"Move, how?" Matthew asked.
"Move the recliner closer to me!" Erica said, gesturing expressively. Suddenly, she shrieked and leapt in the air as if a firecracker had gone off. "Ahhhhhhh, it's the Kuman Thong!"
Matthew stared at her with wide-eyed wonder and said, "If you're so afraid of these things, why do you even want to watch horror movies?" 'Women are such strange creatures, ' he thought.
"I'm not afraid. I've watched many horror movies before," she argued. Erica was only frightened because the surround sound system in Matthew's home theater was so rich and resonant that she was fooled into a sense of realism.
"Do you know the legend of Kuman Thong?" he asked in a graceful manner, sitting with his legs crossed.
"Of course I do. Do you know the legend of Kuman Thong? I can explain it to you if you want?" she smirked.
"Don't bother. I know enough. Just carry on with the movie as if I wasn't here," he suggested.
'As if he wasn't here?' she mused, feeling ridiculed. How could she possibly manage that? First of all, the powerful aura he gave off was impossible to ignore. Secondly, she wouldn't be watching this movie in this room in the first place if someone wasn't sitting next to her.
Since Matthew had refused to move closer to her, she stood up on the recliner and stretched out her arms to the man. "I want to sit closer. Carry me over to you!"
Matthew heaved a deep sigh, feeling defeated. With his dark eyes staring at the girl and with the help of the light from the screen, Matthew could notice the grievance on her face.
Still, he said in a cold and stiff tone, "Stay where you are!"
Erica couldn't believe her ears. 'People always say that bossy men like Matthew could be persuaded by reason but not be cowed by force. But he just turned me down without a reason.
Was it because I suck at playing cute or that trick just doesn't work on him?'
His response stung Erica's heart for a while, but she wasn't going to give up. "If you don't carry me over to your side, I'm going to call your dad," she threatened.
"That trick again?"
"I'll tell him that you would rather embrace another woman than your wife..." And then she watched with amusement as Matthew, who looked solemn, got up from his seat and walked towards her.
With hints of reluctance, he scooped her into his warm arms and said, "Don't do this again."
"Okay!" she promised readily.
When they sat down, she found a comfortable position in his arms.
HMM... Erica found a sense of security and ease in his strong arms.
The sound of a baby's cry in the movie caught Erica's full attention and she was no longer feeling afraid.
The movie is about illegal abortions, where the police find more than two thousand dead baby corpses in a temple.
Erica raised her head to look at the man behind her and said, "Matthew."
"Yes?"
Leaning her head against his chest and staring at the screen, she sighed heavily. "If you and your goddess ever have a baby, bring him home to me. I'll be happy to raise it. Don't kill it!"
Erica found the people in the movie to be cruel and heartless!
Matthew sneered, "You are so generous!"
"Of course! You agreed to be the stepfather of my child, didn't you? I'm just returning the favor."
Matthew felt as though his head was going to explode. He retorted, "You do realize that these are two different cases altogether, right?"
Erica paused to think for a moment, then said, "You're right!"
Matthew added, "Don't you think it's a bit inappropriate for you to tell me to have a baby with another woman while sitting in my arms?" He was genuinely curious to know why she was doing all this. No matter how hard he tried to figure her out, the woman always found a way to surprise him.
"I don't think it's appropriate either. Well, after watching this movie, we should definitely keep a distance from each other!" Hearing what he said, she realized she was indeed being a bit flirtatious.
"How do you plan to do that?"
"Well, I'll live on campus. We can live our own lives as if we weren't married at all." She leapt with excitement and even clapped her hands as if she could already picture her happy single life again.
He snorted, "No problem with me."
"That's great!"
"But I'll have to report this to your father!" he said.
"Wait! Let's forget what I said. Let's just continue to watch the movie!" 'Never mind. Anyway, Matthew is still the one to blame. Why won't he just tell me who his lover is? I guess he isn't that into her. Why else would he have married me?' she wondered.
In Matthew's company, Erica watched another horror movie she wouldn't have watched if she were alone.
Around midnight, Matthew ran his fingers through Erica's long hair, while she remained nestled in his arms. "It's time for bed. Don't stay up late!" he said.
Motionless, she retorted playfully, "Haven't you heard that people who stay up late live longer than people who don't? From now on, you must refer to me as the night elf!"
Matthew was at a complete loss for words.
At 1 a.m., Erica felt sleepy and she yawned, curling up in a fetal position. "Matthew," she said softly. She realized that his name was starting to sound more and more pleasant to hear.
"What? Are you feeling sleepy?" he asked.
"Do you want to hear something interesting?"
"Just spit it out."
"It goes, 'In the next life, I will be a very rich CEO and I'll marry a little cutie to squander my money.'"
He raised an eyebrow curiously and said, "And?"
"Well, it reminds me of you. But you don't have to be born rich in the next life, you are already really a rich CEO. You only needed a little cutie to squander your money before you married me. Now that you have me, can I waste away your money?"
Matthew was astonished to see how narcissistic and imaginative she was. After a second, he asked, "Don't you already have enough money for you to waste?" As far as he knew, she was now a rich woman herself.
"Of course I have enough money. But I'm a penny pincher and I don't want to spend my money. I want to spend yours." The girl murmured after a short pause, "On second thought, I was wrong to ask you that. Why would you let someone you don't love waste your money? Oh well! Perhaps the woman you hold dear to your heart is also a little cutie."
"Yes, she is!" he said.
'What?' Erica felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart and she found it difficult to breathe when he said that. "Well, I should go to bed now. You can finish the rest of the movie by yourself!"
And just like that, without another word, she fell asleep.
Erica didn't know when or how she got to bed, but that was where she found herself when she fluttered her eyes open.
She looked around the spacious room, puzzled and somewhat dazed. After a while, she took out her phone and texted Matthew on WeChat. "Why am I in bed?"
"You're asking me?" he replied.
Erica squeezed the toothpaste tube from the top and brushed her teeth, while she tapped on the phone screen with one finger. "Who else should I be asking?"
Two minutes later, he replied, "You must have climbed into bed yourself. How else?"
Erica tried to recall the events from the night before. Why couldn't she remember how she got from the recliner to her bed?
After a rather short breakfast, Erica hurried outside as Hyatt was waiting for her at the school gate. He stood there with a camera hanging around his neck, equipped with a lens he would specifically use for photographing people.
Erica was just as prepared as Hyatt. She asked the chauffeur to drop her off at the school gate so she could walk inside with Hyatt with her camera.
"Erica, are you going to the live-action photographing event today?" Hyatt asked.
"Yes, of course!" It sounded like a fantastic event to learn and have fun in with fellow photography enthusiasts. There was no way Erica would pass on such an opportunity!
"But I heard that Aaron would be visiting ZL Group today. I think his schedule in Y City will conflict with our photography event. What should we do?"
It was a little known fact that Erica had many idols, but Aaron, in comparison to the others, was like a demigod to her. Everyone knew that about Erica.
"What? He is going to ZL Group?" 'Wait a minute! Isn't that my husband's company?' Erica cooked up a plan in her head and made a decision.