As the microphone was lifted to Matthew's lips, Erica, with her heart in her mouth, gripped his hand tightly and looked him straight in the eye. She wouldn't be able to survive the public humiliation if he said that he didn't want to marry her now.
Casting a glance at her hand that was holding his, Matthew uttered three words slowly under the watchful eyes of everyone present. "Yes, I do."
The hall erupted with thunderous applause, and Erica exhaled a deep sigh of relief.
"It seems that our groom loves our bride very much," the emcee said to the crowd, cheekily raising an eyebrow.
Erica couldn't tell what was going on in Matthew's mind, but she was feeling quite awkward herself.
'Love? He doesn't love me at all! We are pretty much like strangers, ' she mocked inwardly. If it weren't for the fact that this was their wedding ceremony, they wouldn't even be holding hands right now.
"Miss Erica Li, do you take Mr. Matthew Huo to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better or for worse; for richer or for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, until death do you part?"
The microphone stopped at Erica's lips, but there was no response for a long time.
Matthew squinted his sharp eyes at Erica, who was trying to hide the smirk from her lips.
Having realized that she was just keeping silent on purpose, he pinched her hand softly, as if to warn her not to do something foolish and embarrassing.
"Miss Erica Li, do you take Mr. Matthew Huo to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the emcee asked again.
"Yes, I do," she answered with a smile.
Everyone, especially her father, was finally relieved by her answer.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife." As the emcee faced Matthew, he continued, "You may now kiss the bride!"
Amidst warm applause, Matthew lowered his head and approached Erica slowly.
The closer he got to Erica, the more nervous she felt. Her lips trembled as she whispered to him, "Really? Are you really going to kiss me?"
Matthew raised his eyebrows. "Why? What's the matter?"
Before she could say anything, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her close to his body and pressed his lips on hers.
Erica rolled her eyes with dissatisfaction. 'Oh my God! Is this really my first kiss? This is not romantic at all.'
A moment later, she whispered, "We both know that this marriage isn't based on love. You don't have to make it look like it is. A fake kiss will suffice." Unfortunately, that was how Erica would have to remember her first kiss for the rest of her life.
However, the fact that she was getting a handsome husband like Matthew out of this marriage was her only consolation prize.
"Yes, I don't love you. But who says a man can only kiss the woman he loves?"
'Huh? What a jerk!' she cursed him in her mind.
Sitting with the others, Sheffield asked the woman sitting next to him, "Honey, do you think Matthew will fall in love with Miss Troublemaker someday?"
"Well..." Glancing at the new couple, Evelyn noticed that Erica's frustration, but Matthew was still expressionless, as if he was completely oblivious as to what was going on. "It will be a bit difficult for Matthew to fall in love with Rika," she answered.
Even they could tell that the newlyweds on the platform had no feelings of love and affection for each other. They wondered if perhaps Matthew and Erica would come to love each other in time.
"Why don't we make a bet? I'll bet that Matthew will fall in love with Rika," Sheffield said firmly.
"I just said it was going to be difficult. I didn't say that it was impossible," answered Evelyn, rolling her eyes at him.
"You think he's going to fall for her, don't you? I think so too. Wise minds, think alike. I always know we have a special connection, my love. Now let me announce the beginning of the TV series—Matthew Huo's Sweet Wife."
Evelyn was rendered speechless. In the afternoon, Matthew and Erica went back to the Huo family's manor where the reception was going to be held. He held a banquet to entertain a bunch of his friends.
Sheffield, Gifford and Joshua were there too.
In the middle of their conversation, Gifford switched seats with Sheffield so that he could sit next to Matthew. He patted Matthew's shoulder and said, "Finally, I have the chance to talk with you!"
Lately, as both of them had been very busy, neither man had had the chance to sit and talk to the other, until now. All thanks to Gifford making the effort to have a nice little chat with his brother-in-law.
Ever since Erica ran away from home, he felt as though he was living in a long dream.
If it weren't for the fact that Feb was there and Erica and Matthew had a wedding, Gifford would think that the whole thing was not real.
Matthew poured some wine for the both of them and they clinked glasses, drinking to their everlasting bond.
"I never thought that Rika would end up marrying you. If I didn't know that this was Uncle Carlos' order, I would have objected to this wedding. After all, you're like a brother to me and marrying my sister isn't exactly what I'd expect from my brother!" Gifford teased Matthew.
Playing with his glass, Matthew smiled and said, "It's time for you to get married too. You are not young anymore."
"You are right. Rika's ten years younger than me and even she got hitched. I should probably get married soon, but I just don't have the time to get to know other girls!" In truth, it wasn't as though Gifford didn't want to get married. He was just helpless.
Blair had given him a notice stating that he would have to go on blind dates if he didn't get married as soon as possible.
He was already a major general. If he went on blind dates, all his soldiers would laugh at him.
"How about I introduce you some girls?" Matthew suggested.
Gifford wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but he refused in the end. "No. Not yet. I'm too busy to go on dates right now." He usually worked long hours during the day and would often go home late. If he had a wife, he would have no energy to deal with her.
Matthew remained silent.
"I just want to talk to you about Rika. My mother wanted to give birth to a daughter to make my father happy. When she first gave birth to Yvette, my father was over the moon with joy. But to everyone's surprise, my mother then gave birth to a second daughter—Rika.
I'll tell you this, ever since Rika was born, my father has developed a perpetual headache. In fact, she has been a real headache to everyone since the day she was born. Let me tell you a story. When she left my mom's womb, a meteorite fell in A Country. It was late at night, but the area near the hospital was lit up like daytime because of the meteorite. At that time, I wondered if Rika was actually a fairy..."
Suddenly, Sheffield and Joshua, who were busy chatting, stopped to turn their heads around. With keen interest, they listened to Erica's story, as though they were more interested in the story than Matthew was. Gifford continued, "But soon, that night, she proved to me that I was totally wrong. Although she didn't cry a lot like the other babies, she would cause trouble in other aspects. For example, when my dad first held her in his arms, her diaper fell off for some reason. Before he could find a new one, she pooped all over Dad."
"Hahaha." Even the other people around them started laughing.
Gifford must have been a slave for his sister, as he kept talking about Erica. "The next day, when my grandma changed her diaper, she would only poop a little bit on the clean diaper. It was almost as if she were doing it on purpose. My grandma wanted to change her diaper after she was done, but she stopped pooping. Once my grandma changed her into a new diaper, it would get dirty at once.
On the third day, she vomited all over Dad when he picked her up. On the fourth day, when she finally opened her eyes, she rolled her eyes at my dad. Hahaha..." Gifford shook violently as he burst into laughter, reminiscing how angry Wesley was when baby Erica rolled her eyes at him.