Without hesitation, Sheffield put his work aside and called Matthew back.
As soon as the call got through, Matthew's assistant answered, "Hello, Mr. Tang. I'm Mr. Matthew Huo's assistant. He is in a meeting now, but he asked me to tell you that he would like to meet you at the Waterfront Cafe tonight. Would that be a good time for you, Mr. Tang?"
'Really?' Sheffield glanced at his watch only to find that it was already past nine o'clock at night. "Okay. When will his meeting end?"
"Mr. Matthew Huo has to catch the early flight tomorrow morning. This is his last meeting for the day. It has been on for about half an hour. I think it will come to an end very soon." The assistant meant to say that Sheffield should set off now and wait for Matthew at the cafe.
Sheffield smiled and replied, "I see."
After hanging up the phone, Sheffield told his subordinates to handle the rest of the work before he changed his clothes and left for the cafe.
At the Waterfront Cafe
A waiter came up to greet Sheffield enthusiastically, "Good evening, sir! Do you have a reservation?"
Sheffield thought for a second and said, "Do you have a reservation here under the name of Matthew Huo?"
"Oh, yes. Are you Mr. Tang? He has a private room reserved on the second floor. Please follow me."
Sheffield followed the waiter to the second floor of the coffee shop.
The reserved room was decorated in a modern style with an independent restroom attached to it. Several bookshelves lined up against the walls, filled with all kinds of books. On top of a large wooden table was a self-grinding coffee maker and a wide selection of coffee beans to choose from. There was also a vintage piano just next to the table; a few leather sofas and a few potted green plants.
Sheffield ordered a cup of freshly ground coffee as he took a seat.
After the waiter left, he walked to the piano and opened the hinged fall-board that protected the keyboard. As his slender fingers casually struck a few keys, a beautiful tune filled the silence in the room.
After falling out of interest very quickly, he slowly shut the fall-board and pulled open the curtains of the French window. The first thing that came to his sight was the building of the Theo Group.
Standing in front of the French window and looking at the words "Theo Group," Sheffield fell into deep thought.
Although Theo Group was not as influential as ZL group, it was one of the leading enterprises in Y City. Both of them were internationally recognized companies, and ranked top 100 in the world.
Rumors had it that the health of Theo Group's boss was getting worse every year. This news had some influence on the business of the group. This notion was made clear, in the past three years, because the financial situation of the group hadn't made any sort of progress.
About half an hour later, the door was pushed open from the outside. Upon hearing the sound, Sheffield turned his head towards the door.
A young man in white shirt walked in, followed by an assistant who was carrying his coat. The assistant closed the door and left after escorting his boss in.
The young man was only 19 years old, but he gave off an aura of maturity that was well beyond his years. He behaved with prudence, a temperament that even Sheffield, who was seven years older than him, didn't have.
Sheffield felt intimidated because he was now going to face his future brother-in-law.
Although Matthew was just a teenager, Sheffield had a feeling that his future brother-in-law might be more cunning than Carlos. As a result, he decided to be more careful and cautious with his choice of words. Or perhaps, he would have to find another way to win him over.
After all, they were both young men, and surely they would have much more in common. Despite his age, Matthew had a high IQ and a composed personality. He looked like a genius in his twenties or thirties. It was made clear to Sheffield that there was no need for him to treat Matthew like a child. At the thought of this, Sheffield grinned as he walked over and sat on the sofa opposite to Matthew. Neither of them said anything to each other at first.
Sheffield didn't bother to ask the young man what he wanted to drink because he already had an assistant who could arrange it for him at any moment.
There was no pressure from either party to speak up. Since Matthew had taken the initiative to ask him out on a meeting, he must have had a plan. All Sheffield needed to do was wait for the younger man to speak.
Before long, the room fell into silence as they kept staring at each other without ever uttering a sound.
There were no big differences between the two men sitting across each other, except for their personalities.
In fact, they were quite similar to each other in many aspects.
They both looked like dignified rich men, but one had pressed his lips into a fine line, giving off a stoic aura, while the other one had a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, exuding a playful aura.
They both were wearing tailored white shirts, one styled to look more formal than the other.
One was aloof and the other one was extroverted.
After sitting for a couple of minutes in silence, they heard someone knock at the door. Matthew's assistant opened the door and brought in a cup of coffee.
He put it in front of Matthew and left without a word.
Finally, Sheffield opened his mouth to break the silence. A sincere expression replaced the playful smile on his face as he began, "I'm serious about being with your sister."
There was no other reason for Matthew to ask him out except to talk about Evelyn.
"I don't think so," Matthew said curtly.
"It doesn't matter. You'll think the same way in the future." Sheffield didn't mind his blunt attitude.
"Since when you became so serious about my sister?"
"I was serious from the very beginning." Sheffield wouldn't have entered her room in D City that night if he hadn't decided to spend his whole life with her.
With a taunting smile, Matthew blurted out the words that shocked the doctor. "If that's the case, where were you when my sister got pregnant?"
'Pregnant?' Sheffield was stupefied. It took him a long while to find his voice again, but he stammered, "What…do you mean? Evelyn? Pregnant?" He had met Evelyn just yesterday, but she didn't mention anything about her pregnancy.
Observing the subtle changes of his facial expression, Matthew meticulously tried to find a trace of insincerity and deception on his face, but there wasn't.
"When did she get pregnant?" Sheffield stood up from the sofa excitedly.
Matthew remained silent.
Sheffield had managed to act like a prudent man just a moment ago, but this news made him lose his composure. With an excited smile, the doctor trotted to the young man and asked, "Matthew, my brother-in-law, am I really going to be a father?"
Matthew's face darkened. "You were."
"What? What do you mean?" The smile on Sheffield's face froze.
Matthew went straight to the point. "My sister found out that she was pregnant after she came back from D City."
'Oh, so Evelyn isn't pregnant now…' Still in a confused state, Sheffield fell back on his seat, struggling to make sense of the situation. 'Wait… Evelyn got pregnant after she came back from D City?' Coming back to his senses, he shouted, "Impossible! I clearly remember using protection that night!"
Matthew pulled a long face. "Are you trying to say that my sister got pregnant with another man's child?"
"No! I didn't mean that." 'I know that Evelyn isn't that sort of person, but how else would she get pregnant? How did that happen? What did I do wrong to make that happen?'
A series of questions started popping up in his mind.
Unable to come up with an answer that made sense, he fell into uncertainty. "Perhaps it was because…that was my first time. I may have used the condoms in the wrong way?" But then he shook his head and muttered to himself, "But…it didn't seem like that. I couldn't have been so clueless…" Although Sheffield hadn't had sex with a woman before meeting Evelyn, he knew just enough about sex as any man would.
If he didn't even know how to use a condom in the correct way, he wouldn't be having sex with a woman in the first place.
Sheffield's puzzled murmuring made Matthew feel impatient. "So far from what I can understand, you're telling me that my sister got pregnant with someone else's baby?"
"No, no, no! Perhaps the quality of the condoms wasn't as good. After all, they were just freebies from the guesthouse. It could have broken during…" Sheffield remembered how badly he wanted Evelyn that night. All he could think of was being with her.
Matthew's lips twitched. "I'm not here to discuss about how strong you were in bed."
