Erica walked towards the staircase and replied to Gifford without turning her head, "Talk about it later!" She was too busy worrying about her marriage to think about anything else.
"You have to respect Matthew's opinion, you know?"
"Okay." When she had just hit the first step, she suddenly turned around and smiled fawningly at Gifford. "Hey, do me a favor?"
Gifford refused directly, "No. You treat me like that and expect me to do anything for you? Get real!" He strode towards the staircase too.
When he brushed past Erica, she took his arm and said, "Gifford, don't be so mean! I've been gone for nearly a year, and I don't have much to show for it. Life's been hard. Don't you feel sorry for your sister?"
Gifford pretended to be nonchalant. "Not really. Should I?"
"Seriously? I'm not kidding." That was kind of a shock. Was he dating someone that hated her? That was about the only thing she could think of. Otherwise, why had he stopped caring about his sister?
"Okay. Fire away."
"Well, here's the thing. I ordered instant noodles every day while I was gone, so I owe Hyatt Li sixty thousand bucks. So…"
Gifford stood there, shaking his head. He didn't believe her. She had enough money with her when she left. Besides, who could spend sixty thousand dollars on instant noodles in just ten months? "You always cheat Hyatt. You'd think he'd know better by now."
Erica protested, "Why don't you talk about how I got injured for defending him? Besides, I just borrowed sixty thousand dollars from him. Can you help me pay him back? I'll get you three times that when I get a job!"
"Think I believe that? You started saying that when you were six or seven years old. How old are you now? You're going to be twenty-two, right? You kept saying the same thing for fifteen years. When you can make money on your own, you'll pay me back. Your probably owe me several hundred million by now."
"It's only a few hundred million. No problem. I'll give you an IOU now, and pay you back a billion!" Erica said confidently.
Gifford squinted at her and said, "One billion? Sounds like a pipe dream to me. I've got an idea: stop borrowing money!"
"Well, if you don't believe me, then forget it."
"I believe you."
"What?" Seeing his sudden serious look, Erica lost her confidence.
"If you marry Matthew, you could probably get me a billion. Ten billion, even." The only problem was whether Erica could get Matthew to fork over that much.
Erica was speechless. She decisively released Gifford's arm, and brother and sister went their separate ways.
In the nursery, Feb had stopped crying after drinking his formula. The nanny was playing with him. Blair was preparing a diaper.
Gifford carried the little guy in his arms. "Hey, little fat boy, I'm your uncle."
Blair was unhappy about how he called the baby. "He's not fat at all. Why call him fat boy?"
"Look at his chubby legs. It's fair to call him that. Besides, his name is Feb." Gifford felt odd, calling his nephew Feb.
Erica, sitting beside the crib, lifted her eyelids and said, "I think Feb's a good name. You just have no taste in names!"
"Huh? That's bullshit. Change his name, sis. You want him to get made fun of at school? Then call him Feb."
"Yeah, yeah. I know," Erica responded carelessly.
Watching her daughter, Blair shook her head resignedly. She was worried that Erica would continue to be difficult after she married into the Huo family.
Soon, the day for the pre-wedding photo shoot came. Worried his daughter might run away, Wesley personally drove her to Y City.
Erica had a gloomy look on her face the whole time. She didn't look like a happy bride-to-be. Instead, she was like a criminal, while Wesley was the police. She was taken from her home country to a special prison in Y City.
As a matter of fact, Wesley was a cautious and considerate man. He not only drove her to the city, but made sure she was sitting in Matthew's office before he left.
At ZL Group
Erica sat on the couch and waited for Matthew to finish up there. She was so bored she fell asleep.
Half an hour later, he cleaned his desk off and turned off his computer.
When Erica came to her senses, the man was already standing over her. The first thing she saw was his long, sexy legs. The girl swallowed her saliva and then raised her head slightly. The next thing she saw was Matthew's extremely handsome face!
"Let's go!" Matthew cast a cold glance at her and walked out of the office first.
"Okay!" Erica foolishly nodded her head and followed him immediately.
They got in the same car, both sitting in the back seat.
The sound of the car being started snapped Erica back to reality. She had been so lost in how handsome he looked, she almost forgot that she had something to tell the man.
But the driver was there, with the partition between front and back seat down, so she had to wait for another chance.
The wedding planner was not far from ZL Group. It only took a few uncomfortable minutes to get there.
As soon as the car came to a stop, two men came to open the door for them—one on the left, the other on the right.
Erica politely thanked the man who opened the door for her. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, Mrs. Huo."
'Mrs. Huo…' Erica shivered. She didn't think they understood. She didn't want to be Mrs. Huo at all.
The wedding dresses for the pre-wedding photo shoot had been prepared in advance. When the staff went to fetch the apparel, Erica finally got a chance to speak with Matthew alone.
She gathered her courage and looked at the man standing next to her, both hands in his pockets. "Well… Mr. Huo, I don't think we need pre-wedding pics. Do you?"
She used to call him Matthew and thought of him as a brother. But now things had changed between them. She wanted to create some distance. So she decided to call him Mr. Huo instead.
Matthew looked away from the white wedding dress in the window and fixed his eyes on her face without saying a word, as if waiting for her to continue.
Erica clenched her teeth and blurted out, "I'm pregnant again! I thought you should know the truth. If I hide it from you, it will be—" '—unfair to you.' The last three words disappeared under his cold gaze.
"Show me the examination results."
"What?" Erica suddenly raised her head.
"You said you were pregnant. Where are the test results?"
His sharp question made Erica's heart sink. She racked her brains, trying to come up with an answer. "Oh…um… I didn't think the papers were useful, so I threw them away. The test results were in there."
"Let's go, then!" Matthew turned and made his way to the door. Erica was confused. What did he mean? But she still caught up with him and asked, "Where are we going?"
The man didn't even look at her this time. "The hospital."
"Why?" 'A pregnancy test?' she wondered. At the thought of this possibility, Erica didn't know what to do.
"A pre-natal exam." Since she was his fiancee, he tried to be patient and explain it to her.
She was right. Erica gave a wry smile.
She had two choices. Either let Matthew take her to the hospital or try on the wedding dresses. If they wound up in the hospital, he would find out she lied to him, so she figured that the dresses would be preferable. "Look! Isn't that wedding dress beautiful? It's simply gorgeous! Do you want me to try it on?" She randomly pointed at a wedding dress, hoping her lie would be forgotten.
