Love Began with the First Meeting

The new recruit stood up and threw a glance at Gordon's military uniform. Seeing that there were no badges, he said, "Sir, you and another officer passed by here a while ago, but you're here again. Have you come for me?"

Gordon was taken aback. It was quite noisy around and many officers walked to and from in order to take a look at the new recruits, among whom quite a few had removed their shoulder marks just as Edgar and Gordon had. However, this new recruit had noticed that they had already passed by the place once. Immediately, he agreed with Edgar on this boy's potential to be an outstanding sniper. "First of all, you can't call me 'Sir', because you haven't formally joined the army yet. Secondly, I've not come here for you. I was just a bit intrigued by the book in your hands." While saying so, he lowered his sight to glance at the book. Then he turned around and left with a faint smile.

"What do you think?" Edgar asked when Gordon walked back to his side.

Despite his arrogance in front of the new recruit, Gordon was as obedient as a pet dog in front of Edgar. "Sir, you told me to go take a look at his book because you wanted to check his observational abilities, right?" Gordon asked.

A smirk appeared on Edgar's face. He took a quick glance at the new recruit, then turned around. "Let's go," he said.

"Yes, sir!" Gordon replied, walking towards the gate with Edgar.

When they arrived at the gate, they saw Claire and the leader of the company she belonged to, arrive at the accommodation. "Edgar," she greeted him.

After throwing a cold glance at Claire, Edgar turned away from her to look at the man beside her. He said, "Hello, Mr. Meng. Looks like the new recruits are drawing a lot of attention this time, aren't they?"

Battalion Commander Meng laughed heartily. "Even you, the head of the Eagle Special Brigade, is here. So, it's only obvious that I come and check the new blood too." After stealing a quick glance at Claire, who wasn't looking at him, he continued, "I was planning to come and meet you after having a look around here. Now that we're both here, could I have a word with you privately?" He hinted with his eyes, indicating Edgar to play along and move away from Claire and Gordon.

Following him, Edgar walked out the gate. The two of them stopped at a certain distance away from Claire and Gordon. Meng looked at Claire again and then asked cryptically, "Edgar, how're you and Claire getting along with each other?"

"What do you mean?" Edgar asked back, confused as to why Claire had become their topic of conversation.

Rolling his eyes, Meng answered, "Come on... Stop pretending to be so innocent in front of me. You and Claire always treated each other in such a dubious manner, and you have never explained the relationship between you two. How did Maggie Du appear between you two out of nowhere?" Without waiting for Edgar's answer, he continued, "Edgar, you can't have both women at the same time. That will impact your career and your status. Your lifestyle is also critically important. You are highly looked upon by your subordinates and most other soldiers in the army."

Hearing his words in all seriousness, Edgar could not help but laugh slightly. He explained, "I have never had any special relationship with Claire."

"So, are you saying that you do have a special relationship with Maggie Du?" Battalion Commander Meng asked immediately, but Edgar didn't explain any further. His silence was enough for Battalion Commander Meng to guess the answer. "You bastard! I have wondered why you never responded to Claire or any other women. So, you have a thing for younger girls, huh?"

"I never said that. Those are your words, not mine," Edgar said, smirking. Battalion Commander Meng's gossip-loving face froze. With an evil grin, Edgar patted him on the shoulder. "All right then. I should head back to camp. Take your time looking around. But I have to tell you, I have already selected two of them. I will be taking twenty of them this time. So, you can only look around and hope that you are left with some good ones." He patted casually on Meng's shoulder once again. Without waiting for his response, Edgar turned back and left.

The leadership had said that the Eagle Special Brigade would take priority this time and could select from the new recruits as they wished. The others could only have whatever was leftover after Edgar was done. However, Meng was quite surprised that Edgar had selected two even before the three months' new recruit training came to an end.

Meng watched as Edgar walked away from him with a smile on his face. "Has the iron man finally become soft after falling in love?" Meng mumbled.

Seeing that Edgar got into the car without a word or taking even a look at her, Claire felt distressed. She grit her teeth in anger and frustration. 'What does he see in Maggie Du? What is she ever going to give him?' she thought, grimly. 'She is only a child. She is not going to help him boost his career or do anything else for him. Why does he like her?'

Edgar himself could not tell why he liked Maggie. However, he knew one thing for sure. He didn't like her because of her background. He didn't need a woman to help him get his promotion.

Gordon had been waiting for him beside the car. After Edgar got in, Gordon started the car and headed to the Eagle Special Brigade. The snow had been roughly cleared away. As soon as the car slid into the compound, they saw many snowmen along the two sides of the pathway. Two snowmen stood guard at the entrance of Edgar's dormitory building. They were wearing cotton-padded military caps, making them look like two soldiers on duty. "Looks like they've been having a lot of fun today," Edgar said half-jokingly as he got off the car.

Gordon followed him and said, "Well, they are also clearing the snow in the process. So, all is good. Sir, if I didn't have to go out with you, I would have built one myself." There was very little entertainment in military camps. A small party would be the only best way to have fun as far as they could imagine. This was especially true for the Eagle Special Brigade, who had busier schedules than any other unit. The members of the Eagle had to attend training sessions from morning to night. They were too busy to take time off for relaxation. Even during the New Year, they could not relax like the other brigades. That being the case, they were always looking forward to some good snowfall, because then they could have fun in the name of clearing the snow and building snowmen in the process. Hearing Gordon's silent complaint, Edgar half-smiled, half-frowned at him. They went upstairs. However, he stopped on the stairs when he saw the person standing in front of his office door.

With her hands clasped behind her back tightly and her head lowered, Maggie stood there, kicking her toe on the ground in a bored, sulky mood. She didn't realize that Edgar was watching her. She thought that the footstep was somebody else's because she wasn't expecting him to arrive this soon. When she saw the black leather shoes in front of her, she raised her eyes slowly to look at the straight olive-green military trousers and an olive- green informal coat. She stared directly into Edgar's dark eyes. 000☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐