Jarvis was a bit hesitant. After all, he didn't want to go against his boss's order. "Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo told me before that you won't be boarding at school. Would you mind giving him a call to discuss this matter with him?" he asked.
"All right!" Erica asked Jarvis to stay just for formalities as she left the principal's office to make a phone call to Matthew.
This was actually the first time that Erica had ever called him. She had been contacting him by sending messages before. However, the matter was quite urgent this time. What if, for some reason, he couldn't read the message in time?
After just a few rings, the call was picked up. "Hello." She heard Matthew's voice coming from the other end of the line.
The man's low and captivating voice made Erica's heart skip a beat. After clearing her throat, she said, "Well, I'm at school right now and I was thinking of boarding, but Jarvis told me you wouldn't allow it."
"You're planning to board at school?" he asked.
"Yes!"
"Come to my office once you are done with the formalities."
"What? Why?" Erica flatly asked in confusion.
In a rather calm tone, he replied, "I need to discuss this matter with you in person."
'Huh? Would that really be necessary? I don't think it is, ' she thought to herself. "I don't want to bother you while you're at work. I just want to board at school," she insisted.
"Let's just talk about it when you get here." With that, Matthew hung up the phone, leaving her no chance to refuse.
Erica helplessly rolled her eyes. 'He is so bossy! Why does he have to be so unreasonable?!'
After going through all the procedures, Erica asked Jarvis to take her to Matthew's company. At that moment, she was very eager to fight for her freedom.
At the ZL Group
Someone had just informed the employees at the reception desk that the CEO's wife was on the way and should be received and escorted to the CEO's office.
When Erica arrived at the ZL Group, two employees gave her a warm welcome and accompanied her to the CEO's office.
However, when Erica entered the CEO's office, Matthew was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw Britney Ouyang, his assistant, who served her a cup of tea with a smile. Since Matthew wasn't there yet, she gladly accepted it and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Mrs. Huo. Mr. Huo should be here any minute now. Please take a seat as you wait for him."
"Okay, thank you!"
"You're welcome, Mrs. Huo. Then, I'll be heading out first." Upon saying that, she left the room with a gentle smile on her face.
As soon as the assistant was gone, Erica breathed a sigh of relief. Being the wife of the CEO wasn't so bad. When she went from the company's gate to the CEO's office, all of the employees were very nice to her.
As she was taking a sip of tea, she saw Matthew enter the office.
Erica quickly straightened herself up and greeted him, "I'm here, Matthew!"
"Hmm." Casting a glance at her, he simply walked straight to his desk without saying anything else.
'Hmm? Is that it? He was the one who asked me to come here!'
Seeing this, Erica knew she had to take the initiative. So, she stood up and walked over to the desk. "Matthew, I want to board at school." She told him in person what she wanted one more time.
"That's out of the question!" he briefly replied.
'What? Didn't he say that we should discuss it face to face? Yet now that I'm here, he's saying it's impossible. Is he messing with me?' Trying her best to hold back her anger, Erica said, "I think you should respect my opinion. What do you say?"
"That's right. I am going to respect your opinion on everything else except this one!" Matthew answered firmly.
His indifference left Erica feeling so irritated. Because of this, she raised her voice and almost slammed her hand against the desk. "And why is that?"
"What if anything happens to you while you're at school? How am I supposed to face your mom and dad?" he asked in response.
"Nothing's going to happen. I will be a good girl and I won't go anywhere! I will just stay at school at all times!" she protested.
Hearing this, Matthew didn't try to force her any more. Instead, he handed his phone over to her and said, "I have an idea. Why don't you give your dad a call and tell him about your plan. If he gives you the go signal, then I won't have any problem with it."
But she didn't want to call her father. She already knew how Wesley was going to react—her old man would simply ask her to listen to Matthew.
That being said, she still hadn't given up yet and continued to fight for her freedom. "I'm already an adult. You have no right to make decisions for me!"
"Yes, you are indeed a grown-up. But more than that, you are my wife. Don't you think you should consider how I feel as well? If word gets out that my wife is boarding at school, I will be the laughingstock of the business world!"
'It turns out the he just doesn't want to lose face.'
When she heard this, Erica pouted her lips in anger. "Well, forget it then! I'm leaving now!" she exclaimed.
After that, she quickly turned around and walked out of the office.
Matthew didn't try to argue and simply let her leave the company building.
Erica went back to the villa. The more she tried to think about it, the angrier she became. Why should she listen to him? 'We are a couple in name only! Why does he have to keep poking his nose into everything?' she complained to herself.
With those thoughts running through her head, she took out her phone and sent Matthew a message. "Is it really non-negotiable?"
Half an hour later, Matthew finally replied to her message, saying, "No."
"Okay. How about this? Let's get a divorce in secret and not tell our parents about it. If you need my help, I'll be glad to cover for you." This way, she would finally be able to board at school.
"All right, but I'll ask Dad first!"
"Which one?"
"Your dad," Matthew quickly replied.
Erica's heart started pounding loudly out of fear. If he dared to tell Wesley that she wanted to get a divorce, her old man would without a doubt come all the way from A Country just to teach her a lesson.
Afraid that Matthew might act faster than she did, she decided to call him right away, and she said, "I've changed my mind. I won't be boarding at school. But I would have to take a nap after lunch. It will be such a pain to go back to our villa just to take a nap and then go to school after that. I'm going to need a dorm so that I can take a nap after lunch. What do you say? Don't you think it's a reasonable request?"
Without a hint of hesitation, Matthew answered, "Okay. I'll ask someone to apply for a dorm room for you."
When she heard this, Erica was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you!" But deep in her heart, she cursed, 'Such a bully, you are! I hate you!'
After hanging up, Erica thought for a while and came up with an idea. She took a screenshot of the chat history between her and Matthew and opened a chat box with Wesley on WeChat. Then, she quickly typed a message saying, "Dad, look! Matthew doesn't consider you as his father-in-law at all. He referred to you as 'your dad' instead of 'Dad.' See the screenshot!"
After that, she immediately sent him a message along with the screenshot of "your dad" written by Matthew.
A few minutes later, she received a reply from Wesley. "Send me the screenshots of the complete chat log."
'What? No way! If I do that, then my trick will be exposed.' Erica felt so frustrated. The scheme she came up with failed!
Feeling so disappointed, she closed the chat box without bothering to say goodbye to Wesley.
Before lunch, Evelyn gave her a call. "Rika, come over here and have lunch with us. Dad asked the chef to prepare Chinese food. Everyone else is going to be here, will you join us?"
Taking a look around the big empty house, Erica felt so lonely being there all by herself, so she agreed without thinking twice. "Okay!"
"Auntie, Auntie, this is Godwin!" All of a sudden, Godwin's voice came from the other end of the line, and he seemed to be so excited.
And after that was Godfrey's turn. "Auntie, this is Godfrey."
Hearing their excitement, Erica chuckled and greeted the boys back, "Hello, Gods!"
"Auntie, Grandpa has just bought us new toys. Come and play with us later, okay?" Erica was such a cheerful and bubbly girl, and for that reason, many children liked her. In fact, the two children dropped their toys right away and rushed to talk to her upon hearing her voice over the phone.
When Godwin reached out his hand to grab the phone, Evelyn had no choice but to hand it over.
"All right. You guys wait for me. I'll be there before you know it."
Standing on tiptoes, Godfrey yelled out in excitement, "Then you should come here as soon as possible, Auntie! You have to come!"
Debbie, who was eating fruit right next to them, looked at them and commented, "These boys like Rika so much because she herself is like a child."