Meanwhile, Matthew had postponed his work to personally welcome Clarissa and Catherine upon their arrival at the airport.
Catherine seemed to be in a great mood when she got off the plane. She then started going on and on about how Matthew shouldn’t have troubled himself like that.
Taking her by the hand, Matthew smiled as he reassured her, “Don’t worry about it, Grandma. Besides, how could I miss out on something as important as picking you up?”
Catherine didn’t say anything further, but she was really satisfied with what Matthew did.
Although she had prepared herself mentally, the view of their house in Zen Highlands still left her shocked nonetheless. On top of that, it also gave her a decent idea about Matthew’s financial capability.
Catherine wasn’t an ignorant old lady and was well aware of how much Clarissa’s house had cost her when she bought it back then.
From what I heard, the market value of the houses in our residential area has gone up recently, so we were lucky that Clary bought it before that… I can’t even imagine how much a house in D City would cost these days, especially a villa with a huge garden like this… I bet I’d never have a chance to see that kind of money in this lifetime!
Catherine had a smile on her face as she entered, but she wasn’t really all that excited.
Upon entering the bedroom, she grabbed Clarissa by the hand and let out a sigh.
Clarissa sat down beside her, confused as to why she seemed unhappy all of a sudden. “What’s wrong, Grandma? Are you tired? Or are you feeling unwell?”
Shaking her head, Catherine stared at her granddaughter affectionately and said, “I knew Matt was wealthy and all, but I didn’t think he was this wealthy… This house is something we could ever hope to afford, Clary. I can tell that he really likes you, but there is something I need you to understand…”
Clarissa pursed her lips and nodded. “I think I know what you mean, Grandma.”
“Yeah… You’re a smart girl and have always made your own decisions for yourself, after all. Even so, I’m still going to say it anyway. Don’t commit yourself completely to your marriage with Matt, Clary. It’s not that I don’t trust him or anything, but there really isn’t much we can do for you if his family doesn’t treat you well. You know how much it pains me to see you get hurt, don’t you?”
Clarissa pouted and hugged Catherine as she said, “You’re the best, Grandma! I totally understand what you mean, and I promise I’ll be careful. But don’t worry. Matthew will have my back if they dare bully me. And if that doesn’t work out, I’ll just leave him and move back in with you, Grandma!”
Chuckling softly, Catherine gave her a light smack on the back. “What are you saying, Clary? If you two ever get into a fight, I want you to work it out between yourselves, okay? Matt is a really great man, so don’t you let go of him that easily, you hear me?”
“I hear you loud and clear, Grandma! Trust me. Everything is fine between us.”
After Clarissa’s reassurance, Catherine didn’t say anything further.
In the meantime, Matthew was making a call when Clarissa returned to the living room.
She walked up to him and rubbed her face affectionately on his back as she hugged him from behind.
Knowing that Clarissa was behind him, Matthew pulled her to face him and carried on talking about work on the phone while caressing her slim waist.
He tossed the phone aside shortly after and carried her in his arms before smothering her with a barrage of kisses.
“Hahaha… Cut it out! Grandma’s around, you know?”
Matthew took a look behind him and whispered into her ear, “She won’t be coming out of the room so soon.”
He then continued showering her with kisses until he was satisfied.
Moments later, Clarissa was scrolling through travel recommendations for D City in hopes of finding suitable places she could bring Catherine to while Matthew continued working on his laptop.
“Well, we could take her on an aerial tram ride up the mountain… Where should we take her for lunch?” Clarissa asked.
“Mario’s Restaurant,” Matthew replied.
“Okay, and that’ll be it for the day. On the second day, we’ll go to-”
Right then, Matthew cut her off before she could finish, “She didn’t look too happy when she came in earlier. Do you know why?”
“Huh?”
Clarissa paused for a moment before putting her phone down and looking into his eyes. “Oh? Are you afraid that Grandma doesn’t like you and will want me to leave you?” she asked with a chuckle while gently poking at his cheeks.
Matthew kept quiet and simply raised an eyebrow at her in response.
He knew a man like him would be hard to come by once in a lifetime, so he was very calm and confident.
Clarissa couldn’t help but burst into laughter when she saw how confident he was. “Hahaha… You’re a really great guy, so you have nothing to worry about!”
“Is there anything she isn’t happy about?”
Clarissa pouted and hesitated for a bit before giving in to his penetrating gaze. “Nothing much, really. She’s just worried about me being bullied after seeing how wealthy you are.”
Matthew gave it some thought and snorted as he pinched her playfully on the nose. “Her concerns are perfectly understandable. Did you not tell her how nice I am towards you? How could I possibly bully you?”
“Nonsense! You bully me every day!”
Clarissa didn’t mean anything else by that, but Matthew nodded and said, “You’re right, I do bully you every day. That’s because I love seeing you cry and beg for mercy…”
Clarissa quickly held a hand over his mouth before he could finish and glared at him with her cheeks burning bright red.
“You’d better keep that mouth of yours clean while my grandma is here, you hear me? I don’t want you giving her a heart attack now!”
Nonetheless, Matthew simply smiled at her in response as he drew her in with those charming eyes of his.
Clarissa succumbed to his charms and leaned in to give him a peck on the eyelids.
“You like them?”
“Yeah, they look nice.”
She playfully plucked one of his eyelashes before grinning to herself as a thought came to mind.
“What are you thinking about?” Matthew asked with a chuckle.
Clarissa pursed her lips and said shyly, “I was just thinking about how nice our children would look if they had your eyes.”
Matthew stared at her in surprise for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. “Oh, you truly are my Darling, Clare!” he said while hugging her tightly and kissing her passionately.
His beard tickled her so much that it sent her into a giggling fit, and she turned her face away to avoid his kisses.
After fooling around for a bit, Matthew kissed her on the eyelids as well. “I think your eyes look better than mine. Our kids would definitely look better with your eyes instead.”
“Okay, one of them can have yours while the other will have mine.” Clarissa squinted at him.
She was only joking around with him when she said that, but he responded seriously, “Sure thing. We’ll have two kids with one resembling you and one resembling me.”
Why do I feel like I’ve just dug myself a hole here… Oh, well… I suppose having two kids isn’t so bad…
The look on Clarissa’s face eased up a little as she came to accept the idea, and Matthew began carrying her upstairs the moment he noticed that change in her expression.
“Hey, stop messing around! What are you doing, Matthew?”
“Well, if you want two kids… then we’d better start now.”
“What… Cut it out! Grandma is around, remember?”
“That’s fine, we’re not heading out today anyway! She can take the time to get some quality rest!”
There’s no way I’m passing up an opportunity to have a baby with Clare!
Clarissa’s protests were in vain as Matthew clamped her mouth shut and carried her into their bedroom.
At that time, Julia knew what Matthew was up to, so she kept Catherine company when she came out of her room shortly after.
The two of them had a little chat while taking a walk in the garden, and the conversation was eventually skewed toward Matthew and Clarissa.
“They really are a lovey-dovey pair, so don’t you worry. I’ve been working under Mr. Tyson since this garden was constructed, and things were really quiet here since he’s rarely home. However, things changed ever since Ms. Quigley came around. Mr. Tyson would come home for dinner every day and even seemed to be smiling a lot more. He really loves her a lot and even has me remind her to do some stretching every half an hour because she tends to lose herself in her work. Oh, and he would even do her laundry for her! I’ve never seen a guy do that for his woman all my life!”
Catherine felt relieved after hearing what Julia said. I’m fine with Matthew. It’s his family that I’m concerned about…
“How about the Tysons, Julia?”
“I’m not too sure about that. I only work here in Zen Highlands, and none of Mr. Tyson’s family members have ever dropped by,” Julia said after a brief pause.
“Ah, I see…”
“Regardless, I don’t think you have to worry about a thing. Mr. Tyson loves Ms. Quigley very much, so there’s no way he’d let anyone bully her. Also, they will be living here after getting married, so there will hardly be any conflict as well. They’ll probably have a family dinner during Christmas, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Catherine nodded in agreement. It’s a good thing they’ll be living separately… This arrangement will greatly reduce the number of conflicts, which is great for Clary… On top of that, this place looks really beautiful too! After suffering for so many years, Clary will finally be able to enjoy a good life! You can finally rest in peace, my son…
