Matthew was just downstairs patiently waiting for the kids to come down for breakfast. As soon as the sound of their collective footsteps was heard, several maids immediately ran into the dining room with breakfast.
Adkins was the first to greet him. "Good morning, Dad!"
Boswell climbed onto the chair opposite to Matthew and sat down. "Good morning, Dad!"
Colman moved his chair next to his dad and said with a smile, "Daddy, I want to sit with you!" He wanted to sit next to his father because he was quite fond of him.
Every time Matthew looked at Colman, he could see Erica on him. His facial expression softened and he gently said, "Sure."
Carrying an Ultraman toy in his hand, Damian walked to the other side of his dad and mumbled in a low voice. "Dad, I want to sit with you too."
"Sure." Matthew smiled.
Damian seemed quite satisfied to be greeted with a smile and he smiled back sweetly as he sat down next to Matthew.
Shortly after, they began eating breakfast merrily. When the boys came back, the four of them would laugh and talk loudly during meals. Matthew only had to tell them once that it was rude to talk too much during meals and now they seldom made noise.
After a while, Adkins wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked at Matthew, who had already finished breakfast and was waiting for them. "Dad, will you drive us to school today?"
On most days, just as long as he was not too busy in the morning, Matthew would drive them to school before going to the company.
If he was too busy or he had to go out of town on a business trip, Carlos and Debbie would take them to school and pick them up after as well. At the very least, Sheffield, Joshua or any other family members would do the job. In any case, Matthew wouldn't trust anyone else with the responsibility of his sons.
"Yes. I'll pick you up after school too."
In fact, Matthew had no real plans of going to the company today, so he decided it would be the perfect day to drop them off at school and pick them up later in the afternoon.
While chewing the last mouthful of bread, Colman asked, "Dad, can you come to pick us up with Mom?" They had been going to school for a while now, but they had never been picked up by their parents at the same time.
Glancing at him, Matthew reprimanded the boy, "Didn't I tell you not to speak with your mouth full?"
However, the jovial boy didn't feel annoyed by his dad's scolding at all. He simply made a face at him before continuing to chew the food in his mouth.
When the room was quiet again, Matthew told his sons, "I will see if your mom can come with me as well."
Needless to say, his words gave the kids enough excitement as they grinned from ear to ear.
Just as he had said, Matthew drove the four boys to school. When he returned to the villa, he received a message from Erica. "Honey, are you at the company?"
'Why is she asking me this? I have a feeling she's up to something again, ' he thought. "What's up?" he replied nonchalantly.
"No, I was just wondering what you were doing." 'I just want to know if he's gone to work so I can go out and take some photographs, ' she thought to herself.
"Hmm." Matthew's response was aimed at her last message.
However, Erica mistook his answer as a response to her first question. As such, she cheerfully assumed that he had gone to the company.
Much to her surprise, when Erica finished her breakfast and was happily heading out with her camera, she bumped into Matthew who was coming in from outside.
The camera hanging on her neck was an obvious indication of her intentions. Unfortunately, it was too big for her to hide it quickly.
The man squinted his eyes at her and said, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Well..." Embarrassed, she quickly changed the topic and said, "Weren't you at the company? What are you doing back here all of a sudden? Did you forget to bring a file with you?"
"No." Matthew casually glanced at his watch and said, "Put the camera back." 'You got up very early today.'
The woman sighed silently and raised her hands in front of him. "I didn't do the housework. I'll buy some skincare products for my hands later and I promise I'll go to the beauty salon more often in the future until the calluses on my hands disappear.
Please don't stop me from going out to shoot pictures, okay?" That morning, Erica deliberately gave up the chance to sleep in, just so she could sneak out to take photos. She wasn't expecting to get caught red-handed like that.
"I'll go with you."
"What?"
Half an hour later, the couple arrived at Shining International Plaza.
Their sudden and unexpected appearance made all the staff in the shopping mall panic. This time, Matthew was here as well. They didn't know if he was here for an inspection or just a casual fun time with his beloved wife.
At first, he took Erica to one of the most posh clothing stores in the mall. The person who was in charge of the floor, the manager, as well as two seemingly competent salesladies walked over to serve them in person.
Erica fell into contemplation, wondering if this was the actual first time Matthew had taken her shopping.
Yesterday, Matthew had asked someone to prepare a few gift bags in advance and asked her to pick out the gifts for the family in the VIP room upstairs. However, Erica didn't consider that to be shopping at all.
Erica brushed her eyes over the wide array of designer dresses and paused to think for a while. Then she turned around and snickered at the man who was staring at her. Despite of the man's look of confusion, Erica decisively asked one of the salesladies to bring her more dresses of different colors to try on.
Matthew couldn't tell what she was up to for some time, so he decided to wait for her in the VIP area.
A few minutes later, she walked out in a dress and a pair of high-heeled shoes that the saleslady had matched for her.
The upper part of the dress was off-shoulder, yellow and white knitted sweater with vertical stripes. It was connected to a black half skirt with a slit on the side. The high-heeled shoes on her feet were black. All of a sudden, it seemed as though she had transformed into a completely different person.
She turned around to face the mirror and seemed to be quite satisfied, with a particularly bright smile dancing about on her face.
However, Matthew looked at the side of the dress and frowned. The slit on the side went above her knees, and her fair thigh was partly visible with her every move.
The off-shoulder sweater made her skin looked fairer. If it weren't for the slit in the lower part of the dress, he might have been more accepting of this dress.
The man simply turned her down without hesitation. "Go and change into something else."
"Okay!" Completely disregarding the man's frown, Erica told the saleslady as she walked, "Please set this one aside. I'm taking this one."
"Yes, Mrs. Huo."
Matthew refuted, "No need to pack it. Just try something else."
Erica stopped and looked back at the man in confusion. "What's wrong?" She twirled, slowly bringing her slender arms on her slim waist while her sheer dress flowed in the breeze, twisting around her body. "Honey, don't you like it?"
His deep eyes fell on her collarbones first, and then on her slim waist...
Erica immediately noticed the familiar look of desire in his eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, and her face turned red. She muttered to herself, 'Damn it. This bad man thinks about sex all day long.'
He stood up from the sofa, put his hands in his pockets and walked to her side. With a serious expression, he said, "You can buy it if you want. But, don't wear it outside!"
"What? Why?"
"It's not a suitable look for you." She looked young, just like a teenager who was under age. When she wore those mature clothes, it was as if a child had stolen an adult's clothes.