A man pushed open the door and walked into the conference room. After nodding courteously to Aaron and the representative of D Country, the person walked towards the president and whispered in his ear. The president looked quite astonished at first, but then he frowned. Soon after, he stood up and said to Aaron and the representative of D Country, "Excuse me for my absence."
Of course neither Aaron nor the representative would refuse his abrupt wish to leave, but both of them wondered as to the depth of such an emergency which had left such a shock on the president's face as he left. They got their answers very soon. All of a sudden, a majority of councilors had agreed to continue their cooperation with QY Island on import and export. Even the president had approved the initiation report with pleasure.
Needless to say, such a sharp turn of events had not been taken lightly by the representative of D Country. However, once the decision had been finalized, there was very little he could do to turn the tide to his favor.
Swirling a glass of wine in his hand, Aaron looked at Brian's well-defined face, which always seemed to display apathy except when facing Molly. Perhaps not another living soul, apart from Molly, had seen a different look on his face. His impassive expression, however, did not make him invisible to his peers, instead, it drew the attention of those around him.
"Thank you!" Aaron cordially expressed his gratitude from his heart, knowing that the sudden urgency of the situation required Brian to drop his plans of going on a honeymoon with Molly for Aaron's sake.
"Don't mention it. All I did was lend you a hand,"
Brian responded plainly. Much as a principle, he didn't have the habit of stepping in anybody else's affairs, unless he had no choice. However, fortunately for Aaron, Brian had to answer to his wife, who chose to ignore her husband's principles for the sake of her friend.
"The only person who is capable of making you give a hand to anybody else must be..." Aaron said while looking at Molly, who was choosing a sunhat, "Mrs. Molly Long."
Brian looked at Molly from a distance with pure affection, as she took out her purse to pay for the sunhat. Guessing from the sly smirk on her face, Brian believed that she must have been satisfied with the price she had bargained for. "As it happens, Miss Mo has become a close friend of the missus. When she asked for help, I had to come to your aid!" he said.
With a friendly smile at the corners of his mouth, Aaron watched Molly walk towards them with complacent smile on her face, and he said to Brian, "I owe you one."
"Hmm," Brian nodded his head in acknowledgement. As businessmen, both of them knew the benefits of having friends, and that such benefits had to be based on good will.
"Bri, do I look nice in this?" Molly asked, raising her eyebrows and pointing at the sunhat on her head.
"Yes of course!" Brian answered before even thinking.
However, Molly was quite unsatisfied with such a quick, perfunctory response. "What an insincere answer," she complained.
Brian shook his head in amusement and smiled at her comment. Beauty was in the eyes of the beholder. Molly always looked beautiful in his eyes regardless of what she was wearing. To him, she had been beautiful on the inside, as she had been on the outside, while everything else had only served to add to her charm.
"This is for Ximena," Molly said as she reached out to Aaron with a bag in her hand. "When Bri and I go to QY Island, I want to go surfing with her."
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