Take My Breath Away

When she heard what Matthew said, Erica nodded in a hurry. "Yes! But—" She tried to protest. She was still mad, after all.

Matthew held her in his arms and kissed her forehead. "Well, good luck in class. If you don't have any after-school activities, let me know." He meant well, but it was one more way to exert control. She was used to making her way home and hanging out with Hyatt.

"Okay!" Since he insisted on buying her a gift to please her, she reluctantly agreed.

She felt pretty good. When she didn't think it through a whole lot, Matthew seemed like a great guy.

In class, Erica copied what she saw on the projector screen. She took notes that she could use later to study for the exams.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Rhea. "Hey, I'll tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone else!"

"What is it?" she replied casually and continued to take notes.

Two minutes later, stunned by the message from Rhea, she put her hand over her wide-open mouth. Then she turned to look at Hyatt. Finally coming to her senses, she wrote back, "What? You must be kidding me, right? Or am I seeing things?"

Sitting next to her, Hyatt was also busy taking notes. He didn't know Erica had been staring at him at all.

Rhea replied, "No, you're not crazy. I am. For Hyatt. He's sweet and innocent and probably won't cheat on me. So what do you think?"

Looking at the phone, Erica rubbed her eyes and made sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Rhea sent her another message asking, "Are you okay? You're quiet. I bet you never expected that, huh?"

Erica cooperatively typed a series of question marks and sent them to her. She was really confused. She didn't understand why Rhea made such a decision.

'Rhea and Hyatt?

She's so overbearing, and he's so quiet and...and...just not her type.'

At this moment, Erica was very worried about Hyatt.

"I don't believe in love anymore. All of the good ones are taken, it seems. And so when it's time to get married, I wouldn't be able to find a good man anywhere. So, I figure, why don't I just get with Hyatt? At least I can get him to do what I

hopeless!' She simply closed her eyes and ignored him.

'Nah, it couldn't be April Fool's Day. We just had International Workers' Day last month, ' he thought. 'So...no. I guess this is real.'

After the class, the two walked out of class together. Hyatt had a silly smile on his face ever since he saw the text. Erica asked him, "Hyatt, why did you agree to be Rhea's boyfriend?" If he said he liked her, she figured he'd be lying. He never talked about her before.

Hyatt smiled shyly and replied, "If she really likes me, I should like her, shouldn't I?" 'Otherwise, she'd be pretty sad, ' he thought. Erica was confused by his logic. "Are you serious? What if someone else likes you? Do you just decide to love her too?"

However, to her surprise, he stopped her and said seriously, "No, I won't. I have Rhea now. I can't cheat on her!"

'Fine! Anyway, Hyatt only likes Rhea! And that's what matters, ' she mused.

Hyatt started badgering Erica about this or that. Since he was so far away from Rhea, he didn't know what he could do for her. "Maybe some gifts? Candy? Flowers? Should I call her every morning to wake her, and ring her up at bedtime to say good night? Should I..."

Erica had never been in love before she got married to Matthew. And the marriage was an arranged one. She didn't think Matthew loved her at all, so she couldn't give Hyatt any useful advice. She knew nothing about love.