Matthew, however, changed his mind all of a sudden and decided to let his sons shoot him. While he held two of his sons in both arms, he smiled as his other two boys aimed their toy guns at him. They each took a shot, hitting Matthew successfully with two water pellets.
Colman couldn't contain his laughter as he clapped his hands with joy. "We did it!"
Damian followed suit, as he proudly brandished his toy gun towards his father. "Dad, you got fooled by us, didn't you?"
The other two boys grabbed onto Matthew's shoulders as tightly as they could. Adkins shouted at Colman and Damian, "Hurry up and get Dad again! Shoot him two more times. We won't get this chance again."
Boswell grunted and said, "We've got him. Do it now!"
Much to their surprise, Matthew acted quickly and used his sons to block the shot causing the water pellets to hit Boswell and Adkins on the butt.
This time, it was Matthew's turn to laugh, but Erica was quicker than him. When she saw what had happened to the boys, she burst into a derisive laughter.
Boswell pouted his lips and complained, "Dad, how could you use your own sons to shield yourself away from the water pellets? We are just kids!"
Matthew was very amused by Boswell's annoyance and he replied, "Don't forget that you set me up first!" To put it bluntly, the boy was just like his mother—always unreasonable.
However, Adkins secretly winked at Colman, who upon receiving his brother's signal did not hesitate to shoot the man on the leg while he was busy talking to Boswell.
"Yeah! I did it again!"
The four kids were genuinely proud of themselves for successfully bullying Matthew. They jumped with excitement and rejoiced at their victory over their father. For a brief moment, the atmosphere in the CEO's office became lively and vibrant.
After a while, Matthew feigned seriousness and said, "All right, boys! Go get some towels and clean up this mess now!"
Adkins straightened up and saluted his dad. "Yes, sir!"
Boswell chimed in as well, "We will not fail our mission!"
Colman, however, stuck his tongue out at his father and ran to grab his leg, tugging at him like a spoiled child. "Dad, I don't want to clean up. Can I just ask the cleaning lady to clean this up?" he begged.
Damian paused to think for a while. Before Matthew could say anything, Damian pulled Colman back and said, "I'm sure the cleaning lady has a lot of work to do. Let's just clean this place up ourselves! Come on, Colman, It's not that hard."
Colman had no other choice but to give in, as he sighed and said, "All right! I'll help clean up this mess. Dad, don't forget to thank me later!"
Matthew was deeply confused, wondering whether Erica's genes were stronger than his. After all, Colman was behaving exactly like her—difficult and unreasonable.
Meanwhile, the woman who gave birth to the four boys was sitting on the sofa and playing with her cell phone, as if she were completely oblivious to what was happening there.
When the children went to get the cleaning towels, Matthew sat next to her and asked, "Why don't you say something to your sons?"
Erica looked at him and shook her head decisively. "Don't you think they are troublesome enough as it is? If I dare to say something, each of them will say two things in return and that will only make your head hurt even more." Matthew nodded silently in agreement. It seemed as though she was right!
This was the disadvantage of having four children—sometimes they could be a handful.
Without the help of the cleaning lady, the little boys diligently cleaned up the mess in the CEO's office which was, in fact, in a mess because of them.
While Matthew went to the lounge to get changed before he took his family and left the company, under the envious eyes of those around them.
The commercial building of ZL Group in Y City was next to the headquarters of ZL Group. Erica was renting a workspace in the commercial building to develop her photography career.
In the commercial building
Looking at the 12th floor of the commercial building that had been cleared up for her, Erica sighed and looked at her husband with adoration. "Wow, the location of this building is great.
Fortunately, I don't have to pay any rent. Otherwise, I would be spending all my earning on just the rent itself!"
Matthew looked away from the children and put his arm around her shoulder. "That's ridiculous. Have you ever heard of an owner who pays himself rent?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Erica was taken by confusion.
Matthew smiled at her affectionately and said, "Don't you remember? I promised to give you everything I own. Well, from now on you officially own everything I could ever give to you. This building actually belongs to you now."
"What? No way!" Erica was clearly stunned and she couldn't believe her ears.
"Yes, you heard me right. Remember, a promise is a promise. I've already asked someone to decorate the space according to your taste. Aren't the kids supposed to participate in an autumn sports meeting the day after tomorrow? After the sports meeting, I'll bring you to take photos of the aurora, okay?" Matthew said in a gentle voice.
"Aurora? At this time of the year?" The woman's eyes lit up at the mention of this topic!
The man nodded. "I found a place where people can see the aurora all year round. Do you want to go there?"
"Of course I do!" In fact, Matthew didn't even need to ask her. Erica had been itching to take photos of the aurora for as long as she could remember.
With a tender look in his eyes, Matthew kissed her on the lips and said, "Okay, we can go together in two days!"
"Dad, Mom! What are you doing?" asked Colman, as he stared at them in confusion, looking back and forth between the two people and scratching the back of his head in confusion. Erica immediately averted her son's question and changed the topic.
"Where are your brothers?"
"They are playing over there. Mom, didn't you say that a boy shouldn't kiss a girl so casually? I've seen Dad kiss you secretly several times. How come he is allowed to kiss you?" Much to Erica's disappointment, Colman wasn't so easy to stave off.
Matthew, however, looked at Erica with a smug look on his face and told his son, "Your mother must have forgotten to tell you something."
"What is that?"
"A man can kiss his wife as much as he wants to. It's not against the moral principles, let alone the law for a man to love his wife!" Matthew explained seriously.
The boy nodded his head despite traces of confusion still painted over his face. "Dad, what about other people's wives? Can I kiss them?"
Erica burst into laughter immediately. "Of course not!"
Matthew sighed and sat down to help his son understand. "Let's compare your wife to the toy gun in your hand. You can play with your own gun as much as you like, right?"
"Yes!"
"What if it belongs to someone else? You shouldn't touch something that belongs to someone else without their permission, right?" Matthew looked at him expectantly.
"Right!"
"Good!" Matthew gently patted the boy's head. At least, his son was smart enough to understand that.
Then, Colman asked another question. "What if I ask for permission? Will I be able to play with their toys then?"
"Well, sure." Matthew, however, forgot to add, "But that doesn't apply to women."
As such, many years later, Colman ended up asking one of his friends, "Can I kiss your woman?"
His friend, however, thought that he was just joking, so he decided to play along and said, "Sure!"
Unfortunately for him, Colman wasn't joking and he kissed his friend's woman.
The two friends ended up turning against each other almost immediately and engaged in a fierce fight on the spot. After that incident, they hardly kept in touch with each other.
Later, that woman eventually became Colman's wife and his friend's ex-girlfriend.
On the day of the autumn sports meeting, in order to allow every child to participate in the activity, Matthew took his three friends to attend the game, while Erica cheered for them in the crowd.
Joshua had Adkins in his arms, while Harmon was holding Boswell. Sheffield and Colman were in the same group, while Matthew himself was holding Damian, his youngest son, in his arms.
