TRICKED INTO MARRIAGE, VOLUME 3 - Season 4 Episode 14

Before Samantha could finish speaking, Alan interrupted abruptly. “Is something burning?”

Samantha froze and caught a whiff of the burnt smell too. All of a sudden, she remembered that she was still cooking.

“Ah, my food.” She put Matthew down quickly and dashed into the kitchen.

Alan shook his head and laughed.

All of a sudden, he felt his trousers being pulled and lowered his eyes to see Matthew’s luminous gaze. He smiled tenderly, squatted down so their eyes were level, then said, “What’s wrong?”

Matthew frowned conflictedly. “Daddy, can’t I call you Daddy in the future?”

He did not want to upset his mother but he also liked Alan very much.

Matthew sighed to himself.

He was a very smart child and was happy on one hand but a little worried on the other.

Since he was an intelligent boy, he could understand the adults’ conversation to some extent. For example, he knew that Samantha had a bit of a verbal ‘quarrel’ with Alan earlier.

Furthermore, that ‘quarrel’ was caused by him, which led to him feeling conflicted and blaming himself for it.

Alan gently touched Matthew’s cheek before asking out of the blue, “Do you like me, Matt?”

Matthew nodded his head without hesitation. “Yes!”

His eyes rolled around in his eye sockets and he added, “But I like Mommy a little more though!”

Alan could not help but feel warm in his heart. He was more than happy to be the second most important person in Matt’s heart.

Such was a child’s nature. Anyone who treated them well would be gratefully remembered and the care shown toward them would not be in vain.

He gulped and asked again, “Well, do you want me to always be around in the future? Do you want to keep calling me Daddy?”

Matthew nodded without hesitation, but his expression soon turned into a frown after nodding for a few moments. “But Mommy will be unhappy.”

“Don’t worry.” Alan rubbed the boy’s little head and gently smoothed his frown. “Leave it to me. I’ll make sure to let you call me Daddy all the time, and Mommy won’t be unhappy either.”

Matthew smiled all of a sudden and clapped his little hands.

In his mind, Alan was a very amazing person who always kept his word.

“Okay. Go and play for a bit. I’ll go help Mommy so we can eat soon,” he said, then stood up and rolled up his sleeves before heading into the kitchen.

An hour later, Samantha and Alan came out with the food and set everything out on the dining table.

Samantha took off her apron, carried Matthew to wash his hands, then carried him back and placed him on the children’s dining chair. Finally, she put a small paper crown on his little head.

Alan inserted some candles into the cake and switched off the light.

Samantha cleared her throat and started singing, “Happy birthday to you…”

Alan joined in as well. “Happy birthday to you…”

It was Matthew’s third birthday that day.

After singing the birthday song, Samantha lowered her head to kiss Matthew’s fleshy cheek and said softly, “Happy birthday, my baby.”

Alan blew the party horn. “You’re three years old now, Matt. Happy birthday!”

Matthew giggled happily.

“Make a wish, darling,” Samantha said.

Matthew tilted his head for a moment and said loudly, “Mommy, I want to call Daddy ‘Daddy’ forever.”

Samantha was speechless.

She suspected that her little boy did it on purpose but she had no evidence to back it up!

She smiled and said, “You should keep your wishes to yourself because it won’t work if you say them out loud.”

Matthew had a disapproving look. “But you wouldn’t know if I didn’t say it.”

It made perfect sense and there was no way Samantha could refute him.

Even someone like her who had the gift of gab had absolutely no idea how to respond to him.

Alan hurriedly helped smooth things over. “Are you hungry, Matt? Let’s blow out the candles and eat some cake.”

“Okay!”

The three of them leaned closer and blew out the candles.

After eating, Samantha tidied the table and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Alan brought Matthew to play in the living room. He bought the boy a set of Gelo interlocking plastic bricks and kept Matthew company as the little boy played.

By ‘keeping company’, Alan genuinely was keeping company.

Matthew did not need Alan’s help at all and could easily put together those complicated bricks and blocks without even having to look at the illustrations. It was almost as if the illustrations were already in Matthew’s mind.

Alan and Samantha used to be very worried whether Matthew would have any problems with IQ or whether he might be autistic, given how he was very frail and never spoke.

After suffering a serious illness, however, he recovered immediately and had a rather high IQ, almost like he had become a different person altogether.

They could only chalk it up to how wonderful miracles were.

Samantha finished cleaning and sat on the carpet to watch Matthew play too.

When the clock struck nine, she said, “It’s time to bathe Matt.”

Matthew had not played enough yet and looked yearningly at Samantha, only to find that she had an unyielding expression. He, therefore, turned to Alan and acted coquettishly, “Daddy…”

Alan did not dare to confront Samantha at that point and surrendered unconditionally. “You can continue playing tomorrow, Matt. Listen to your mother, okay?”

Matthew had no choice but to compromise and said somewhat sullenly. “Okay.”

Alan wanted to bring Matthew to bathe but Samantha said, “Please have a seat, Dr. Sherwood. I’ll do it.”

Her tone was so firm that Alan’s outstretched hand froze for a moment. He could only retract it and answer, “Okay.”

Samantha carried Matthew to bathe him.

Alan sat on the sofa and unknowingly smiled when he listened to the occasional laughter from mother and son coming from the bathroom.

His hands then reached into his pocket and his expression flickered slightly as he touched the hard ring box.

After Matthew finished bathing, Samantha carried the boy to the bed and coaxed him to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, she switched off the light, walked out of the room, and closed the door gently.

When she walked back to the living room, Alan stood up from the sofa and asked with a smile, “Is Matt sleeping?”

“Yeah,” Samantha replied softly.

She bit her lower lip gently but eventually relaxed and said, “Dr. Sherwood, I… There’s something I have to tell you.”

Some things could not be delayed any longer and had to be cleared up as soon as possible.

Alan was not surprised by that and nodded. “Okay. I happen to have something to say to you too.”

Samantha glanced at the door of the room and suggested, “Let’s talk on the balcony.”

“Sure.”

The two of them walked out to the balcony.

The wind outside was blowing gently and it was neither too hot nor too cold.

They stood side by side and looked at the lights outside.

Samantha was the first to speak. “Dr. Sherwood, I’ll—”

Before she could finish her words, Alan said ahead of her, “Sammy, Timothy…”

Samantha’s sentence stopped abruptly when she heard the name ‘Timothy’.

Alan turned to look at Samantha.. He looked intently at her face and said, “Timothy is getting married on the first of next month. Do you know about this?”
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