Love’s New Bloom By Simone Hastings - Season 1 Episode 65

Erin had not gotten a chance to explain everything to Chandler before Matthew’s gaze fell upon her. Earlier, he had been too preoccupied with trying to avoid Chandler and had overlooked her. After all, his concert was swiftly approaching. He absolutely could not have any injuries on his face!

That was his responsibility as a celebrity to the public.

Now that he caught sight of the woman he loved on the ground, a twinge of pain shot through his chest. Matthew immediately walked over and got down on one knee. Nervously, he asked, “Erin, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine…”

Erin’s heart was cold. Even if Chandler hadn’t used his full force when he pushed her just now, it was enough to hurt her. It was

only when Matthew had helped her up that she realized the scrape on her knee..

“Don’t say you’re fine. Look, your knee is injured! I’ll take you to the hospital straight away.” Matthew exclaimed as he

attempted to lift her up.

Before he could, however, Chandler had already rushed forward and prised his arms away. Angrily, he said, “Get your dirty

hands off her! The person you should be concerned about is Claire, not her!”

Matthew was forced to take a step back as Chandler wrapped an arm around Erin’s waist. Just like that, he lifted her up

effortlessly.

“I’ll send her to the hospital.” He swept a cold gaze over Erin.

Erin didn’t resist. Instead, she chose to remain silent in Chandler’s embrace. She didn’t want to tell Matthew that she was

Chandler’s lover. At that moment, she only hoped that Chandler wouldn’t say anything about it too.

Matthew laughed coldly. “Chandler, Claire and I are already broken up! She can take her own life or hurt herself, and it wouldn’t

have anything to do with me. She can’t use her life to forcefully chain me to her.”

Hearing his emotionless words, Chandler narrowed his eyes, danger radiating from his dark irises. “Matthew Burgess, if you’re

still a man, you should know that you’re obligated to take responsibility for everything that had happened, separated or not.”

Unexpectedly, his remark made Matthew burst into laughter, albeit one that turned bitter and cold toward the end. Matthew felt the judgment and doubt in Erin’s eyes. He knew then that Erin, too, had misunderstood him.

He inhaled deeply before gazing at Erin meaningfully. His voice was cold when he spoke. “I never needed to explain anything to anyone about my private relationships, but I hope you will not mistake me for a heartless, emotionless person, Erin.”

Chandler stared at him wordlessly. Now that Matthew had started, he was interested in hearing how the other man was about

to defend himself.

Matthew continued, “Claire is not an inherently evil person, but dating made her spiteful! When we were together briefly, I

witnessed how she had transformed from an innocent girl to the scheming, manipulative woman she is now!”

His words were so unpleasant that Chandler had evidently reached his limit, anger suffusing his features. But before he could

open his mouth to speak, Matthew interrupted, “Chandler, don’t you start rushing to her defense. Listen to me first! Claire is jealous and suspicious. Once, she thought I had an affair with a female guitarist in my band. When we were overseas, she secretly hired someone to attack the woman. My friend was so severely injured that she could no longer play the guitar due to her resulting disabilities. If her father hadn’t intervened and mediated the situation with his influence, she probably would have been in prison abroad by now!”

Matthew’s face was still indignant, his amber eyes filled with helplessness. “You know, her father even came to my father as a mediator, hoping I wouldn’t pursue the matter further. Even my friend herself didn’t wish to press the matter further. What else could I do? I could only excuse her actions for a moment’s impulsiveness and forgive her. Later on, she only became more extreme. She would secretly check my phone behind my back and have people shadow me. Not only that, she even suspected that I was tangled in an affair with my female fans! I’m just so tired, so I suggested we break up, but she refused to let me go. If

I succumbed to her coercion and threats, wouldn’t I end up trapped under her mercy? I tried calling her father. I thought I could get him to bring Claire to a psychiatrist. Her dad agreed, and he even supported us breaking up.”

Matthew became agitated once again. “Now that I’m here preparing for my concert, she wants to get back together. When I refused, she had the nerve to threaten me with her own life. Does she really think I’m a spineless puppet? Chandler Frost, don’t you just judge me based on what you’ve heard from her!”

When he explained his side, undoubtedly, Erin was entirely convinced by him. Despite her inability to obtain Claire’s side of the situation, her intuition told her that everything Matthew said was the truth.

Chandler stood unmoving, his unpredictable eyes swirling with indecipherable mysteriousness. No one could tell what he was thinking at that time.

Matthew frowned and hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Chandler, I have no grievances with you, nor do we have any conflicts of interest with each other. There’s something else I thought you should know. Claire told me once that she knew you liked her, but she said you could only ever be a backup for her because you were too old for her.”

His words elicited a light laugh from Chandler. Without sparing him another word, Chandler left the hall with Erin in his arms.

Matthew was just about to step forward to stop them when a manager who had previously been hiding in the darkness stopped him hurriedly.

The manager, Ceylon Sinclair, was profusely sweating as he spoke. “Oh, Matthew, for God’s sake, this is me begging you. Don’t. you leave this arena right now! I don’t know who leaked this, but the outside of the arena is packed full of reporters waiting for you to comment on this. Your encounter with that girl earlier is all over the Internet now!”

Ceylon clicked on the photo on his phone and showed it to Matthew. In the photo, Matthew was singing while playing the guitar, and Erin was smiling with tears in her eyes. In such a short amount of time, the number of views had already reached

three million.

Matthew was shocked. “Who leaked it?”

“I don’t know. Someone must have hidden in here and taken the picture secretly! I’ve already sent my assistant to investigate-”

Matthew thought of the concert and his fans and decided to put Erin’s matters aside for the time being. He would have to wait

till he had the time to find her another day.

Since Erin’s cousin was one of his fans, he wasn’t worried about not being able to find Erin again. And yet, recalling the interactions between Chandler and Erin and sensing the depth of their relationship, Matthew’s heart gradually sank.

Chandler took Erin through a special passage reserved for the higher–ranking staff members of Strata Arena, completely avoiding the reporters outside. Shortly after, they successfully boarded the car and left the arena.

Kyle was driving in front and couldn’t see what was happening at the back as Chandler had separated the front and back seats

with a partition.

In the back seat compartment, Chandler held Erin in his arms, his expression frosty. Whenever she shifted, he would squeeze

her waist tightly. After a few attempts, Erin gave up trying to resist and let the ice king hold her however he wanted to.

Time passed minute by minute.

After twenty minutes, Chandler finally spoke, “Erin, how did you know Matthew Burgess? Isn’t this something you should have told me about earlier?”

Erin had never wanted to hide this from him anyway. She was afraid that he would accuse her of intentionally “seducing men.” So, she told him all about May’s request for her to buy her a concert ticket and her history with Matthew.

When she was done speaking, Chandler remained silent, his expression cold. And yet, Erin could clearly feel that the man holding her had relaxed slightly, the previously tensed muscles on his thighs loosening just barely.

She felt herself relax as well, but once she did, drowsiness.seized her immediately. Had it not been for the waves of stabbing pain from her knee, she would have been asleep by then.

“You should sleep if you’re tired. Your injuries aren’t severe. They should be healed within a week.”

Erin smiled at his words. She could sense that he was no longer mad at her. She leaned closer to his face and asked, “So you

believe me?”

Chandler glanced at her. “I trust that you wouldn’t dare to lie to me.”

For the first time. Erin thought he was rather reasonable. It was nice to be trusted by someone, especially if that someone was Chandler Frost. Instinctively, she kissed his cheek once. Just as she was about to pull back, a hand shot out and supported the

back of her neck, pressing her close.

Chandler wasn’t about to let this opportunity slide, especially when Erin was the one who initiated it. It wasn’t until she gasped for air that he let her go. He watched a blush spread across her cheeks. She looked so delicate, so beautiful now that his heart skipped a beat. Softly, he said, “Lean against me. You need sleep.”

He pressed the back of her head against his shoulder. Erin closed her eyes and fell asleep soon after.

A faint smile spread across his icy features. However, thinking about Claire, some of his previous iciness returned. Matthew’s words reverberated within his mind. Perhaps it was time he did some more research into Claire Kane’s background.