The moment Matthew appeared, his menacing aura made the man's arrogance deflate. With a better attitude, the man asked, "Who are you? Why do you care? She can't even drive. Why are you continuing to argue—"
The man immediately shut his mouth and looked away when he met Matthew's cold stare.
Matthew walked over to Erica and held her in his arms. Then he shot an icy glare at the middle-aged man and said flatly, "This is my wife. And you are the one that bumped into her. Don't you have brakes? My wife was driving at 20mph, and you still bumped into her car. Whose fault is that? Stand there and wait for my assistant. He'll be here soon."
After saying that, Matthew ignored him. Instead, he turned to look at the younger man beside him and said, "So, based on what you told my wife, I think I should pay for your car." Matthew pulled out his checkbook and scrawled something on a check. Then he tore it out and handed it to the young man. "Three million should cover it. You can leave, if you want."
The young man looked at the check in shock. He reached for it timidly and checked the amount. One zero, two zeros, three zeros... It was indeed three million!
His car was worth 2.4 million dollars. He could make six hundred grand out of this. That would be totally awesome!
He kissed the check out of glee. "Okay! Thank you!" The boy took the check and left without hesitation.
When he saw this, the owner of the Volkswagen had misgivings about how he acted. If he'd just taken the money and left, he'd be fine. Now he wished he had been nicer. Things would have gone better for him.
Owen Jian, Matthew's personal assistant, arrived very soon, faster than the officials with the insurance company. He also brought a lawyer with him.
He trotted over to Matthew and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Huo, the car's ready. You can go home if you want. I've got this."
Matthew reminded him, "I solved the problem with the Mercedes owner. This man owns the VW. Be careful."
When he heard that, Owen Jian was confused for a second, and then he got his boss' point. "Okay, Mr. Huo. Don't worry." Clearly, the middle-aged man had offended Mr. Huo.
Casting a cold glance at the middle-aged man, Matthew left, holding Erica in his arms.
They walked over to a shiny black car. It was a Bentley Flying Spur, a high-end luxury car. The driver held the doors for them as the pair climbed in. Erica was amazed at the amount of leg room. Matthew seated Erica behind the driver, and the young man himself sat behind the front passenger seat. That seat was better as Matthew was tall, and the passenger seat could move forward if necessary. The driver was the manager of the Orchid Private Club. Owen Jian called in a favor, and the manager delivered. After greeting them, the manager drove them back to the villa.
At home, Erica dragged her feet, wondering if she should follow Matthew. She watched him go upstairs.
Pursing her lips, she decided not to follow him. After changing her shoes, she sat in the living room and turned on the TV.
She found a horror movie, 'Vampire Cleanup Department, ' and began watching it half-heartedly.
A few minutes later, Matthew came downstairs. He had changed into his pajamas and asked Erica, "You hungry?"
Hearing that, she pursed her lips again. 'Did it just now occur to him to ask me whether I had dinner or not?' She answered angrily, "I lost my appetite."
Casting a glance at her, he asked, "So, Western or Chinese?" "Neither!"
"Okay...noodles or sauteed dishes?"
"I said I wasn't hungry!" His words still stung!
Matthew had been making his way to the kitchen. Hearing her, he returned and switched off the TV with the remote control. "Eat first. I'll DVR it so you can watch it later."
Erica snatched the remote control from his hand, and angrily turned on the TV again. "I don't want to eat! I don't want to watch the movie later, either. I'm comfy right here!"
At this moment, Matthew really didn't know what to do with her. Pinching his eyebrows, he asked in an exasperated voice, "What do you want?"
"I don't want anything! Hyatt and I were going to eat hot pot. We didn't even have time to order from the restaurant because your assistant called and asked me to pick you up! You forced me to drive, and you didn't even give me a chance to explain. Why did you blame me for the accident?" Erica blurted out everything she had a problem with.
"I wasn't blaming you," he answered curtly.
"You did, though! You didn't talk to me on the way back, and gave me the silent treatment before going upstairs! You've made it pretty obvious, so don't try to deny it." Erica didn't have the mood to watch TV anymore. She threw the remote control onto the table, put on her slippers and was ready to go upstairs.
When she passed by Matthew, he grabbed her wrist.
She glared at him and asked, "What do you want?"
"Where are you going?"
"Upstairs. It's been a long day," she answered sullenly.
Then he let go of her and followed her upstairs.
Inside the bedroom, Erica realized how tired she was. She didn't even change her clothes or take a shower. She plopped down on the bed and played with her mobile phone.
Matthew went to the closet, and when he came out, he had already gotten dressed.
He wore a long black windbreaker, a white shirt and a tie, and a pair of casual shoes. The very image of a rich, successful man.
He stood by the bed and kicked Erica's foot. She was lying on the bed with her back to him. "Get up."
"Why?" She didn't even look at him.
"Don't you want to eat hot pot?" he said in an annoyed tone.
'Hot Pot?' Erica's eyes lit up, but her excitement was gone at the thought of what happened earlier. "Leave me alone. I'm not going."
"Why not?" Frowning, he wondered why women were so capricious.
"There's a saying..." she said, her face half-pressed into the bed.
"Okay, what's that?"
"Hot pot can only be eaten with those closest to you. And right now, we're not that close! In fact, it might even piss me off to see you eat from my pot."
Trying his best to suppress his derision, Matthew asked, "Why do you keep beating a dead horse?"
"Because I can. Because I'm still angry. Because you won't even admit what you did!" Because she was very angry now!
"So..." Matthew took two steps forward and asked, "Hyatt is close to you, but not your husband?"
He didn't forget what she had just said. She was going to eat hot pot with Hyatt.
"Of course. I've known Hyatt for seven years. We always have fun together. You and I, on the other hand, haven't gotten on that well. We only started getting along the day we got married." They had only been married a few days.
'So? We haven't been together that long.' The phone call she had taken on their wedding night came back to his mind. "So you wanted to marry him? But you had another guy's baby, and decided to marry me."
"Yes!" She didn't deny it. That was exactly how it looked.
Suddenly, Matthew grabbed her by the ankle. She turned around and found that he had already changed his clothes. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he was cradling her ankle and examining it carefully. His face betrayed no expression, but he just said in a cold tone, "Do you like Hyatt that much?"
"I like him a lot. If I hadn't married you, I would have married him!" she said deliberately, just to piss him off.
Matthew loosened his grip on her ankle and said slowly, "Do you know that not everyone can be your soul mate and grow old with you? Some people help you grow up, while some live with you their whole lives, while some are there one day, and gone the next—they become part of your memories."
"So what?" What was he trying to say?
"So..." Looking at her, Matthew said, "Ethan's father is the one to help you grow up, and Hyatt is here today, gone tomorrow, and I..."