"What are you talking about?" Erica asked.
Matthew looked at her coldly. It seemed like she hadn't taken him seriously.
Erica's hands trembled in anger. 'What is wrong with this man?'
If he continued to act this way without explaining the reason for his bad mood, she was really going to blow up.
"I'm not kidding! If you need my help again, come to me after we have become a real couple!" he declared.
Erica wanted to yell back, "Fine! I don't need any favors from you!"
But she couldn't yell at this man. Tessie's and Lenora's lives were in his hands. She said instead, "You don't have to be so mean. I just wanted to ask you something, Matthew."
The man retorted expressionlessly, "I am mean? All I want is to exercise my right as a husband!"
Erica was confused now. Hadn't she already promised to consummate their marriage on his birthday? Was he angry because he had to wait? It couldn't be. They had reached an agreement on that, and he seemed okay with it.
Seeing the frown on her face, Matthew turned around and walked to the bathroom.
Erica reached out her hand in an attempt to stop him, but when she remembered what he had just said, her hand froze midair and she withdrew it silently.
After taking a shower, Matthew went straight to the study, leaving Erica alone to toss and turn on the bed. She couldn't fall asleep because of everything that had happened.
No one knew if he had done it on purpose. As soon as Erica fell asleep, Matthew slowly pushed open the door to the bedroom and walked in.
The next morning, Erica got up early because she had extra-curricular activities that day. As she walked down the stairs with a muddled face, she saw Matthew having his breakfast.
Still mad, she snorted and walked towards the door.
He called, "Come back here!"
"What do you want?" she asked in a hostile tone.
'Isn't he still angry? He completely ignored me last night! Why is he talking to me now?' she thought gloomily.
"Have your breakfast."
"No need!" She was in no mood to eat with him.
"Give me one good reason!" he demanded.
'Do I need a reason for everything? Fine! I'll give him one!' she thought angrily. "It's not good to have breakfast on an empty stomach."
'What the hell? That's the most ridiculous excuse ever!' "Erica Li!" Matthew called, with a warning in his tone.
"What?" She turned around impatiently.
"If you take one more step towards that door, I'll have you sent to the deserted area with them tomorrow."
She gritted her teeth. "I knew it! You want to drive me away so that you and Phoebe can live together! You want me gone, don't you?"
'Phoebe? What does this have to do with her?' he wondered, confused when she wasn't making any sense.
Erica strode to the dining room and sat down opposite him, ignoring the man's frown. "Fine! You win! I'll eat!"
When he heard that Mrs. Huo would be having breakfast as well, the trembling cook immediately brought her share from the kitchen and placed it on the table in front of her.
After taking two bites from the sandwich, Erica looked at her gloomy husband, who was chewing his food slowly. She reminded him mischievously, "You should eat slower than that, or you might choke on it."
Matthew put down the spoon in his hand. A cold aura filled his eyes. "Are you trying to start a fight?"
"What if I am? What will you do?" she asked with a defiant look.
Expressionless, Matthew waved at her dismissively and said, "Never mind. You don't have to eat your breakfast. Leave already."
"Tough luck! I was about to leave when you stopped me. But now, I think this breakfast is too delicious to leave half-eaten. So, you leave!"
Matthew ground his teeth, agitated. But he remained silent.
Noticing the irritation in his eyes, Erica snorted, "I know I have a bad temper. If you can't bear with it..."
"It's nothing I can't handle," he said casually, trying to comfort her as he thought she was beginning to reflect on her behavior. However, the conversation didn't go as he had expected.
Erica continued, "You should reflect on your own personality.
Why can't you bear my temper while others can? It's obvious that you're the problem here!"
Matthew felt defeated. Indeed, he began to reflect. Not on his personality, but on what he had done just now. Why did he have to ask her to have breakfast? He could have had his breakfast alone. It would have been so peaceful.
After breakfast, Matthew decided to drive Erica to school personally.
She didn't want him to drive her, because she didn't want to be with him at that moment. But since she couldn't drive, she had to regretfully get into the passenger seat.
The car rolled out of the villa. As soon as she fastened the seat belt, she felt like she was sitting on something hard and small.
She groped around her seat and found it.
A lipstick!
She immediately questioned, "Matthew Huo! Why is there a lipstick in your car? On the passenger seat! Which woman left this here? Who is she? I won't stop asking till you tell me the truth!"
She had solid proof that he was cheating on her. There was no escape!
Matthew glanced at the lipstick in her hand and answered calmly, "I don't know."
"You have the guts to cheat on me, yet you don't have the balls to admit it? You have been driving this car around since yesterday. So, don't even think about blaming someone else. You cheated on me! Tell me! Was it Phoebe or some young model? Or was it someone from your office?" Erica made random guesses as she let her imagination run wild.
Frowning, Matthew asked, "What are you talking about? Don't be ridiculous."
"I will definitely investigate and find out whose lipstick this is. And when I find out who it was, I will smash it on your face and I, Erica Li, will dump your ass!"
She fell silent. If the lipstick was really Phoebe's or some other woman's, would she divorce him?
She felt her heart tighten. She didn't want to leave him, and her heart ached. What was going on?
Matthew's mood dropped to the lowest when he heard her last words. "Whatever," he said in a low voice.
Erica was upset as well. "Fine. But I advise you to admit it honestly, or else it's not just me who is going to be embarrassed when the truth comes out."
The man sneered, "Why should I admit to something that I haven't done?"
Erica was the only woman to ever sit in the passenger seat when he drove. This phantom woman was just her imagination.
"Deny it all you want!" Erica was infuriated by his stubbornness and swore to find out the owner of the lipstick.
When the car came to a halt at the university gate, the two of them were still in a bad mood. When she was about to get out of the car, Matthew said, "Wait!"
Erica thought that he wanted to kiss her as usual, so she retorted impatiently, "I'm very angry right now. There will be no kiss. Even if you kiss me first..." The rest of her words were caught in her throat as he grabbed the lipstick from her hand and took a picture of it.
He also twisted the tube and took a photo of what was inside. Then he put the lipstick into her pocket and retorted with the same words she was about to say to him. "Even if you kiss me first, I won't kiss you. Get out of the car!"
Erica's face reddened. 'He won't kiss me even if I...' She felt insulted. It was so embarrassing.
Erica couldn't stand it. She bit her lower lip and decided to get back at him. She leaned towards his seat, held Matthew's head between her hands and kissed his thin lips.
Her eyes were tightly shut. Matthew smiled involuntarily. Without any hesitation, he held her head and kissed her back passionately.
Erica was taken aback. Didn't he just declare that he wouldn't kiss her back?
She got out of the car with her bag and camera on her back, and was still in a daze from the kiss even after he drove away.