"Who won?"
Aaron asked.
No one answered. Ken and Tony exchanged looks.
They were both wearing strange expressions on their faces.
Aaron frowned at this—while he can't say for Tony but for Ken at least, his look told Aaron that there was going to be a problem.
Tony answered, "Mr. Brian, Hanson asked me to tell you that he has to leave today but he'll be back to meet you tomorrow. As for the stakes, he said he didn't want to talk about it."
Brian nodded and left right away as if he was already expecting all of this to happen. It was late at night. Under normal circumstances, Mol would be sound asleep by now.
Brian wasn't really interested in who won in this closed game. He just heard from Shawn that Hanson was here and wanted to play against Chester. What he really wanted was Hanson. Hanson had a lot of talents and for cases like this, Brian either recruited people like Hanson or destroyed them.
Hanson wasn't born rich but he thought highly of himself. He hated it when others looked down on him. If you wanted to win him over, you'd better wield both the carrot and the stick.
"Bri, who won?" Molly asked curiously on the way back.
"I don't know."
"What happened?"
"They never revealed the result."
Molly furrowed her brows—she couldn't understand things like that but she didn't press for more questions.
In fact, nobody ever found out what happened. But after that game, Chester never cheated in formal games and Hanson resigned from the team. It's worth mentioning, though, that Chester later got an apprentice who wasn't so gifted but was able to deal with some occasions as long as masters like Hanson weren't there as well. It was also this disciple that later became quite a headache for Brian. Later Hanson would work for Brian. But his quirky personality prevented him from getting along with other employees of Brian. In the end, he just shuttled around the Grand Night Casino across the world.
Brian addressed the problem of Chester rather quickly. But it wasn't so fast considering the fact that he had been preparing for today after the Vegas incident. The only suspense was whether he could get Hanson to show up.
With the Chester issue resolved, the rest wouldn't be his concern any more. As the future ruler of Dragon Island, Eric was supposed to wipe out all this anti-royalists. Otherwise he wouldn't remain in that seat for long, or even be qualified to lead Dragon Island.
The next day Hanson went to meet Brian. They talked for quite a while in the study but no one knew what they talked about. After their meeting, Hanson left QY Island. He had already looked downcast and dejected after the bet and he came out of the study looking even more downcast and dejected—that's what Molly saw at least.
Days went by. In the following days, Brian lived leisurely and freely. In fact, he had never been so idle as far as Molly could remember. In the daytime, Brian accompanied Molly to appreciate the beautiful scenery on the Island, while at night they strolled on the beach or viewed the ocean in the yacht prepared by Aaron.
These days were so carefree that Molly hoped time could freeze. The happier she was, the more afraid she became of losing Brian. Sometimes she woke up from nightmares in Brian's arms. Yet these bad dreams were gone as soon as they came.
**
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love Began with the First Meeting