Chapter 320 - Love

JUNE 11, 2012

The next day…

Zoey slowly opened her eyes. She never had a proper sleep in her previous life for more than one year. Therefore, she felt like she had slept for a long time; too long that she felt as if she was stuck in an endless loop of darkness.

Slowly, she opened her eyes; carefully her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room. When her vision cleared, her eyes softened as they laid upon the sleeping noble named Matthew Xi.

Surprisingly, he didn't go home last night and slept beside her! Zoey blinked her eyes slowly; her gaze traveled to his beautiful yet muscular facial features, engraving each detail in her head. What a beautiful morning to wake up to!

How he ended up sleeping next to her didn't matter. Zoey was just pleased to wake up again with him beside her. She could not ask for more. She's in love and grateful for this second chance at life. 

To be frank, deep down, Zoey didn't want to wake up earlier. Why? She was afraid that once she opened her eyes, she would find that everything was just a dream. That she would return to reality that only offered misery and angst.

Thankfully, she was still in the same lifetime; the story of yesterday continued. Having the urge to pinch herself, Zoey noticed that he was holding her hand. 

'Darling…' She whispered internally, her heart was moved by this sweet gesture. 'Did you hold my hand all night?' She asked inside her mind, her eyes softened as the side of her lips hooked into a loving smile.

No wonder that despite her fear of waking up to a horrible reality, she had the courage to open her eyes. This was her reality now. A reality where everyone she held dear was still alive and enjoying life at its fullest.

"Until when will you stare at me?" Just then, Zoey nearly had a heart attack upon the sound of his cold voice. Slowly, Matthew opened his eyes and his gaze immediately landed on her adorable face with a mix of natural seductive look.

"Oh god…" Zoey murmured under her breath before she leaned closer to him and sniffed like a weirdo.

The sight of her made him furrowed his brows in puzzlement. Instinctively, Matthew drew back as she kept on sniffing. "What?" Annoyed and confused, he asked.

"I was wondering why you don't have the deadly morning breath." Zoey humored, grinning brightly at him before a giggle slipped from her lips.

Given that she married the man seven years later, Zoey still wondered if he never had morning breath even in this lifetime. Expectedly, Matthew was still perfect as if everything about him was never tainted with natural bad odor or anything of the sort.

Meanwhile, unlike Zoey's playfulness early in the morning, Matthew was very weirded out. He blinked his eyes many times, trying to convince himself that she wasn't weird. But heck! That's very weird!, seriously!

As if it was kind of a reg flag for him, Matthew cleared his throat and slowly stood. He slipped away his hand that was holding hers. Immediately, Matthew stood and tugged his suit that he was wearing last night.

"You're weird." Not having the courage to glance at her, Matthew commented which made her chuckles grew into a loud wave of laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Her laughters forced him to look at her with questioning eyes. That wasn't a compliment — he just called her weird. Yet, she was laughing as if she was utterly honored by being called weird by him.

This was a really weird morning for him.

"Haha! Nothing." Pleased at his reaction, Zoey wiped the little drop of tears idling on the side of her eyes. "Your reaction is funny, that's all." She added, adding a vague detail why she was laughing.

Obviously, that didn't sit well with him as he frowned. "Normal people wouldn't sniff other people's morning breath." He argued in a matter-of-fact tone. Why does she make him feel that he was the weird one here?

Was it unusual to feel weird after she sniffed his breath? Matthew doesn't know as no one ever did that to him!

"Did you really consider that I'm normal before dating me?" Happy to tease him again, Zoey pushed her luck further as she shrugged her shoulder. Of course, her rebut caused him to shut his mouth.

Right… he proposed to date her because he was physically and emotionally attracted to her. Without considering other stuff, Matthew finally realized how rash his decision was last night. Does that mean he was now dating a weird and seemingly emotionally disturbed woman?

These thoughts that hovered over his head made Matthew feel like he was having a headache. It was akin to a hangover after drinking the night away and realizing how bad it was to get wasted.

"Pfft—!" Zoey pursed her lips together but failed to restrain the sound of her laughters. Aside from his gentle, loving, playful and serious side, Zoey must admit that the young version of her husband was more colorful.

His reaction while realizing how rash he decided last night was just gold! She never saw him turn pale, hence it was a fresh sight to her. Moreover, the different expressions this young Matthew Xi could offer excited Zoey. After all, this was just the beginning of her long journey.

This would be her reward for the deadly ventures in the future. Therefore, Zoey didn't plan to waste a second to get to know him better before she met the final product in her previous life.

"Zhou Zoey, stop." Utterly speechless at her laughing, Matthew warned which she obediently obeyed.

"Sure, Mister." Though, one could detect the halfheartedness of her answer, yet, Matthew decided not to nitpick.

Now, in this moment, he needed to reflect on his decision making as he shook his head sideways. However, this sudden reflection caused him a terrible headache as his heart suddenly pounded strongly.

"Hey, are you fine?" Zoey creased her brows upon seeing him plop down back into the seat while massaging his temples. "Hey…" His silence caused Zoey to immediately push herself up, "Ah —!" But that sudden movement made her wince as her back hurt.

"I'm fine." He reassured coldly as he opened his eyes slightly before closing them again and continued on massaging his temples.

The headache was akin to the pain he had last night after thinking too much. First this occurred to him was when the race began the previous night. Then, it happened again late last night when he was unconsciously wondering why Zoey cared for him so much.

But today was different. He was just reflecting on his actions but his heart pounded and his head throbbed. It was like his 'rash decisioning' reminded him of a familiar dilemma he couldn't remember. 

When? 

Matthew Xi was satisfied with his decision so far — until this morning. Hence, this was weird for him. Slowly, Matthew opened his eyes as Zoey managed to rush towards him and was now standing in front of him studying him closely.

Ever since she came into his life, he had these foreign yet familiar feelings that were causing his head to ache. Why? He couldn't remember meeting her before last night. Yet, she seemed to know him and his heart… it seemed to recognize her.

Did he miss something in between his life? He never had an accident that caused him to have amnesia. Actually, Matthew had been healthy until now. Therefore, it was just impossible to meet her and forget about her.

Unconsciously, his lips moved without him knowing and a word escaped from his mouth, "Love," 

That word, to be exact, the endearment that he used to call her in their previous life caused Zoey to freeze as she looked at him dumbfounded.