137 An Eventful Year For Everyone

"Nathan Price."

To her shock she dropped her hair ornament as her head slowly moved to look at him.

"She… She's Sarah Price?"

Gideon nodded.

"I- Impossible, I mean there's so many differences," Cathrine went and sat down at the edge of the bed.

"So many differences because you didn't know who she was but try and remember, her features now that you know that she was Jasmine Sarah Scott, are there really no similarities?" Gideon patiently said.

He knew that this was a big news, the stories behind these people were so entangled that people would think whether god was actually playing with them.

An important person had been close to you for so long but you didn't know.

Someone you thought as a stranger was actually someone you are acquainted with in the past.

Truly such a playful fate.

Cathrine thought back and somehow slowly she can see the similarities of the two of them.

Sarah left home when she was still a teenager and just like Amber upon reaching adulthood, her face have developed so much that those who wouldn't think of her as Jasmine Sarah Scott, won't be able to tell that they are one and the same.

"Then… Xander and Timothy Price who was renowned as the abandoned children were James' grandchildren?" Cathrine asked.

Both Cathrine and Gideon were like the god parents of the siblings.

"Wait a minute, it doesn't seem like they were siblings at all, Amber and those two. The way they interacted this night and her hair and eye colour," upon remembering her observations, she asked.

"Because they didn't know who she was and a medicine caused her hair and eye colour to change," Gideon replied with a sad smile.

Cathrine looked at him incredulously.

"I told you when you still didn't want to hear about her, she is a very very complicated person," seeing her look, Gideon replied.

"Wait… Can you step by step explain things to me then..." still couldn't comprehend what was being said to her.

"Okay so, Amber Wood's real name was Nathalie Price. She was the daughter of Jasmine Sarah Scott who runaway from home when she was fifteen. Amber's brothers were left behind when she was taken by her parents to search for the cure of her sickness."

Slowly Gideon told her everything about Amber.

"The sickness we are talking about was the same one Ashley had as well. After finding the cure and knowing that Ashley had the same, both Nathan and Sarah approached Kyle and Liana without telling them who they were."

"What I've heard from Amber was that, assassins were sent to them a year after leaving the Price Empire. It was unknown why for they no longer took anything with them after leaving. After that..."

Seeing his look, Cathrine furrowed her brows, "Where are they? Where's Jasmine?"

Cathrine who already treated Sarah as her very own daughter paled instantly.

"Dead?… She's dead?" she repeated.

"Those three children no longer have their parents," Gideon repeated.

She could only lean on him for support, she didn't expect this.

She was so sure that she would still meet that strong willed girl, yet now, she had followed her mother to death already.

"Who killed them? You already said they brought nothing when they left, surely they also left their identities, so why?" she asked afterwards.

"I haven't asked this question to that young lady yet but I have a feeling that it has something to do with the missing heirloom of the family. The token that identifies the next heir," he answered.

He didn't know if this was indeed the cause or maybe something else but he has a feeling that Amber knew, that she has an idea.

"But they already left everything."

"That doesn't mean that it was not placed on them secretly, you do know how calculative Patrick Price was," he patiently said.

Even he didn't want to believe this but what explanation could he give?

Nathan was a very intelligent person.

Somehow Amber a.k.a. Nathalie somehow showed the same potential as her father.

If he were Patrick Price he would leave everything to them but they didn't want to.

Yet why did Patrick easily allowed them to leave the empire only leaving behind everything?

Such potential, would he really let them go just like that?

He just also know that despite being in the medical line, they were still unable to find cure for that rare disease.

And it seems that the one with so much potential might end up dying if they were unable to find any cure.

Letting the three of them go was the best choice for Patrick Price and leaving behind something that would surely make them return was his bargaining chip.

There's only one thing he didn't count on, the fact that since the heirloom disappeared, then his other family would surely look for Nathan's family, who was the only ones outside the Empire.

"They why is that young child not telling her brothers?"

All of her doubting feelings have disappeared after knowing that Amber was actually Sarah's daughter.

"That is something I really can't explain but it seems she didn't want to involve her brothers on her revenge. The reason she asked for this engagement in the first place, though I do wish that the two of them would really end up together. She is the best choice for Ashton after all," Gideon sighed.

"Revenge..."

What would she feel now?

It was revenge that started this engagement, the thing she hated, for Ashton lost his freedom because of this.

But this night showed her that Ashton was more than willing to be with Amber.

But what would happen to him because of the dangerous situation Amber was about to face?

And would she really not want Amber to choose to take revenge to those who killed Sarah? The one she sees as her very own daughter?

Cathrine's emotions were in turmoil.

*****

"You already have an idea that someone might pull your mask off you?" Ashton asked as they work on the study.

Despite the night being deep, the two of them still didn't feel sleepy at all.

"Instinct? That is why I also altered my make up a bit so that, even if my face were to be seen as a whole, no one would recognise me as Nathalie or as Clarssa Price's descendant," Amber answered as a playful smile appeared on her lips.

"And that is also why you had me bring another mask for you. Aren't you too cunning?" Ashton replied but his eyes showed pride.

"That's who I am, you can no longer back out," she answered.

He smiled at her before returning to his own work. Amber shrugged as she too get back to her work.

"I suppose we will be going our own ways by next year," Ashton started again after a few minutes of silence.

Amber looked up at him with questioning eyes.

"The middle gangs over here are almost done, but the one outside of celestial country were still not engaged with. Also thanks to your help, the men have improved tremendously and showed a lot of potential."

"So you are planning on sending them outside, to the other countries, as you stabilise everything you all did in here? Even Blake, Devon and Aldger?" Amber continued what he was talking about.

"Yes, that is indeed the plan. Before we take down the two biggest group in celestial country, we need to take hold first of those from other countries. For after all, those two still have enough power to control those in the other countries," Ashton nodded.

"Well, just tell everyone to be careful, no matter how dangerous this is, we still no longer want to lose more comrades," Amber gave her approval to his plans.

They barely had the chance to group up and hang out but this is inevitable, they all need to grow and get stronger.

"I'll remind all of them."

"You, too, be careful as you will be returning to the lime light as well. Those who ignored you during these times would surely place their eyes on you, especially since I already out shined quite a lot," she grinned as she gave this warning.

"Your narcissism will never change," was his answer.

"Not as narcissist as you," she retorted.

Half a year flew by them just like that, so many things happened and they faced quite a lot of ordeal already.

Carl's death that pushed forward her plans of arriving to Celestial Country.

Getting acquainted with her brothers and their friends.

Meeting again those she wants to get back to.

Meeting those who could be known as her rival with him.

Having little fights with them, some face slapping and all.

'Thinking back now, it already felt so long, my stay here. But at the same time it felt so short. A lot of events and soon we will be welcoming another year. What kind of year will I be facing then? What challenges will we encounter?' Amber started thinking as she looked outside the window.

This was indeed an eventful year for her and him.

And for those around them.