Love’s New Bloom By Simone Hastings - Season 2 Episode 1

Although Chandler’s tone was bland, it was filled with damaging potential. Even the air seemed to take on a frosty quality.

Matthew glared at him as he smirked victoriously. “Can’t you tell based on what you saw?”

Once he said that, the room was filled with a strange silence.

Chandler narrowed his eyes, a sharp light glinting in them. As he looked at Erin’s face, peaceful in sleep, his heart twisted in indescribable pain. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he turned around and left without the slightest hesitation.

The image of Chandler’s departing figure was burned into Matthew’s mind. He could not help but admire this cruel and heartless man for being able to let go of his feelings so easily. He was shocked that Chandler wouldn’t even give Erin the chance to explain herself.

Matthew didn’t know if his answer had provoked Chandler into giving up on Erin for good, but he knew that any man would be furious at seeing what Chandler had seen. The humiliation of watching the woman one loved cuckold oneself was not something most people could handle.

He didn’t know why Chandler didn’t beat him up. Was it because he was too disdainful of him to do it, or because Chandler didn’t like Erin all that much at all?

Not two hours after Chandler left, Erin woke from thirst. Drinking so much alcohol last night, her body was now in dire need

of more water.

“So… thirsty…” Erin struggled to get up, one hand supporting her aching head. Her bathrobe hung loosely on her frame.

When she saw the man lying next to her in bed, she shrieked.

“Erin, don’t be scared! Nothing happened between us! We didn’t… “Matthew explained hurriedly. Although his chest was bare, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans. The only reason he hadn’t gotten out of bed before Erin woke was to see her reaction. It was a test, essentially.

Indeed, Erin had been shocked.

Her face burning, Erin asked, “How did you end up here? What in the world happened last night?”

Matthew frowned. The last thing he expected was for Erin to forget everything completely. He tried to remind her by saying, ” Did you forget? I knocked on your door last night. When you came to the door, you were already drunk. You told me about you

and Chandler.”

“Let me think…” Erin had guzzled an entire bottle of red wine last night. Although her memory was a little fuzzy, and she couldn’t recall everything that had happened after getting inebriated, she did indeed remember that Matthew had come into

her room.

Her face gained a tinge of embarrassment. “You didn’t leave afterward?”

Matthew came clean of his own accord. “You fell asleep after drinking. I was afraid you might fall from the bed when you woke up, or slip when going to the bathroom, so I stayed to take care of you.”

There was a hint of castigation in Erin’s eyes. “Even so, you shouldn’t have slept in the bed.”

“Erin, I’ll be honest. I actually wanted to help you. This morning, Chandler came over, and he saw us in bed together. I admitted to him that we had relations last night.”

“What! How could you just say that!” Erin got such a fright that she sprang out of bed.

Matthew got up as well. He walked before Erin and said, “Calm down! Let me finish!”

Erin’s eyes were filled with rage and censure. Her expression chilly, she said, “Alright. Speak then!”

Her agitation injected a shot of ice into Matthew’s heart. He felt as though he’d done something wrong despite his good intentions. He took a step back in dejection. “From the looks of it, you’ve forgotten what you said last night. You said you wanted to leave Chandler! You were even terrified that he wouldn’t let you go. You said Chandler would be engaged on the

ninth of the next month. You said you didn’t want to be the other woman….

His words were like a shower of cold water, waking Erin up from a dream. She stumbled a few steps backward until her back met the wall. Then, she slid down into a sprawl on the carpet.

How could she have forgotten that Chandler had a fiancée?

Gradually, all of the hard truths that she’d been trying so desperately to forget last night came flooding back. Erin could do nothing to block out those strong memories.

When he saw how Erin’s face had blanched, Matthew realized what he’d incited her to think about. He said apologetically, “I only did this because I wanted to help you. If Chandler thinks that you slept with another man, he might dislike it and stop. forcing you to stay with him.”

Erin’s protracted silence made Matthew sigh. “Yesterday you told me about how Chandler doesn’t like women who’ve had. sexual relations before. That’s why I thought this was the best way to help you escape him. If you’re regretting it now and want to go back to being his secret lover or even his mistress, I won’t chastise you or stop you. If you want me to, I’ll call him right now to explain! I’ll tell him that I liked him.” 1

Seeing how she sat silently hugging her knees, Matthew’s eyes shone brightly. He took a deep breath. “Alright, since you don’t have an opinion, I’ll call him now.”

Just as he was about to get his phone from the desk, Erin raised her head. “Don’t call him!”

Matthew’s hand froze. A thread of joy unfurled in his heart, but his expression remained stony. “Erin, it’s all my fault. I had no right to interfere in your personal affairs. I shouldn’t have tried to help you without your consent. Now, Chandler must think that you betrayed him. Now that I think about it, I was too impulsive. I shouldn’t have let him think that of you! Let me call him and explain.” He continued to make it as though he was getting his phone. 1

Erin rushed to pull him back by the arm. Tears misted her eyes as she begged, “Matthew, please. Don’t call him. Let him misunderstand. At least that way, our relationship can finally end!”

A spark of hope ignited in Matthew’s heart when he saw Erin’s despairing face, for written in her features was the euphoria of having escaped as well.

The end of her relationship with Chandler was the new beginning he hoped for.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to explain?” Matthew asked.

Erin nodded decisively. She wasn’t going to drag her feet in this! Even if Chandler’s fiancée wasn’t a woman he loved, that had nothing to do with her. She refused to stay with him when their status was a tangled mess. She had to escape before her heart. was given over to him completely when there was still time to do something about it!

Matthew ducked his head and looked at Erin’s hands gripping his own tightly. He said, “Alright, don’t you worry. Since you’ve decided, I respect your choice.”

He slowly extracted his hand and held hers instead. He sat them both down before saying with amusement in his eyes, “Erin, as I told you last night, choosing to let him go is the best decision you can make. The Frost family has very strong opinions about social class and family background. Forgetting the fact that Chandler hasn’t even accepted you completely, it would be tough to marry into the Frost family even if he did want you as his girlfriend or fiancée.”

Desolation filled the depths of Erin’s eyes. The wound Ian had caused still ached, but now Chandler had added another blow. And this assault was so painful that she couldn’t even cry out.

She had brought this suffering onto herself, after all.

He had forced her in the beginning, but now, she was there willingly. It was she herself who had happily opened the door and given him the chance to hurt her.

“Matthew, it’s because I understood everything you said that I have to leave him.” As Caleb had said before, there was no way anything good would come from her relationship with Chandler.

Matthew then asked a difficult question. “Where do you plan to stay after moving out from Chandler’s? Didn’t you talk about buying your own place once?”