His promise made Wesley smile in relief. He patted Matthew on the shoulder again. He trusted Matthew, and didn't have to worry about Erica anymore.
Wesley opened the door to Erica's room and heard joyful laughter from inside. She had placed the baby on her bed and was making faces to amuse him.
When she saw Wesley and Matthew enter, she scooped the boy up and asked, "Hi, Dad. You two finish your talk?"
"Yes. You don't have to stick around if you don't want to. Matthew's pretty busy. You can go back to Y City tomorrow. You should resume your studies ASAP, too."
Erica unhappily pouted. "I do want to stay here, actually. I'm bored out of my gourd there. I won't bug Matthew. You guys both know that."
She had just come back today, but her father wanted her gone so soon. The young mother was quite homesick, and she missed the old house.
Wesley took Ethan from her arms and scolded her, "You don't have anything to do? I told you—you're going back to school. Matthew will make all the arrangements. Don't worry about anything else. You just need to study hard."
Erica fumed silently.
When only Matthew and Erica were left in the room, she sat on her bed next to the man. His sharp eyes were examining her room. "Thanks for helping me cheat Reese today," she said.
"Cheat? I did no such thing."
Erica was stunned for a moment, and then chuckled. "I get it. Scratch that—thank you for helping me with Reese!"
Matthew didn't respond this time. He took out his phone and called his assistant. "Take a pic of my ticket this morning and send it to me."
Erica blinked her eyes in confusion. 'Wait... This morning? Could it be...?'
Two minutes later, she was still pondering this. Matthew tapped a picture he had just received on his phone and showed it to her. It was a ticket for his flight.
The flight left at 9:30 in the morning, and his seat was in the first class section. It would only take one and a half hours to fly from Y City to her hometown, so he got here at around 11:00 in the morning. He wasn't lying to Reese at all.
Erica was confused. "Didn't you say you wouldn't be here till tomorrow?"
He loosened his tie and answered naturally, "Carlos thought I should leave today."
Carlos wouldn't agree to let him come tomorrow, so Matthew flew here today. "But I didn't see you when I got here."
"I went to the branch office and attended a noon luncheon." But he dropped gifts off for the elders of the Li family before heading back to work.
It made sense to Erica. No wonder no one had asked her about Matthew since she came back.
Another question popped into her head. "Since you decided to come today, why didn't you come with me?" When Gifford picked her up from the high-speed train station, he had also wondered why the two didn't come back together.
Casting her a glance, Matthew answered, "You weren't awake when I was headed for the airport."
'What? What kind of reason is that? He just didn't want to be seen with me. I need a reason, not an excuse! Humph!' she thought, unconvinced.
The room was quiet for a moment. Then, something serious occurred to Erica. She cleared her throat and said, "What do you think of the room? It's pretty feminine, huh? The sheets are pink, for heaven's sake. Tell you what: how about I ask someone to make the bed in the guest room?"
Matthew put his phone on the table and answered, "Never mind. I'll make do for tonight."
Then he began to remove his suit jacket and arranged it on the hanger. His every move was smooth, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Erica sat up straight, hoping to sleep alone in her own bedroom tonight. "I mean it. You don't have to put up with it. I'm also not really quiet. I always snore and grind my teeth. You really wouldn't like it."
Matthew loosened his tie. "I don't know about that. My eyes close as soon as I hit the pillow. I sleep pretty soundly." He meant that no matter how much noise she made, he wouldn't care.
Erica didn't know how many more excuses she could find.
She watched him enter the bathroom to wash himself.
Matthew was the first man to use the bathroom in her bedroom. It felt so weird to have someone else here.
Nonetheless, he was finished bathing in under half an hour. He was clad in the night robe that Blair had asked a servant to prepare for him.
Initially, Matthew came back to an empty room. But Erica was back soon enough. Both her parents and sister kicked her out and told her to go back to her own room.
She wouldn't tell Matthew anything about this. It was too embarrassing. Even Yvette, who always indulged her, refused to let Erica spend the night in her room.
The Li family was understandably protective of their relationship.
Erica lay on the bed listlessly and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore Matthew.
But she couldn't do it. After all, how could she pretend not to see such a handsome man walking around in front of her? In less than two minutes, her attention was drawn to the man.
The man had just taken a shower, and his short hair, which was usually immaculately kept, was somewhat disheveled at the moment. He was wrapped in a dark red night robe, and his strong chest was visible.
At this moment, Erica couldn't help but think, 'Rika, have you really looked at him? He's so hot. Why not just be his woman?' Matthew really met the standards of her Prince Charming. Even her idol, Aaron Gao, couldn't hold a candle to him.
She thought about it, and the more she did, the more she found that Matthew won. Compared to Aaron Gao, her husband was wealthier, hotter, more masculine. In a word, Matthew was a stunner.
But she was always this way. Erica liked handsome men the most, so of course she knew that there was a handsome man like Matthew in Y City. But she had the impression that he was mysterious, and cold. She figured she didn't really have a shot with a guy like that.
She even heard that he was cruel. And that was something she wouldn't abide. So she decided to keep her distance.
Last time when she went to America, her parents asked her to stay in Matthew's villa. She and Matthew were the only people in that villa. From the day she arrived in America to the time she left, they had only exchanged a few words, which was very embarrassing.
As she was reminiscing, suddenly her husband said something, and snapped her out of her reverie. "I see the way you look at me. It looks...inviting."
'What?' "Inviting? What are you talking about?" Erica confusedly looked at the man who was already standing at the bedside.
"Inviting me to sleep with you," he said curtly.
'Inviting him to sleep with me? How is that possible?' She snapped, "Oh, get over yourself!" She quickly pulled the thin quilt over her head and wrapped herself in it.
He turned off the lights and lay down beside her.
There was only one quilt on the bed. Matthew silently lay there for a while and tried to pull on the quilt.
Erica reacted fiercely. She thought Matthew was going to do something to her, so she immediately gripped the quilt tighter.
Matthew was speechless. He rested his head on one arm and ordered, "Go get another quilt for me."
"Why are you ordering me around? Go get it yourself."
"You don't have to go. Get up!"
Not until then did Erica realize that she was hogging the entire quilt.
She stuck her head out and asked warily, "Are you smelly? Have you used any strong perfume?"
Under the moonlight streaming in through the balcony window, she saw him roll his eyes at her.
Erica's mouth twitched in dissatisfaction. "I haven't shared my quilt with any man. You're the first, and I don't want it all stinky, okay? Feel honored yet?"
"Honored?"
"Yes, you are the first man to use my bathroom, too. No man has ever set foot in it. Not my dad, and not my brother!"