"Don't you feel special yet? You're the first woman to use my bathroom. What does that tell you?" asked Matthew in reply.
Erica curled her lips, sneering at his conceitedness and said, "Special? Do you think I'm enjoying this? I was forced to get married to you and it's not like I had any choice but to use your damned bathroom!"
"You were forced to marry me?" Matthew raised an eyebrow as if he was intrigued by her words.
"Yes! You're the reason why my father forced me into this marriage! And, you know what? I don't smell bad at all. I shower every day and I never go to bed without putting on some fragrant body lotion." In fact, she was so particular about her little before-bed-time ritual that she would run out of skin care products far quicker than most people.
The two remained quiet for some time, lying back to one another on the bed. Just as Erica wondered whether Matthew had fallen asleep, he turned around and pressed his body against hers, taking her hands in his. "Since you say that you're not smelly, let me check. Don't worry, you'll get to check me too."
Before she could refuse or even give consent, Matthew lowered his head and gave her a kiss on the lips.
'What? Does he have no shame at all? He didn't even ask for my permission before kissing me!'
Erica groaned inwardly as she struggled to free herself.
Matthew noticed her discomfort and immediately let her go. He looked her in the eye and said, "Be serious." 'Be serious? He wants me to be serious, but he didn't even apologize for his behavior! What a joke!' She bit her lips and with an aggrieved expression on her face, said, "Why did you kiss me so many times?"
"I just wanted to prove to you that I don't smell bad, contrary to your misunderstandings. Well, do I smell bad?" Matthew answered with a straight face.
'Of course not! And you smell good, ' Erica thought to herself. She wiggled and struggled to get free, stuttering, "N-no… Hey, how dare you use my body wash without my permission?!" Matthew was reeking of the fragrance of the body wash she always used.
"What? This is my wife's home and I used my wife's body wash. Is that not okay?"
Matthew asked. "No. I mean…Matthew, can you get off me first? You are too heavy, I can't breathe." They were lying very close to each other and she was afraid that he would fail to restrain himself and force himself on her.
There was an awkward silence that filled the room for a while. Erica tried to hide from the discomforting moment by wrapping herself with the quilt, even though it was quite warm already.
Matthew remained still in the dark. With a meaningful look in his eyes, he said, "You have to get used to it. After all, this sort of thing will happen a lot in the future." She was as pure as a virgin in his eyes.
Matthew would have been correct to assume that if she didn't have a son called Ethan Li.
Erica was not a fool and she understood what Matthew meant without even a second thought. "No, Matthew. Don't forget about your woman. Although you are also a prisoner of this marriage, you have to stay faithful to her, no matter what. You wouldn't want to break her heart, would you? Besides, no woman wants her man to be with another woman, so you'd better let me go now!"
"No woman wants her man to be with another woman." Matthew repeated her words, as if deeply amused, and continued, "Then what about you?"
"What?" She looked at him in confusion.
"Will you allow your husband to be with another woman?" He pulled away from her a little to let her breathe more comfortably.
Erica blinked her eyes and told the truth. "Honestly, I won't either, but our case is different. We both know that we don't love each other. There is no love in this marriage. So I have no right to stop you from seeing another woman."
"Are you still in love with Ethan's father?" His voice was so calm that it showed no emotion.
Erica bit her lower lip and remained quiet for a long time. Under the man's gaze, she reluctantly replied, "You have someone you love, right? Why can't I have a man to love as well?"
"So you don't want to make out with me because of him?"
he asked. 'Eh? What does he mean? And why should we be making out? We don't love each other!' "Hey, you've kissed me a few times already! I'm pretty sure that counts as making out, wouldn't you agree?" she spat at him angrily.
Matthew held her face with one hand and warned her, "Erica Li, you are my wife now and you have to remember who you are."
She could feel the warmth of his breath tickling her face.
Erica wanted to laugh, but she didn't dare to do so when she saw the look of seriousness in his eyes. "I know. I won't do anything wrong to you before I divorce you. Let go of me first."
"That's not entirely impossible."
"What do you mean? Are you willing to divorce or let me go?" Erica was frustrated because she found it very difficult to get through to him. He was extremely reticent about his personal affairs, unwilling to say anything more than what was needed. Since she didn't know him too well, it was increasingly difficult for her to understand what was on his mind.
"Both!"
"Really? So you are willing to divorce me?" Erica's eyes lit up with hope anew.
"Well, if you tell Dad that you want a divorce, I'll let you go." "
Which one? My dad or your dad?"
"I'm talking about the man in the room just across this one." Wesley and Blair's room was right across Erica's.
"Forget it. You can hold me as you like." If she were able to change Wesley's mind, she would have done that before getting married to a man she didn't love in the first place.
With her permission, Matthew kissed her again, more passionately than the last kiss.
Only when his lips parted from hers and moved to her ear, Erica found the chance to speak. "Wait a minute! You've misunderstood me."
'Oh my God! I better stop him now before I catch fire!' She scrambled to get away from him.
Night came as a reward of sorts, a restfulness above to calm the soul. As a person who was used to playing on her phone before sleep, Erica decided to skip to the sleeping part quickly, afraid that he would try to do something to her again.
Fortunately, Matthew seemed to have fallen asleep. His breathing was rhythmic and relaxed, which in turn helped her fall asleep as well.
The next morning, Erica was woken up by her sister Yvette. When she went downstairs, she saw Matthew and Wesley, who had just come back from morning exercise, beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads.
Wesley stopped her when he saw her coming downstairs with sleepy eyes. "From now on, don't forget to exercise at home. Look at this young man! Matthew exercises every day. I've told him to take you out jogging in the morning. What do you think?"
Working out with Wesley was a nightmare to Erica. She stroked her messy hair and walked past her dad. "I'll go upstairs and freshen up first. Dad, Mom, why don't you eat your breakfast first?" Without waiting for Wesley's response, Erica scurried up the stairs.
Wesley sighed helplessly and explained to Matthew in a serious tone, "Please don't mind that. Rika has always been like this."
"That's all right. Don't worry about me," replied Matthew casually, withdrawing his gaze from his wife.
While Erica was humming a tune and washing her face in the bathroom, Matthew came in abruptly. Looking at him in the mirror, she asked, "What's up?"
"I just wanted to take a shower," answered Matthew curtly as he cast a glance at her.
"Okay, I'll be done in a minute!" In order to avoid repeating last time's embarrassing moment, Erica washed her face quickly and ran out of the bathroom.
After a hearty breakfast, Wesley asked Erica and Matthew to go back to Y City.
Looking at Erica, who was very reluctant to leave Ethan, Matthew thoughtfully suggested, "You can bring him back with us."
