Chapter 52 Matthew Takes a Break
"Who was Dad talking about?" Hannah asked curiously.
"It's your great-grandpa. A very kind and lovable old man," Madison explained proactively. She had always truly considered William as her own grandpa. Although she had left without saying goodbye back then, due to unavoidable circumstances, it was the right thing to return for a visit now.
After the meal, Matthew was dragged away by the kids to continue building Lego structures, and Madison cleaned up the dishes. She then called Rachel to give her a brief update. Since she was going to stay in Horizon for the time being, she thought she should take on more responsibility regarding the studio.
Upon learning that the kids were picked up by their biological father, Rachel didn't ask too many questions over the phone. She advised Madison not to worry about work for the moment and to first sort things out with Matthew regarding the children.
After hanging up the phone, Madison went upstairs and heard their voices coming from Quentin's room. She then entered Hannah's room, took out some blueprints, and started sketching to capture her recent inspirations. She was so absorbed and meticulous that she didn't realize it had gotten dark until she looked up and saw it was already 6 PM. Dinner was not yet prepared, so she hurriedly went out to Quentin's door, surprised to see Matthew and the two kids still engrossed in building with LEGOs, even more severe and focused than she had been with her drawing.
Madison knocked on the door, "Sorry, I got distracted and forgot about dinner. Is it okay if we have Pierogies tonight?"
"Sure, Mom, I love Pierogies!" Quentin replied happily.
"Mom, come and see! Dad and I have almost finished building the castle. We'll be able to show it to you soon," Hannah said excitedly as she ran over and tugged at Madison's hand to come and see their afternoon's accomplishment.
"Hannah, that's wonderful. Well, I will go down and cook the Pierogies first. You guys should come down soon, too."
Madison felt Matthew's gaze on her the whole time, but she avoided looking at him as she turned and left the room to go downstairs to the kitchen to cook the Pierogies.
The three of them came downstairs shortly after, where the Pierogies were the store-bought frozen ones she had seen in the refrigerator. They weren't as tasty as the homemade ones, but they were still quite good.
Perhaps they were eager to continue building their Lego castle or just really hungry the two little ones ate much faster than usual. As soon as they finished, they waited next to Matthew, and as soon as he set down his fork, they pulled him upstairs.
After cleaning up, Madison went upstairs and saw that Hannah hadn't returned to her room. She picked up her pajamas, planning to take a shower first. Just as she got out of the shower, she heard the thudding sound of Hannah running toward her. Bursting into the room, Madison spoke while drying her hair with the towel, "Hannah, it’s time to get ready for a bath and go to bed. Can you tell your brother that you can continue playing tomorrow?"
"Mom, come quick," Hannah urged, pulling Madison toward her brother's room. When they arrived in Quentin's room, they saw a large castle nearly finished on the floor, with Matthew and Quentin still studying the instructions.
"Mom, look! I built this with Dad and Quentin. Dad said it's a present for you," Hannah said proudly, her voice filled with childlike joy.
Madison's heart was racing when she heard Hannah's words and saw Matthew looking up at her from where he sat on the ground, his eyes glued to her. Her heartbeat seemed to be racing again. She couldn't understand why Hannah claimed that Matthew was the one who had given her the gift, and the man himself offered no contradiction, his gaze seemingly fixed on her.
Only after the fact did Madison realize, mortified, that Hannah had pulled her away while she was only in her pajamas. Although the dress fell below her knees and was opaque, she had neglected to put on an undergarment after her shower. The thought turned her a deep crimson from head to toe. Hastily, she spread the towel she was using to dry her hair with both hands, feigning an unintentional shield across her chest, and then called Quentin and Hannah, "Quentin, Hannah, enough for today. Come with Mommy and take a bath."
Having said that, she hurriedly turned and left the room, thinking, "Oh my goodness, save me! Why did I end up in front of Matthew just wearing my pajamas? If someone didn't know better, they'd think I was trying to seduce him!"
"Mommy, wait for us! Daddy, can we continue tomorrow?" Quentin and Hannah followed her back to Hannah's room.
"Sure," he replied. After the three of them left, Matthew remained seated on the floor, preoccupied with the image of Madison walking in with her pajamas clinging to her damp hair, her fair skin dazzling under the light. Recalling her hasty retreat, a smile played across his lips. He slowly got up and headed to the study room.
*
In the study, Matthew sat in front of the computer, preparing to log on, with Victor and the others already online for a meeting.
Patrick, noticing Matthew hadn't shown up yet, complained, "What's with Matthew? He hasn't been to the office in days. What was with that sudden rush back the other day?"
Mitchell replied, "No clue. Ask Victor he'll definitely know what's up. With Matthew gone, I'm swamped with work at the company. I don't have the mind to worry about other stuff."
Liam asked, "Why does Matthew want to have a meeting this late? What's the matter?"
Seeing that Victor was online, Patrick jumped in, "Victor, you're online? How are you doing over there? It’s been days since you've been at the office, and now you're calling a late-night meeting."
Victor ignored him, and soon, Matthew entered the conference room.
At his entrance, Patrick fell silent, the chatter ceasing instantly.
"Today's meeting is mainly to let you guys know that I plan to take a half-month leave. While I'm away from the company, Mitchell will oversee domestic operations, and Victor will primarily manage our international markets. If there are any emergencies, give me a call. All right, if there's nothing else, let's wrap up the meeting and take a break."
"Wait... hold on, Matthew, why are you taking leave? And why so suddenly such a long break?"
Patrick was shocked to hear about Matthew's vacation plans. Everyone knew Matthew was a non-stop workhorse, working 365 days a year, and now, unbelievably, he was talking about taking a break.
"Why can't I take a break after so many years of work?" Matthew replied with a question.
"It's not that, Matthew. I'm just curious, who called you 'Daddy' that time? You hurriedly ran out, what's... what's going on? Come on, share with us," Patrick dared to probe into Matthew's business further.
"It was my daughter. That's it, nothing more to discuss," Matthew said, surprisingly patient today and even bothered to offer an explanation instead of getting irritated at Patrick.
After Matthew logged off, Patrick was left dumbfounded, staring at the screen as if he had just experienced a disconnection.
"Did Matthew make up with Madison, then? He's pretty efficient, isn't he?" mused Victor, but not speaking out loud. Seeing Matthew log off, he also disconnected without further discussion.
"Victor, don't go, come on, tell us what's going on," Patrick called out to Victor, but no one paid any attention to him.
"All right, with Matthew gone, the pressure is too much for me. I'm going to log off and get some sleep," declared Mitchell, who was more concerned about how busy he'd be without Matthew than any gossip, and he, too, logged off.
Looking at his buddies leaving one by one, Patrick grabbed the usually free Liam, "Liam, Liam, don't go, let's talk. What's happening with Matthew?"
"Do I look like I'm in the know?! You should stop gossiping, too. Matthew is out, Mitchell is swamped, don’t think you can just escape." Liam, recently in a spat with Ophelia and in a foul mood himself and dreading that Mitchell might dump some of his workload on him, left as well.
Patrick was left alone, sighing deeply.
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