Love Began with the First Meeting

She pressed her lips, swallowed one big gulp, and took a deep breath again. She told herself that three days was enough to
mope around - it had to end now. Mark was trying his best to be strong while fighting against the disease so she should be doing
the same.
She took one last deep breath, stood up, and then headed to the bathroom.
At that moment, the door of the villa flew open. Brian walked inside, hands shoved in his pants, followed by Tony.
"Mr. Brian!" Lisa greeted. She was just finishing up with cleaning the kitchen. "Should I cook dinner for you?" she asked.
Brian stopped in his tracks and lifted his head as if he was looking upstairs. Lisa followed his gaze and said, "Mrs. Molly Long
hasn't had dinner. She's actually lost a lot of weight over the past few days." She said this in an attempt to make Brian
sympathize with Molly seeing that he was already peeved.
A trace of pity flashed across his eyes but Brian said coldly, "She won't starve to death by missing one or two meals. She isn't
stupid. Does she have to be dragged out just so she would put something in her mouth?" Without missing a beat, Brian headed
directly upstairs.
"So..."
"You can rest now," Brian interrupted Lisa. After taking only a few steps, he stopped and turned his head slightly, "Doesn't Lucy's
art exhibition open tomorrow?"
Lisa suppressed the feeling of hopelessness in her heart and said with a smile, "Yes, it does. Tomorrow at Central Gallery." She
didn't agree with what Lucy was planning but she was her daughter after all and this would be her first large-scale exhibition.
Lisa also hoped that Brian would come.
"Hmm," Brian said then simply turned back around and went up stairs. Before heading to his study, he glanced at the door of
Mark's bedroom which was closed. He lingered for a while before entering his study.
Molly wasn't aware that Brian was coming back today. She had just taken a bath and was in a silk robe with a big towel wrapped
around her hair. She took out a stack of newspapers out of her bag and scanned the recruitment page as she lay on the bed.
She skimmed through the page making marks on openings that was suitable for her. Her eyes twinkled when she found a job
opening from a big company. The troupe was recruiting three assistants.
Molly excitedly marked the opening with a big circle and a star in red ink.

Molly stopped skimming the paper anymore since she had already found one that she liked. She folded up the paper and placed
it on top of the bedside table, turned off the lights and went to sleep. Now more than ever, she was determined to bounce back
and be strong.
The dim light from the crescent moon sprinkled into the room, spreading unto Molly's face. She looked even lonelier in the
ringing silence.
Brian was wiping a silver pistol with one of his silk handkerchiefs. The pistol was quite small like the center of a palm. It was the
latest version of derringer that was developed by the Russians. It had the best range, speed, and recoil. It could accommodate
six bullets and for someone as skilled as Brian, six was more than enough.
A ray of blue light flashed in front of Brian as he was wiping the pistol. He paused and stared at the blue diamond that was on the
pistol. It was the same as the one on Molly's ring. His eyes dimmed.
When Brian had given Molly that ring back in QY Island, he had told her that the Soul of K would protect her. But what he hadn't
told her was that it was the symbol of XK Intelligence Agency and that it could only be possessed by those at the top of the
Agency. These people had the right to protect someone else with an additional Soul of K and that person should be the most
important person to them.
Years ago, Shawn had given his Soul of K to Richie because only Richie was important to him. Shawn's was also blue. The one
that Richie had given Shirley was purple because that was her favorite color. Maybe Brian chose blue for himself too because of
Shawn and Richie. But for Molly, he chose blue because he felt as if that was the color that was most fitting to her—blue meant
change and harmony.
Besides that, he also wanted that he and Molly had matching colors. Shawn once told him, "Blue is the loveliest and most
adaptive color. One who is fond of blue was born to be loved," and he always remembered that.
As he stroked the Soul of K in the pistol, Brian's eyes seemed to change colors.
Ding!
He snapped out of his daze when he heard something popped up in his monitor. It was a request for a video call. He instantly
collected himself, put the pistol away, and answered the call. It was Vincent looking stoic. With his short and spiky hair, angled
and dark face, Vincent looked pretty much average, he wouldn't ever stand out in a crowd. As the head of Brian's investigation
team, this certainly served as an advantage because no one suspected him—he looked so ordinary.

"How's everything there?" Brian asked flatly.
"Everything's going as planned. Mr. Eric's taken further action too."
"Hmm," Brian's eyes were dark, "Just keep tabs on the economy there but if you're too busy, I can send Harrow there too."
"That's what I'm doing, yes," Vincent said plainly. He took it as a compliment that he had the same idea as Brian did.
A faint smile played on Brian's lips. It was barely visible but that was all the validation that Vincent needed. He knew Vincent was
a large-scale man—you would not see his full ability if he was just playing in the minor leagues, he needed to be at the major
leagues with the big guys. When they ended the video call, Brian lit a cigarette. He had been smoking more frequently
nowadays. It was his way of dealing with all of the stress.
An hour had passed and Brian was still sitting in his chair, smoking. He had gone through eight sticks and the study was fogged
up from smoke.
When Brian saw that it was already three in the morning, he put his cigarette off hastily and stood up. He planned to shower first
before he went to sleep. But as he walked along the corridor - something about Mark's room drew him in because he knew Molly
was there.