The Huo family knew that this was Carlos' plant which he had kept for two years. Joshua had asked his friend to bring it back from Singapore. Carlos liked it a lot and treated it with a lot of care and attention. He had specially bought a handmade blue and white porcelain flowerpot for the plant.
As if that wasn't enough to emphasize the plant's importance, he had specially told the gardeners to take good care of it. However, Gwyn had knocked it over and several of its branches were now broken.
People's eyes wandered from Gwyn to Carlos, wondering what he would do. Carlos merely glanced at the plant on the floor and then squatted down to look into Gwyn's eyes. "Gwyn, did you knock it down?" he asked in a soft voice.
Gwyn nodded and apologized to him, "Sorry, Grandpa. I didn't mean to do that. It was an accident."
"It doesn't matter. Are you hurt? Let me see your hands."
Gwyn shook her head and extended her hands towards Carlos. After making sure she wasn't hurt, he asked a housemaid to clean up the floor
Then he casually said, "Don't worry. It's just a plant. As long as Gwyn didn't get hurt, everything is fine. Come on. Let's go back and continue our conversation."
Rumor had it that although Carlos was very strict with his son, he was a slave in front of his wife, daughters, and granddaughter. Now Erica was finally convinced that the rumor was true.
She could tell that Carlos' heart ached for the plant. But he was not blaming Gwyn at all. He only cared that she was okay.
Erica suddenly changed her mind. She was now considering having daughters with Matthew instead of sons.
When Matthew went to the bathroom, he left his phone on the table. A moment later, the screen lit up from some notification.
Both Erica and Carlos noticed that. "Rika, check whose message that is," he said.
"What? Umm… I don't think that's a good idea," Erica stammered with her eyes wide open. She wasn't sure about checking Matthew's phone. It might have been private.
Carlos didn't think so. "Come on. I think it's perfectly normal. A couple should be honest with each other. You should remember who you are. You are his wife now, and you have the right to be a part of his business."
What he was saying was correct, but Erica knew that she and Matthew were a couple in name only. "Dad, I think I'd better not check it. What if I see something confidential from the company?" she said. Erica didn't want to check his phone. The relationship between her and Matthew was not exactly close; whatever they were, they were not lovers.
However, Carlos thought otherwise. "Just check the message. I'll take responsibility if he finds out."
Erica thought Carlos was being really weird. Why did he want to force her into checking Matthew's phone?
However, Erica didn't know how to reject him. She took up Matthew's phone and slid her finger across the screen. "Password, Dad!" She raised his phone and turned the screen towards Carlos.
"Well, try 110121," Carlos replied. He had used Matthew's phone yesterday, but he wasn't sure if he had changed his password since then.
Erica tried the password. To her surprise, it worked.
She opened the WeChat app and told Carlos, "Dad, there are too many unread messages here. I don't know which one to open."
Matthew was a busy person and she knew it. But still, when she found out that there were more than 999 unread messages on his phone, she was quite shocked. Did this man never check his phone? And these were only on WeChat. There might have been several other applications on his phone.
"Open the one at the top!"
"Says here that the message is from Paige Shen," Erica answered.
"Hmm, she is Matthew's personal assistant, 32 years old; a graduate from the United States. But she is also a woman. Check the message. If she is having an affair with Matthew, I will beat him to death!"
Carlos said. Erica clicked the dialog box. The messages were naturally related to work. However, when she saw a picture, she suddenly blushed!
It was a night gown! To be honest, it couldn't even be called a night gown.
That was because it was only made up of a thin layer of lace. Erica could imagine what it was used for.
It was not the first time that she had seen such a night gown. But the one she had seen before had a layer of silk lining inside the lace. This one didn't, which meant that whoever put it on would still be naked.
Another message arrived from Paige Shen. "Mr. Huo, is this one okay?"
"Rika, what did she send to him?" Carlos asked curiously seeing that Erica's expression was looking a bit weird.
Erica was taken aback by his question. She closed Matthew's phone quickly and answered, "Um…nothing. Well…"
"What are you doing?" Matthew' cold voice suddenly hit her eardrums before she had a chance to put down his phone. He was standing behind her.
Erica looked at the phone in her hand with an awkward gaze and tried to explain.
But Carlos spoke up before she did. "Someone sent you a message. I asked Rika to check who it was. It was from Paige."
Casting a cold glance at Carlos, Matthew asked in an even colder tone, "Is that how you educate a child? What makes you think you can tell her to check someone else's phone without their permission?"
'Child?' Erica felt helpless and angry. She was already 22. She put down his phone and said, "Well, I'm not a child. And are you angry with me?"
Matthew was amused by the sudden question. "I am sorry. Do I not look angry to you?"
Debbie, who had just come in and happened to be walking by, noticed that his lips were slightly raised. She turned towards him and asked, "What are you guys talking about? I saw Matthew smile just now. Am I seeing things?"
Matthew quickly recovered his usual deadpan face, cast a cold glance at his dad and replied to Debbie, "Dad is becoming more and more unreasonable by the day, Mom. You should teach him a lesson when you're free."
"You bastard! You're calling me unreasonable? Now you're asking for trouble!" Carlos retorted angrily.
"Can somebody tell me exactly what the hell happened here?" Debbie asked curiously.
Erica took the initiative to admit her mistake. "Mom, it's my fault. I shouldn't have checked Matthew's phone without his permission."
"Huh? That's it? That's all you did? You guys were making such a big deal out of it that I thought it was something very important. Why are you being so mean, Matthew? I check your father's phone every day. Do you have some secrets that Rika doesn't know about?"
There was an awkward silence in response to that.
Carlos echoed, "Exactly! Besides, it was me who asked Rika to check your messages. So if you were not doing anything wrong, what are you so afraid of?"
Since the older couple was now on each other's sides, the younger couple was left speechless.
Matthew didn't want to waste any more time on this discussion. He quietly picked up his phone and looked at the message Paige Shen had sent. His Adam's apple bobbed, and the look in his eyes became intense. He cast a meaningful glance at Erica. Then, he texted back. "This one is okay."
After a short while, they left the Huo family manor one by one. When Matthew was leaving, he also took Erica with him, who was busy playing with the three children at that time.
Once inside the car, Erica couldn't wait any more. She asked the man beside her, "Is Paige the goddess in your heart?" She had to be. Otherwise, why would she send the picture of such a revealing night gown to him and ask for his opinion?
'Even if she is not his goddess, she must be one of his women!' Erica thought. 'Well, well…I never expected Matthew to be a fan of office romance.'
She decided to pay more attention to Paige Shen when she visited the ZL Group again. She was thinking that the woman must be both beautiful and capable.
On the other hand, the man's face was slightly gloomy. "She has already married." He was trying to make sure she did not misunderstand Paige Shen.
