Take My Breath Away

"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 st

e 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!'