"What are you talking about?" Erica asked. As her eyes quickly glanced at Matthew, who was busy cooking for her, she was charmed at how handsome and thoughtful he looked while cooking.
"Do you really not understand what I am trying to say?" Blair's annoyance was getting obvious at this point. Even as a mother, Blair was beginning to have doubts as to whether her daughter really belonged in the twenty-first century or not.
"Understand what? Mom, why are you being so weird? What are you trying to say?"
Putting down the kitchen knife in his hand, Matthew looked at Erica and said calmly, "Mom wants to know if we've had slept together yet."
"Oh! But I told her that we sleep..." Erica paused, finally realizing what her mom was trying to say and quickly explained, "No, we haven't. I mean we share the same bed every night. That's all. We didn't do anything else."
It was just as Blair had guessed. "Why have you not slept together yet?" she asked.
'Huh? Why?' Erica, ridden with guilt, looked at Matthew and said, "Here is the thing. Matthew is a gentleman and he said that he would respect my boundaries!"
Matthew put the bowl of freshly washed vegetables aside and drew closer to Erica without being noticed. Then he said, "Don't make me sound like such a good guy. I'm not as good as you think."
Erica was dumbstruck. "But that's exactly what you said!"
"Yes, I said it, but in that situation, I had no choice!" Matthew turned around and grabbed the bowl full of vegetables.
Blair had heard Matthew's words clearly and she closed her eyes, trying to suppress her anger. "Erica Li!"
Sensing her mother's displeasure, Erica's eyes widened. She glared at Matthew and said, "Mom, I heard you. You don't need to yell!"
"Are you trying to piss me off? Why haven't you consummated your marriage yet? Were you pretending to be shy the whole time? Matthew is your husband. I don't understand why you're behaving like this! Listen, I want you to get pregnant in two months!"
Blair spoke in a tone similar to Wesley's. Perhaps in the years they had spent together, some of their traits had rubbed off on each other.
"Two months?" Erica couldn't believe her ears.
"Yes!" Blair said firmly.
Erica stood still in a daze. "Mom, I'm still a student..." She wondered why her mother had come up with such a terrible idea all of a sudden. Most importantly, why was she rushing her to have Matthew's baby?
"That's not a problem. College students are allowed to have a baby. Believe me, your studies will not be delayed because of your pregnancy!" Besides, everyone knew that Erica never studied hard in school. Therefore, having a child would make very little difference to begin with.
Erica's response proved to Matthew again that Ethan was not Erica's child. If Ethan was indeed Erica's child, she would have used him as an excuse to defend herself.
"Mom, let's talk about this another day. I'm going to have dinner now!" Erica hung up the phone before Blair could say anything else.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Erica came to Matthew and stood across him. "Why do you think Mom is pushing us to have a baby?"
Matthew put the chopped vegetables into a plate and said, "Well, Mom is right!"
"Why? I'm not even 22! I'm just a child myself. How can I have a—" Erica swallowed the rest of her words when she met Matthew's eyes.
'Damn! Did I slip again? I told everybody Ethan is my biological son. What do I do now?' She quickly lied to cover her slip-up. "I mean I already have Ethan. I don't want to have another child right now. I think we should wait."
'That's brilliant! Why didn't I think to use Ethan as an excuse when I was talking to mom?'
Matthew glanced at her indifferently. "So you would rather have a baby with your ex than have a baby with me?"
Matthew was right about her not wanting to have a baby with him, but the first part of his remark was wrong because Erica and Tam were never lovers. However, in order not to expose her lie, she turned around and walked to the living room, pretending not to care. "Let's drop the topic. I'm not interested in it. If you want a baby, go give birth to a baby yourself. I want to wait. Besides, I'm not done having fun yet!"
Matthew didn't fixate on the topic either.
An awkward silence permeated the air between the two at dinner. Matthew had prepared four sauteed dishes and one soup. After a bountiful meal, Erica rubbed her stomach and wailed at the table, "I'm so full. I'm so full!"
The dishes cooked by Matthew were so delicious that she couldn't help herself from overeating.
Matthew cast a scornful glance at her and said, "Get up and clean the table!"
"Can't you just hire a maid?" Unfortunately, the three maids had left with the baby when Ethan was taken back to A Country.
Erica couldn't understand why Matthew wouldn't hire a maid to help out at home. Was he waiting for her to do it?
"I'm not used to having outsiders around me all the time," Matthew responded.
"But I didn't marry you to do the housework for you..." Erica sounded like she had been wronged somehow. In truth, she never thought she would ever have to do housework.
Glancing at her, Matthew asked, "Are you saying that I was wrong to ask you to contribute in housework?"
"Yes!"
"You think I should hire some maids then?"
"Yes!" 'Isn't it normal?' Erica thought. There must have been five or six maids in the Huo family's manor. Why did Matthew not keep a single maid here in the villa?
Suddenly, something occurred to Erica. She stared at the man with a look of surprise in her eyes and said, "Are you worried about having to pay their salaries?"
Matthew was rendered speechless. 'Does she really think so badly about me?' He stood up silently, rolled up his sleeves and began to clear the table himself.
Erica felt a little embarrassed when she saw him, so she stood up almost immediately and picked up the dishes. "Why don't I hire the maids, and I pay them?"
"No need!" The man refused straightaway.
Erica decided to shut her lips and watch him clean up the kitchen and dining room.
One day, after Erica had run up and down the stairs barefoot twice in the villa, she noticed that every corner of the villa was covered with soft carpet.
The cost of maintenance and upkeep alone would have been a hefty price. After all, imported carpets on all four floors was no simple matter.
Stepping over the white and soft carpet in the bedroom, Erica took out her camera and took a selfie. She also poured herself a glass of red wine.
When Matthew came back and found the girl, she was sitting on the carpet and looking through her work on the camera. Next to her was a glass of red wine she had just taken a sip out of.
When she noticed him, Erica greeted him casually. "You're back home early today."
"Hmm." The man loosened his tie and threw the bag in his hand to her.
Erica looked at him curiously and said, "What's this?" "Your punishment!"
"Punishment? What did I do wrong? I've been nothing but a good girl!" Erica rummaged through the bag and found some plastic straws.
'Where did the mighty Mr. Huo get these?' she wondered.
The man half squatted in front of her and looked at her. "Erica Xitala, now you have two choices. One, fold 999 stars, two..." He gestured at the bed with his eyes and continued, "...sleep with me."
'Xitala?' Erica's face was stuck in an incredulous expression. 'Did he figure out what Matthew Xitala meant?' "Sleep with you? I don't think so," she replied. Despite Blair's insistence, Erica had no intentions of fulfilling her mother's wishes just yet.
"Then make 999 stars with these straws," Matthew said.
The punishment seemed pointless to her as folding stars was a very easy task, but the only problem was that she didn't have the patience for it. "No problem! But what do you need so many stars for?"
Matthew looked at her in silence. After a long while, he said indifferently, "I want to give them to somebody as a gift!"
Erica pursed her lip disapprovingly. 'So he wants me to make something for his sweetheart, but he doesn't want to do the hard work. No wonder the woman he likes hasn't agreed to be with him yet!'