Erica looked at the villa and said, "Rhea and I just arrived at the gate of the villa. We haven't gone in yet."
Matthew was about to answer when he heard a man's voice come over the line. "Erica, Rhea, I'm leaving now! Go get some good rest!"
"Okay, thank you! Bye!" That was Erica. Though she had reflexively covered the speaker with her hand, Matthew was still able to hear and discern that it was a man who had spoken to her.
Meanwhile, Watkins was about to get into his car, but stopped as though he'd suddenly remembered something. Seemingly not noticing that Erica was on the phone, he came over and told her, "You know, I've always wanted to invite you to dinner, but I never got the chance. Now that we've friended each other on WeChat, I'll contact you and invite you to a proper dinner sometime soon."
Holding her phone low beside her body, Erica answered, "Okay. But look, it doesn't matter if you're too busy…"
"No, I'm not busy. I haven't had many classes to deal with lately," he said quickly, and then broke off. "Look, we should both be going. It's too cold outside, and it'll be colder tomorrow. Remember to dress warm!" Saying this, Watkins half-raised his arms as though to give her a hug goodbye. However, he remembered that she was married and thought better of it.
Erica pretended not to notice and smiled at him pleasantly. "Oh, I will. Thank you, goodbye!"
Watkins turned and hurried off, leaving Erica to breathe a sigh of relief. Remembering that she was still on the phone with her husband, she brought it back up to her ear. "Hello, Matthew, haven't you gone to bed yet?"
For a moment there was only silence. Fearing the call was disconnected, Erica glanced at the phone's screen to find that it wasn't. "Hello? Are you busy now?"
Matthew's voice came through at last, cold as the air. "No, I'm not. Who's that you were just hanging out with?"
Erica shivered and held onto Rhea's arm as they started toward the villa. "I was with Rhea and Hyatt," she answered.
"What did you do?"
"We went shopping, had hotpot and hit a bar. Then we came back," Erica answered honestly.
"Who drove you back?" asked Matthew.
"Oh, it was Watkins!"
There was another uncomfortable silence. Then Matthew continued, "Did you drink together?"
"Yes," she told him. "Rhea and I had some beer and a cocktail. We're not drunk! Don't worry!"
Her cheery, light tone of voice did nothing to ease Matthew's concerns. 'Don't worry?' he thought to himself. 'I am on a business trip abroad. How can I rest easy after hearing that some other man drank with my wife and drove her home?'
In his sternest voice he ordered, "Stay away from that Watkins from now on. Don't go to dinner with him!"
"What's wrong?" Erica wondered if he was jealous. The way she saw it, he shouldn't have been.
Matthew was incensed by his wife's obtuseness. How could she not see the problem here? "Listen to me. As Mrs. Huo, do you think it's appropriate for you to have dinner with another man?"
"Well…I don't know if it's exactly appropriate," Erica said noncommittally. "But he and I are just friends. A clean hand wants no washing."
Matthew didn't want to talk to Erica anymore. He could see that he wasn't getting through to her, and now he needed some time to calm himself down. "Go to bed early," he said in a strained tone.
"Well, all right." Erica frowned. 'Why is he hanging up so soon?' she wondered. 'I haven't even told him about Ethan yet. He must just be too tired to keep talking.'
Seeing her put her phone away, Rhea couldn't help but ask, "Was that your husband?"
"Yeah."
"Does he know that Watkins took us back?"
Erica glared down at the pavement. "Yes. He just told me to not have dinner with Watkins, and to stay away from him from now on. Don't I deserve to have friends?" Making friends in Y City was not easy for her. And now that she'd finally found one, Matthew had immediately objected to it.
Rhea rolled her eyes at the sky. "What are you talking about? Rika, you silly girl! Mr. Huo is being jealous! Can't you see it?"
'He is being jealous?' This idea flashed through Erica's mind, but didn't stay there long. "No, he's not," she said. "That's impossible. He doesn't love me! How could he be jealous because of me?" The best she could say about herself and Matthew was that he didn't hate her. Maybe he even sort of liked her, but surely there was no love there.
For her part, Rhea really wanted to open Erica's skull to see if there was brain in it. "Let's not talk about whether he loves you or not. Listen, all men are keen when it comes to saving face. His wife was just sent home by another man. Believe me, he is angry!"
"What?" said Erica, still dubious. "So you mean Matthew is angry just because Watkins drove me home?"
Rhea nodded vigorously. "Yes. You'll have to remember to apologize to him later!"
Erica said nothing in reply. She needed time to think this over. Later that evening, Rhea came out of the bathroom to find Erica staring at her phone in bewilderment. "Rhea, there's something wrong with my WeChat account."
"What's wrong?"
Erica explained, "I was about to send a message to Matthew, but I suddenly found that I couldn't log in. Could my password have been stolen?"
Rhea walked over and glanced at the phone. "What's the error prompt?"
"It just says there's something wrong with my account."
Rhea shrugged. "Huh. Well, I don't know. Just call customer service, I guess."
Erica tossed the phone aside with a snort. "Forget it. I'll just take a shower. Maybe it'll just fix itself after a while."
"Okay, go ahead! I'll warm up your bed for you!"
Hearing this, Erica smiled cheekily. "Beauty, wait for me. I'll be back soon!"
"Ha-ha, you lecher, go to take a shower!"
"Okay!"
After taking a shower, Erica slept in the same bed as Rhea. Some time later she opened the WeChat and tried her password again. Unexpectedly, it worked this time.
She checked her account and found that the money in it was still there.
'What the hell was going on?' she wondered.
Beside her, Rhea opened Watkins' WeChat Moments and clicked on a photo to show it to Erica. "Hey, looks like Watkins is from a rich family too," she commented. "He has so many luxury cars!"
But Erica knew this already and said, "Yes, his father is the CEO of Champion Group." Still, if she hadn't gone to Champion Group to look for Tam before, she wouldn't have known that Watkins' family had anything to do with the company.
A moment passed. Erica was also browsing the WeChat Moments, trying to check Watkins' updates, but she couldn't find his account. "What's Watkins' name on WeChat?" she asked.
She remembered that she had changed his alias to his real name when she friended Watkins on WeChat. Why couldn't she find his account now?
"His WeChat name is an emoji. Haven't you changed his alias?" asked Rhea.
"I'm sure I have, but I can't find it now!" Erica searched her contact list twice without success.
She entered Watkins' account yet again and found that it was not in her friend list.
Erica went to friend Watkins on WeChat again and murmured, "What the hell?"
At that same moment, Matthew, who was still abroad, was leaning against the headboard and staring at his laptop screen. He had been monitoring Erica's WeChat all this time, and did not miss when she sent a friend request to Watkins again.
It was a simple matter for him to block the friend request from going through.
A moment later, he received a message from his wife. "Matthew, are you asleep?" she asked.
Matthew calmly picked up his phone and replied, "Not yet."
A message came back. "Let me ask you a question. Were you angry just now?"
He felt a little helpless. Was it because he didn't show his anger clearly, or because she was just slow to react? "What do you think?" he asked.
"I don't think you're narrow-minded. Watkins and I are just normal friends. You know that, right?"
