247 You Also Have A Place To Go Right?

There stood everyone whom they left at the house a while ago.

She was shock before she realized that everyone was in it, even her brothers and the other two ladies.

"Oh I'm so happy you are finally my official daughter-in-law," Liana came to me and hugged me tight pulling me away from Ashton's arms.

On the other hand, Xander and Timothy approached him and gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

"We are too old when we met and didn't get the chance to stay as her protectors being her brothers but we know that you will take care of her no matter what," Timothy said.

Ashton smiled and nodded at them, "I'll do just that."

Amber still feels like she was floating until they got home and she had changed.

Ashton was now taking a bath while she was staring blankly at the necklace and bracelet then at the ring on her ring finger.

She had been asking him to marry her but now that it is here she couldn't help but to feel that this is still unbelievable.

She tilted her head to the side, 'So on my 24th birthday I am officially close to marriage?'

Since they would sleep together from time to time and they would kiss so intensely the thought of the after marriage came to her mind and her face turned completely red reaching her ears and neck.

She shook her head as she tried to get it off her mind.

"What were you thinking for your face to become that red even reaching your ears and neck?"

She stopped her movement abruptly making her a bit dizzy before she looked towards the bathroom door.

There stood the already dressed Ashton leaning by the frame watching her.

"H- How long have you been there?" she stuttered as she asked.

Ashton shrugged not intending to say that he had been there watching her looking bewildered then suddenly turning red before she started shaking her head vigorously.

Amber puffed her cheeks, "Whatever, let's just sleep."

She fixed his gifts and put the blanket until her whole body was covered.

Ashton walked to the bed amusedly and lay down pulling her by the waist, he felt her stiffen as her back rested in his chest.

"What dirty thoughts are going through your mind right now?" he whispered behind her ear and she couldn't help but shiver.

"S- Stop that. Let's sleep," she said as she moved and tried to look for a comfortable position.

But since she was wrapped in his arms, her body was close to his as well. And when she kept moving, Ashton who was teasing her moments ago couldn't help but to groan and held her firmly.

"Stop moving now," he said in gritted teeth.

"Huh?"

Amber wanted to turn around to look at him but he stopped her.

She stopped moving hearing his restrained voice.

Of course he knew what she was thinking so she understood what he meant and she tried her best not to move.

Ashton's lips curled up as he looked at her from behind.

He was amused at her innocence that does not match her current personality.

*****

"Are you sure about this?"

Everyone was gathered in the living room the next day.

Gideon and Cathrine, Kyle and Liana, Ashton and Ashley, Alissa and Timothy and Samantha and Xander.

Amber nodded her head, "My mother chose this Empire not because you are her closest friends but because this is her real home."

She was talking about the cure and helping Ashley in the past. The three year promise.

"She told me one thing, the reason why she couldn't just show up. He had told her never to return until he accepts her again, that he no longer has anymore children."

"Sarah didn't come home because of that?" Liana asked.

Amber nodded, being the one who grew up with her parents, she knew more than what her brothers didn't.

Though they all knew who their maternal grandfather is and they knew that they have an uncle who was the elder brother of their mother, but they still have no idea of where or who he is for he runaway before their mother did.

"She loved her father so much but the oppressiveness made her runaway, she knew he was only thinking for her future but he had lost sight of the fact that her and her brother also have their desire."

"And that is why, since she couldn't do much and even left her father she wanted to fulfill his wish of not showing up until he himself were to search for her. But her father's pride was high."

"That is why she finally decided to once again disobey him and show up in front of him by her own will. Yet in the end, on this day 8 years ago, she had lost her life," Amber took a deep breath.

Even Xander and Timothy couldn't help but be mournful.

No to be more precise all of them are mournful, it was a celebratory day yesterday but today was still the day her parents died tragically.

After a moment of silence, she looked up at them, "That is why I wanted to fulfill a bit of her wish."

She looked down at her ring, this time it was the one given by Ashton last night, the one she had been wearing was sent to a jeweler in order to make it into its best condition until the wedding.

Of course there would be no modification since she created his on her own and he designed hers on his own.

They only asked it to be polished.

"She wants him to walk her down the aisle but it never happened, so I want him to be the one to walk me down that aisle."

Gideon thought for a bit before looking at her, "How do you plan to tell him. He is of advance age now. I know very well just how much he misses his children. Knowing that one had actually already died while the other was unknown. This would be a bit too much."

He loves teasing James but that doesn't mean he didn't care for him.

"Knowing now or knowing later would still hurt a lot," Amber started looking at her brothers.

"But one should eventually know about it. Just as always, not all secrets could be kept forever. I just want to fulfill my mother's wish at the very least. To reunite with her father, with our grandfather."

Gideon sighed, "Very well. I shall call for him this afternoon. I shall leave everything to the three of you after that."

Amber looked at her brothers and the three of them nodded at each other.

As they wait for the time, the others dispersed and went their own ways. Xander accompanied Samantha for she was sleepy. Alissa and Timothy were doing some online work in order not to neglect the Lie company.

The other family members did their own works.

Amber sat down beside Ashton, they are the ones remaining in the living room.

"This would be emotionally and mentally tiring, are you ready?" Ashton asked.

"We never met him, actually there was no attachment or whatsoever but I saw my mother's eyes whenever she spoke about her father."

She looked at him with a smile, "She was both happy and sad, he was a great father who raised them on his own after his wife died. He was a lovable father but the fear for the future of his children made him lose sight of the very children he wanted to protect."

"I have already reconciled with my brothers, there is one last thing my mother would have wanted to do if she didn't die. And that is to reconcile with her family. Since we are already here, it is best to do this now."

"As for our uncle, someday we'd surely meet him," she said with a sigh.

Currently, she is doing this for her mother and not for him. He was as good as a stranger to them.

But surely her mother would have wanted for the three of them to meet him and be his grandchildren.

As for what the future may hold, for how much affection they would feel towards him. That is something yet to be seen.

Ashton pulled her head and made her rest in his shoulder, "Then rest, rest your mind for he would surely have a lot of questions that you can only answer. Your brothers will be your support."

"Hmmm," she hummed as she closed her eyes.

Ashton will not be there this time, this is their family affair but at the same time this is not about a fight or about a life and death situation. She wouldn't be put in danger over this matter.

"You also have a place to go right?" she asked with closed eye.

"Yes, since I am already here. I better finish it now as well."

"Then lets give each other a good news later tonight," she muttered as silence enveloped the two of them.