Love Began with the First Meeting
Chapter 427 Thinking Of You Day And Night (Part One)

Slowly, Molly walked down the empty street, a lost soul, listening to the crunch of snow under her feet.

The solitude didn't seem to bother her, and soon, she felt herself smiling faintly.

Why she was smiling to herself, she didn't know. In truth, there was nothing to be happy about at this point in her life.

Too preoccupied about her situation, she failed to notice the two Oriental men discreetly following her. The two guys looked at Molly, then glanced at each other. They were sure the girl hadn't noticed them at all. There was an evil glint to their eyes, and a vicious smirk on their lips. Tacitly, they agreed to walk faster, get ahead of Molly and block her way.

Walking with her head down and staring at the ground on her feet, Molly was startled when the two suddenly appeared in front of her. But she thought nothing of their standing before her. Molly was oblivious to the danger facing her. She sidestepped them and continued walking past the two men. Briefly, the men were puzzled by her behavior, then nodded to catch up with Molly again until they blocked her way. The girl was in no mood to talk to strangers, so she walked past them again. All Molly wanted was to be left alone. "Hey, Missy! Are you here alone?" one of the two asked with a lewd voice. Wicked eyes wandered from Molly's feet to her face, as if to taunt the girl. It was apparent he didn't mean well, but she paid no attention.

Finally, Molly stopped in her tracks and slowly raised her eyes to the man who refused to get out of her way. She stared at the one who spoke to her and noticed his eyes were a bit red. In a small but calm voice, she politely said, "You're blocking my way."

The two men glanced at each other after hearing her speak, then gave Molly a strange look as if to say this was a weird one. Mentally, they shrugged off the uncomfortable thought. With a malicious smile, one of them said, "It's New Year's Eve today, and here you are, a beautiful girl walking the streets alone. That is just terrible! So Missy, how would you like to come with us? We can have some fun together. What do you say?"

As the two men slowly approached Molly, she saw their wicked smiles that warned her of danger. Instinctively, she took a few steps back and put her hands on her belly. She asked in a quivering voice, "What... what do you want?" Her eyes shifted from one man to the other.

"Ha! What do we want?" One man laughed at her silly question. It was clear what they wanted. "We just want to have some fun with you, that's all."

Then he quickly reached out his hand towards Molly trying to grab her. But before he could touch her, out of nowhere another hand grabbed his outstretched one and squeezed it hard. A loud cry of pain suddenly broke the silence in the once quiet street. "Ahhh! Let go of me!" the man stuttered in pain. He broke into sweat and tried to swat the arm that gripped his hand to break the painful grip.

Gary released his hand at the same time pushing him backward. The man staggered back but finally steadied himself with the help of his cohort. They were surprised by Gary's sudden arrival and now looked at him with frightened eyes. No one dared to say a word. "What are you two bastards going to do to this girl on such a happy occasion, huh? Get out of my face!" he barked. Glaring at the two, he added, "Now! Or I will call the police."

The thugs who were in their late twenties, did not set out to cause trouble that night. But then they saw Molly roaming the streets alone, with no one in sight to help her should she be in danger. Snatching her was a spur of the moment decision. They didn't count on Gary showing up, so they abandoned the plan, and nearly fell trying to get away. They mumbled a few nasty words at Molly and Gary before running off. As they disappeared from view, Gary turned and gave Molly a look of concern.

"Are you okay, lovely girl?" he asked gently. He only knew a few Chinese words that Johnny taught him, so Gary spoke slowly. His accent was cringe-worthy.

Her face still extremely pale from the encounter, Molly shook her head slightly. The girl looked up at Gary with big eyes and replied gratefully, "Thank you for saving me!"

After expressing her gratitude, she quickly turned around and resumed walking, much to Gary's surprise. Molly brushed off the harrowing experience, and went back to her little world, unconcerned about everything else happening around her. She never even looked back at Gary. She felt a small smile forming on her lips again as she walked slowly. The crunch of the snow under her feet never failed to make her smile.

Gary watched Molly's departing back with concerned eyes. Although this was not the first time he had seen the girl, today her behavior was stranger than usual. He could sense she was not in the right state of mind, and that she was bothered by something. Maybe Johnny was right, and she was struggling with depression, he thought.

He decided to follow Molly discreetly. It worried him a lot that the girl didn't care about what was happening around her. Gary was afraid that something similar to what happened earlier would occur again and he wouldn't be around to help her. So, he followed Molly until she got into a taxi and drove away.

Shaking his head, Gary mumbled, "You're one girl who can't set a man's mind to rest!" He watched as the taxi's tail lights disappear then sighed. Gary turned around and walked back to Johnny's bar.

Meanwhile, Molly sat quietly in the backseat of the cab, staring out the window, watching the changing scenery as they drove by. All of a sudden, she cried out, "Stop!" The driver thought something happened to her and in panic stepped on the brakes, then pulled his cab over to the side of the road.

She quickly pulled out money from her purse and handed it to the driver without a word. Then she hurriedly got off the taxi and ran forward as if chasing something, ignoring the driver who shouted after her. D