Take My Breath Away

Before she went to bed, Erica received a WeChat message from Chantel. "Rika, I just wanted to thank you and Mr. Huo. I'll cherish this opportunity!"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Huh? What do you mean?" Reading her reply, Chantel wondered why Erica didn't know what she was talking about.

"Do you really not know? Mr. Huo introduced me to the general manager of Global Entertainment to poach me. I assured him that after I give birth to the baby, I will sign a contract with them and begin training!"

Erica was surprised. "Seriously? I really didn't know anything about it. Matthew did that?"

"Yep! The general manager said that it was Mr. Huo who told him about me. I really appreciate it, that's why I wanted to thank you both!" Although they were only chatting through the app, Chantel's excitement was obvious.

Erica got out of bed and ran to the study. She stuck her head out from the door and asked her busy husband who was typing on his computer, "Did you arrange for Chantel to work at Global Entertainment?"

Matthew nodded. He was startled from her sudden appearance at the door.

Since he came across the general manager at a meeting last time, Matthew mentioned Chantel to him while they were talking. After all, she had become his sister-in-law the moment she got married to Gifford.

Chantel's previous performances seemed to have pleased the general manager, so he met with her to talk about signing a contract with them at Global Entertainment.

Erica understood what had happened and seemed delighted. "Chantel asked me to thank you for her!"

"It's my pleasure," Matthew replied like a gentleman.

Chantel was now part of the family, so this kind of arrangement was just a piece of cake for him.

His pregnant wife slept a lot recently. Although Matthew had finished his work early, he found that Erica had already fallen asleep when he returned to the bedroom.

Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the fact that he could sleep with his wife in his arms. Matthew didn't take her with him when he had a business trip a few days ago, so he could not fall asleep at night. He always felt that something was missing by his side.

Every night he was away, he would wonder if this heartless woman had ever missed him in the middle of the night.

When she tried to fix the blanket over her shoulder with her eyes closed, Matthew realized that he had been staring at her wife and watching her sleep. As soon as he lay down and held her, Erica turned over and wrapped her arms around him.

He smiled, lowered his head to kiss her, and embraced her tightly in his arms.

While he leaned his face on hers, he smelled her familiar fragrance. Matthew knew that he could finally have a good sleep.

The next afternoon, Erica received an announcement from the Photography Association of Y City that there would be a photography activity happening the next day at the Blessing Palace. All the members of the association were invited to participate.

The Blessing Palace was a scenic spot with a long history. In ancient times, it was an emperor's temporary imperial palace. To this day, it still looked well-preserved—a magnificent view for a photo shoot.

Erica tugged at Hyatt while he was texting Rhea and said, "Tomorrow morning!"

Hyatt knew exactly what she was talking about. He fixed his glasses and asked, "Can you get up early?"

Recently, she had been experiencing drowsiness due to pregnancy that she found it difficult to get up on time in the morning.

"Of course, I can. I'll set an alarm!" The weather was getting hotter and hotter every day, so she hadn't been that reluctant to get out of bed.

"Okay. What kind of camera lens do you want to take?"

"I'll go home and have a look tonight. You can take the newly bought camera lens with you and see if you like that new one."

When he got the money back that Pansy had owed him, Hyatt bought a new camera lens.

"All right, then."

Morning came, and Erica got ready for their activity at the Blessing Palace. On their way there, she asked her bodyguards to pick Hyatt up so they could go together.

As the car approached the venue, people had started to swarm by the gate. She had no idea that Watkins would also be there until she arrived. There was still an unhealed wound on his face, and his arm was still covered in plaster.

Erica thought that, since she had only met him there and didn't come to actually see him, she could greet him and ask him about his current state. Even if Matthew found it out and was angry with her, she still could give him a reasonable explanation.

"Watkins!" He was busy adjusting his camera parameters along with the others. They were surrounded by media equipment from different angles.

Hearing her voice, Watkins turned around and walked towards her with a smile. "Hi, Erica. It's nice to see you here."

She shrugged with her palms up and asked, "Well, how's your injury?"

Watkins took a look at his arm as if trying to convince himself and said, "I'm much better, but my arm needs more time to recover. I came here today because some reporters are here to prepare for an exclusive interview for this activity. Our public relations department is here to assist in the process."

Erica looked astonished. "Oh, I see!" She did see several busy reporters when she got out of the car.

An awkward silence filled the air between them. Watkins looked at her belly and asked, "What about you? How's the baby doing?"

At the mention of the baby, Erica's face lit up with a maternal glow. She gently put her empty hand over her belly and said, "I'm fine. It's still a bit early so there's no big movement yet."

Watkins chuckled as if influenced by her joy. "How far along are you?"

"About three months." Erica was only in her first trimester, but her baby bump was obvious. Wherever she went, she would be offered special care.

Not long ago, Chantel took a photo of her own bump and sent it to Erica. Despite being on her second trimester, Chantel's belly still looked smaller compared to Erica's bump since Erica was carrying twins.

When Watkins and Erica ran out of things to talk about, they both fell silent. Right then, they heard an announcement that the activity would begin.

Watkins signaled Erica that he would go back to his post and walked away. As they entered the palace, a tutor gave the participants some tips first on how to shoot photos before they let them take photos freely.

Erica instructed her bodyguards to stay outside so she could move freely. The palace wasn't open to the public that day, but since the activity was arranged by the Photography Association, they were granted half a day to conduct a photo shoot activity.

The Blessing Palace was kept open especially for them, so there would be no other people inside the palace aside from them. She would be safe even without her bodyguards following her. Besides, Hyatt would be with her all the time. Everything would be fine.

Once inside the palace, Hyatt followed her closely wherever she went.

As much as he wanted to take care of Erica, Hyatt wasn't interested in shooting scenery as much as she was. He was more passionate about taking pictures of people.

Right then, Erica, who was attentively shooting the scenery, accidentally fell into Hyatt's viewfinder and got photographed.

Hyatt took photos from different angles and with different camera settings. When his subject moved, he stopped taking photos and browsed through all his shots. He chose two photos he was quite satisfied with, downloaded them, and sent them to Erica. "Erica, can you check these photos I took? Give me some advice." Hyatt had been learning from her since she was better at photography than him.

Erica turned to look at the photos he was showing her.

One photo was of a pear tree with white blossoms standing beautifully by the red palace wall. Under the tree, a woman in a light purple dress was taking pictures of the dancing white flowers.

The other one was a close-up of Erica's side face when she turned around. Her smiling pretty face was all over the screen, and everything else in the photo was blurred.

She gave him a thumbs up and said proudly, "This is awesome. You made me look so pretty here. If you hadn't snapped a picture of me, I wouldn't have known I'm this beautiful!"

Hyatt laughed, "Hey! Don't say that. You actually look much more beautiful in person than in these pictures." It seemed that the clearest and most beautiful pictures would always be what people could see with their own eyes.

Erica couldn't stop smiling. "All right, then. I'm going to take that as a compliment!" She pinched her own cheek, which had become rounder since her pregnancy, and walked to find a new subject to shoot.

While she was walking, she quickly edited the pictures Hyatt had taken for her and sent them to Matthew. "Hey, is your wife beautiful?"

Erica continued to search for a different view as she waited for his reply. A few minutes later, her phone vibrated. She was excited to check what Matthew had said. "I'll tell you face to face when you're done with the activity."

She pouted with frustration and dissatisfaction. 'Humph. Is he really so mean that he can't even compliment his own wife?'

After half a day of photography sessions, everyone from the association began to head towards the palace gate. Erica had also felt tired, so she followed them back and browsed through the photos on her camera.

Before they reached the front gate of the Blessing Palace, Erica suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure through the locked yard on the left.