Take My Breath Away

In the Huo family manor, a young girl in a pink and white dress was sitting on the sofa, chatting with her friends over the phone.

On the table beside her, there was an open box of Band-Aids. In the trash can nearby, there were a few used Band-Aids.

Debbie was with a cold these past two days, and Erica had just taken upstairs a bowl of ginger tea a servant had prepared for her.

When she came back downstairs holding the empty tray, she noticed that Erma was still sitting on the same spot she last saw her. Helplessly, she rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen to put down the tray.

Next, she walked up to her daughter and said mockingly, "Remove the Band-Aid slowly, or you'll have to be sent to the hospital later!"

She had never seen a girl as touchy as Erma. She only had a small cut on her finger, and yet she had changed more than ten Band-Aids in just half an hour.

Upon hearing her mother's deliberate sarcasm, Erma pouted in dissatisfaction. "Oh, Mom, I need my hand intact for drawing, doing makeup, and getting people's hair done. If it doesn't get well soon, how can I even hold a pen to draw?"

Erica patted her on the shoulder rather forcefully and spat, "I don't see any blood on your finger. Why can't you hold a pen? Just get out of this couch and go upstairs to do the drawings! You've promised your father you would create a car's design for him. It has been two years, but I haven't seen anything done yet. Your dad must be a fool to still believe in you."

It was all the Huo family men's fault. They were the ones who spoiled Erma like this. Now the girl was even more touchy than Erica was in her youth.

"Mom, you hurt me!" she complained, rolling her eyes at Erica. Nevertheless, Erma did as her mom said and stood up from the couch, slowly making her way towards the stairs.

She wasn't in the mood to explain to a layperson like Erica that inspiration didn't come that easy. It was quite common for a professional to think about a certain design for eight or ten years before they got it on paper.

At this time, the front door was opened, and Boswell came in.

As soon as Erma saw her brother, she ran upstairs as fast as she could.

"Erma, I'm back!" Boswell called out to stop her.

But Erma quickly disappeared at the turn of the stairs.

Aware that his young sister had run to avoid talking about the blind date, Boswell had no choice but to tell Erica, "Mom, I've already spoke to Adkins. Erma and Stan can meet tomorrow."

Erica nodded happily. "That's great! I'll arrange a place for them to meet tomorrow."

Boswell pulled Erica and confided, "Mom, don't worry. Stan has already arranged everything."

"What? Does he even have the time for that? Please, tell your brother not to disturb Stan's work. We can handle this sort of trifle."

Boswell said helplessly, "Mom, this should be arranged by the He family. Your enthusiasm will only infuriate Erma again. You're acting as if no men would want to marry her."

"Just let her be angry then! Look at the people she has dated so far. A model, a fitness coach, a college student... Boswell, I'm telling you I've secretly seen this Stan up close. He's not only as driven in his career as Adkins, but he's also steady and stylish. I'm very satisfied with him!" The more Erica thought about Stan He, the more she approved of him.

Stan He was 31 years old. At now, he held a position in H Country that was only slightly below that of Adkins. Therefore, Erica did not doubt that he had a bright future ahead. Also, he was the only man who could live up to Carlos' and Matthew's standards for dating Erma.

"It's not enough that you are satisfied with him. The most important thing is that your daughter is," Boswell reminded her. He didn't think it was going to be easy to convince his sister to accept Stan He.

"Don't worry, I'll deal with Erma!" Erica promised, giving herself a pat on the chest. She was confident that she would convince her daughter.

Boswell smiled. "Okay! Thank you, Mom!"

At seven o'clock the next evening, no matter how reluctant Erma was, Erica pulled her anyway towards the restaurant the He family had booked in advance.

The He family was a large and politically influential family, who held great power over another town neighbor to Y City.

In order to show their sincerity, the entire He family, even their patriarch who was already an old man, came to the restaurant to greet the Huo family.

When Erica finally pulled Erma into the private room, Matthew, Adkins, and Boswell were already chatting with the He family members, including Stan, who was sitting next to Adkins in a dark suit.

At first sight, anyone could tell that Stan He was the tall, handsome young man who behaved very nobly in the room.

However, before their parents could introduce the two young people to each other, Erma looked at Stan in astonishment. "It's you!" she blurted a second too late before realizing that she had given herself away.

Immediately, Erma covered her mouth with her hands, but to no use. Everyone had already heard her.

Confused, Matthew looked at his daughter and asked, "Erma, do you know each other?" It didn't make any sense if they did. Like Adkins, Stan was always busy. Even if he had come to Y City before, he wouldn't have stayed for long.

With her hands still over her mouth, Erma shook her head at her father, unwilling to say another word.

Yet Stan chuckled and contradicted her, "So, your name is Erma."

Their reactions made it obvious they had known each other before. At that moment, Stan's father gently asked his son, "Stan, what's going on?"

Erma winked at Stan, signaling that he shouldn't tell them anything. But Stan still replied anyway, "Last time I saw her, she let the air out of my car's tires." But since he had something urgent to attend, he simply took another car and didn't mind asking anyone to investigate who that girl who flattened his tires was.

He just never expected that they would meet each other again in such an occasion.

Erma, on the other hand, was glaring at him. She was the type of girl who liked to put on a good facade in front of the elders. "He took my parking spot first," she explained.

Stan He smiled, but didn't say anything else.

Back then, he had driven out on his own without a driver.

And when he found an empty spot in an underground parking lot, he simply parked there.

At the same time, a woman got out of her car and yelled, accusing him of robbing her parking space.

Stan looked between his vehicle and hers but didn't see her car before he parked. Who knew whether she was telling the truth or not?

Stan tried to reason with her, but the woman was quite unreasonable and insisted on him driving his car away.

As he didn't have much time to argue with her, he headed to the parking lot administration in order to find someone who could find another parking spot for the woman. However, when he came back to his car after a while, he saw the woman squatted down beside the vehicle while she let the air out of its tires.

She held a needle as she drilled the holes.

In fact, the needle was still in one of his tires as she left.

During the dinner, the two acquaintances were arranged in a way they were sitting by each other's side. As the elders kept chatting among themselves, Erma and Stan were left to talk to one another. It was more accurate to say that Erma was the one doing the talking while Stan He listened to her.

"I'm young and playful. I love going shopping in Paris, Italy, and London. Not to mention that I also appreciate extreme sports like bungee jumping and skydiving. I'm sure you don't have the time to keep up with me. In my opinion, a serious man like you shouldn't waste your time on someone as sentimental and childish like me. Instead, you should get married to a dignified and elegant woman. So, when they ask us later how we feel, we will tell them that we're not suitable for each other, and then we can part ways. What do you think?"

Stan nodded.

Erma was so happy to see that they had come to an agreement. Yet she had no idea that Adkins, who was sitting on the other side of Stan, was secretly telling him a few words of his own. "Don't listen to my sister's nonsense. Although it's true that she likes to go shopping, she wouldn't dare to practice any extreme sports. She's also a little sentimental and childish, but overall, my sister is very cute."

Erma flashed him a wide grin as she continued, "That's great! Mr. He, I'm a great makeup artist. If you get married one day, I can do your bride's make-up for free."

Stan nodded again.

'It feels so good to deal with people like him. He always nods at anything I say, ' she thought to herself.