Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 1313 Extra Story 68 Of Edgar A Long Night

While she said this, the car pulled up at a parking space next to the road. Edgar turned his head to look at Maggie. Seeing the urgent expectation in her eyes, he knew that she was expecting him to say the words to her personally. He lowered his eyes. With a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, he said slowly, "Maggie Du..." Then he raised his eyes, meeting hers. His eyes were deep and bottomless orbs which swallowed her very soul. In a low, deep, and magnetic voice, he continued, "I love you." Hearing the words from his lips, Maggie's eyes widened immediately. After months of doubting and worrying, she almost didn't believe her ears. She asked him, "Edgar, say it again!"

Edgar looked deeply at her, with great warmth and affection before turning away. Then he unfastened the seat belt and stepped out of the car, ignoring her request. When he heard her voice behind him, a faint smile gradually formed at the corners of his mouth.

As fast as she could, Maggie unfastened her seat belt and got out of the car too. She hesitated as she looked at the alocasia in her arms and was indecisive for a few seconds. In the end, she decided to leave them in the car. "Edgar, wait a minute!" she called out. In a hurry, she ran to catch up with him, not paying attention to where he was going. It was not until she had followed him into a small restaurant that she remembered that they were going to have dinner.

"This restaurant is certainly an antique beauty," Maggie commented. While climbing the stairs, she looked around in wonder. All of a sudden, she stopped in her tracks at the wide landing in the middle of the stairs going up to the second floor. She looked at the next set of stairs and then at the wall beside them.

There was a camouflage net draped on the wall, on which some photos were hung with a hemp rope. Maggie touched one of the photos. Posed on the photo was a special force team that consisted of several members. All of them wore jungle combat suits, and their faces were painted in disguise. Everyone was grinning with a gun in their arms. Despite the successful disguise, Maggie easily recognized Edgar on the photo at first glance. He looked quite young in the photo, and somewhat different from how he looked now. It seemed that the photo had been taken many years ago. In fact, even an acquaintance might not necessarily recognize him. However, Maggie did, only because she was all too familiar with the Edgar she had known during that time.

The photo had been taken at about the same time when she had been kidnapped by some bandits because of their hostility towards her father. It was the Sharp Blade Commando who had rescued her. Among the team members, Edgar had taken the lead and pioneered her rescue.

As the past resurfaced in her mind, Maggie's eyes gradually reddened. Her hands began to tremble violently as she held the photo frame. Edgar's face, looking the same as the one in the photo, had been branded in her mind ever since then. Later, since he had taken her home, she had always seen him as a gentle and cultivated looking face with a spirit of iron. He had been burrowed deep into her heart forever since that day.

While Maggie looked at the photo and thought of the past, Edgar had already arrived at the second floor. Finding that Maggie hadn't followed him upstairs, he frowned slightly, then turned around and looked down at her. He didn't come here frequently. However, as someone who had begun his military career as a scout and had worked for a long time in the special forces, he always paid attention to details. Once he went to a place, he would upon a second visit notice even tiny changes from when he had been there before. Of course he knew there were photos along the wall of the stairs, based on which he deduced that Maggie must now be looking at the group photos of the former Sharp Blade Commando. He regarded her, seeing with one glance how emotionally she was reacting to the photo, and realized that she was reminiscing about the past. When the Sharp Blade Commando came to his mind, he could however not help but feel melancholy.

Today he was the only member of the former Sharp Blade Commando who was still in active service with the army. In fact, if he hadn't returned to the army from doing a governmental job, the Sharp Blade Commando would have disappeared completely. Some of the members were long dead, and some of them had been transferred to civilian work. Perhaps it was Zachary Liang who had maintained the best status quo among them. He was now the captain of criminal police of S City, while most of the other members were doing a civilian job with very little to do. They received regular salaries and would continue to live a plain, uneventful life until they died.

It was not because the leadership had neglected them, but because a job in special forces was so dangerous. They were no longer competent for any job other than civilian work. Their years of military service had broken many of them and they were no longer combat effective, and therefore relegated to the sidelines of civilian life. That was why Edgar was so strict with the members of the Eagle Special Brigade for the time being. Civilian work seemed stable enough for people who only wanted to make a living and support their family. However, for every one of the soldiers, who had been born and prepared for fighting, doing a civilian job was an intense suffering. Some did not survive this.

Pursing her lips, Maggie released the photo and let her eyes trail the rope upward along the stairs, as she took in the multitude of army photos. All of the photos were of soldiers in disguise. Some of the men were disguised so well that even their own mothers could perhaps not recognize them. Maggie didn't know why but she felt really saddened when she looked at these photos.

"This place..." Maggie said softly as she gazed up at Edgar after looking through all the photos.

Edgar tried to put on a brave smile, but it slid off the corners of his lips, resulting in a sad and bitter scowl. He seemed so helpless then. "This restaurant is run by the orphan of a former comrade-in-arms of mine. There is a small party here this evening. I want to introduce you to the rest of them," Edgar said, grasping Maggie's hand with his. "Do you mind me doing this?"

Hearing his question, spoken in such a vulnerable tone, Maggie thought seriously for a while. Then she asked, "If I say that I do mind, can I leave?"

She asked the question in such a serious manner that Edgar was stunned. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer her. After considering for a moment, he nodded gravely and said, "If you do mind, I will leave together with you." While saying this, he stepped off from the top landing and held his hand out to her, intending to take her back downstairs.

"No," Maggie said, stopping Edgar by stepping backward abruptly. "I was just kidding. Your friends will be my friends in our future together. Of course I must meet and get to know them."

Maggie was being really guileful by saying these words, which made it sound like the relationship between her and Edgar was already very intimate. Proud of her own performance, she added complacently, "Well, maybe they are going to call me Mrs. Gu!" She pursed her lips with an easy, but sincere smile. Then she raised her chin in a slightly provocative manner, as if she was unconsciously asking whether Edgar would dare to marry her.