Chapter 123
Sophie had originally planned to change clothes and go out, but after Matthew's antics, she ended up lying on the bed.
Matthew, on the other hand, was full of energy. Wearing his loungewear, he looked at the woman lying on the bed, bent down, tucked the hair from her face behind her ear, and asked softly, "Want to go out?"
"Where to?" Sophie kept her eyes closed, not looking at him.
The feeling of mutual love conveyed through their kiss was becoming clearer and clearer, and she was a little afraid that opening her eyes would shatter the scenario she'd imagined for herself.
Most women like to deceive themselves. They always want beautiful moments to last a bit longer.
"Aren't you hungry?" Matthew held her wrist. "Let's go eat."
Sophie was hungry.
She opened her eyes. "I forgot to ask. Where did you go yesterday?"
"You still remember that?" Matthew chuckled. "Your memory's pretty good."
"So?"
"I went to see Bella."
Matthew's honesty left Sophie a bit at a loss.
She lightly ran her tongue over her lips, not sure how to question him.
"Aren't you going to ask what I wanted with her?" Matthew took the initiative to continue the topic.
Sophie thought about how she and Emily had seen Bella with Harold before. She frowned. "Afraid she'd be tricked by someone?"
Matthew scoffed. "She's almost thirty. If she gets tricked, she deserves it."
Sophie raised her eyebrows. His attitude toward Bella was different from before.
It seemed like Bella wasn't as important to him anymore.
"Then why did you go see her?"
"To tell her to behave herself." Matthew pulled her up and handed her the clothes she'd prepared earlier to change into. "Get dressed, we're going out to eat."
Sophie was still stunned.
Tell her to behave herself.
Was Bella not behaving?
The key thing was, no matter what tone you said those words in, they sounded so cold.
"Go out." Sophie didn't ask any more questions.
Sometimes you need to be sensible and know when to advance and retreat.
The fact that he was being honest with her was already unexpected.
Matthew stared at her with heated eyes. After a few seconds, he walked out of the bedroom.
Sophie's tense heart relaxed.
After changing, she came out to find Matthew sitting on the sofa. He turned to look at her, got up, and walked toward her.
He took her right hand and slipped something onto her ring finger.
When Sophie saw the ring clearly, she instinctively tried to pull back, but Matthew held her hand and wouldn't let go.
"Married people should look married. Otherwise, people might think I can't even afford a ring." After putting the ring on, Matthew, afraid she'd take it off again, directly interlaced his fingers with hers, cutting off any such thoughts.
He held her hand all the way to the door, grabbed her bag for her, and kept holding on until they reached the garage.
He opened the car door and finally let go of her hand.
Sophie had held back the whole way, but finally looked at him with a smile. "See, what's the point of guarding against me for that short distance?"
She raised her right hand and wiggled her ring finger. "I could just take it off now. Same thing."
Matthew's eyes instantly darkened.
Sophie withdrew her hand, got in the passenger seat, and fastened her seatbelt. Seeing him still standing outside, she urged, "Are we going or not?"
Only when Matthew saw she hadn't actually removed the ring did his expression soften a bit.
Throughout the drive, Sophie was in a pretty good mood.
She twisted the ring and glanced at Matthew from time to time.
It was just a joke—why stay upset this long?
"I saw Bella with Harold," Sophie initiated conversation. "Harold's no good. Aren't you afraid Bella will be tricked by him?"
"Don't talk about people who don't matter."
Sophie looked at him in surprise.
Harold was someone who didn't matter, but was Bella really irrelevant to him now?
"Fine. If you don't want to hear it, I won't say it. Anyway, if Bella gets tricked or hurt, it's got nothing to do with me. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I don't want her coming to cry to you after she really does get hurt."
"You put this ring on my finger, so you need to take responsibility for me. I'm petty—I don't want other women clinging to you." Sophie wasn't a saint; whether Bella got tricked or hurt had nothing to do with her.
She just thought about what might happen later and wanted to prevent that kind of trouble.
Matthew said nothing.
Sophie looked at him, unsure if he'd taken in what she said.
Or rather, his non-response might actually mean he didn't want to agree.
She still had no clear idea what was really going on between him and Bella.
Sophie could sense that he was hiding secrets in his heart.
Secrets no one could pry into.
But if he wouldn't say, she didn't want to interrogate him about it either.
In the end, if they couldn't make it work, there were ways to deal with that.
As long as they didn't bring up the past or certain people, the two of them could still get by.
Enjoy the moment—don't put things that haven't happened yet into your head. You can't solve them anyway, and they just add worry and make you unhappy.
Thinking about this, Sophie couldn't help but laugh.
Matthew glanced at her.
"You know what I did when I came back from out of town and saw Harold sleeping with another woman?" Sophie suddenly asked him.
Matthew knew.
That video had spread throughout their circle.
"From your expression, you must know. Actually, what I most wanted to do then was get a basin of cold water and splash them with it." Sophie said with a laugh. "Honestly, his body's not as good as yours."
Matthew wasn't pleased with her praise at this moment.
"He's handsome, sure. I guess your family's genes are pretty strong. But he's not as good-looking as you." Sophie was speaking from the heart.
She'd seen plenty of men, but Matthew was the kind she'd willingly be seduced by.
Matthew scoffed. "You're comparing me to him?"
"True. Just based on his messy relationships with women, he's not worthy of comparison with you." Sophie was good at providing emotional value.
She understood Matthew somewhat. Sometimes he was like a child who needed coaxing.
Matthew gave a dismissive laugh.
After eating, Matthew took Sophie to a jewelry store.
Sophie rarely shopped at places like this. She glanced at Matthew. "What do you want to buy?"
"Buy whatever you want."
"I don't want to buy anything." Sophie had no interest in these things.
Matthew frowned. "Don't all women like jewelry?"
"I do like it. But it's not something I have to buy. Just looking is fine."
"Then let's look."
With a "since we're already here" attitude, Sophie stood in front of the display case looking.
Women's love for jewelry was just natural—everything was beautiful. The pretty saleswoman was smart and could tell Matthew was wealthy, so she took out the pieces Sophie looked at and let her try them on.
Sophie couldn't resist the saleswoman's enthusiasm and tried them all.
In the end, Sophie put everything back down.
She really didn't need them.
After looking around, she went to tell Matthew they should go.
Matthew got up and told the saleswoman, "Pack up everything she tried on."
"I don't want them!" Sophie was shocked and immediately tried to stop him.
"You do." Matthew wouldn't let her refuse.
The store manager personally handled the service, with several salespeople boxing up the jewelry together.
Matthew swiped his card to pay.