A childish voice faintly echoed beside her: "Mom... Daddy Matthew is letting me talk to you..."
After a few rustling sounds, the clear, slightly whining voice of Paul chimed in: "Mom, I want to stay in the US for a bit longer. I have called grandma already, and she said it is okay to stay and play for a few more days."
Very well, the child even dared to use his grandmother to manipulate her. She intentionally raised her voice:
"Who is your guardian? You should listen to your mother, shouldn't you?"
"But grandma already agreed." The little girl pouted: "Alright, I will think about it a bit more."
Finishing, the child handed the phone back to Matthew. He spoke gently to the person on the other end, hoping she wouldn't worry too much: "Don't worry, I will arrange someone to take care of and protect our child thoroughly. I will return tomorrow. I may not be able to call you tonight. Don't lose sleep over missing me too much."
The heat on Flora's face surged again, her cheeks flushed. She stuttered in retort: "Who... Who misses you!"
No sooner had she spoken, than she heard his soft laughter, dangerously seductive.
"Alright, it's me who misses you."
Matthew hung up the phone. Handing the phone back to Aunt Laura, Flora only then remembered the presence of the two others in the room. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red.
"You two are really affectionate." Morela teased: "Such a pity compared to that other couple... Maybe we should go and see how Layla is doing."
Originally thinking that she would easily receive Flora's nod of agreement, unexpectedly Aunt Laura spoke up first: "This won't do, Miss Flora. The young master has said you cannot go out."
"What?" Morela's eyes widened, staring intensely at Flora as if awaiting her denial of the previous statement.
However, she merely sighed and lowered her head, saying nothing.
Snorting, Morela seemed frustrated: "In this day and age... truly, entering a rich family means losing even your freedom. You need permission just to go out..."
Flora pursed her lips, and after a long moment said:
"I am a bit unhappy, but... I understand his concerns. He just... wants to protect me."
Seeing her accept these restrictions, Morela found she could say nothing more. Even though they were close friends, Morela couldn't overstep her bounds concerning family affairs.
She could only sigh: "Call me if you need anything."
Flora knew, her man would return the next day. Yet, she never expected that as the first rays of sunlight pierced the deep blue sky, coloring a corner of the city, he was already stepping onto the tarmac.
And thirty minutes later, he was in their bedroom at the mansion.
"Flora... Have you missed me?" A soft kiss fell onto her forehead.
The person lying in bed opened her drowsy eyes, awakening. She rubbed her eyes, utterly unable to believe what she saw, her voice involuntarily heightened: "How come you're back already?"
"Let me tell you, I did mention earlier that I would be returning today." Matthew teased, a playful grin on his face: "But it seems you weren't quite welcoming me. During my nap, I thought I heard... you calling out another man's name..."
As he said those last words, his deep, dark eyes bore into hers with an enigmatic, dangerous intensity.
In Flora's mind, fragments of her recent dream fluttered: "I was just dreaming about an old friend. Why are you reading into it so much?"
"Thinking about you." Matthew laughed off.
During their days apart, there wasn't a moment he didn't think of her. Thousands of miles of distance could not be easily bridged by mere fleeting and rushed phone calls.
But what he said was: "With you prone to sneaking out and stirring up trouble, how can I ever be at ease?"
Flora subtly pursed her lips. Wasn't her escapade a result of him restricting her freedom? Being a grown woman confined to the house every day, who could bear it?
"So, you're secretly complaining about me again?" Matthew reached out, gently touching her cheek: "This expression of yours, it clearly shows you're dissatisfied."
She was not a woman to easily put up with grievances. Had he not just returned from a long and weary journey, she might have directly confronted him instead of fuming internally.
"W... Who's complaining about you?" Flora retorted, her eyes wide.
Her rebuttal was abruptly cut off by his lips. Their mouths melded together, and she was drawn into a passionate, longing-filled kiss.
After their fervor subsided, Flora nestled comfortably in the strong man's arms, feeling his heartbeats resonating steady and powerful. She brushed her head against his chest and whispered: "Why didn't you bring our daughter home? Leaving her in America like this... She'll miss me!"
His muscular arm tightened around her petite waist. Matthew chuckled: "I missed you more than her. So much that I wanted to rush back to see you."
Flora's cheeks flushed. She hadn't expected him to keep flinging these flirtatious words even after his return.
"What are you saying?"
"We're husband and wife. Missing you isn't strange at all." Matthew said, lightly brushing her cheek: "I've thought it through. No matter what your past was like, you can only be with me now and in the future."
He considered her his woman, his children's mother, his wife. Only by her side did he taste the essence of family life. So, why not build a family together?
But Flora had reservations. After all... Matthew had a pregnant fiancée.
"What about Director White... Selena? The baby in her womb..." She hesitated on how to broach the topic. That child was his flesh and blood, she had neither the right nor the grounds to ask him to abandon the baby.
He had already pondered a solution for this issue: "I trust that you will love that child just as you would our own... Am I right?"
"You mean..." Flora looked at him, her eyes full of questions, and received a firm nod in return.
Had he recognized his two children earlier, had he loved Flora earlier, he would have severed his ties with Selena sooner. Now, he must take responsibility for the child she carried.
Excluding any responsibility for the child's mother.
"From now on, we will live together, just us two, and... our three children. Is that acceptable?"
Flora was slightly hesitant. She understood that her actions were somewhat selfish and potentially unfair to Selena, but love was intrinsically self-centered. Her concerns extended beyond herself, however, considering the future of their two young ones as well.
Matthew noticed her thoughtful bowing of her head, concerned that she was ruminating once more, and asserted candidly: "I don't love Selena. Our engagement was based on convenience, not affection. Hence, you needn't feel guilty about her."
He hadn't yet calculated the wrongs Selena and her father had committed behind his back.
Seizing the moment of Flora's bewilderment, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a ring box, opened the lid, and slid a sparkling diamond ring onto her finger. Startled by the cold metal encircling her digit, Flora gazed, wide-eyed, at the ring.
"This is..."
"This is my love for you." Matthew said, his lips breaking into a joyful smile, his eyes filled with gentle affection.
Indeed, the Matthew of the present was a stark contrast to the CEO of S.E.I. that she'd first encountered. It seemed that no matter how aloof a person may be, there always existed a tender corner in their heart.
Flora blushed, lowering her head shyly, and whispered: "If that's your decision, then my decision... is to accept your hand and journey through the years to come with you." She nodded definitively: "I accept."
Seven years prior, from that night of abandon, fate had accidentally intertwined their destinies. Seven years later, having met again and recognized each other, they decided to commit for life.
"Bless you!" Their child, lying in the hospital bed, sneezed suddenly, startling the entering doctor.
Andrey quickly entered the sickroom, his anxious gaze focused on the little one in bed: "What's wrong, kiddo? How are you feeling? Please don't tell me you've... caught a cold or some virus."
The child was in the recovery phase after a bone marrow transplant, any additional illness would complicate treatment greatly.
Andrey's worried gaze was fixated on the monitor tracking the child's vitals; seeing that all indicators were normal, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed there was no serious issue.
The child also shook their head: "I'm fine. I just had a sudden itch in my nose... it's gone now."
Andrey nodded, calming himself. He'd heard some people say that sneezing meant someone was thinking of you, so he joked with the child:
"Perhaps your mother is missing you."
"I think so too." The child blinked their large, round eyes: "I've never been away from mom for this long. She, grandma, and my brother must miss me a lot."
Surprised, Andrey realized the child had a brother: "I bet your brother is pretty sweet too, right?"
Without hesitation, the child nodded: "Charlie is the sweetest person in the world, apart from mom."
It seemed in the child's innocent world, the mother sat steadfast at the top of their 'sweetest in the world' list, beyond any doubt. Andrey gently ruffled the child's hair, jotted down necessary information in his notebook, and stepped out of the room.
Meanwhile, back at home, the child's brother sat with his game controller in hand, sneezing loudly. The young boy rubbed his nose, grimacing: "Seems like someone's talking about me... Maybe it's that teddy bear."
He always referred to his sister as 'teddy bear', a habit the adults had been unable to correct and thus let it be.
Flora frowned at the sight of the father-son duo, nestled together on the sofa, their game controllers gripped tightly, with an additional teddy bear cushion clutched between them.
"Why are you playing video games this early in the morning?"
In response to her, the boy knitted his brows: "I can't possibly wake up early to arrange flowers. Don't bother me, mom. Today, I have to settle the scores with Daddy Matthew."
His father, a man of all trades, even excelled in gaming. The little lad had struggled for so long, yet couldn't secure a victory. The more he failed to win, the fiercer the fighting spirit in his eyes. He always yearned to challenge his father.