Rubbing her stuffed belly, Erica began making new trouble for Matthew. She watched him washing the dishes and asked, "Do you have work later?"
Matthew glanced at her and said, "Why? What do you have in mind?"
"I'm full. Let's watch a movie!"
"No, I'll pass. Also, aren't you too afraid to be watching horror movies? Go watch a cartoon or something." '
A cartoon?' How could he humiliate her like that?
When Erica walked to him, her eyes accidentally caught the bite mark on his hand. Dumbstruck, her eyes were wide in shock. "What happened to your hand?" If she didn't know any better, those looked like tooth imprints.
Following her gaze, Matthew sneered, "Are you suffering from amnesia?"
Erica suddenly remembered that she bit him in his office the other day when the couple fell into a heated argument. She actually had no idea how hard she had bitten him until today.
Smiling awkwardly, she said, "Hey, Matthew, you're a forgiving man. Don't hold any grudges against me. It was just a bite."
"Just a bite? Come here and let me show you what it was!"
Erica immediately took two steps back and hid her hands. "Don't be so petty. My father thinks that you're a very patient and tolerant man. You shouldn't treat a girl like this!"
Matthew put the pot back. "You? A girl? I think you are—" Matthew meant to say, "—a child."
However, Erica was annoyed at this comment because she thought that he was going to call her a woman. After all, she was already a mother to a child. "Why are you so hard to please? I gave you my first kiss!" Even Aaron didn't have the honor of getting her first kiss.
Two of her words caught Matthew's attention. Confused, he looked at her and asked, "Your first kiss?"
As soon as Erica realized her folly, she changed her stance and tried to cover it up with a lie. "Well, even though I gave birth to Ethan, it doesn't mean I gave my first kiss away. Isn't that normal?"
Matthew wiped his hands with a wet tissue and threw it into the trash can. He walked up to Erica, staring at her with deep eyes and said, "No, it's not!"
"Why?" she asked.
Suddenly, Matthew stepped closer and backed her up against the marble table, his hands on either side of her body, trapping her. "Why… Let me tell you why."
Before she knew it, he lowered his head and kissed her slightly opened lips.
After a while, he let go of her and spoke with a hoarse voice. "Do you know why now?"
The girl shook her head to say that she still did not understand what he was trying to say.
"If you don't have any desire for someone, how could you love him?" Erica told Matthew that Ethan was her son, but now she was telling him that she had given him her first kiss. Her words failed to make any sense to him. After all, how could a woman with a child still save her first kiss?
Matthew couldn't figure out which part of her words was the truth and which was the lie.
Erica, who had little experience in relationships and even less in love, became more and more confused. She feigned anger to mask her nervousness. "Forget it! I don't want to get into that now. I just want you to watch a horror movie with me! Yes or no? Men usually don't hesitate or take so long to make such simple decisions!"
Matthew felt slightly offended by that. 'So, I'm being hesitant and slow?' This was the first time someone had described Matthew like this.
He lifted the girl in his arms and said, "Fine, it's just a horror movie anyway. But don't get too close to me later on when you get scared!"
Erica didn't struggle. Instead, she smiled, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and said, "Matthew, don't be so mad."
Matthew put her down and arrogantly said, "Since you need me, try showing me some sincerity!"
This kind of thing had happened too many times in the past. Erica knew exactly what he meant, but she didn't want to compromise, as a cunning smirk appeared on her lips.
She kicked her slippers far away; pulled off her socks and threw them in the same direction. She stepped on the cold floor barefoot and started whining. "Matthew, the floor is so cold!"
Matthew scoffed. "Beg me and I'll carry you in my arms."
Erica still wouldn't compromise, and she turned around to go upstairs. "You beg to me! Then I'll decide if I want you to carry me or not!" He was fortunate enough to be able to hug her. Why should she be the one to beg him?
Matthew caught up with her quickly and picked her up in his arms with a dark face. "Erica, how dare you make me beg? You're getting more arrogant by the day."
Erica giggled and put her arms around his shoulders. "Master, I humble myself to you. Now will you please watch a movie with me? What if something happens and you're not around? If something bad happens, how would you explain it to my father?"
"Shut up! Cut the crap!" Of course, Matthew would watch the movie with her. The man eventually carried her up the stairs all the way to the second floor. Where else could he go with her apart from the home theater room on the fourth floor?
Erica complained, pouting, "The other day when I was just watching TV on the first floor, you forced me to go to the home theater room. Now that I've started watching movies there, you don't even want to keep me company. You can't do this!"
"Aren't you thirsty from talking so much?"
"I am thirsty! I want an apple!" Erica responded immediately.
Matthew shook her, pretending to throw her downstairs, which had Erica behaving properly in an instant. "Hey, hey, Matthew, chill!"
"Do you still want an apple?"
"No." Then she added, "I want a coke!"
Matthew muttered, "Are all women so difficult to deal with?"
"You want to know? You can just compare me to your mysterious muse."
Matthew seemed to be lost in thought. After a while, he said, "Yeah, women are definitely difficult to deal with."
Erica fell silent. But why did she feel a trace of sadness all of a sudden? She was just fine after that scrumptious bowl of seafood noodles just now.
In the home theater room, Erica decided to play smart this time. She asked Matthew where he wanted to sit and then she grabbed the seat first.
When Matthew turned on all the equipment and came back, Erica was waiting for him in his seat with a smile.
Matthew, however, picked a different recliner.
She pulled a long face. "I thought you were going to sit here?"
Matthew opened the program list and asked, "But you've already taken that seat!"
"I just want to sit with you!"
However, the man didn't even give her a look. He crossed his legs arrogantly and sat in an intimidating way. "Beg me!"
"You know what, forget it. Why don't you just play a horror movie to scare me to death?"
"You know what, forget it. Why don't you just play a horror movie to scare me to death?"
Frustrated, Matthew came to the girl with the remote control and angrily gestured at Erica with his eyes. "Move!"
"Okay!" Erica immediately made room for him on the sofa and waited for him to sit down first.
When the movie was ready to play, Matthew suddenly stood up. Erica immediately asked, "Where are you going?"
"The bathroom! Do you want to join me?"
"I'll pass. Come back quickly!"
After leaving the theater room, Matthew took out his phone and called Wesley. "Dad, it's me."
"Matthew? It's late. What can I do for you? Did Rika get into trouble again?"
"No, Rika has been a good girl. Don't worry."
Wesley heaved a sigh of relief. "What did you want to ask? Go ahead."
"Which hospital was Ethan born in?"
"Well… I've never asked Erica about it. She didn't come back home until a month after she gave birth to Ethan." Wesley had also asked about Ethan before, but his questions were always met with strong rejection from Erica. He eventually decided to drop it since he was just glad that the child had returned home safely.
"When Rika told you that she was pregnant, was there any report from the hospital?" Matthew asked.
