She pressed her lips, swallowed one big gulp, and took a deep breath again. She told herself that three
days was enough to mope around - it had to end now. Mark was trying his best to be strong while
fighting against the disease so she should be doing the same.
She took one last deep breath, stood up, and then headed to the bathroom.
At that moment, the door of the villa flew open. Brian walked inside, hands shoved in his pants,
followed by Tony.
"Mr. Brian!" Lisa greeted. She was just finishing up with cleaning the kitchen. "Should I cook dinner for
you?" she asked.
Brian stopped in his tracks and lifted his head as if he was looking upstairs. Lisa followed his gaze and
said, "Mrs. Molly Long hasn't had dinner. She's actually lost a lot of weight over the past few days." She
said this in an attempt to make Brian sympathize with Molly seeing that he was already peeved.
A trace of pity flashed across his eyes but Brian said coldly, "She won't starve to death by missing one
or two meals. She isn't stupid. Does she have to be dragged out just so she would put something in her
mouth?" Without missing a beat, Brian headed directly upstairs.
"So..."
"You can rest now," Brian interrupted Lisa. After taking only a few steps, he stopped and turned his
head slightly, "Doesn't Lucy's art exhibition open tomorrow?"
Lisa suppressed the feeling of hopelessness in her heart and said with a smile, "Yes, it does. Tomorrow
at Central Gallery." She didn't agree with what Lucy was planning but she was her daughter after all
and this would be her first large-scale exhibition. Lisa also hoped that Brian would come.
"Hmm," Brian said then simply turned back around and went up stairs. Before heading to his study, he
glanced at the door of Mark's bedroom which was closed. He lingered for a while before entering his
study.
Molly wasn't aware that Brian was coming back today. She had just taken a bath and was in a silk robe
with a big towel wrapped around her hair. She took out a stack of newspapers out of her bag and
scanned the recruitment page as she lay on the bed. She skimmed through the page making marks on
openings that was suitable for her. Her eyes twinkled when she found a job opening from a big
company. The troupe was recruiting three assistants.
Molly excitedly marked the opening with a big circle and a star in red ink.
Molly stopped skimming the paper anymore since she had already found one that she liked. She folded
up the paper and placed it on top of the bedside table, turned off the lights and went to sleep. Now
more than ever, she was determined to bounce back and be strong.
The dim light from the crescent moon sprinkled into the room, spreading unto Molly's face. She looked
even lonelier in the ringing silence.
Brian was wiping a silver pistol with one of his silk handkerchiefs. The pistol was quite small like the
center of a palm. It was the latest version of derringer that was developed by the Russians. It had the
best range, speed, and recoil. It could accommodate six bullets and for someone as skilled as Brian,
six was more than enough.
A ray of blue light flashed in front of Brian as he was wiping the pistol. He paused and stared at the
blue diamond that was on the pistol. It was the same as the one on Molly's ring. His eyes dimmed.
When Brian had given Molly that ring back in QY Island, he had told her that the Soul of K would
protect her. But what he hadn't told her was that it was the symbol of XK Intelligence Agency and that it
could only be possessed by those at the top of the Agency. These people had the right to protect
someone else with an additional Soul of K and that person should be the most important person to
them.
Years ago, Shawn had given his Soul of K to Richie because only Richie was important to him.
Shawn's was also blue. The one that Richie had given Shirley was purple because that was her
favorite color. Maybe Brian chose blue for himself too because of Shawn and Richie. But for Molly, he
chose blue because he felt as if that was the color that was most fitting to her—blue meant change and
harmony.
Besides that, he also wanted that he and Molly had matching colors. Shawn once told him, "Blue is the
loveliest and most adaptive color. One who is fond of blue was born to be loved," and he always
remembered that.
As he stroked the Soul of K in the pistol, Brian's eyes seemed to change colors.
Ding!
He snapped out of his daze when he heard something popped up in his monitor. It was a request for a
video call. He instantly collected himself, put the pistol away, and answered the call. It was Vincent
looking stoic. With his short and spiky hair, angled and dark face, Vincent looked pretty much average,
he wouldn't ever stand out in a crowd. As the head of Brian's investigation team, this certainly served
as an advantage because no one suspected him—he looked so ordinary.
"How's everything there?" Brian asked flatly.
"Everything's going as planned. Mr. Eric's taken further action too."
"Hmm," Brian's eyes were dark, "Just keep tabs on the economy there but if you're too busy, I can send
Harrow there too."
"That's what I'm doing, yes," Vincent said plainly. He took it as a compliment that he had the same idea
as Brian did.
A faint smile played on Brian's lips. It was barely visible but that was all the validation that Vincent
needed. He knew Vincent was a large-scale man—you would not see his full ability if he was just
playing in the minor leagues, he needed to be at the major leagues with the big guys. When they ended
the video call, Brian lit a cigarette. He had been smoking more frequently nowadays. It was his way of
dealing with all of the stress.
An hour had passed and Brian was still sitting in his chair, smoking. He had gone through eight sticks
and the study was fogged up from smoke.
When Brian saw that it was already three in the morning, he put his cigarette off hastily and stood up.
He planned to shower first before he went to sleep. But as he walked along the corridor - something
about Mark's room drew him in because he knew Molly was there.
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