" Edgar grinned and answered, "It was just an accident."

"It doesn't matter. You shall complete your commission this year," said the commissar, wanting to be rid of concerns regarding Edgar's blatant disregard for his own safety.

Smiling, Edgar didn't retort or explain, but responded in a low voice. Sometimes, the more you explained, the more people thought you were concealing some truth. So, he didn't like explaining himself to others. The rumors would ultimately fade away when people saw the end result.

Edgar never once considered that he might end up falling in love with a girl who was much younger than he was. Starting a happy but alarmed life was a quite unanticipated future which suddenly beckoned him.

The next day at 04:00, all the soldiers who were going to participate in the military exercise were leaving for the staging areas according to their orders. At dawn, as the director center announced the start of the strategic exercise, the Blue Force and the Red Force started the half-a-month exercise.

Maggie was so excited. Finally, she had gotten rid of reading the boring documents and data in the director center and would get the chance to take part in the military exercise with the Blue Force! However, Edgar, as the chief commander of the Blue Force, didn't mention Maggie and her friends when he arranged the combat assignments for the soldiers of the Blue Force. And they all became confused and didn't know what was going on.

"Maggie, go and ask the Captain what's going on! Why didn't he mention our assignments?" said Jake to Maggie as he leaned over and spoke in a low voice. Then, Edith and Garth both looked at Maggie too, their expectations clear.

Looking at Edgar, who was standing in front of the electronic sand table studying the operational plans with some other commanders, Maggie flinched and answered, "I'm not going. Why don't you go?"

Edith rolled her eyes, pointed to her red epaulets, and then looked pointedly at Maggie's. "You are a First Lieutenant, and you have the highest rank among us. If you won't go, how can we go? The Captain would think that we're going over your head!" Edith said logically. Garth and Jake, at the moment, suddenly had the chemistry to nod at the same time. They looked like two bobble head dolls then and Maggie resisted the urge to laugh at them.

She rolled her eyes, instead. "You've never treated me as a First Lieutenant. Now you suddenly realize that I am a First Lieutenant? I'm telling you, I'm not going," she replied coldly. In truth, Maggie was actually very nervous deep down. She hoped that she could gain some experience through this exercise, so that she wouldn't be as flustered as she was the last time she saw combat. She felt useless and embarrassed as she had not been of more help to Edgar on their mission.

What a pity that they had to stay at the Blue Force's command center to listen to and relay data. They could also have done so at the director center!

Feeling Maggie's hesitation, Garth winked at Edith and Jake. They immediately understood his signal and started persuading Maggie in low voices. Begging, flattering, and making promises became their weapons to earn her surrender. They said all the nice words they could think of. At last, Maggie gave in.

Wearing a bitter face, she glared at her three "bad" friends, and then turned to looked at Edgar as she got up from her seat. She lingered, walking around slowly and then staring at the computer screens. On the main screen, there were thousands of blue dots which were actually the launchers of the Blue Force. Sometimes, the launchers could be detected by "the enemy", but with Cathy's help, her new camouflage technology and guidance program, the launchers were harder to be detected by the Red Force.

After wandering around for a while, Maggie slowly walked up to Edgar as she had noticed that the commanders who were talking with him have left. "Are these all the exercise areas?" she started with a lame opening remark.

Edgar turned his head and gazed at Maggie, his expression unreadable as usual. Frowning then, he said coldly, "Comrade Maggie, this is the combat command center. Shouldn't you give a salute before you speak to me?" He was wearing a grim face. Maggie froze, and then bit her lips at her own stupidity. She was so nervous that she had forgotten all about the basic military protocols regarding the addressing of a senior officer.

Maggie gave a salute and then said aloud, "Sir, I'm asking for a chance to fight!" Either stay silent, or say something astonishing- That was who Maggie was.

"Request, duly noted and denied!" Edgar answered coldly. He turned back to watch the electronic sand table, on which a blue dot suddenly lit up and flashed twice. This meant the Falcon had arrived at that spot.

"Why, sir?" Maggie asked restlessly.

Edgar shot her a glance and voiced coldly, "Maggie..."

"Yes, sir!" she replied, holding her head high.

Looking at her impassively, Edgar roared, "You'll stay here. That's an order!"

Not knowing how to respond to this, she felt at a loss for words. She saw her friends' regretful faces and the other staff in the tent began giving her weird looks.

"What a pity! Has Maggie lost her mind?" Jake sighed, exasperated by her obvious failure. "How could she ask the Captain in that way? She could have just thrown herself at him, and then asked him in a tender voice! He would have agreed!" Jake bemoaned the poor strategy which Maggie had chosen.

"Really? You really think that the Captain would have bought it?" Garth looked at Jake and challenged.

"No," Jake replied honestly, shaking his head.

With everyone's eyes still fixed on her, Maggie ignored her own embarrassment and kept her chin up. While staring at Edgar, she said, "I'm asking for combating on the spot!" Maggie paused a moment, ground her teeth and carried on, "Increasing the effective range of the sniper rifle is a new technology. Although I can guarantee that the accuracy can reach 97% or more, I can't guarantee that the vibration in the rear seat would be reduced. I think that you should let us go to the front line so that we can get a more reasonable and effective technology evaluation on the spot. Moreover, we can then also perfect everything that we might have to fine tune in the field." Her voice was forceful with conviction and her eyes looked determined.

Edgar gazed at Maggie, looking deeply into her eyes, while the higher-ups standing to the side started talking about her. She had made herself conspicuous in the command center. ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐