Erica felt better after she quickly gulped down three glasses of water. She wiped her tears with a tissue listlessly and cried out, "I almost died!"
"Are you alright now?" Matthew asked.
"Yes, much better." Erica grabbed another tissue and blew her nose into it.
Matthew placed an internal call and ordered, "Ask the cleaner to come to my office."
"Right away, Mr. Huo."
Hanging up the call, Matthew looked at the cup of hot and sour rice noodles and frowned. "Do you still want to eat this?"
Afraid that he would throw it away, Erica quickly took the cup away from him. "Yes, I'm gonna eat it." It was such delicious food; why would she waste it?
When the cleaner came in, Erica had just finished eating the last mouthful of rice noodles.
The cleaning lady emptied the trash bag which was full of used tissues and replaced the bin with a new bag. She also made sure to leave a new box of tissues on the desk.
Once the two of them were left alone in the office again, Erica told Matthew with a serious expression, "That was not funny at all."
He nodded, "Of course, it wasn't. After all, it was not a joke."
Erica gawked at him. He was straightforward. She didn't know what to say. "Y-you…you said you would respect my wish."
"Yes, I will respect your wish."
His promise relieved her. "Okay, but why did you want me to come here?"
He looked at her sternly. "Ask yourself what you had done at school and why you were reported by three of your schoolmates," Matthew said flatly.
Erica understood at once. Those three girls had reported her to the principal. She scoffed disapprovingly, "They spoke ill of me behind my back and talked trash about you too. I only scared them a little. It was just spiders! You should have seen their faces; they turned pale at the sight of it. Cowards!"
Matthew sighed. 'Is this woman too bold, or are the others just too timid?' he wondered.
"I see. Then, how did one of the girls sprain her ankle?" The principal had told him that the girl had broken bones too.
"That had nothing to do with me! She twisted her ankle when she stepped back in fear. And she got so scared that she ended up wetting her pants!" Erica chuckled under her breath at first. But the more she thought about the scene, the more hilarious it became. She burst into laughter thinking about it.
Looking at the girl guffawing wildly, Matthew said, "You have just begun your studies in that school. Don't quarrel with your schoolmates already."
Erica stopped laughing and squinted at the man. "Are you saying that I should just ignore them and endure their insults silently?" If that was what he wanted from her, then she would most likely let him down. Erica was not the kind of woman who would blindly swallow insults and humiliation!
"No." How could he let anyone bully his woman?
"Then what? What do you want me to do? Oh! I see. You just want to make my life hard, don't you?"
Matthew reached out and pulled the girl into his arms as she was about to beat him up. He easily got her into his control and said, "I'm not trying to make things hard for you. If this kind of thing happens again, you don't need to get your hands dirty. I'll have someone deal with it for you."
"What? " Erica asked slowly, staring at him.
"I mean it." He took her hand and played with it. "Mrs. Huo, your hand is so pretty. You don't need to catch any spiders with these soft hands. If you wish, you can always ask my men to shower them with real poisonous spiders."
'Whoa! That's a bit too much. Is he really so cruel?' she wondered in shock.
Seeing the confusion on her face, Matthew kissed her lips gently and said in a deep voice, "I told you. My next goal is to sleep with you. You're my wife, and you'll truly become mine sooner or later." And he wanted her to give herself to him willingly.
He wouldn't force a woman to sleep with him. That wasn't his way of doing things.
Erica remained silent. She put her elbow on his shoulder and looked at him closely for a long time before asking, "Matthew, are you the reserved type or do you really care about morality so much that you never fool around with women? You have the goddess; the one you love so much. But your goddess cannot satisfy your needs, so you want to have sex with me."
If not for that, why would he want to sleep with her?
Matthew slowly closed his eyes in resignation. He didn't want to look at this woman anymore.
But Erica continued to prattle on, "I don't have a good figure; I'm not feminine. I don't know how to flatter men. Sleeping with me will only spoil your appetite. I honestly think that men who desire to sleep with me are all crazy!"
Matthew put one hand on his forehead and spat, "Get out!"
"No, don't drive me away yet," she said. "Listen, in my opinion, you should sleep with young models and superstars. I'm sure any of them could make you happier in bed than I could. Don't you agree?"
Matthew loosened his grip on her waist and asked, "Do you really want to push your husband into another woman's bed that much?" 'What did I do wrong in my previous life, that I ended up marrying such a "generous" wife in this life?' he wondered.
"Hmm. Tell me, do you wish to sleep with the goddess you've always loved?"
"Yes," he answered without hesitation.
"See what I meant?" Men are animals; they can only think with the lower part of their body. Even a proud man like Matthew was no exception.
He pinched her chin and tilted it to make her look into his eyes. "I heard that you wanted to marry a foreigner?"
His eyes darkened.
Blinking innocently, Erica denied, "Foreigner? No, it must be some kind of rumor."
"Rumor, is it? Then, what about the foreign boyfriend you had introduced to your parents last time?" Matthew exposed her lie calmly.
'Does this man know everything?'
Erica marveled. Maybe it was her father who had told on her! As Matthew's wife, Erica had to explain clearly. "That was just a friend, not a boyfriend. We met at the airport, and he took me home."
Matthew's lips curled upwards. "You think I would believe that?"
Erica put her arms around his neck and fawned on him with a flirty smile, "Of course, you'll believe me. I'm your wife; you must believe everything I say!"
Matthew smirked. "Haven't you always wanted to divorce me?"
"Of course not! My husband, Matthew Huo, is the most handsome, smart and talented man in the world. Your charm can't be resisted. Could there ever be another perfect man like you?" Erica calmly buttered him up.
The man's eyes filled with disgust. "Do you always flatter people like this?"
Erica wasn't ashamed by his words. She lied to his face again, "I don't give a damn about flattering anyone. I was really just praising you."
Matthew didn't say anything.
Usually, it was men who always lied to women. But in his case, it was the other way round. His wife was full of lies.
But he didn't want to continue this charade anymore. He changed the topic. "What do you want for dinner?"
"What else can you cook?"
"You want me to cook for you again?" He wondered if he was being too good to this woman. It was making her bolder by the day.
Erica grinned, "Okay! Treat me to hot pot!" He raised his eyebrows. "Why would I treat you?"
'Because I'm stingy!' she laughed cunningly in her mind.
"Because it's expensive. If you want me to treat you, I can buy you a bowl of Liuzhou river snails rice noodles."
"What is that?"
