Matthew finally understood that he was second to his son in Clarissa’s eyes.
Despite being able to see her point of view, he still couldn’t help but feel jealous.
Nevertheless, he was aware that now wasn’t the time to show it.
Hugging Clarissa, he stroked her head to comfort her. After all, that was all he could do.
Matthew finally understood the concerns troubling her. She started out being insecure but chose to trust him after falling in love with each other. However, the decision made three years ago dealt a devastating blow to her, however unwilling she was when she made it. After that, she had gone through a torturous period. Matthew wasn’t even aware that she almost fell into postnatal depression. Hence, he finally realized the amount of suffering she had to endure throughout the period.
In the end, it was simply because he had failed to insulate her from harm.
The animosity she felt against the Tysons would never disappear. Hence, Matthew never expected her to make peace with them.
He responded to her in a soft and gentle manner, without any hint of compulsion.
“Clare, you can do whatever you want or think however you please. Just don’t leave with Damian.”
After a long while, Clarissa replied, “For Damian’s sake alone, I won’t leave you. After all, he needs a complete family.”
Suddenly, the sting Matthew felt in his heart intensified. Are you staying with me just because Damian needs a father? Is there no love between us anymore?
Obviously, Matthew was certain of Clarissa’s feelings for him. However, she seemed to not care about love anymore.
To Clarissa, her son was all that mattered.
Sighing deeply, Matthew felt exceptionally helpless.
Furrowing her eyebrows, Clarissa couldn’t help but look up at him. “What is it? Do you have any objections?”
After baring her soul, her mood dramatically improved and her tone no longer sounded so grave. In fact, it even carried a hint of dissatisfaction.
Matthew smiled in submission. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Snorting, Clarissa hugged Matthew all of a sudden. Having discarded the frosty demeanor she had earlier, Clarissa smiled bashfully.
“Uncle Matthew, do you think there’s something wrong with me psychologically? Will I become crazy one day? The last few days have been terrible for me as I was overthinking things. I know this isn’t healthy, but—”
Clarissa frowned with a troubled expression. She was worried that she was mentally sick.
To love and hate at the same time felt extremely tormenting to her.
Despite confessing her innermost thoughts to Matthew, she still couldn’t tell if she was really sane.
Matthew shook his head at once. “Don’t blow it out of proportion. It’s normal to overthink sometimes, and I don’t think it has reached the stage where you are considered sick. Nevertheless, you should still avoid letting your imagination run wild. Just remember that I will never compromise when it comes to you and Damian, and you will feel a lot more secure.”
Despite nodding in acknowledgment, she was still worried. “In that case, can this be an early sign of my mental illness? Or perhaps, of bipolar disorder? Why don’t I go for a checkup? I won’t—”
At that moment, she began to have a bee in her bonnet.
Matthew lowered his gaze and kissed her on the lips, stopping her from worrying that she was crazy.
Now that the crisis was resolved, both Matthew and Clarissa were on good terms again.
However, when he assumed he could take his wife and son home with him, Clarissa rejected under the pretext that she had promised Ellie to stay with her.
“I’m not going back. I want to stay here with Damian for the next two days. I have promised Ellie anyway. Besides, can you guarantee that your family won’t visit Zen Highlands within this period? Even if you could, I still won’t return. After all, I don’t want to see anyone for the time being. You should just head home first.”
With no intention of returning home, Clarissa picked Damian up and began to watch cartoons.
When Matthew shot a helpless glare at Ellie, she gave him an innocent look in return.
Matthew suddenly asked, “Is Shawn busy recently?”
Ellie’s expression changed drastically as she snapped, “How would I know? What does it have to do with me?”
Clarissa’s ears pricked at the mention of the name. After all, she was interested in Ellie’s love life too.
Unfortunately, Ellie received a call from her company suddenly. Hence, she managed to avoid being questioned.
Nevertheless, Clarissa’s curiosity didn’t diminish one bit as she asked Matthew, “What’s the latest between Ellie and Captain Hayes? Do you know?”
Matthew sat down and pulled Clarissa into his embrace. The moment she snuggled in his arms, Damian was upset. Shifting his bum, he moved over to Clarissa and leaned on her.
Clarissa found Damian’s reaction amusing. As for Matthew, he had accepted the fact that he had to play second fiddle to Damian. Nevertheless, he was still peeved at how blatant Damian was at competing for Clarissa’s attention.
However, he had no choice but to endure.
Matthew replied, “I don’t know.”
“If you didn’t know, what’s the point of your question just now?”
“I was just asking casually.”
“Tsk-tsk, what a sly fox you are!”
After ranting at him, Clarissa remarked, “Anyway, I think Ellie and Captain Hayes seem to be having some trouble. After so long, they don’t seem to be making any progress. It makes me really worried!”
“What are you worried about? Ellie is no longer a child. She can solve her own relationship problems.”
Ignoring Matthew, Clarissa was resolved to get an answer out of Ellie at night.
Meanwhile, at the Tyson residence.
Matthias picked his wife up after work before returning home. There, Margaret was anxiously awaiting their return.
“Matthias, what’s going on? Didn’t you promise to help me find out if Matthew really has a son? Do you know how anxious I felt waiting at home for the whole day? Tell me quickly if it’s true. Who is the mother of the child? Did they verify it with a DNA test? Why didn’t they tell us?”
Sitting by the side, Yuliana remained silent.
When Matthias saw that George didn’t seem to care as he continued playing chess, he replied with all the calmness he could muster, “Mom, it’s not for us to ask if Matthew has a son or not. If he wants to tell us, he will. If he doesn’t, there’s no point in caring.”
“How can I not care? If the child is his, how can he not verify it? We have to prevent some random stranger from claiming to be related to our family.”
When Matthias stopped replying, the atmosphere became awkward.
Margaret was aware that her words were the reason for it.
With a gloomy expression, she couldn’t help but complain, “I know my words may sound harsh. But, am I the only one at fault here? We are all responsible for what happened. That ungrateful son of mine has been taken by her…”
“Enough, Mom. Let bygones be bygones. If Matthew doesn’t want to tell us, you should stop asking about it.”
“If I don’t ask, is he going to tell? If he never comes home anymore and doesn’t tell us, does it mean that he has broken ties with us?”
“No. At least, he comes back during thanksgiving.”
“That’s only once a year, and he never stays long. Furthermore, he puts on a gloomy face as if all of us owe him billions. Matthias, am I not doing all this for his own good? Just like what I did for you. Didn’t everything work out wonderfully for you? But why is he…”
“Mom!”
Unable to tolerate it any longer, Matthias interrupted his mother’s complaints. He had heard it many times and hated it when she brought it up.
By then, Matthias was the only one left who was willing to listen to her rants.
However, his tone turned frosty. “Mom, don’t bring up the past anymore. Isn’t everything just fine as it is? You should just mind your own business. Besides, all of us, including Yuliana, are busy. You shouldn’t keep sending her on errands when she’s at work. It negatively affects her performance. If you’re really bored, you should find a hobby just like Dad.”
Just as he spoke, Matthias stood up and motioned for Yuliana to return to their room together.
In the living room, Margaret still had tons of burning questions but there was no one left to talk to her.
All she could do was complain to George. However, the latter, too, turned a deaf ear to her.
Feeling exasperated, she smashed the teacup in her hand. Although everyone heard the crash, no one bothered about it. Only the maid frantically cleared the debris quietly. After that, everything returned to silence.
Upstairs, Matthias sighed when he heard the sound.
“Matthias, when I saw the child today, he resembled Clarissa.”
Matthias nodded as if he wasn’t surprised at all.
“Mmm-hmm. I heard some rumors that Matthew has gotten back together with her.”
“But didn’t she swear not to join the Tyson family?”
Matthias sneered, “Has she joined? Even if she has a child, it doesn’t stop her from being together with Matthew. Honestly, not everyone cares about marrying into the Tyson family.”
Yuliana sighed as she understood what Matthias meant. Suddenly, she felt that not marrying into the Tyson family wasn’t such a bad thing at all. As long as Matthew loved Clarissa and was willing to break ties with his family for her, there was nothing bad about it at all. Isn’t it every woman’s dream to be with a man that loves her unconditionally?
Sometimes, official recognition doesn’t mean much.
Yuliana let out a self-deprecating laugh when she thought about herself. She enjoyed the recognition but not the love of her husband. Has it been worthwhile?
In the dead of the night, she too wondered if she had any regrets.
