Love Began with the First Meeting

Jerry's heart felt heavy and a mix of emotions swirled in him. He had lost all appetite after taking one bite. He tried his best to pretend he was calm. His mind kept telling him that there was a large possibility that Edgar had killed Henry. But deep down, he didn't want it to be true. At that moment, food felt bland in his mouth. He suddenly remembered all the rumors about Edgar that he had heard from the brigade. He thought that Edgar might have done this for Eagle, or maybe for Jeffrey. After all, it had happened before back in the camp. The atmosphere was full of solemnity, but Edgar felt relaxed. He turned on the TV and took out his phone after finishing his food. When he had read the message from Maggie, his lips lightened into a smile.

It was a short simple message but it meant so much for him. He leaned on the couch, reading those words again, and then typed several words. Before he could hit "send," Jerry moved in front of him.

"Ahem! Captain Edgar. According to the rules, we can't send any messages to anyone at this moment," Jerry said softly but helplessly. He always knew that Edgar was serious and indifferent. But what he saw just now made him see Edgar in a new way. It was obvious that the message Edgar received came from his family, although he never knew anything about Edgar's personal life.

Edgar only sighed in disappointment, shrugged, and put his phone away. His unfinished messaged that said, "Uhm. Message accepted. I feel the same way as you!" was impossible to be sent out.

After three hours, Political Commissar Wang had finally arrived along with several senior military offices from S Army. It was already past midnight. They made a search around the house to understand the situation more. After the investigation was done, they had finally taken Henry's body away. The night was getting deeper and quieter, and left someone to work with the police offers.

The helicopter appeared and roared in the middle of the cold darkness. Political Commissar Wang had observed that Edgar was calm from the very beginning to the end. He even spoke logically while being questioned. It seemed that he had nothing to do with the case, after all. "Ah. Your gun seemed to be gone, am I correct?" Political Commissar Wang asked.

Edgar frowned slightly at the question. The gun he grabbed from the man he chased down was the same with his own. They were both Eagle of the Desert. As much as he could recall, Jerry and he had both of their guns with them. But coincidentally, his gun was gone! This had never happened before! It would be impossible for him not to notice that he had his gun taken away by someone else! But the inevitable had happened.

Edgar only replied calmly as his dark eyes looked at Political Commissar Wang, "The gun they have collected in the scene might be mine." When emergencies happened, people wouldn't be able to think about it in a detailed manner. But looking back, he had realized that it wasn't an accident but an elaborate plan. Probably, it was a setup from the beginning. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if he was exactly the target of the setup.

The helicopter flew across the sky. It was already five o'clock in the morning when they arrived at S Army. Then everyone involved, including Henry's body, was put in solitary confinement. Certainly, Jerry and Edgar were included too. At first, the case wasn't much of a big deal at the beginning. Then it gradually escalated and got more complicated as bad things happened one after another.

William's eyebrows were knitted together at the report. He knew Edgar well. Edgar shouldn't have let this incident happen even if it was an accident.

"Sir!" Edgar immediately stood up and gave a salute.

William gestured for him to sit down and then took an opposite seat in front of Edgar. Once he had told his secretary to leave them for a moment, he began to ask, "What's the matter?"

Edgar narrated what happened. From the moment he found that Henry was kidnapped, killed, and about the man he had chased down. Then he added, "So the results were out and it was confirmed that the gun found in the scene was mine. So was the bullet in Henry's body. Did the caliber and the ballistic curve matched also?" William only nodded.

Leaving out personal connections, Edgar was unable to defend himself. After all, Jerry had seen the gun in his hand when he came in. To make things worse, the fingerprints on the gun were proved to be Edgar's. He claimed that he had grabbed the gun from someone but unfortunately, it was groundless.

Nevertheless, it wasn't difficult to leave no fingerprints on the gun. Such as wearing gloves. But for now, everything was bad for Edgar. However he defended for himself, it would be seen as a sophistry.

"Oh dear," William only sighed as rubbed the sides of his forehead. "Do you think it was a setup and the target is you?"

Edgar shook his head. "Not a clue for now. I only have a few hunches. Some things don't add up at all." William sighed and paused for a moment. "Very well. I'll try to buy time for you. However, I am afraid..."

Knock! Knock!

William was interrupted by the knock at the door. He rolled his eyes and frowned. "Come in."

The door was pushed open, revealing Political Commissar Wang. Then he walked in. He glanced at the calm Edgar before he gave a salute. "Sir, we have received a call from the superior!"

William was the top officer of S Army. His so-called superior was the officer of the Central Army. It made his expression darken when he heard this news. He was stunned by the unexpected news. They had just arrived! How did the news about the case traveled so fast? Completely unusual!

Meanwhile, Edgar wasn't surprised. If things were going like what he had thought of, he could be set up into a trap. If there was someone who wanted to corner him, they would make sure that no officer would be able to help him to get out of the situation. They would cooperate with one another perfectly and calculate every step to make sure Edgar didn't get out alive.

But for now, it was the last of worries. He still couldn't figure out on how his gun went missing and how his gun was found in the scene timely.

*

"Ugh!" Maggie moaned in discomfort, stretching and twisting her body. She opened her eyes and shouted, "Ow! Ow! This hurts!" It seemed like she got a stiff neck. Then her eyes widened when she saw Cain who was giving her a sweet smile.

"You seemed to have slept soundly," Cain said and then checked his watch. He taunted, "Ah, you have slept for around five to six hours. You don't have any sense of time at all!" Then he looked up at Maggie, still taunting her, "Does Edgar know about this?" Everything around Maggie was still blurry and hazy, so she didn't bother to argue with Cain. When she realized that she was still in Cain's car, she quickly composed herself and looked back at him with wide eyes. She thought in embarrassment, 'Ah, shit. I slept in Cain's car. What the actual hell, Maggie?' Cain pulled out a tissue and handed it to her while smiling, and said, "Wipe off the drool off your mouth first. I can't believe that a woman like you still drool in her sleep!"

She glared at him with a blush on her cheeks. Lucky for her, the neon lights were already out and it was still dark inside the car at that moment. Otherwise, Cain would have tried every effort to tease her and make fun of her. She quickly grabbed the tissue and wiped her mouth. She was preoccupied in her thoughts

while Cain stretched, opened the car door, and got out of the door. The cold wind blew on his face and it also blew off the snow from the car, slipping down to the ground. The snow fell the whole night and it finally stopped minutes ago. The snow on the ground had reached his ankles. When he walked on it, he could hear his crunching steps.

In contrast to the cold air, it was warm inside the car. Maggie couldn't help pulling down her coat. She complained, "You could have woken me up, you dimwit! You shouldn't have let me fall asleep like that!" She chewed her lower lip in irritation. She wasn't blaming Cain at all, but herself.

Cain only leaned on the car, staring at the eastern end of the horizon. The sky was turning from black to dark blue, signaling that dawn was coming soon. It indeed snowed overnight but he could tell that this new day would be a nice one. He still kept the smile on his face and said, "You haven't been able to sleep well recently, right?" It didn't sound like a question. It sounded as if he was telling her the truth. Then he turned and looked at Maggie.

Maggie pouted and said in a disappointed voice, "I thought there would be a 10-day holiday, but changes run faster before plans happen." Then she shrugged, took a deep breath, and walked to Cain. She had left footprints in front of his car. "Since it stopped snowing, let's pass up on the fried chicken with beer." She checked the watch and suggested with sparkling eyes, "How about we go somewhere that serves yummy congee?"

Cain shook his head as he chuckled. "You look like an unkempt brat after one night's sleep. Are you really sure that you want to eat breakfast now?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. This was a normal thing for me during the training for survival in the wild. So, are you coming with me or not?"

"Alright, alright. I'm coming with you," Cain smiled and they walked back to the car. Cain drove deviously through the streets under Maggie's instruction and finally pulled up in front of a small restaurant. It was full of people eating breakfast.

Cain was astonished. It made Maggie amused as she said, "I stumbled upon this place by accident. Then I learnt that there's a factory nearby. The workers there work in four shifts a day. For the sake of the workers with the earliest shift, the owner and his wife decided to open between four to five in the morning. It is small, but the food here is delicious and the price is budget-friendly but worth it! During busy times, people had to take long queues." They have found a table while she was talking to him about the restaurant. She left Cain on their table and went to order their food.

Cain didn't stop her and smiled softly as she watched her back and her dark hair flow on it. By the time she had left, Cain received an incoming call. He glanced at his vibrating phone and picked it up.

A man's urgent voice came out of it, "Cain, I have news! William has decided to protect Edgar!"00