Matthew lowered his head and kissed his wife's red lips. "Are you still sad?"
She shook her head and answered firmly, "I'm not sad. I'm just angry because Phoebe provoked me!"
"Okay, then why did you hit me?" Matthew was under the impression that Erica had slapped him because she was feeling envious.
However, he just found out that she was just angry with Phoebe. He was a bit disappointed as he felt like he had been slapped for nothing.
"You made me think you two were having an affair. What would you have done in my place? To tell you the truth, I felt sorry for you too. After all, you're a handsome man.
How about I just slap myself next time?" she suggested. 'Slap yourself? Why?' Matthew couldn't find meaning in her words.
When she caught his confused expression, Erica explained to him, "I have such a handsome and rich husband that even when we fight, I don't have the heart to hit you.
I suppose I could only slap myself instead." 'What? Then I'd prefer you to hit me instead, ' he thought.
When the car arrived at their villa, Erica was still in a bad mood. She didn't talk much on the way, but she rested her head against Matthew's chest, deep in thought.
Matthew carried the woman to the villa and said to the bodyguards at the gate, "You can go home now!"
"Yes, Mr. Huo."
Thanks to Matthew, Erica's mood was better in no time.
At Li family's house in A Country
Gifford appeared at home out of the blue. While no one was noticing, he went back to his bedroom, took something and walked out just as quickly as he had come in.
As he closed the door behind him, he glanced at the innermost room in the corridor.
He hesitated for a moment and walked over. When he was about to knock on the door, he heard a faint noise coming from the door of Wesley's room.
Suddenly, Wesley pushed the door open from the inside.
Gifford turned around and strode over, just in time to meet his father.
Wesley frowned in confusion as he wasn't expecting to see his son. "Why did you come back at this hour?"
'Isn't he glad I am back home in the first place?' Gifford thought to himself and rolled his eyes. "I came back to fetch something before heading out to Y City," he answered honestly.
"Why are you going to Y City?" Wesley asked.
"I'm going to see Matthew!" Gifford mumbled as he was about to leave.
"Come back here!" Wesley called out to his son, realizing that something was not right.
Gifford stopped in his tracks, turned around and looked at his father. "What?" he asked impatiently.
"What are you going to do in Y City in the middle of the night?"
"I'll shut down Matthew's company and teach him a lesson!" As soon as the last word left his mouth, he turned around and attempted to leave again.
"Stop!" Wesley ran after his son immediately.
Gifford had to stop again, but his patience was wearing thin. "What do you want?"
"You said you wanted to shut down Matthew's company and teach him a lesson, but you didn't tell me what had happened. You have some nerve! Perhaps I should teach you a lesson!"
"That man broke Rika's heart!"
Wesley rolled his eyes at his stupid son. "What goes on between a man and his wife is none of your concern. Just mind your own business. You can barely deal with your own relationship properly." Wesley was furious. After all, Gifford hadn't come back home ever since he got married to Chantel. And now he was there in the middle of the night, intending to leave without her knowing. He had gone too far!
"Dad! It's different this time. Matthew really broke Rika's heart." Gifford felt helpless because his father didn't believe him.
Wesley paused for a while and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Go and see your wife first. I'll call Matthew and ask him what's going on."
Gifford glanced at the room where Chantel was staying. If he had known that his father would stop him, Gifford would not have come back to take the document Matthew had signed where he said that he would never bully Erica.
Blair was sound asleep when she was woken up by the conversation between father and son. She wondered who was making such a fuss at this hour as she walked out in her pajamas. "Gifford, what are you doing here?" she asked.
Gifford rolled his eyes at the older man. The moment he noticed the anger in Wesley's eyes, he reluctantly answered, "Well, I am here to see Chantel." Then he took two steps back and walked towards Chantel's room.
The lights in Chantel's room were switched off. After a long, tiresome day, she could barely keep her eyes open, let alone notice the person standing in her room right now.
Gifford decided not to turn on the lights because he didn't want to disturb her. He sat on the edge of the bed in the dark and stared at the sleeping woman under the moonlight.
The woman lay on her left side, dressed in a loose light blue silk nightgown. Her breathing was steady and her long hair was pressed under her head.
As he sat there, quietly staring at Chantel, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
Gifford counted the months in his head and realized that it had been a long time since he had fallen into Erica and Chantel's trap.
The man hadn't had sex in several months and he wasn't feeling good.
As his long fingers brushed over the woman's face, his hands gradually went down.
'Huh? Has she gained weight? Her belly feels rounder than it was last time. It's so soft!
Well, I'm glad she has been eating well. Besides, she was quite skinny. I wouldn't mind if she gained a few pounds more.'
Just then, the gentle touch of his hands caused the woman to move.
Frightened, Gifford withdrew his hand immediately and froze as she slowly turned over with her back towards him.
Gifford didn't know that his wife liked to sleep on her side until now.
A moment later, he heard the sound of the door to the study closing. Gifford snapped himself back to reality, stood up from the bed and walked out silently as if he was never there.
Watching him come out in a set of clean clothes, Wesley knew that he wasn't going to stay. "I just called Matthew. They did have a fight, but now Rika has fallen asleep and is not angry anymore. Don't worry about her and mind your own business."
"Dad, you must have been fooled by Matthew. I was on the phone with Rika and she was crying like crazy," Gifford argued.
Wesley glared at him impatiently. "Your sister always cries for nothing. It's nothing new and you know it," he snapped.
"Dad, it's really different this time. I have to go there!"
"Why don't you spend more of your free time with your wife? Why do you have to care so much for someone else's problem? If something bad happened to Rika, do you think that Matthew would just sit by and do nothing? And if he were the one to break her heart, would Carlos and Debbie not interfere? Listen to what I'm saying! Stop worrying about Rika! And you want to shut down Matthew's company? Have you lost your mind?" Wesley strongly believed that Matthew would never do anything to hurt Erica. Besides, she wasn't complaining when he was on the phone with Matthew just now, which implied that there was nothing serious to be worried about.
Indeed, if it were a big deal, she would have already run away from Matthew by now. Erica wouldn't have waited for Gifford to come to her rescue if that were really the case.
'It seems as though Rika was right all along. Dad loves Matthew as if he were his own son. Rika, Yvette and I must have been picked up from the street or something!'
With this thought in mind, Gifford spoke in the same tone as Erica's. "Dad, did you really pick me up from the trash bin when I was a baby?"
"Yes!" Wesley said and walked towards the bedroom door.
"Good to know! Fine! I'll cut all ties with you," Gifford declared.
Wesley paused and turned around to face his son with a deadpan expression. "Really?"
Gifford had an illusion that as long as he dared to nod, Wesley would really sever their father-son relationship. "I know you don't want to do that, so forget it…"
"Don't flatter yourself.
How about this? Since you want to break off ties with the Li family, you can cut your flesh and bones and return them to your father and mother*!" (*TN: This is from the story of Nezha. In order to break off relations with his family, Nezha cut his flesh and bones and returned them to his parents.) Gifford felt a little embarrassed. 'Why is Dad being so cruel to me?'
"Dad, I'd better cut your flesh and bones and return them to Mom!" He ran as fast as he could once the words left his mouth.
Without another word, Wesley picked up his slipper from the floor and threw it at his fleeing son.
