Tam was about to open the car door for Erica, but when he saw who was standing behind her, he greeted Matthew first. "Hello, Mr. Huo!"
Matthew glanced at Tam indifferently. If he remembered correctly, this man was the third son of the Wu family, a powerful family in the city.
The Wu family was comprised of two sons and one daughter. The eldest was the Deputy Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection; the second one was a daughter, the president of the High People's Court in the city, and the third one, Tam, was general manager of the operations department of a publicly traded company.
But… 'Why is Erica with Tam?' Matthew wondered.
He nodded at Tam silently.
Tam had met Matthew before and knew that he was a cold, arrogant man. So he thought Matthew was just being his usual self, nothing unusual at all. "We're taking off now, Mr. Huo."
Erica had already climbed into the car and sat patiently in the back seat, waiting for Tam to start the car.
When Tam opened the driver's side door, Matthew stopped him. "Wait a minute!"
"Yes, Mr. Huo?" The man stared at Matthew in confusion.
Ignoring his question, Matthew brushed him away. He went straight to the car, opened the back door and told Erica, "Get out of the car!"
"Why?" Erica asked.
Matthew answered her question with another. "Where do you want to go? I'll ask the driver to take you there!"
He didn't like this arrangement, and all the alarm bells were sounding in his head. Erica shook her head. "Thanks. But Tam can give me a lift."
Matthew just stood there. Decisively, he took his phone from his pocket and dialed a number. "Yes, I'm where you expect I am. Get down here. Take Mrs. Huo wherever she wants to go."
Erica knew that Matthew had called the driver, so she had to get out of Tam's car. "Why are you bothering him? Tam and I are going the same way. It's convenient for him to take me there."
As a man, Tam understood why Matthew did what he did. "Mrs. Huo, it's not a bad idea for you to let a driver take you there. I still have work to finish up after I drop you off at Y City University. I'm not sure I can take you back home," said Tam with a smile.
Erica nodded. "Okay!"
'Why is Matthew acting all weird?' she thought.
The driver got there fairly quickly. Matthew opened the door for Erica and let her in.
The two cars roared to life and sped off, gradually disappearing from Matthew's sight.
'Tam and Erica both go to Y City University? Tessie likes a man who's in his 40s?
I wonder if Ethan is Tessie and Tam's kid?'
Thinking of all this, Matthew sent a message to the driver. "Keep tabs on Mrs. Huo."
At Y City University
The two cars stopped at the roadside. Tam wasn't going to get out of the car, but Erica knocked on the window of his car and insisted that he go along.
Tam reluctantly left the car and came to the gate with her. Because classes were still in session, very few students came in and out of the school gate.
They waited for a few minutes, and Tam had been frowning the whole time. Erica told the man next to her, "Tam, we can't keep waiting like this. Ask Julianna if she knows Tessie's phone number."
Tam didn't answer. The only reason he didn't want to come to Y City University and tried to stay in the car was that his daughter, Julianna, was also studying here.
He was afraid he'd bump into her. And Tam didn't want things to spiral out of control. She didn't like Erica at all. It was embarrassing, and just letting her go to class like normal was the best thing for it.
But since he was already here, he knew he had to do it.
Tam silently took out his phone, found Julianna's WeChat account and shot her a message. "Do you have Tessie's phone number? Send it to me. A friend of hers asked me."
Julianna quickly sent him a question mark emoji and asked, "Who asked you?"
"One of my friends," Tam insisted.
Just as he was waiting for Tessie's phone number, Erica suddenly shouted, "Tessie!"
Hearing the name, Tam looked up subconsciously. There were two girls walking towards them. The one in a white coat was Julianna, and the girl next to her was Tessie, whom Erica hadn't seen in a long time.
Tessie's long golden hair had been styled into a layer cut, which shone in the sun. She wore a dark red plaid short coat, a pair of skinny jeans, a silver anklet on her ankle, and a pair of black canvas shoes.
At the sight of Erica, Tessie's smile froze. Especially when she saw the man beside Erica—all the color drained from her face.
What Tam feared most had finally happened.
Tessie, Erica, Julianna and Tam eventually formed a motley band but there was none of the typical it's-been-too-long banter. It would have been happier, if certain members of that group were not extremely uncomfortable.
It was understandable that Julianna was unhappy when she saw Erica. After all, the two of them had fallen out before. But Tessie's reaction was unexpected. She suddenly hid behind Julianna.
Erica wondered whether she was unwilling to face Tam or her.
Seeing her standing in front of her safe and sound, Erica was surprised and excited. Eyes red from tears, she said, "Tessie… It's really you! You're still alive!"
The Su family didn't lie to her.
But why was Tessie hiding behind Julianna when she saw her? Why didn't she answer?
While Erica waited for a response from Tessie, Julianna looked at the silent man in confusion and asked, "Dad, why are you here?"
Tam clenched his fists in his pockets in nervousness. After a while, he said in a low voice, "I… Erica is here to see Tessie. I'm here to see you."
"Dad, are you serious? Erica Li? Why would you date her? She's so bad! She bullied Tessie so much that the poor girl had to transfer to another school!" Julianna glared at Erica while she said that.
The excitement and joy in Erica's heart vanished like specters at Julianna's words. She asked coldly, "What? What the hell are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? Why don't you remember what you did? Tessie transferred to another school to get away from you. Why are you here? What do you want? Look what you did to her! Can't you see how scared she is? That's all you, girl!"
Tessie, who was standing behind Julianna, looked pale and trembled as if she had seen something terrible.
Erica walked past and grabbed Tessie's wrist.
Tessie screamed and struggled violently before Erica could even say anything.
Her fierce reaction completely confused Erica. She had no choice but to let Tessie go. "Tessie, what's wrong with you? Look at me. It's Erica."
After a moment of silence, Tessie said in a timid voice, "Please, leave me alone. Go away, Erica! Just go!" At that point her already shaky murmurs were choked with sobs.
Erica was shocked to hear that.
Julianna got between Erica and Tessie, shielding the other girl with her body. "You should leave now. We don't want to see you!"
"I'm not leaving! Tessie, come here and talk to me!" Erica would not leave until she found out what was going on.
In order to ease the tension, Tam said to Erica, "I think Tessie's afraid of you now. You should probably get back in the car. Let me have a talk with her first."
Tessie's reaction completely broke Erica's heart. She was very sad at the moment, and she needed to salve her mood.
Erica nodded and walked away, leaving them alone.
