Love Began with the First Meeting novel Chapter 435

Time is the most mysterious thing in the world. It's very slow for those who wait and very fast for those who are afraid. It is very long for the sorrowful and very short for those who celebrate. Time is relative, it erases or deepens your memory. And for the lover, time is eternal. Time favors no one, once it has passed you can't bring it back. No one can go back to rewrite his life story. There are memories that time cannot erase and wounds that time can't heal…

*

"Thwack! Thwack!" Holding the baby upside down by its heels, the doctor slapped the newborn's buttocks with gentle force. There was silence. Two more gentle slaps and still the baby didn't cry. The doctor and nurses in the ward frowned at the baby's lack of response.

Though it was Spark's first time to see the birth of a new baby, he was well aware that a newborn baby was thumped on the buttocks to stimulate independent breathing. The new baby must cry so that he could breathe. Newborn babies began their life with a wail, but that was not happening with Molly's baby. Clasping her hand tightly, he waited anxiously for the baby's precious cry.

The exertion of giving birth to her baby boy had drained Molly's energy. It was an effort to keep her eyes open as she waited for her baby's first cry. She said in a weak voice, "Spark… My baby…"

"He'll be fine! Don't worry!" Spark replied reassuringly. He was not only reassuring her but also himself. He couldn't imagine the consequence of losing the baby.

Although this kid was not his flesh and blood, he had witnessed every stage of his growth. And he had already developed a deep attachment to him…

*

In the Hell Forest. Brian had just finished a life and death combat with a ferocious wolf. The snow drizzled slowly as he stood looking down at his furry victim. His clothes were soaked in blood, not only from his victim but also his own. The blood seeping from the wolf's mangled body turned the white snow into red.

Brian stepped back a few paces, putting his blood-stained dagger back into its sheath. He leaned against a tree, breathing fiercely. He didn't come out of the fight unscathed. Grimacing in pain, he checked the wound that the wolf had inflicted. It was a good thing that the bite didn't penetrate too deeply because of his thick clothes, otherwise it would have been fatal.

"Mr. Brian Long, one of our members was seriously injured."

Brian heaved a deep sigh. Opening his eyes, he said in an authoritative voice, "Take him out."

"He said that he could still hold on."

Brian nodded slowly. This evening, half of the team had gone out to look for food, leading to an unfortunate encounter with the wild wolves. Hunger had forced them outside and the wolves as it turned out were also looking for food. It was survival of the fittest. Man, versus animal.

"How many people have been injured?" Brian asked brusquely.

"There are fourteen people…including you."

His face turned grim. "Since there are wolves out, there must be a cave nearby. So, let's look around and find it so we can get out of the cold rest. Remember to bring the wolves' carcass. In such cold weather, these are our only food."

"Roger that."

Brian tore off a strip from his clothes and took out a piece of topical hemostatic and bandaged the wound securely. After taking care of his wound he joined the men in dealing with the carcasses. At that moment, he was not the high and mighty Brian, but just an ordinary person who was struggling to survive. He kept fighting and filling his time to keep himself from recalling the past. Time didn't make the loss of Molly forgettable, only bearable.

*

Raising her head, she smiled gratefully at Spark. She wouldn't have made it without him by her side. She tried to say something, but it was too much effort to keep her eyes open. She succumbed to the darkness while keeping a tight grip on her baby.

"Mol…Mol…" Spark called out her name anxiously. But she has blacked out and couldn't hear him…

*

"Mol… Mol…" Brian woke up from his dream, desperately calling out Molly's name. As always, he felt a touch of loss in his heart. Looking around him, he saw that all the mercenaries were sound asleep except for the two who were guarding the entrance of the cave.

He knew from experience that it would be impossible to go back to sleep after that kind of dream. He got up and walked to the mouth of the cave. "Have a rest. I will take your place," he told the guards.

The two guards looked at each other in silence. After a while, they nodded to him and went inside the cave to rest. All the participants in the training were all elites, the cream of the crop from renowned families. If they wanted to survive, they could only cooperate and rely on each other.

Brian leaned against the wall of the cave, his eyes staring into the distance. Snowflakes danced in the air before falling gently and piling up in the already snow-packed ground. It had been snowing for several days since they went into the forest. The snow-covered landscape awakened his memory of that winter night he spent with Molly.

As his thoughts returned to that night, he brought out his phone from his pocket. Though the phone was useless in their current location due to lack of network coverage, he still took it with him. The phone held the only thing that he had left of her. With one touch of his finger, the dead screen came to life. A photo of a snowman stared back at him. He was lost in deep thought, 'This photo is a remembrance of our past that you have left me. This I keep of you, but what have you brought to remember me?

Molly, have you ever thought of me? Why did you have to leave me when I begged you to stay? You don't know how much I've missed you…'

Four years later...