Chapter 502 - Fragments Of His Memory

One and half hours after Zoey arrived in their room. 

She was finally done freshening up and even had dinner. Yet, Matthew was nowhere to be found. She tried asking around, but even Paul was not there to tell her where he went. Therefore, she could only wait while reviewing documents from her company and continue writing the manuscript of Levi and Evalyn.

In the middle of writing, Zoey fell asleep with the laptop on the side of the table. Minutes later, the man she had been waiting for, just so she could brag and tease, arrived. 

The door slowly creaked open, giving a lighter shade of light from outside, making his shadow appear on the floor inside the room. Matthew's pair of russet eyes immediately landed on the figure lying on the bed.

'It's late…' He whispered internally, checking his wristwatch to see it was near midnight. Slowly, he went in and closed the door behind him.

He then walked towards her direction, taking feather-like steps making little to no sound. Upon reaching the bedside, he stopped. His gaze fixed on her harmless, sleeping front. "Zoey…" Matthew whispered, slowly perching on the side of the bed as his hand carefully slid on the mattress.

However, it stopped inches away from her. "I…" His voice trailed off, as a conflicted glint flickered across his eyes. Matthew's hands trembled, retrieving it back to him as he suddenly got up from the bed and stormed inside the bathroom.

Inside the shower, Matthew lowered his body in the bathtub, resting his body on the side with his arms spread open. "Join hands, huh?" Suddenly, along with his sigh, he whispered.

Closing his eyes, he recalled what happened after contacting Inigo after confirming about the chip. Obviously, the man was still cocky and full of himself. However, his lips remained tight regarding his questions.

Still, there was one thing that Inigo said that left an impact on Matthew. "Watch out on the people your woman is hanging out with. Give me your helping hand and we'll both finish our problem -- that foolish woman's problem as well." Were the words Inigo said before hanging up he hung up.

"Aish…" Annoyed, Matthew ruffled his drenched, unruly hair. 'I want to remember what I should remember but…' His thoughts paused, slowly opening his eyes as he glanced up. "How can I remember things that haven't happened yet?" He muttered, sighing once again as this had been a depressing feat for him.

No matter how long Matthew had stayed inside the bath, thinking about the matter from a different perspective, he was led to a dead end. Inigo wouldn't tell him who exactly he wanted and Zoey only had nothing but grudge against the former. Thus, it was truly a headache for him.

Shortly after, Matthew came out of the bath. With the bathrobe covering his body, revealing only his toned chest, his eyes slowly drifted back to the bed. "Sigh…" He sighed at the sight of Zoey before heading towards the walk-in closet to change.

After a while, Matthew walked out of the closet. As usual, his eyes instinctively shot towards the bed. Zoey hadn't moved a muscle from her position. The only difference now was that the laptop's screen was now off due to inactivity.

Slowly, Matthew strode towards the bed and perched on the edge of the mattress. He stared at her sleeping countenance, causing his eyes to soften as a subtle smile resurfaced on his lips. Yet, he didn't dare touch her as his eyes moved towards the laptop.

For some reason, just looking at it compelled him to check what she was doing. "She's writing again?" He wondered, walking over to the other side of the bed to check what she had written so far.

Matthew knew, deep down, he was being a busybody. However, his curiosity regarding where this story was going was stronger than his shame on being called a busybody. As the laptop screen lit up, he glanced at her for a second and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

As if swallowing his saliva was akin to swallowing his pride and respect about privacy, Matthew opened the laptop and was redirected to its notes. His brows immediately creased together as what was written on the notes wasn't a manuscript.

It was… Matthew leaned closer to read the bullets in it. "What is this…?" He muttered, seeing dates and just a few words like: Zoid Solutions Inc., birthdays, meetings, and so on. By the looks of it, they appeared to be her schedule.

However, what baffled Matthew was the date. He scrolled from the beginning until the end of the long list of schedules. Some of the schedules were dated up to the next four years. It would be understandable if this was her schedule because Matthew's schedule was already packed for the entire year and up to the middle month of next year.

Zoey jotting down issues and everything that would occur along with it rendered him speechless. Sure, Matthew often spoke as if he had acknowledged that Zoey time-travelled from the future.

Yet, deep down, he couldn't truly believe it. He was just letting her and believing half of it to consider her sane. But, this… Matthew's heart thumped loudly; it was as if a hand was clenching his heart once again as his head throbbed.

"Ugh…" His hand clenched on his chest, breathing heavily and slowly while enduring another pain from his inside. "I…" His words trailed off because once again, foreign images crossed his mind which slowed down the time.

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[A memory]

"Master…" Paul called out from behind him. "Why did you contact them again?" His voice lowered, worried at Matthew's action. "Four years after you disbanded them… how about Miss Zhou? Your wife?" He added reluctantly, yet his hand curled into a fist which trembled uncontrollably.

"Paul," Matthew stared at the city lights from his office. They were akin to stars, lighting up the gloomy night that made this view mesmerizing. "I've been running and tried to forget the past that has been haunting me down… I can't let it haunt my wife and my child as well." Without looking back at Paul standing behind him, Matthew whispered.

"But Master, you have to tell Miss Zhou everything! I'm sure you'll figure things out even--"

"Paul!" Matthew interrupted him just before he could spout more nonsense. 

Paul clenched his teeth bitterly, his fist trembling even more. "Have you forgotten who killed Dredd? Why are you willing to assist that cruel man… that Inigo…"

Slowly, Matthew turned around, his eyes glinting with killing intent as he placed his fist on the surface of his desk. "My brother is none of your business. I'll settle our issue once and for all." He paused, breathing heavily as his jaw tightened. "As for now… take down the Silva Family.. Start with that bastard Ivan."