Take My Breath Away

"Hey, Rika, don't try to stir things up here. Let me correct you. I don't need to look for a wife every day because I already have the best wife in the world. Got it? Evelyn would make me kneel on a keyboard again if she heard that!" Sheffield made sure to explain himself clearly, even though he knew it was just a joke.

Erica laughed out loud and said, "Perhaps, I should learn from Evelyn and make Matthew kneel on some durian shells in the future. That man needs to know just how powerful I am!"

"That sounds like a great idea, Rika. You have my full support! If you need any help, just let me know!" Sheffield was amused at the idea of Matthew's misery.

In fact, he was dying to see Matthew crying in pain on a pile of durian shells.

When they arrived at the Pearl Villa District, Erica went straight to Sheffield's villa to see her sons, but they were already in bed with Godwin, ready for sleep.

However, the moment they saw Erica, they jumped out of bed in a split second, yelling her name with excitement. "Mommy!"

Gwyneth, who was telling them bedtime stories, helplessly said, "Aunt Rika, they are so naughty when they are together. It's so hard to get them to lie down in bed!"

Erica turned her face towards the boys, glaring at them angrily, and asked, "Have you been naughty again?"

Adkins immediately apologized, "Mom, I'm sorry. I'm going to bed now!"

As soon as he crawled into the bed, the rest of them followed suit and closed their eyes at once, pretending to be asleep.

Gwyneth chuckled and shook her head with amusement. "Aunt Rika, you're the only one who can deal with them so easily. My voice is starting to become hoarse because I have to keep yelling at them."

Erica whispered in her ear, "These kids can be very considerate as well. They will listen to you if you pretend to be aggrieved."

"I see! I think I understand what you mean, Aunt Rika. I'll be sure to try that out next time."

When Erica returned home, she found an empty villa, full of nothing but loneliness. She took out her phone from her pocket and called Matthew. "Honey, are you asleep?"

"No. What's up?"

"Nothing, it just feels very lonely at home without you." All the maids had gone back to their own quarters for the rest of the day, while Erica was hanging from the railings of the staircase, lazily dragging herself up the stairs.

Matthew snorted in amusement and said, "Really? I thought you were having a good time. If I didn't ask Sheffield to go there, you would still be in the bar, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I had no intentions of hiding anything from you. When I got the news about them, you were on a business trip. What was I supposed to do? So, I took some people with me. Nothing happened! Don't worry about me," she said.

"What if something happened to you today? Who am I going to settle accounts with? Gifford? After all, he's the one who gave you the news in the first place," Matthew argued, furiously. "

Please don't blame Gifford. Otherwise, he won't help me anymore!" Erica stood up straight.

However, Matthew was too upset to care. "So what?" The only person he cared about was his wife.

"Matthew, please stop making such a big deal out of it. I promise I won't do anything before you come back, okay?"

Finally, he got what he wanted and he responded with a resounding sigh of relief. "Hmm."

The two had been talking on the phone for almost half an hour, but since Matthew had to deal with some problems at work, he had to hang up.

Erica decided to call it a night and hit the sack, but soon after, she felt a strong pang of pain in her stomach.

She tossed and turned in bed, and finally pressed the buzzer to ask the maid downstairs to bring her a glass of hot water.

After slowly drinking a glass of hot water, Erica realized that it was pointless, because apart from the momentary pain relief, it did nothing else.

She racked her brain, trying to trace back what she had eaten today to see what was causing her stomach to ache so badly.

The more she tried to think, the sleepier she felt. Eventually, Erica's sleepiness helped her to overcome the pain and she fell asleep.

The next morning, when she woke up and stretched her arms, there was no sign of the pain from the night before.

Erica assumed that the worst was over, until it was near noon, when the unwelcome stomachache returned. This time, the pain seemed to be more severe. In fact, not only was the pain excruciating, but she was also starting to feel nauseous. Soon after, she had no choice but to get herself checked up at the hospital.

Erica had to go through registration, inquiry, examination and other procedures.

The display screen of the hospital was broken. Moreover, Erica was busy playing with her mobile phone, so when she heard someone call her name, she grabbed her bag as quickly as she could and rushed to get the result. However, when she couldn't understand the test result, she passed it to the attending doctor and asked for an explanation.

The doctor looked at the examination result and then slowly shifted his eyes to her. Finally, he pressed her stomach a few times and suddenly asked, "Does it hurt here?"

"Ouch! Yes, it hurts a lot!" she cried.

"Are you 27 years old?"

"Yes, I am!"

The doctor drew back his hand and simply said, "Stomach cancer, stage III."

"Oh... What? What did you say?" Erica's mind went blank even though she was staring at the doctor. Did she hear it wrong?

After confirming her name, the doctor explained to her slowly, "You are going through the middle stages of gastric cancer.

The best treatment at present is to remove most of the stomach." Suddenly, Erica felt as though the sky was crashing down above her. She shivered, as streams of tears traced paths through her cheeks. The doctor continued, "Alas! Young lady, just go through the admission procedures. Don't worry, you are still young. But, even though your life is not in danger, there are still some risks..."

Erica had no idea how she came out of the outpatient room. The people waiting in the corridor stared at her in wonder while her eyes were lowered to the floor, focused on nothing in particular. She couldn't stop crying, as if completely oblivious to the confused gazes of those around her.

She was dying. Cancer...

'Matthew, my sons, my parents, my family... I will have to leave them and won't be able to see them again...'

After walking out of the hospital, Erica fell into deep contemplation and she wondered whether she should find another place to spend her remaining days in. After all, the thought of dealing with the pain of treatment seemed horrifying enough.

However, when she thought of her parents, husband and her children, Erica felt despondent and disheartened. How could she think of doing such a thing to them without even telling them?

Without paying much attention, she somehow managed to pull out her phone and call Matthew. Unfortunately, before she could even figure out what she was going to say to him, the call got connected.

Matthew always answered her calls on time. No matter how busy he was, he wouldn't miss any of her calls.

"Rika?" The man's gentle voice graced her ears from the other end of the line.

The moment she heard him, she burst into tears, failing to control her emotions any longer. "Matthew..." Erica's voice trembled and her muffled sobs wracked against her chest.

Matthew, who was just now talking business with a client, frowned and walked to the side, while his client gazed at him in confusion. "Rika, what's wrong?" he asked in a worried voice.

However, the woman could barely utter a proper word without bawling or sniffling like a baby.

Matthew could tell that Erica wasn't joking and that something very bad must have happened for her to be in such a state. This time, when he spoke, he sounded quite anxious. "Rika, don't cry. Just tell me what happened."

"I... I...I might be dying... Well, I want to die alone..." In truth, she didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her.

Her words caused Matthew's face to change dramatically. As he walked out of the room, he patiently tried to comfort her. "What are you talking about? What do you mean you're dying? Just tell me everything clearly."

Erica wiped her face with a tissue and took a few deep breaths to ease her mood. After a minute or so, she explained, "I just came from the hospital... The doctor said I... have...gastric cancer and it is at stage III. Matthew, I don't want to undergo a partial gastrectomy. It hurts so much. I'm afraid of pain..."

"Gastric cancer? Stage III? That can't be right!" Despite his efforts to remain calm while facing problems, Matthew's voice rose in shock.

"But it's true..."