Outsiders might think that Matthew was a lone wolf, a cool and collected person determined to achieve his goals no matter what.
But there was another side to him that very few people knew about.
Unreasonable? A horrible flirt? Thick-skinned?
And so many other qualities that she had yet to discover.
What the hell am I thinking!
What else is there worth discovering?
Clarissa wanted to push Matthew away and leave him behind in an ultra-cool fashion.
But the reality was that she wasn’t strong enough to push him away, and she couldn’t act cool at all.
She gave up on trying to push him away. Furrowing her eyebrows, she said, “Let go of me. I want to go home.”
“Go home? To let your mother send you straight to Luke’s bedroom?”
His words hit a nerve.
Clarissa was so frustrated she wanted to scream. If she went back to her apartment, she might have to deal with Hilary’s various acts of victimhood and attempts to gain pity. And even if she tried to prevent herself from feeling any emotions, there was no way she could be cruel towards her own mother.
So, she calmed down and just stood there.
Matthew chuckled under his breath, the hint of a mocking smile on his face.
This woman’s too stubborn and prideful to take back what she said. I bet she’s waiting for me to be the one to persuade her to stay.
“Are you staying?”
Clarissa forced herself to glance at him. “I’m taking the guest room downstairs.”
“Of course. Did you think you were going to get to sleep in the master bedroom? Or worse, sleep with me?” Matthew raised an eyebrow.
“You… You wish!”
Clarissa’s jaw clenched in annoyance.
He had already let go of her and was heading upstairs.
Just as he turned the corner, he looked back to say, “Don’t come out of your room at night. I’m afraid you might come into my room and take advantage of me.”
“That’s supposed to be my line.”
She pulled a silly face behind Matthew’s back to relieve her anger.
Soon after, Mrs. Lawson silently appeared out of nowhere to help her with her sleeping arrangements. Clarissa laid down on her bed after everything was settled, but she didn’t feel sleepy in the slightest.
It got worse when it started to rain outside. In the end, she sat up and left the guest room.
A small, dim lamp in the living room illuminated the silhouette of a man sitting on the sofa.
All her feelings of sentiment, sadness, and depression swiftly cleared from her head. Just as she was about to turn around and leave, Matthew spoke up.
“Come here.”
“I just came out for a glass of water.”
Matthew didn’t seem to be in the casual, light-hearted mood from earlier. Instead, his expression was solemn and his voice sounded cold.
Placing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it up, he started playing with the lighter between his fingers. The tiny flame dancing and flickering in the air looked unsafe.
He didn’t say anything else to her. Steeling herself, Clarissa went to the kitchen and drank from a water bottle before leaving for her room.
She only took a few steps out of the kitchen before sighing heavily, turning around to tell him, “Smoking is bad for your health, same goes for staying up late. Get some sleep.”
“Hm?”
Matthew looked up at her, his eyes glinting in the dark. “Is that concern I hear?”
“No. I’m just saying.”
His deep laughter rang out in the silence. “I like the fact that you never say what you truly feel.”
Clarissa rolled her eyes. “I’m going to sleep. Goodnight.”
She hurried back to her room. Now that her mind was cleared of all nonsensical thoughts, she was able to fall asleep rather quickly.
A few minutes later, the door to her room was slowly pushed open, and Matthew walked in. Standing by the side of the bed, he felt envy well up inside of him as he watched her peaceful sleeping face.
Taking a closer look at her face, he realized that she was breathing through her mouth in shallow, even breaths, her small and perfectly shaped lips slightly agape.
He leaned down and kissed her without a second thought, moving his lips against hers until she made a sound of discomfort in her sleep.
Clarissa flipped over, her back now facing him. He shook his head and laughed under his breath before silently exiting the room.
When Clarissa woke up, the sun was already hanging high in the sky. Turning over and stretching her body, she opened her eyes and blinked drowsily for a moment. The sleepiness quickly disappeared when her unfamiliar surroundings finally registered in her mind. She sat up and immediately grabbed her phone.
It’s twenty minutes past ten…
She had missed breakfast and was nearly going to miss lunch as well.
Rubbing her temples, she got up and spotted a set of brand new clothes for her to wear at the foot of the bed.
She walked out of the guest room, feeling embarrassed when she bumped into Mrs. Lawson in the dining room.
“You’re finally awake, Miss.”
“Mrs. Lawson, I’m so sorry for waking up late. Um, about breakfast…”
“It’s alright, sir didn’t say anything. Would you like to eat?”
“Yes, thank you…”
After she got some food in her, Clarissa started making preparations for lunch. Her reason for doing so was that fresh produce was being delivered to the house every day, and she had some free time on her hands.
She was done before noon and tasked someone with sending the food to Matthew. Then, she took her laptop and went to the living room, her mind wandering as she sat on the sofa.
She knew that this ambiguous situation with Matthew was not good.
Her rationality and her emotions were internally wrestling with each other. Her brain clearly understood that Matthew was not the right partner for her, but her heart kept pulling her toward him.
What am I doing? She thought that maybe things were continuing this way because it was what she had been unconsciously hoping for all along.
This wasn’t the Clarissa that used to meticulously plan out every single detail of her future.
“Miss? Miss?”
Clarissa snapped out of her daze at the sound of Mrs. Lawson calling her name.
“Miss, your phone is ringing.”
“Oh…”
Clarissa quickly picked up her phone and took a moment to calm herself down. It was a video call.
Catherine’s excited face appeared on screen as soon as Clarissa accepted the call.
“Oh my, it is Clare! I can see you so well! Julia taught me about this new feature. She said it saves money because it doesn’t increase the phone bill, and I get to see you too! How wonderful!”
Clarissa smiled warmly. “Grandma, are you sure you’re just doing this to save on phone bills? You can only make this kind of call when you’re at home, you know. It’s not a very useful feature if you don’t have Wi-Fi.”
“I know, I know. Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I’ve gotten stupid. Besides, Julia’s already explained everything to me. By the way, where are you staying? Is that the place your mom arranged for you?”
“Uh… Yes, it’s just a small apartment. It’s quite clean and cozy, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
Fortunately, the angle of the phone’s front camera didn’t capture her current surroundings.
“Is your mom okay now? She just called me a few days ago, saying you were taking care of her and what a good daughter you were. She sounded quite guilty, so please don’t hold a grudge against her. “She also mentioned she was setting you up on blind dates? Have you gone on any yet? How are the men? How are their families? I’m telling you Clare, I’ve been through a lot in my life. What’s most important is that he loves you and takes good care of you. His wealth doesn’t matter as long as he has a stable job, and it’s fine even if he’s slightly older than you. I know you’re a very beautiful girl, but you shouldn’t be too picky about appearances, just an average-looking guy will do…”
Clarissa had heard this speech way too many times before and she was starting to grow impatient. “I know, I know. I’m only twenty-six years old, Grandma. There’s no rush.”
“What do you mean ‘there’s no rush?’ All of your friends are already getting married and starting families of their own. The younger you are when you give birth, the faster your body will recover…”
“Okay, okay! I get it! I’ll get to it as soon as possible, alright?”
“Get to what?”
Catherine immediately fell silent at the sound of Matthew’s voice.
“Clare? Who is that?”
“Nothing! It’s just my colleague! I’m hanging up, Grandma!”
She hurriedly ended the call before whipping around to see that Matthew had entered the room. Donnie followed behind him, giving a kind smile and a nod in her direction.
Coughing awkwardly, Clarissa asked, “Why are you back so early? I was just getting ready to leave. I’ll come back later to make dinner, so you don’t have to worry about that part.”
Matthew chuckled while Donnie couldn’t be bothered by her forced, obvious excuse.
Ignoring Donnie’s presence in the room, he leaned forward and grabbed hold of Clarissa’s chin to kiss her.
Clarissa’s body grew warm with embarrassment. She took a quick glance at Donnie’s blank expression before turning around to glare furiously at Matthew.
The man didn’t seem to care at all. “Donnie, the documents are in my study. You can go upstairs to collect them and wait for me in my car.”
After sending his assistant away, he draped an arm around Clarissa, asking in a low voice, “Get to what?”
“Nothing.”
“Give birth?”
“You…”
He’d clearly overheard everything!
Clarissa’s angry stare was only met with a strangely fond laugh from Matthew. He bent down and pressed closer to her, his lips a hair’s breadth away from her, but never moving forward nor pulling back.
The feeling of their warm, mingling breaths made Clarissa’s whole body tense up anxiously.
“Clare, you could fulfill your grandma’s wishes right now! If you just nod-”
“That’s enough. What my grandma said has nothing to do with you.”
“Well, it’s gonna be sooner or later.”
“That’s impossible. Stop fooling around and go away already, Mr. Sheldon is waiting for you…”
“You seem very sure about that.”
He raised an eyebrow, gazing straight at her until she started to squirm from uneasiness. Chuckling, he flicked her forehead.
“Stop lying to yourself.”
I’m not!
Clarissa thought to herself, but even she wasn’t convinced.
Rubbing her forehead and looking up at him, his dark, soulful eyes froze her in place.
She was suddenly rendered speechless, having forgotten what she wanted to say.
Matthew opened his mouth and said, “Clare, I think that at the bottom of your heart, you actually understand full well that…”
He placed his large hand on her chest, on top of where her heart was. “You’re actually in love with me.”
Silence hung in the air between them as they stared at each other.
Slap!
Cheeks flaming red, Clarissa slapped his hand away and turned her back to him, grabbing her laptop and pretending to be absorbed in her work.
Matthew didn’t know if her reaction was because he had guessed her thoughts exactly, or because of where he had placed his hand.
His hand fell to his side, his fingers twitched as he recalled the soft feeling of her flesh.
“I’m going out on a business trip for the next few days, so you’ll essentially be on leave until I return.”
Surprised, she looked up at him. “Where are you going?”
“A City. If you miss me, you can go there to look for me.”
“Hmph!”
Clarissa maintained her frosty attitude, ignoring his teasing as she got up and started to pack her things.
“Then I’ll be leaving. I don’t need to make dinner anymore anyways.”
Matthew tugged at her arm, grinning. “You’re right. Since you don’t have to make dinner, you might as well send me to the airport.”
