"What?! You don't want to marry Matthew? You want to flee your wedding? I gotta watch how much I drink on planes from now on." Rhea looked at her best friend in shock.
"I'm not kidding. Or what else would I need your ID card for?" Erica retorted.
Rhea put her hand on Erica's forehead. "Do you have a fever? What the hell are you thinking? Running away from your wedding! Well, I knew you had guts. But you are going to marry Matthew! He is the Prince Charming of millions of women. Tens of millions, maybe. And you don't wanna marry him! What's wrong with you, Erica?"
She thought Erica must be crazy. Matthew was hot as all get-out and didn't care if Erica had a baby with another guy. He was willing to marry her, but she wanted to run away!
"I'm only 21. More importantly, I don't love him. Why should I marry him?" Erica asked loudly.
"Believe me, Rika. He's handsome, he's rich. How could you not fall in love with him?" Rhea grabbed her hands and looked at her sincerely.
She believed no woman was immune to Matthew's charms and Erica would fall in love with him sooner or later.
Erica freed her hands from Rhea's and looked at her. An idea formed in her mind. "I'm a genius!"
"What?"
"Can you disguise yourself as me and marry Matthew instead? I'll be long gone before they find out." Erica thought she was quite clever, coming up with an idea like that. She couldn't help flashing a wicked grin.
"Huh? You must be crazy, girl!" Rhea recoiled in horror. "I'm here to be your bridesmaid, not the bride! I hope my boyfriend doesn't hear you. He might get upset."
Rhea had a boyfriend who was a soldier. Gifford introduced them. In fact, it was his idea.
Erica got frustrated and depressed. There seemed to be no way out of this.
It was getting dark, and true to his word, Matthew left work, so he rushed to the Li family manor. He got on his private plane and sent for Erica and Rhea. They were ready to set off for Y City.
On the plane
Erica huddled up in the corner of a sofa. It was Rhea's first time to sit on a private plane. It was actually quite luxurious. She looked around in excitement, but the most important thing was that there was a very handsome man sitting opposite her!
The future groom was on his laptop, finishing up some last-minute details he didn't have time to attend to before leaving work. The future bride was playing games on her phone. They didn't say a word to each other. They didn't look like they were about to be married.
Rhea looked around the cabin of the private plane for a while. Matthew was so busy, she didn't dare to bug him. She booted up a mobile game as well.
She walked over to Erica, and the two women squeezed together and chatted about mobile games. Then the topic gradually shifted to Matthew.
They couldn't ignore the fascinating man opposite them.
Rhea lowered her voice. "Miss Troublemaker, was your husband the emperor of some dynasty in his previous life? If not, why do I feel like he's the master of the world?"
"I guess he could be the emperor of the Women's Kingdom in Journey to the West." She was talking about the collection of fairy tales. 'Not only he was the emperor of the Women's Kingdom in his last life, but also charmed women and stole their beauty.
That's why he's so hot, then, ' Erica thought with a chuckle.
Rhea rolled her eyes at her. "You'll be Mrs. Huo after you get married. You should work hard to be his red rose. That way he won't cheat on you. Okay?"
"His red rose?" The image of a sexy and enchanting woman sprang into Erica's thoughts. She shook her head. She could never be like that.
"Yeah! Younger guys all want the pure, elegant girls. They're white roses. Men will pay any price just to get close to them. But when they actually get together with these women, they find that wanting is more fun than having. They start looking around for other women. And inevitably, some enchanting hotties will catch their eyes. These are the red roses. These women are feminine and extremely sexy."
After thinking for a while, Erica grumbled, "I don't want to be his red rose. Red is also the color of blood. Blood like from a mosquito squashed against the wall."
"What?" asked Rhea in confusion.
"Yeah, what a choice. I'm a squashed mosquito, while the white rose is like the moonlight in the sky. I am no mosquito. I'd rather be the white rose, thank you very much."
Rhea rolled her eyes. This was the first time that she had heard anything like that about red roses. "Then try your best to be the one his heart yearns for. The woman of his dreams. Make him fall in love with you."
"But you don't get it. I don't love him. I don't want to marry him. Why should I worry about making him fall in love with me? He can love whoever he wants. That's none of my business," Erica spat.
Rhea was astonished. "Hey, sis. You are going to get married tomorrow and become a real couple. He's going to be your husband. You don't want him to have a fling, do you?"
"Not really. But then again, I don't care. He can do what he wants. But only if we have nothing to do with each other," Erica said. If he dated another woman when they were still a couple, it would be an insult.
"Idiot! By that time, it wouldn't be considered an affair!"
By this time, Matthew closed his laptop, put it into his laptop bag, and finally looked at Rhea. "Miss Yue, I have something to talk about with my fiancee."
Rhea was taken aback, but soon she got his point. Standing up from her seat, she pointed to the rest room and said, "If you don't mind, I'll catch some zzzs."
"Go ahead!"
There were only the two of them in the cabin. When their eyes met, Erica's heart beat faster. "What's wrong? Did we disturb you?"
Did he overhear what they were talking about? No way! They were whispering the whole time.
The man didn't answer her immediately. He folded his legs elegantly and seemed to be thinking about something. After a while, he said, "I just want you to know that I consider us a couple. No matter that my dad is making us get married. I won't cheat on you or do anything to hurt you."
Erica's jaw dropped. He did hear what she and Rhea had said. It must be because Rhea was always too loud.
She smiled awkwardly. "We were kidding, you know."
"I'm not kidding,"
he said in a serious tone. She knew that; he didn't look like a man who would make jokes like that.
"And don't even think about leaving me high and dry on our wedding day. All the guests are in the city already. I'm just giving you fair warning. Don't make me a laughingstock, or I swear I'll get back at you."
'What? Didn't you say you want a talk with me? How come a conversation became a threat?
Fine! I need to say something!' she thought to herself. "I know you're not happy with our marriage—" she began.
He interrupted her. "No, I'm pretty happy with it."
'What?!' If Erica hadn't heard it from Matthew that he was okay with everything, she would beat the person who spread a rumor like that to a pulp.
Reigning in her shock, Erica said to him patiently, "Why? I mean...with your face and family background, you can marry whoever you want. Why listen to your parents and let them talk you into marrying me? I have a kid, and it's not yours. You're five years older than me. You're a CEO, and I left school. And I'm okay with who I am. We're two different people, you and I. We have nothing in common. I don't think we'd have a happy marriage."