When Reese realized that Matthew was staring at her, she stuttered, "H-here's the thing… Mr. Huo, people say you didn't come with Erica to visit her parents after your wedding. But Erica insisted you did. So we made a bet."
"How much did she bet?" Matthew asked.
"A hundred thousand dollars," replied Reese in a timid voice.
"No, it was five hundred grand!" Erica retorted loudly. Now that Matthew was here, she could make Reese pay. "If she lost, she'd only pay a hundred grand. She pushed me into putting up five hundred grand if I lost. Kinda unfair, don't you think?"
Matthew glanced at his wife and said, "Aren't you Miss Troublemaker? I didn't know you were that easy to bully."
Erica gave him an embarrassed smile. How could she be forced into that so easily? She wasn't normally that simple to push around. On impulse, she had agreed to Reese's terms without a second thought.
"You always harass my wife like this?" he asked. He didn't look at Reese this time.
Reese and Erica were the closest to Matthew's car. Even Rhea stood a fair distance away. So Reese knew he was talking to her.
She was taken aback by his question. "H-harass her? I didn't do anything like that, Mr. Huo. Erica agreed to the bet herself."
"You lost the bet. And it isn't really fair that she bet five hundred grand and you only have to pay a hundred grand. Sounds to me like you're bullying my wife," Matthew said calmly.
Reese gasped. She was no fool and she understood exactly what Matthew meant. "Mr. Huo, go easy on me. I'm just a college student. I don't have that much money…"
Erica rolled her eyes and exposed her lies. "She has the money. She has tons of boyfriends. She can get the money from them."
"Erica, I swear I don't have the money. Mr. Huo, please, I'm begging you…" Reese was about to cry.
Matthew seemed bored. He looked at his wristwatch to check the time and said to the driver calmly, "Call Principal Zheng and ask him to deal with it."
"Yes, Mr. Huo." The driver took out his phone and started dialing.
Principal Zheng was one of the principals of A Country Film Academy, and the most powerful one.
It was not easy for Reese to get enrolled in college. They hadn't admitted her, initially. But money talks—her parents paid a lot of money to get her in. It was more than just her studies that would be ruined if she got kicked out; it was her whole life. "No! I-I'll pay!"
With trembling hands, Reese fished out her phone again and opened the payment app. There was a little more than three hundred thousand dollars in it. She cried out loud and said, "There's only 320, 000 dollars in there. Give me two days to get the money, okay?"
Matthew's face remained cold. He played with the diamond ring on his ring finger and said in a low voice, "Not enough money? Fine. Apologize to my wife and promise you'll never bug her again. Even better—don't talk to her, either. Then we can overlook how much you owe."
'Apologize?' This was truly humbling for Reese. She was usually arrogant and aggressive. She didn't take any crap and bullied her classmates, just like Erica did. Both of them were a matched pair. Only this time, Erica had Matthew. It was not easy for Reese to apologize to her arch enemy.
But it was either that, or pony up five hundred thousand dollars. If she refused to swallow her pride, she'd be a fool. Reese wiped her tears hastily and looked at Erica, who was staring at Matthew all this time. "I'm sorry, Erica. It's my fault this time. I promise I'll never talk to you again, or bully you. Please forgive me, will you?"
The last few words brought Erica back to reality. She asked, "What? What did you just say?" She was so immersed in the fact that Matthew stuck up for her that she didn't notice what Reese had said.
Reese thought Erica heard everything but pretended that she didn't. She was angry, but she wouldn't do anything around Matthew. She took a deep breath and apologized to Erica again.
"Okay. As long as you don't bother me anymore, I'll let you off the hook. You can go now!" Erica said. Matthew didn't care about the five hundred thousand dollars, nor did Erica, and she didn't want to talk to Reese any longer than she had to. Since Reese had apologized, she was free. Erica made a gesture that indicated she could take off. And Reese did.
Her followers and hangers-on left with her. And sobs racked her body as she walked off. Erica stood in a daze. There were many questions that still burned in her mind. Was Matthew defending her? Why did he do that? Was it just because they were husband and wife?
Rhea jogged over and held Erica's hand excitedly. She whispered in her ear, "This is the first time I've ever seen that girl cry. Your husband is awesome! Hey, he is here to pick you up. Go ahead and get in the car. We can go shopping some other day."
Erica confusedly looked at the man sitting in the car. He didn't come to pick her up, did he?
"What are you gawking at? Get in the car!" Matthew ordered with a frown. Disdain was written all over his face.
"Where are we going?" Erica asked. She had just met up with Rhea and hadn't been shopping yet.
Casting her a stern glance, Matthew said in an unfriendly tone, "Just get in the car! God, you ask so many questions."
'Seriously? From hero to zero in 10 seconds flat!' Erica had been greatly touched when Matthew defended her from the school bully. But right now, all her tender emotions were out the window, and she flew into a rage at his rude attitude. She held Rhea's arm and said angrily, "Want me in the car? Then ask nicely! I'm not a robot for you to order around! Why should I listen to you? I'm going shopping with Rhea."
When he heard her, he closed the car window. Without a word, he asked the driver to drive away.
The black Maybach drove away, leaving Erica and Rhea standing there and looking at each other in confusion.
With her eyes falling on the heavy traffic, Erica asked Rhea, "Um, did I go too far?"
"You just figured that out? I think your hubby's a good guy. Although he doesn't like you, he defended you from Reese. That's gotta count for something, right? Why don't you try to be a little nicer to him?" She wondered why Erica liked handsome guys so much, but was not interested in Matthew at all.
Erica was flustered. She knew Matthew was a good man, but he didn't like her. "He loves someone else," she simply said.
After shopping with Rhea for several hours and having hotpot in the evening, Erica returned to Li family villa.
When she walked into the living room, she saw Matthew, Wesley and Blair sitting there. But to her surprise, Matthew was cradling Ethan in his arms.
Erica's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Matthew knew how to hold a baby properly. She couldn't do it properly at the beginning.
Seeing her come in, Matthew acted as if he didn't see her. Blair just kept talking. "It was hard for her to choose a major. Finally, she chose the Photography despite our objections."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Erica asked. She had a bad feeling about this.
Staring at his phone, Wesley answered without even raising his head, "Nothing much. We think you should go back to school."
Erica was only 22 years old. They couldn't let her child affect her whole life. Even if she got married, she could still go back to school.
"That's what I think too," Erica said. It was rare that she was so cooperative.
She just thought she had nothing to do in Matthew's villa and couldn't find a suitable job. It was better for her to go back to college and continue her studies.
As if remembering something, Blair asked Matthew in an excited voice, "Do you know how Erica ended up choosing her major?"
