Take My Breath Away

Erica looked at the villa and said, "Rhea and I just arrived at the gate of the villa. We haven't gone in yet."

Matthew was about to answer when he heard a man's voice come over the line. "Erica, Rhea, I'm leaving now! Go get some good rest!"

"Okay, thank you! Bye!" That was Erica. Though she had reflexively covered the speaker with her hand, Matthew was still able to hear and discern that it was a man who had spoken to her.

Meanwhile, Watkins was about to get into his car, but stopped as though he'd suddenly remembered something. Seemingly not noticing that Erica was on the phone, he came over and told her, "You know, I've always wanted to invite you to dinner, but I never got the chance. Now that we've friended each other on WeChat, I'll contact you and invite you to a proper dinner sometime soon."

Holding her phone low beside her body, Erica answered, "Okay. But look, it doesn't matter if you're too busy..."

"No, I'm not busy. I haven't had many classes to deal with lately," he said quickly, and then broke off. "Look, we should both be going. It's too cold outside, and it'll be colder tomorrow. Remember to dress warm!" Saying this, Watkins half-raised his arms as though to give her a hug goodbye. However, he remembered that she was married and thought better of it.

Erica pretended not to notice and smiled at him pleasantly. "Oh, I will. Thank you, goodbye!"

Watkins turned and hurried off, leaving Erica to breathe a sigh of relief. Remembering that she was still on the phone with her husband, she brought it back up to her ear. "Hello, Matthew, haven't you gone to bed yet?"

For a moment there was only silence. Fearing the call was disconnected, Erica glanced at the phone's screen to find that it wasn't. "Hello? Are you busy now?"

Matthew's voice came through at last, cold as the air. "No, I'm not. Who's that you were just hanging out with?"

Erica shivered and held onto Rhea's arm as they started toward the villa. "I was with Rhea and Hyatt," she answered.

"What did you do?"

"We went shopping, had hotpot and hit a bar. Then we came back," Erica answered honestly.

"Who drove you back?" asked Matthew.

"Oh, it was Watkins!"

There was another uncomfortable silence. Then Matthew continued, "Did you drink together?"

"Yes," she told him. "Rhea and I had some beer and a cocktail. We're not drunk! Don't worry!"

Her cheery, l

gone to Champion Group to look for Tam before, she wouldn't have known that Watkins' family had anything to do with the company.

A moment passed. Erica was also browsing the WeChat Moments, trying to check Watkins' updates, but she couldn't find his account. "What's Watkins' name on WeChat?" she asked.

She remembered that she had changed his alias to his real name when she friended Watkins on WeChat. Why couldn't she find his account now?

"His WeChat name is an emoji. Haven't you changed his alias?" asked Rhea.

"I'm sure I have, but I can't find it now!" Erica searched her contact list twice without success.

She entered Watkins' account yet again and found that it was not in her friend list.

Erica went to friend Watkins on WeChat again and murmured, "What the hell?"

At that same moment, Matthew, who was still abroad, was leaning against the headboard and staring at his laptop screen. He had been monitoring Erica's WeChat all this time, and did not miss when she sent a friend request to Watkins again.

It was a simple matter for him to block the friend request from going through.

A moment later, he received a message from his wife. "Matthew, are you asleep?" she asked.

Matthew calmly picked up his phone and replied, "Not yet."

A message came back. "Let me ask you a question. Were you angry just now?"

He felt a little helpless. Was it because he didn't show his anger clearly, or because she was just slow to react? "What do you think?" he asked.

"I don't think you're narrow-minded. Watkins and I are just normal friends. You know that, right?"