"No, I can cook. I am the one who usually cooks for the boys," said Tessie. She couldn't help smiling as she thought of how the four kids would gobble up her food every time she'd cook for them.
Although they were only three years old, they were so sensitive and understanding as if they were teenagers.
"That's good to hear!" Owen nodded his head with a smile that indicated his sense of relief.
Even he could understand that it wasn't easy for the two women to take care of four children.
As he mulled over their situation bitterly, Owen wondered if Matthew would be able to carry on with his original plan. Although Owen was just an outsider, he couldn't help sympathizing with the wife and children of his boss because the living conditions in this place were deplorable. And yet Matthew was planning on leaving his wife here so that he could teach her a lesson.
'I don't think Mr. Huo has the heart to go through with it, ' he thought to himself.
At night, Matthew wanted to wash his feet, so Erica got Adkins' plastic basin and filled it with warm water.
When Matthew said he wanted to brush his teeth and wash his face, Erica knocked at the door of a nearby shop in the middle of the night and bought him a set of toothbrush.
Matthew had a lot of demands, and Erica did everything for him without any hesitation, just as how he had willingly taken care of her a long time ago.
After Erica made sure that Matthew's needs were met with, she took Owen to the village head's house and woke him up so he could help arrange a place for Matthew's men to stay for the night.
By the time Erica came back, it was almost midnight and Matthew was sitting on the bed with his legs crossed.
Erica stretched her slightly cramped muscles, but she wasn't ready for sleep just yet. "Why don't you go ahead and sleep? I'll come to bed later."
She had an important thing to do today.
The man's confused eyes watched Erica as she quickly locked the door and took out her treasure box from the hole on the ground. She unlocked it and flipped it open, revealing a camera and a few developed photos.
There was a look of melancholy on her face after she turned the camera on and looked through all the photos she had taken that day.
Erica had failed to gather evidence on the crimes of Kirk and Pike because of the dog. It seemed as though she needed to work harder.
All the while, the man who had been sitting on the bed without uttering a word, finally got up and walked towards her to see what she was looking at with so much prudence.
Most of the photos were of sceneries and people.
Suddenly, he grabbed her hand and said, "Hold on a second!"
Erica looked up at the man in confusion and asked, "Why?"
Matthew took her camera and squinted his eyes at the tiny screen. Two of those photographs were the originals that had won the first and second prizes in the Twentieth International Photography Competition.
"So you are EM," he said firmly.
EM was the alias for an up and coming dark horse in the photography industry. Although the whereabouts of this person was shrouded in mystery, most people would find EM's photos real and easy to relate to. That was how EM quickly managed to gain traction in the photography industry.
Just in the past two years, EM had won countless awards in the photography industry.
When Matthew was still searching for Erica, he also had someone investigate EM, but the information he received from his contact was of a man who was born in C Country. There seemed to be nothing that could connect EM to Erica because they were from completely different backgrounds.
Erica looked at him in shock and asked, "How did you know?" When she looked down at the backs of the four boys on her camera, she realized how stupid her question was. "Ah, yeah. I'm EM." EM was an abbreviation for Erica and Matthew.
Erica decided to change her name after she left Cass. She named herself Erma, which was a combination of Erica and Matthew, and she used his surname as hers. She was quite satisfied with the name "Erma Huo."
Matthew was at a complete loss for words. He finally realized why neither the Huo family nor the Li family was able to find her, despite their ardent efforts.
They had been looking for Erica in the wrong places.
What they were looking for was a woman named Erica Li or Rika Li and she was with twins—two boys, two girls, or a boy and a girl.
However, as it turned out, Erica had changed her name to Erma Huo, moved into the slum, and was a mother to four sons.
Matthew rubbed his aching temples. Whoever said his woman was stupid obviously didn't know what she was capable of.
"Let's go to bed!"
"Ah, I have to—"
Without giving her a chance to speak, the man put the camera back inside the box and closed the lid.
Much to Erica's surprise, Matthew carried her to bed.
The pillows and even the quilt still had the same scent as Erica's. As he turned off the lights, Matthew kissed her even though she was still grumbling.
Erica was shocked to say the least. 'Didn't we just have sex? What does he want again?'
Matthew's actions made Erica wonder whether he had come all the way here just to sleep with her.
The scary part was that Erica's guess was actually right.
The next morning, Erica fluttered her eyes open and got out of bed. Just as she opened the door, she overheard Owen. "Mr. Huo, the car is waiting for you. You can leave now if you want." Matthew frowned as he glanced over at her vegetable garden in a pensive mood.
'The car is waiting?'
Despite the pain all over her body, Erica rushed out of the room in her pajamas and stood in front of the man before he could get into the car. "Are you leaving?" she asked in disbelief.
Glancing at the woman, Matthew didn't utter a word.
Owen understood that it was time for him to carry out his boss's plan. He stepped forward and said, "Yes, Mrs. Huo."
Before Erica could say anything, Matthew reminded Owen, "Owen, what did you just call her?"
'What did he mean?' Erica strongly believed that her IQ had improved a lot during these years, but whenever she faced Matthew, she felt as though she was still the same stupid woman.
Owen lowered his head and coughed, not knowing what to say next.
Instead of waiting for Owen to speak, Matthew explained, "What he is trying to tell you is that we are no longer married. It's not appropriate to address you as Mrs. Huo."
"What?" Erica exclaimed. Those words struck her like a bolt of lightning. She stared intently at the man, but he didn't seem perturbed in the least. "No, it's impossible..." she murmured.
As far as she knew, a couple needed to go through the divorce procedures together. So how did they get a divorce while she was away?
'Sorry, Mrs. Huo. It's your husband who forced me to say this, ' Owen sighed in his heart. "It's true. Mr. Huo has already divorced you," he said flatly.
Erica's heart sank. They hadn't seen each other in over three years and now she just found out that they were already divorced. "But how did you...?"
"Well, thanks to my connections, it was easy for me to divorce you without you being around," Matthew explained calmly, paying attention to her every reaction.
The look of shock and sadness on her face gave Matthew satisfaction.
Erica held back her tears and asked, "Then... why did you sleep with me yesterday?" Matthew had slept with her the moment they met!
Owen took a few steps back as soon as he heard that. After all, their private matters were something that did not concern him. Matthew looked into Erica's eyes and said indifferently, "It's normal for a man to sleep with a woman."
'So what he did yesterday was just what a man would do to a woman without any emotions involved?' she wondered.
"Come on, it's been over three years. You can't tell me you didn't want to have sex with me as much as I did with you?" he continued to ask.
Even if Erica had wanted to, she was too embarrassed to admit the truth. "No, no..."
A hint of playfulness flashed through the man's eyes. "I think you were also very enthusiastic last night." Matthew gave her a sly smirk.
'Jerk!' she cursed inwardly.
Before Matthew was about to leave, Erica stopped him and said, "I know what you mean. Take good care of our sons from now on. I will go to see them when I'm free."