💠 Amber 💠

"Did you just say you've lived here? As in, in this house until you were twelve?" Hunter hooked a thumb back to the house behind him.

I took a deep breath in before looking straight into Hunter's piercing gaze and said, "Yes."

Hunter's facial expression changed from confusion to surprise as he slowly register what I have just said. Hunter didn't say a word for at least 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes his eyes darted around every spot of the back garden but he couldn't look at me in the eye.

The voices from the party faded from my ears as the quietness between us was deafening. In my mind, I wanted to know what was Hunter thinking about right now and so on. But, my mouth just couldn't form those questions.

"Amber.. I.." Hunter ran a hand over his hair as he signed softly. I didn't say anything as I patiently waited for him to finish his sentence.

"May I know what happened?" Hunter whispered his question and I could barely hear it.

"Well, I'd suggest we grab a chair, as this is going to be a long story," I replied.

As we sat down on the chair nearest to us, I was thinking how much I would want to tell Hunter. Everything? Or should I leave some parts out? But, when I looked at Hunter's earnest expression, I have decided that he deserved the whole truth.

I could feel Hunter's gaze on me the entire time I was speaking. Fortunately, no one accidentally wandered to the back garden. As I wasn't comfortable with letting lots of people know about my life story.

When I finally finished the whole story, I shot Hunter a sideway glance and he was already staring at me. I managed a small smile for him before opening my mouth again.

"Since you've known everything, let's go back to the party?" I started to stand up, however Hunter didn't look like he wanted to move. So I turned around and head towards the party.

Out of a sudden I was pulled back by the arm and collided into Hunter's broad chest. I wanted to pull away but Hunter wrapped his arms around me instead.

Am I dreaming, or is Hunter Quinn hugging me right now?

"Thanks for telling me all these. I understand hard it was for you to do so," Hunter murmured.

I was totally taken aback by Hunter's actions. It took me a while to stop being so surprised. I tried pulling away again, however, Hunter tightened his arms around me. We stood there for what I felt like forever. My head was directly facing Hunter's chest.

"Hunter.." My voice was muffled by Hunter's shirt. Clearly, he had no idea I was having difficulty breathing. This time, I gave Hunter a push and gratefully inhaled the fresh air.

"Mr Quinn, if you haven't realised I nearly suffocated by the limited amount of oxygen," I muttered.

Hunter actually started laughing out loud and it was all I could do to control myself from hitting him. I tried to be angry with Hunter but in the end I laughed along with him.

"Do you want to come in?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm curious which room was yours before.."

"Oh," that was all I could say before Hunter grabbed my hand and pulled me into the back door.

I stepped into the kitchen, feeling my heart racing as memories of my stay in this house flooded my mind.

The Quinns did some changes to the house but left most of the interior design untouched. They replaced the big mirror that was beside the front door with a huge ass painting of some scenery. They also repainted the house in a colour my parents wouldn't have done so.

I followed Hunter to the familiar flight of stairs that Andrew and I used to run up and down while playing hide and seek. When we were both at the top of the stairs, Hunter gestured me to lead the way.

Nostalgia hit me hard as I walked down the hallway leading to 4 different bedrooms and a bathroom. As we reached my old bedroom, I turned around to face Hunter.

"This is our guest room. Do you want to go in?"

"May I?"

"Of course you can, I'll leave you to look around while I go down and check how the party is going. Alright?" Hunter flashed me a grin as I gave a small nod.

I watched as Hunter disappeared around the corner and waited for a few seconds before placing a hand on the doorknob. I pressed it down and gave it a little push.

The floor felt cool as I walked into the guest room. To my left, I realised they have replaced my pink wall mounted wardrobe with a silver sliding wardrobe. To my right, a Queen sized bed with green bedsheets was where my old bed used to be.

The curtains were drawn back allowing daylight to enter. I went over to the bed and slowly sat down. My eyes were closed as I tried to remember how my room used to look like. My mother and I redecorated my room not long before we had to sell the house. If I had known there wasn't much time for me to live in this house, I wouldn't have put in so much effort to beautify my room.

Hot tears streamed down my face as I grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly. No one knew how much my family went through after we sold almost everything we owned. After that, the first 2 years were the hardest. My mother who stopped working after having Andrew and I, had a difficult time finding a job. All of us had to adjust to our new life and it was just horrible.

Fortunately, things began to look good for out family, when my father finally secured a stable job. Yeah, it sucks when you lost everything you had overnight. But, because of that, my family became closer and we knew we could depend on each other. I've learnt that, in life, we lose something and gain something.

I released the pillow I was hugging and returned it back to its original position. A sad smile lifted the corners of my mouth as the memory of how my room looked like began to fade away.

As I made my way to the stairs, Mrs Quinn was climbing upstairs. I had a mini panic attack because I realised no one else was at the second level except me. Mrs Quinn might not like a stranger to go wandering around her home, alone.

"Hi sweetheart, are you enjoying the party so far?" Mrs Quinn had a warm smile spread across her pixie face.

"Oh. Yes, Mrs Quinn," I replied with a smile, which I hoped didn't came off as awkward.

"You don't have to call me Mrs Quinn. Beatrice is fine."

"Yes, Mrs.. Um, Beatrice."

Mrs Quinn seemed to have something to say, but Hunter appeared behind her before she could decide.

"Mum, more of your friends are here and they're asking for you," Hunter wrapped an arm over his mother's shoulder and flashed her a huge grin.

"Alright, I'll be there in a sec."

Mrs Quinn quickly walked to the master bedroom, while the both of us went downstairs.

"So, have you been missing this place?" Hunter asked as he lifted an eyebrow.

"Once in awhile.." I admitted but deliberately avoided his gaze.

"You can come over whenever you like."

I turned to look at Hunter in surprise, before saying, "Wow, I really didn't expect that, but thanks.."

Hunter let out a laugh and ruffled my hair. I went to find Isabella and saw that she was talking to someone. I didn't want to interrupt them, so I made my way to the drinks section.

Life is indeed interesting. I didn't think I could ever step into this place, where I once called my home. My family and I made lots of great memories here and I couldn't wait to tell them about today.

As I stole a glance at Hunter who was welcoming a guest, my heart skipped a beat. He caught my gaze and winked at me as a smile spread across his features. I quickly tear my gaze away from his face and stared at my shoes.

A/N :
HELLO!!

Please accept my apology for my lack of updates 😅 Finally, I managed to write finish this chapter 😂

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