Chapter 12
He said he wondered why this woman would be so bold on their first meeting. If he hadn't pushed her away then, she would have gotten what she wanted.
"No." Sophie finally snapped out of it. "What are you talking about? How am I pregnant?"
Matthew leaned against the wall. "So why do you want to have a baby for me?"
"I said I want to." Sophie rushed to explain. "I just want to, it doesn't mean I have to. If you don't agree, then we won't."
"I don't agree."
Sophie wasn't surprised. She still needed to explain. "I'm not pregnant. Harold and I, we never got to that point."
"None of my business." Matthew wasn't going to waste more words on her. "If you want to have a baby, tell me. I won't stop you from having one with someone else. But if you have a kid with someone else while still married, I'll kill you."
Matthew's tone was light, but it made Sophie think of that day when he called and said "deal with it."
Her body couldn't help but shiver.
"How could that happen?" Sophie took a deep breath. "It won't."
Matthew straightened up. His deep eyes were like a bottomless and dangerous abyss. The gaze locked on Sophie was like tentacles reaching out from below, ready to drag her down at any moment.
"You're the one who wanted to get married, and you're the one who won't divorce. Unless I die, you're stuck with this."
Sophie never liked drinking. Alcohol was bad for the body.
But sometimes, alcohol really did have a calming effect.
"Do you really like him or are you just saying it?"
Emily came straight to the bar to find her after returning from her business trip, still in her work clothes.
Unlike the state she was in when she discovered Harold's affair, now there was a strange kind of sadness.
Sophie brushed her long hair from her chest. She looked at Emily. "Actually, I know Matthew."
Emily was surprised. "Since when?"
"A long time ago." Sophie looked at her glass. "The year my mom found out my dad was cheating, she couldn't take it and drove to a bridge to kill herself. I couldn't hold her back, but Matthew happened to pass by and helped pull her back. Too bad my mom didn't cherish it."
The corners of Sophie's mouth lifted, and her eyes glistened.
Emily moved closer and gently put her arm around her.
"I'm fine." Sophie smiled and took a sip of wine, pressing her lips together. "Matthew saved my mom. He probably doesn't remember, but when you mentioned his name that day, I remembered what happened."
"Before he left, I heard a woman in the car call his name. That's how I learned his name."
Emily didn't know about this.
"So that's why you married him."
"Yeah."
Sophie held her glass. "I really hope it was a misdiagnosis. If he wasn't sick, the person he likes wouldn't leave him, right?"
Emily couldn't say anything about Matthew now.
The two of them drank in silence. Even the lively atmosphere couldn't lift their deathly mood.
"So you really want to have a baby for him?"
Sophie smiled slightly. "He doesn't need it."
"What if he does?"
"I'll do it."
Emily frowned at her.
Sophie poured herself more wine. "Emily, when I hear him say the word 'death,' I feel really uncomfortable. I don't want him to die."
Emily could understand.
Either way, Matthew had saved a life that mattered to Sophie.
"Everyone has their own fate." Emily sighed. "Some things are beyond our ability to change."
Sophie knew that, of course. She lay on the table, feeling down. "That's why I want to do something for him. But there's nothing I can do."
Marrying him was just her wishful thinking that someone would be with him in his final days.
Actually, Matthew didn't need it at all.
Emily understood, but there was no solution to the current situation.
She poured her a drink and patted her back. "Just be yourself."
"Okay."
Sophie just felt a bit sad.
Matthew was so young, but didn't have much time left.
They kept drinking and ended up drinking too much. Sophie felt a bit dizzy.
Emily held her alcohol well and helped her out of the bar.
She took her to Matthew's place and rang the doorbell.
After ringing twice, the door finally opened.
Looking at the person who opened the door, Emily paused slightly.
He really was as good-looking as Sophie said. Easy for women to fall for.
"I'm handing your wife over to you."
Emily pushed the person directly to Matthew.
Matthew's body reacted faster than his mouth, catching her.
He had a good sense of smell. He'd caught the scent of alcohol when he opened the door, and now it was even stronger.
The woman leaned against him, seemingly unaware of what was happening.
"I'm leaving." Emily added another reminder. "Whatever she does or says, don't take it seriously. She just had too much to drink."
Matthew's brow furrowed immediately.
Emily waved and left.
Looking at the woman in his arms leaning weakly against him, the faint smell of alcohol mixed with a trace of fragrance entered his body with his breathing.
He held her waist with one hand, closed the door, and helped her inside.
The woman wasn't sleeping peacefully. Her eyelashes trembled lightly, and there was a hint of moisture at the corners of her eyes, as if she'd been crying.
Women cry either for men or for life's disappointments.
Her life wasn't bad, so it could only be for a man.
Her boyfriend of two years cheated on her right in front of her. How could her heart not hurt?
"Matthew..." the woman murmured.
Matthew thought she'd woken up and looked down. Her eyes were still closed.
Pretending again. Trying to use being drunk as an excuse to act out.
"I don't want you to die."
Matthew's hand stiffened slightly.
A tear spilled from the corner of her eye, sliding down her face and disappearing into his clothes.
Sophie had a headache.
She struggled in bed for a while before opening her eyes.
After spacing out for a few minutes, she remembered something.
She threw back the covers to check her pajamas, then quickly called Emily.
"Did you change my clothes?"
"How could that be? I handed you to Matthew and left."
"He changed your clothes?" Emily's voice immediately brightened. "Did you sleep together?"
Sophie messed up her hair. "How could that be?"
"You didn't take advantage of being drunk to make a move?"
Hearing her friend's teasing, Sophie was speechless.
Matthew probably thought the same thing when he received her.
She probably didn't do anything inappropriate, otherwise she wouldn't have woken up in bed.
She got out of bed and left the bedroom. The weather was beautiful today, sunny and bright.
Warm, gentle sunlight poured in from outside, thin and golden, falling on Matthew. He was in the light, so ethereal and fleeting, as if in the blink of an eye, he would disappear.
She stood there watching him, even holding her breath a little, afraid of breaking this beautiful scene.
Matthew's gaze moved from the computer and locked precisely on Sophie.
Their eyes met. Sophie licked her lips and smiled at him. "Thanks for last night."
"I hope there won't be a next time." After Matthew finished speaking, he put his attention back on the computer screen.
Sophie was speechless.
He really was quite boring.
"Last night, you didn't do anything to me, did you?" Sophie poured herself a glass of water and walked toward him with it, admiring his long, beautiful fingers tapping on the keyboard with a pleasant rhythm. Beautiful fingers.
Matthew's fingers stopped typing, curling slightly, then continued. He didn't look up. "I'm not interested in you."