Erica walked toward Matthew, reaching out to take the gift box. However, he didn't hand it over to her. Instead, he walked to the bed and looked at her, who seemed to be caught in a daze, and he ordered, "Lie on the bed."
"My hair is still wet. I can't go to sleep yet," she remarked.
Hearing this, he put down the gift box and took out the hairdryer. "Just lie on the bed already. Cut the crap," he said, losing his patience.
"You just don't get it, do you? I need to dry my hair first before I go to bed." Erica was beginning to get annoyed as well. After all, how could she lie on the bed while her hair was still wet?
Holding the hairdryer in his hand, Matthew cast her a cold glance and asked in reply, "You really don't get what I'm saying, do you? I'm asking you to lie on the bed!"
"I need to dry my hair first. Why do I have to lie on the bed? Hand the hairdryer over. You just do whatever you want to do." Upon saying that, she walked closer to take the hairdryer from him.
But just as she was reaching for it, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by Matthew.
Putting down the hairdryer on the bedside table, he swiftly lifted her in his arms and dropped her on the bed.
Erica tried to break loose, but to no avail. Because of that, she completely lost her temper and protested, "Matthew Huo, what's wrong with you? My hair is still wet. Do you seriously not see that? If you don't want me to sleep in the same bed with you, just say it already! Why did you…"
She suddenly stopped talking when she saw what Matthew was doing.
Holding her on the bed without saying a single word, he clumsily lifted her wet hair toward the bedside. He gently held her shoulder with one hand and held the hairdryer with the other. Then, he turned it on and began to dry her hair.
Tilting her head to one side, Erica watched in amazement as the man, who was half squatting on the side of the bed with a cold face, helped her dry her hair. 'Am I seeing things? Is this really happening? What on earth is going on? He is drying my hair!' she asked herself in utter disbelief.
"Be honest with me, you did something wrong, am I right? And this is just your way of saying sorry?"
Without giving her any response, the man simply remained silent.
"Well, it doesn't really matter if you did something wrong. I don't care. There's no need for you to…" '…stoop so low as to dry my hair, ' she pondered to herself.
Despite Erica being a proud woman, she couldn't help thinking deep inside that drying her hair was something Matthew shouldn't be doing. After all, he was an honorable CEO.
Hearing this, Matthew didn't even look at her. At that moment, his gaze was focused on her long wet hair and he kept on running his fingers through it. "You're a bit talkative right now. Why weren't you saying anything when you called me 'honey'?"
'Wasn't he the one who asked me to call him "honey"? I just did as he asked. What else was he expecting me to say? Dear Matthew? Babe?'
The mere thought of it was enough to give her goose bumps all over.
Now that he was helping her dry her hair, she couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed for losing her temper earlier. "Well, your hairdryer may be a little high-grade, but I still know how to use it. Why don't you just let me dry my hair myself?" she suggested.
Whenever she was staying at her parents' home and she didn't want to dry her hair herself, she would ask her father to help her do it. And how Wesley wished he could give her a haircut each time.
In fact, when she asked Wesley to come over and help her dry her hair for the 888th time, he came in holding a pair of scissors in his hand. Erica always took good care of her hair. So, from that day forward, she never dared to let Wesley dry her hair for her ever again, in fear that he might actually cut her hair off.
"Dad told me that you're too lazy to dry your hair by yourself,"
Matthew casually said.
"Ugh, why did Dad have to tell you everything?" Erica mumbled in disappointment as she curled her lips.
Unlike Wesley, who used to pull her hair while drying them, Matthew seemed to have a knack for this. Tilting her head again, Erica asked, "Do you always help your woman blow-dry her hair?"
'Isn't that nice of him? If only he isn't in love with another woman.
If it weren't for that, I would've probably fallen for him already. He's so handsome and caring. Maybe right now, we would have gone all the way instead of just him drying my hair, ' she thought to herself, her face turning red in shyness.
"No," the man flatly denied.
'No?' Hearing this left Erica a bit puzzled. Given how he could be so thoughtful to his wife whom he had no feelings for, shouldn't he be even more caring to the woman he loved? "Could it be because you don't often live together?" she probed.
"Hmm."
'Ha! I knew it!'
"What if she gets jealous when she finds out that you helped me dry my hair?" she asked again.
"She won't."
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying she won't get jealous or that she won't find out?"
"Neither."
'He's so confident with his answer. It seems that this woman really loves him a lot. She won't even get jealous knowing that her man dried another woman's hair. How understanding can a woman be?!' she thought.
This made Erica feel curious about what happened between Matthew and his woman, but she was unsure whether he would be willing to tell her about it. So, she went ahead and asked cautiously, "Was she sad when we got married? Did she cry?" 'She must have been very sad.'
"Yes," was his only reply.
'Yes! I knew it!' That being said, Erica felt so guilty deep inside since she never really intended to get involved in other people's relationships. With that in mind, she said to Matthew, "Then make sure to tell her that I didn't mean to be the other woman. Nothing is going to happen between us. Tell her there's no need to worry. When the right time comes, we'll have a divorce!"
As she thought of that, she suddenly remembered another serious matter. Although she was feeling guilty about it, she enjoyed the special service Matthew was giving her at the same time. She was acting like a bitch!
"Matthew, just let me dry my hair myself." She didn't want to be a bitch, which was the one thing she hated most in her life.
However, Matthew was still so engrossed in what he was doing and it looked like he didn't want to stop. "Let's talk about Ethan's father."
'Ethan's father?' Erica's face shifted ever so slightly. Truth be told, she didn't know much about Tam Wu. Why was Matthew asking about him out of the blue?
After a period of silence, he didn't get answer. "What kind of person is he?" he asked cautiously.
"He is a mature man. He holds both money and power. But more than that, he is such a bastard!" Erica had met Tam Wu a number of times, and that was her impression of him.
"When did you realize that he is a bastard? Was it before or after Ethan was born?" he went on and asked.
After giving it much thought, Erica answered, "After the baby was born. He disappeared without a trace about five or six months before the baby was born."
With a straight face, Matthew continued drying her hair and asked again, "Did he try to reach out to you after the baby was born?"
"Yes, he called me twice, but I didn't answer. Why should I answer his calls? And it's not just that I wouldn't answer his calls, but I also have no plans of handing Ethan over to him!" As she talked about this, Erica went into a fit of anger.
"Well, then don't give Ethan to him. Based on what you said, I don't think he is a competent father!"
"Exactly! I think so too. Matthew, he seems to be aware of Ethan's existence, but he hasn't done anything about it at all. What if he shows up one day and tries to take Ethan away?" Erica worriedly asked with her eyes wide open.
As Matthew gently ran his fingers through her hair, he asked, "Do you want to give the boy to him?"
"Of course not. My parents have been working so hard to raise him well. Now, they have already grown fond of him. If that bastard suddenly takes him away, there's no doubt that my mother will be depressed." She could tell that everyone in her family treated Ethan as one of their own.
Pausing for a while, Matthew then said, "You can bring him to Y City and stay here. I'll protect you."
