Take My Breath Away

I love Erica.

—by Matthew Huo.

Before Matthew and Erica got engaged, Wesley had a change of heart. Now that he had some time to think about it, he was starting to regret what he'd done.

So he went to see Matthew alone and said, "I don't think I should force you two to get married. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, not something that I can impose on you. I just want you to be happy."

"You're not forcing me to do anything, Uncle Wesley. Erica's still young. And even though she thinks she knows everything, she doesn't. I can take care of her. I'll give her whatever she wants, as long as I can make her happy!" Matthew replied.

Wesley was stunned. "But... don't you have someone you like?"

"Yeah I do—it's Erica."

Wesley didn't know how to react.

"I don't mind Erica having another man's kid, as long as she and I can live happily ever after."

"But you were defiant that day. You told your old man no."

"Of course. As I said, she's still young. It may be a blow for her to get married so early, let alone marry someone she doesn't love. Moreover, I don't like people trying to control my life. That's what he was doing, so I wouldn't let him." It was his marriage, his life. Carlos might be heavy-handed and domineering, but he couldn't control everything.

"Whatever, Matthew. I still think it's unfair."

"I don't. She's the one I love, and I'm happy we're getting married. I just needed someone to light a fire under my butt to make me do something about it. I hope you and Aunt Blair can offer me more help after we get married. With your help, I can make Erica fall in love with me ASAP."

Wesley fell into silence. 'My daughter met a man who loves her a lot and is willing to overlook her mistakes. Why do I think this is such a bad idea?'

This conversation was what made Wesley support Matthew wholeheartedly every time he and Erica had a fight.

Back when Matthew went to visit the Li family, he had been interested in the little girl who bought him a shirt from a street stall.

When Matthew was studying in America, Erica was vacationing there as well, and lived in his villa. Although they didn't talk much, he still thought the little girl was adorable and interesting.

Her dark eyes were always full of mischief and cunning. Every time she saw him coming downstairs, she would nod and bow to him, like a startled rabbit spotting a lion.

Matthew had been used to people nodding and bowing to him, but he knew Erica was different from anyone else he met. Although she nodded and bowed, there was no fear or panic in her eyes when she looked at him.

She was special as always.

One year, in the Huo family manor, he heard Erica talking about what she wanted in husband. He eavesdropped on her conversation, and filed the information away so he could use it in the future if he needed to.

He met at least a couple of her specifications. He was tall, and rich. No matter what she wanted, he could give it to her.

The reason why Carlos thought he had anything to do with Phoebe was that Matthew helped her out when she was injured. He carried her to the car. But she was his best friend's girlfriend. If not for that, he wouldn't care at all.

In Matthew's opinion, Carlos forcing him to marry Erica was the best thing the old man had ever done for him.

It turned out that Carlos also loved his son and was willing to give him what he wanted the most in this world.

Erica didn't like him then.

She was taking care of another man's child.

The girl didn't want to marry him at all.

But Matthew still married her.

The cute, silly, childish woman became his bride on July 7th of the lunar calendar.

The day of the wedding, she wore a traditional Chinese wedding dress and looked more mature than she ever had. She was so beautiful Matthew couldn't take his eyes off her, no matter how much he wanted to.

Matthew was a one-man wedding planner. He rented a six-star hotel ballroom and figured out exactly what he wanted for decorations. As a wedding hall, it was exquisite. The ballroom he reserved had more square footage than many people's homes put together. It came with a hefty price tag, but he was more than able to afford it.

The traditional wedding dress came to life thanks to several top designers from around the world. It was measured and cut to exacting standards, and assembled in a historic preservation site of H Country. It included lucky designs like the Phoenix, and clouds.

The guests traveled from near and far to attend their wedding. Matthew showed his gratitude with lavish gifts. These included high end perfume and cologne like Joy Baccarat Pure Parfum, Limited Edition and Aventus for Men by Creed. Also, guests received a box of chocolates imported from Belgium, a can of tea leaves from one of the tea factories in D Town, and a bottle of limited-edition wine. Matthew spared no expense to make this a wedding to remember.

Then, he picked out the wedding candies and cakes according to the flavor Erica liked. Matthew had asked Blair about it in advance to make sure he had enough time to obtain them. He ordered milk candies, fruit sugar, and wedding cakes with red bean paste, or egg yolk fillings.

The horses they rode were Ferghana horses sent from Turkmenistan. The traditional sedan chair Erica rode in was custom made according to Matthew's specifications. If someone looked carefully, they would find several instances of the initials "EM" on the chair. That was no accident.

But the girl was so oblivious that she paid no mind to things like that, clues as to how much he loved her.

Onstage, when the emcee asked Erica whether she was willing to marry Matthew or not, the girl hesitated before answering.

In fact, Matthew was extremely nervous at that time. He was afraid that the fearless girl in front of him would freak out and leave him high and dry right there.

Fortunately, Erica said yes in the end.

Then, they kissed on the stage. That was their first kiss.

It was her first kiss, period—but he didn't know that until later. The moment he kissed Erica for the first time, his pants got tighter and he was overcome with desire.

He was afraid of frightening her, so he did his best to hide it.

During dinner that night, Gifford talked about Erica at length. Matthew was fascinated by it. After Gifford finished his speech, Matthew still couldn't get enough. He wanted to know more about the girl, but he had no time then. He needed to get back home to see his bride.

'Forget it. I'll find out myself. How hard could it be?' he thought then.

On their wedding night, before Matthew opened the door, he heard Erica talking on the phone, standing in front of the window.

The conversation sounded pretty damning. Someone who was just eavesdropping without the proper context would think she was cheating on Matthew.

In fact, Matthew was jealous of the baby's daddy. But when he thought about it he knew better. She married him, not this other guy, and they'd be together forever. He felt much better after those thoughts entered his head.

While she was washing her face in the bathroom, he deliberately went in and flirted with her, pretending to take a shower. As expected, the girl ran away when he invited her to take a shower with him.

He got an unexpected call from Phoebe. She said something had happened to Nathan, so he had to go help his friend. No matter that he had a new wife at home to take care of.

What he didn't expect was that the girl became very happy after he took off. When he turned back to grab his phone, he could hear the girl singing excitedly inside the room before he pushed the door open.

He started frowning and pretended to be serious. When he opened the door, the girl immediately cowered and stopped singing.

She found a lame excuse to explain her excitement, saying that she was in the habit of doing exercises before going to sleep. But he wasn't fooled.

If there weren't something important to do, Matthew would have told her that he also liked to exercise before bed, and they could do it together. For example, making love could burn quite a few calories.

So Matthew held his tongue.

When he wanted to kiss her because she was so cute, she refused, reminding him of his supposed love for Phoebe. Matthew knew she didn't want him to kiss her. He didn't make things difficult for her, nor did he explain his relationship with Phoebe. He just grabbed his phone and left.

He didn't know leaving her like that would have so many ramifications.

Rumors spread all over the Internet, and there were so many people mocking her online.

Matthew immediately had someone deal with the rumors about them. He didn't know how to make her feel better, however. After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to defend her online in the comment area of her Weibo account, using his private account on that platform named "Can't Do Anything."

In the first few days after their wedding, Matthew had been very busy because of Nathan's death and hadn't returned to the villa. So busy that, in the parking lot of a mall, when the driver told him that the woman who blocked their way was Mrs. Huo, he was clueless. He hadn't internalized that Erica was Mrs. Huo.

When he heard it was Erica, Matthew immediately got out of the car.

The silly girl thought he had forgotten her and introduced herself to him.

How could he forget her? It was just that he had been too busy for the past couple days and he had no time to spend with her.

He silently decided to wait, just deal with his affairs. He'd be done with Nathan and Phoebe, and he could spend more time with her.

It turned out that she blocked his way because she wanted to ask him about visiting their parents, something of a wedding tradition. Of course, he would visit her parents with her. No matter how busy he was, he couldn't ignore such a big event.

But he wanted to wait until the next day to visit the Li household. She seemed a little disappointed.

Thinking of the disappointment in her eyes, after he returned to his study, Matthew decided to put everything aside and go with her to visit her parents.

However, when he asked someone to book a flight for them, he discovered she already bought tickets of high-speed train, because she thought he couldn't go with her.

The first time he heard her call him "honey" was at the gates to her school. He heard that Erica was there and came to pick her up.

Erica was in a fight with another girl. It was then that he realized he had caused so much drama in her life. But she had never mentioned it or complained to him. Who said she was thoughtless?

She was so considerate that he felt sorry for her. She shouldn't have to deal with that alone.

Before getting married, Matthew had told himself that since he had decided to marry Erica, he would treat her and the kid well, even though Ethan was not his.

When he picked up baby Ethan for the first time, Matthew floated the idea of having a kid together. He mentioned it to Erica.

But when he couldn't hold back anymore and tried to make love to her, all he succeeded in doing was frightening her. He had to give up the idea for the time being.

The married life didn't disappoint Matthew. Erica was really an interesting girl. She was stupid enough to believe that he loved Phoebe, not her.

But the truth was, from start to finish, Erica was the only woman in his heart.

Otherwise, why would he marry her? He even washed her hair, washed her feet, made chocolate and macaroons for her, and always bought her gifts.

He lied to her, told her the chocolate was for Gwyn, and the silly girl believed him. In fact, what she didn't know was that Matthew had learned how to make chocolate in his free time, and then made it for her to eat. It was all for her.