Take My Breath Away

"I'll get pregnant without them!" What the woman said echoed in Erica's mind.

She'd never given condoms a second thought. But this woman's words shocked her into reality. She stood there, thinking of all the times she and Matthew were intimate together.

He would drive her wild with his flirting, and then wait a few seconds before actually entering her.

Even if they started on the balcony or in the living room, they would end up in the bedroom eventually.

And all this made her think about things differently. Then, suddenly, she had an idea. She quickly found Yvette and Chantel, who were going through their shopping list. "Hey, are you done? Let's head back home."

"We just got here. What's the rush?" Yvette asked. She noticed something seemed to be bugging her sister.

"Well, I remembered something I need to do. I have to get home now. Why don't you finish shopping and I'll grab a cab?" She was going to have an answer to the question that burned in her mind.

"Nah, we're good. I have everything on my list. How about you, Chantel?" Yvette asked.

Chantel shook her head. "I think I'm done."

"Then let's pay for our stuff and get out of here." Yvette pushed the shopping cart up to the counter to pay the bill.

At the Li family house

When the three girls got home, the sun was lower in the sky and the streetlights were on. Blair was in the kitchen preparing dinner. A maid was in there helping her. Neither Wesley nor Gifford were there. Matthew was hard at work in the study.

As soon as Erica got home, she immediately rushed upstairs. She had to check something out. If she remembered correctly, Matthew had opened the drawer in the nightstand last night.

Confused, Blair went to the stairs and looked up, as if she'd get the answer to her question that way. "What's going on?" Blair asked Yvette and Chantel, who just entered the house. "Why did Rika run upstairs like that?"

Yvette spread out her hands and said, "Beats me. She was acting strange at the supermarket too. It's okay. I'll ask her later. I've got groceries to put away!"

"Okay!" Blair didn't devote too much attention to it, and went back to finishing up the meal.

Chantel went to the bathroom to wash her hands and walked back into the kitchen. "Hey, let me help with that."

Blair pushed her out of the kitchen. "No way. Three's a crowd. We're doing fine in here. Why don't you and Yvette run off and find something else to do?" Cooking was her only hobby, and she wouldn't do anything else.

She wouldn't even let the maid help her if it weren't for the fact that it would take forever for her to prep and cook. So she accepted that she needed someone else.

"It's okay. I'm not busy now." Since Chantel was pregnant, she didn't want to do anything too strenuous. Like practicing dance, for example. She was afraid it would hurt the baby.

When Chantel was about to cut the vegetables, Blair grabbed her hand and said, "I mean it. Out! Out!"

Finally, Blair drove her out of the kitchen. Having been shooed out, Yvette was sorting the things they bought at the supermarket. Seeing Chantel, she smiled and said, "You should know the drill by now. Mom doesn't want help in the kitchen."

Chantel nodded helplessly and had to help Yvette with groceries.

The first thing Erica did after reaching her room was to tear open the drawer in the nightstand.

She took a look inside and her suspicions were immediately confirmed.

There was a box of condoms laying quietly in the corner of the drawer.

How did that get there? It must be Matthew's doing, but when? She didn't know.

She never used them before she got married. She knew nothing about them. Her friends around her were the same as her, knowing little about sex and unwilling to discuss what they did know. No one described how a girl might feel when her partner used a condom.

So if Matthew used them secretly, she'd probably never know.

Erica wanted to cry. Resisting the urge to go straight to Matthew and confront him, she closed the drawer.

Matthew was nobody's fool. He knew something was bugging his wife, but he couldn't say precisely what. They were at dinner when he asked her, but she just said she was fine.

Matthew asked her a few more times, but all that did was annoy her. So he had to give up. He decided to leave it alone till everyone had retired for the night.

It was already eleven o'clock by the time Matthew strolled in to their bedroom.

Erica was playing with her phone on the bed. She'd turned up the thermostat, and only wore a black slip. It showed off her arms, legs, and curves quite nicely.

Seeing Matthew come in, she put down her phone and stretched out her arms to him. "Hi honey, give me a hug."

She was pretty sure she knew, but she had to be sure. She had to seduce Matthew, and then she'd have her answer as to whether he used condoms with her.

Matthew, confident, horny, and none-the-wiser, rose to the bait. He took her in his arms, and kissed her red lips.

That was exactly what Erica wanted. He was playing right into her hands. She kissed him back passionately.

He had planned on showering first but she seemed hot to trot. With it being offered to him, of course he took advantage of it. He folded his fingers in hers as he lay on top, pressing her into the bed.

Scarcely ten minutes passed. Erica suddenly held Matthew's hand, quickly turned over and turned on the bedside lamp.

It was too late for Matthew to stop her. He held something in his hand, the wrapper half-open.

Heedless of how she was completely naked, Erica carefully looked at the thing in the man's hand. It was a condom!

So Matthew had been using condoms every time they had sex!

Therefore, even if she gave it everything she had, she would never get pregnant.

A trace of embarrassment flashed across Matthew's face, which was pretty rare as he was usually calm and collected. He held the now-opened condom wrapper in his hand and hugged his wife, pulling her closer.

Tears welled in Erica's troubled eyes. Her words were choked by grief. "You...you...bastard!" How could he lie to her?

"Honey, don't cry!" Matthew kept kissing her forehead, trying to soothe her.

With glistening eyes, Erica pushed him away, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Matthew Huo, how could you use condoms behind my back? You're a liar!"

"Rika, I can explain—"

"No! What is there to explain? My baby...and my twelve billion dollars..." Everything had been in vain.

Matthew didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard what she said. He pushed his lust down inside him and buried it. After he'd regained a modicum of control, he put the quilt over her and said, "Don't get cold."

However, Erica whipped the quilt away, put on her pajamas and sat on the edge of the bed, crying sadly. Despair writhed inside of her.

She was sad as her twelve billion and five sons were saying bye-bye to her.

Soon, the other members of the Li family had heard her sobs. Wesley knocked at the door first. "Matthew? Rika? You in there?"

Erica immediately ran to open the door in bare feet this time.

Wesley and Blair stood in the hallway outside the door. Erica hugged her father and complained, "Dad, this is hopeless. Why can't I just die now?"

"Why are you crying?" Confused, Wesley held his daughter in his arms and patted her back to comfort her.

After tidying his pajamas, Matthew followed her outside and stopped beside her.

Sobbing, Erica answered, "Dad, Matthew bullied me. It's true." She was afraid that Wesley wouldn't believe her, so she emphasized that Matthew really did it this time.

"What did he do?" At this moment, the Li family members left their bedrooms and surrounded the young couple. They looked at Erica with concern.

It was not until now that Erica realized that she couldn't tell them what was really going on, because then she'd have to reveal that Matthew used condoms when they had sex. This was too embarrassing! So she decided to beat around the bush. She could only say, "I've lost twelve billion! And it's all because of Matthew Huo!"

The different members of the Li family were all dumbfounded.