Love Began with the First Meeting

Bess's words puzzled everyone. Their eyes glinted like mercury marbles, darting left and right in confusion. The managers ran up to Charlie, bowed to him respectfully and addressed him, "Mr. Long!" Evelyn's mouth twitched. She glanced at Elsa quickly, then turned to look at Bess. Lowering her voice so that only Bess would hear her, Evelyn murmured, "This is too good to be considered a coincidence." Bess laughed helplessly and murmured back to Evelyn, "This is one incident after another..."

Allen and Rita absent-mindedly looked at Charlie. This scene played in their minds like a strange deja vu, filling them with a sense of familiarity that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Elsa's knowledge of Charlie's personal life stretched just until the Long Family. She knew very little of the true extent of his influence and power. As for her roommates, they had no idea what was going on. Apart from Evelyn and Bess, everyone else dropped what they were doing and stared at the crowd downstairs in wonder.

Funnily enough, Charlie wasn't even aware that they were inside a mall. He just happened to be passing by to take care of some business.

"Have you found the person?" Charlie asked the manager of the mall as he walked to the lift, which would take him to the top floor, where the main office was located.

The manager lowered his head in embarrassment and answered, "No, we haven't."

"What is the damage?" Charlie waited for the lift, while the attendant pressed the button for him.

The manager's face soured as he reported, "At least 10 million."

That was just the minimum estimate. Although it was a small number compared to the wealth of the Dragon Empire Group, it was still a considerable amount.

"Shouldn't the computers be checked and maintained regularly by the technicians from the headquarters?" Charlie asked sternly, "Why was there such a huge loophole?"

The manager stammered, "There were minor issues earlier on, but when the technicians checked the computers and couldn't detect the problem, they concluded that it was a system issue and re-installed the system. However, after the re-installation..." "It's Hack-Y." Charlie frowned, sighing in exasperation.

Suddenly, with a small beeping sound to signal, the doors of the lift slid open. After the people inside walked out, Charlie walked in, followed by the mall manager and his assistant. From there, everyone else were to take other routes.

The doors slid shut and the lift rose to the top floor without stopping at any other floors soon after the lift attendant pressed the button. As it was a capsule lift, it had tempered glass on all sides. Evelyn and the others could clearly see the manager repeatedly bowing his head to Charlie to show his respect.

"Elsa..." Ann's eyes were fixated at the lift. The mall had nine levels. From where she was standing, she could see the lift very clearly. "It seems like Charlie is some kind of a big-shot."

When Elsa saw Charlie enter the lift, even though she knew that he wasn't looking at her, for some strange reason, the thought of making eye contact with him frightened her. Perhaps she just didn't know how to face Charlie, especially after she received that message from Charlie. She was somewhat against the notion that Charlie was such a powerful person in the Long Family.

"Ahem..." Evelyn coughed deliberately to attract the attention of the girls. Looking at Elsa, she said, "Let's go get some food! It won't be hard to find seats now!"

"Yes! I am starving!" Bess answered quickly, winking at the other girls.

The girls had finally recovered from the shock just now. Judging by Elsa's expression, they concluded that she was turning something over in her mind. Although they still had some doubts, they knew that now wasn't the right time to bring it up in conversation. So they all agreed to have lunch, pulling Elsa away together.

As for Allen and Rita, the girls just treated them as transparent figures as if their presence made no difference to them whatsoever.

The sushi was great, but Elsa was in no mood to eat. Perturbed, her mind floated around in a pensive mood. She reminisced about Charlie Long and how he used to bully her in school as kids. Lately, they had gotten to know each other a bit more, but all she knew about him was that he had good grades and was oddly great at playing computer games. She had never seen the side of him as a boss and a leader to his men. He was definitely more intimidating compared to his usual carefree personality. At this moment, Elsa found herself struggling to describe her feelings. She could clearly see that they were both from different worlds, and that she was light years away from Charlie.

"Elsa, you seem stressed. What's wrong?" Bess asked, but Elsa didn't say anything.

Evelyn shrugged and said, "I feel like... Charlie is doomed."

Bess thought for a while and retorted, "I think he is doomed because he has you as his sister!" She burst out laughing, as if to say she felt lucky for not having Evelyn as her sister. Evelyn cast a shocked look at Bess, shaking her head in disapproval. "No! Charlie says the best part about his life is...

having me as his sister!" At a loss for words, Bess rolled her eyes at Evelyn and put a piece of raw fish onto Evelyn's plate. "You should try this. It's fresh!" Elsa watched Evelyn joyfully enjoy the food on her plate. She didn't know whether it was because of the Long Family or because of Evelyn herself, but every time the issue between the Long Family and her came up in conversation, Elsa seemed to be numb.

However, Evelyn must have had a wonderful upbringing, thanks to her family. Ever since she was a young girl, she was immersed in the love of her parents and her brothers. Perhaps that was why she could freely express her love. Swept up in admiration, Elsa wished she could be more like Evelyn, to be so daring and bold enough to love!

While Elsa had been lost in her own thoughts, Bess also fell into her reveries. Sometimes Bess would feel envious of her friend's good fortune. Not only was Evelyn born into a powerful family, she also had always been cared for and loved by her parents and her brothers. Meanwhile, the other girls were still reeling in shock after what had just happened. Apart from Evelyn, who seemed strangely unaffected, everyone else had lost the interest to continue shopping, finding it all about too much to deal with on a casual afternoon. Calling it a day, they agreed upon a location for the Dragon meet-up tomorrow before heading back to their hotels respectively.

The moment Elsa and the other girls returned to the hotel, Olivia couldn't wait to uncover the mystery that had been troubling her since Charlie appeared. "Elsa, tell me the truth! Who is Charlie?"

It was the same question bothering Anna and Ann, who both looked at Elsa with anticipation. Falloon Mall was Dragon Empire Group's earliest and biggest grocery retailer. The company, in itself, was considered to be one of the most prominent and well-established retailers all over the country. The man at the top of the company was none other than, Charlie. How crazy was that?

Elsa, however, just looked back in confusion as well. Shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, she answered, "I don't really know..."

She wasn't lying. All she knew about Charlie was that he was a wealthy person, but she didn't even know him well enough to know how much wealth he owned. Since it never came up in their conversations, she didn't ask and he didn't say either. ☐☐☐☐☐