When Erica found out Matthew's secret, he flipped out on her. He was so desperate to keep it a secret that he lost all sense of reason.
To Erica's intense surprise, the woman in the photo was none other than herself.
She didn't know what Matthew was angry about. She approached him and asked defiantly, "And what if I don't give it to you?"
His hand tightened around her wrist. The pain made her grit her teeth, but she refused to budge. Fortunately, it was not that painful, and she could ignore the pain.
The man acted like a three-year-old child and answered willfully, "Give it here! Now!"
He was like a broken record, repeating that phrase over and over again. He wouldn't say anything else.
Erica reached out her other hand to touch his cheek, and talked to him in a quiet voice. "Matthew, Phoebe was never the goddess in your heart. You never liked her. She's just your best friend's wife. I'm the woman you loved from the start. There's nothing between you and Phoebe, and I can prove it. You don't know how long you've been in love with me or when you started to fall for me, do you?"
After she came back from the Panda House that day, she remembered what he said, what his feelings were. He revealed all that in the car.
When he heard what she said, Matthew's jaw tightened. What she said was the truth.
"But I had another man's child. When your dad asked you to marry me, you turned him down. I can think of two reasons for that. One is that you don't like others getting involved in your business, and the other is that you didn't want to marry a woman with someone else's kid. In the end, you said yes because you like me. That love won out over a kid out of wedlock…"
"Erica!" His sharp cry stopped her from saying anything more.
Matthew's face was pale, but there was no anger in his eyes, but shyness instead.
"Matthew." Erica hugged him and said, "I know you don't like to talk about your feelings, so let me do it. It would be great if I could marry you now. After all, I'm a few years older now, than when we were married. I'd have a different view of things from that time. Maybe I would know you liked me earlier. But on second thought, I'm glad that we got married years ago. I don't regret getting married to you, or giving myself to you.
To tell you the truth, maybe I fell in love with you earlier than I thought. At that time, I knew there was a goddess in your heart who shone like the new moon in the night sky, and I deliberately ignored how good you were to me. I was afraid I'd fall for you, and that you'd choose her. You'd chase the moonlight, always overlooking the red rose. I was afraid you'd always want her instead of me. What I didn't know was the moonlight and the red rose were the same person, and that's me."
She was the goddess in Matthew's heart, both the moonlight and the red rose.
Erica also found something terrible. Since she came back from Tow Village, every day she was with him, she would find more and more clues he had loved her from the beginning.
And she kept finding more. It was almost like he was leaving a trail of lovecrumbs for her to find. It was getting obvious how much he liked her even before they met.
"You will never know how grateful I am you waited for me all these years. I'd been away for more than three years, and you waited for me, patiently, for all that time. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you found someone else. I might kill myself because I can't live without you."
The bedroom was very quiet. Instead of holding her wrist tightly, Matthew embraced her tightly.
"Lili, Riri, Kaka, they sound similar to Rika Li. Matthew, why not just tell me about it? Why wait so long?" No wonder Matthew didn't take their four children to the Panda House, because it wasn't the pandas that were the point. It was his love for her.
At this moment, Matthew's feelings for her were laid bare.
'Sometimes I wonder if she can tie her own shoes, but other times her IQ is at least 200, ' he thought to himself.
He still didn't say "I love you," but he didn't need to. She knew how he felt, how much he loved her. He loved her more than she loved him.
The bedroom got very quiet, and the man still didn't say a word.
Then she continued, "I don't want to lose you or miss you for the rest of my life. I want to love you for the rest of my life. You know, I'm a stupid woman. So, Mr. Huo, please give me a map of the road of love and tell me where I should go. Or, I can love you in my own way. Anyway, I only love you, Matthew Huo. You are my God, my destiny… Oh, and our sons. I love them deeply too. After all, they are what came from our love."
Tears welled in Matthew's eyes, but the woman couldn't see them. His love finally was paid back.
He also wanted to tell her that he loved her from the beginning to the end, but she already finished what he wanted to say, leaving him speechless for more than a moment.
He never dated anyone, and he was a newbie when it came to love, so he still didn't know what to say, how to respond to her confession. All he could do was hold her.
She looked at him at last, eyes full of expectation. He said, "I want to… make love to you." He wanted to express his love for her in another way, and he hoped she could understand. Erica was on the verge of breaking down. Alas, she was so tired, mentally and physically.
She knew he was strong and she had to give in. "Hold me!" she demanded.
The man lifted her up and walked towards the bathroom. "Rika," he called out.
"Hmm?" The expectation in her heart was ignited again, and she was desperately hoping he would say, "I love you."
But the reply she received was "This time, guide me in bed. Let's do what you want." She wanted to scold him.
'Wow, what a jerk! He won't say he loves me, and now he wants me to be the dominant one in bed.
Forget it. I know he loves me lots! He just can't find the words sometimes.
And, as the saying goes, the winner will be the one who laughs last, ' Erica thought to herself with a wicked grin. He didn't even notice.
Because of the sudden arrival of Erica's aunt Flo, Matthew not only had to give up on the idea of bathing together, but also had to handle her carefully.
The next day, because of the cramping Erica stayed at home all day to beautify Dylan's photos. She never left the house.
In the evening, Matthew picked up the four kids from the manor. Seeing that Erica was still in bed, Damian immediately knew what was wrong with her. "Mom, is it time for you to drink brown sugar water this month?"
But they only knew their mom needed to drink brown sugar water for a few days every month and couldn't take care of herself. They knew nothing else.
"Yes." Erica nodded listlessly. Her lower abdomen always hurt on the first day of her period.
Without saying a word, Damian and Adkins turned around and walked out of the bedroom. Colman kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed. Lying next to her, he patted her on the shoulder and comforted her gently, "Mom, it shouldn't hurt. Let me keep your belly warm."
Then he blew on her belly.
Erica was amused by his sweet behavior. She gently pinched the tip of his nose.
Boswell told the man who came in later, "Dad, you can sleep in my room tonight."
'Huh!' With a faint smile on his face, Matthew thought to himself, 'He allows me to sleep in a room I own. Like he has any say! What a little brat!"
