If Her Revenge Is Over

Ashton was woken up by whimpering, coming from outside his room. Knowing that Amber was outside he went out to check on her.

It was just half past five, so the sky was half bright and half dark. The office could already be seen from that little light coming from the window.

Upon opening the door, he can hear clearly that Amber is crying on her sleep. He squatted beside her head and started tapping on her shoulder, trying to wake her up.

He can vaguely see that she was drenched in sweat and her brows were tightly knitted. It seems that it was not just a simple nightmare but a very scary one.

"Amber."

He called her for just tapping won't wake her up at all. She looked like she was suffering from her sleep.

"Amber, wake up."

He started shaking her awake and was jolted back when she opened her eyes and abruptly sat down. She seemed to be disoriented as she look around with fear visible in her eyes.

Her eyes landed on him and without speaking she suddenly jumped on him. Good thing he had firm footing even while squatting that he was able to steady himself.

Her whole body was shaking, she was not crying but she was hugging him so tight as if she found a life line after so much struggling.

With one hand patting her back and the other caressing her hair, "It's fine, it's just a dream."

He tried calming her down despite not knowing what was going on with her.

He then heard her bitterly laughed, "It's not a dream nor a nightmare. It was reality. The reality of watching your own parents dying right in front of you."

She did tell them that they were ambushed and then their car crushed before she was left to bury her own parents. But she didn't went into details as to how they died.

"My father did his best to drive not wanting to fall off the cliff, into the ocean. Despite being shot a couple of times. My mother after helping with my luggage jumped and covered me with her body."

It seems that she was still half asleep because she was speaking like she was narrating something on her sleep.

"Blood flowed and flowed before a loud bang. Then everything followed, that is reality. That is not a dream."

Ashton was silent, back when they were trying to help him out of his own nightmares, he would accept their words as it being just a nightmare. But the one in his arms didn't want to agree to him at all.

They were silent before Amber started calming down and realized that she was actually hugging him. She slowly let go and fixed herself before sitting back on the sofa.

When she threw herself to him, she was left sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I was still disoriented. I didn't mean to harrass you," she gave a dry laugh trying to hide her embarrassment.

She thought she was thick skinned enough, but when faced with such sudden situations she couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Ashton didn't bother and sat beside her, "You had a nightmare about the accident?"

He wanted to say about her parent's death but decided to change it for that was too cold.

"I told you, it was not a nightmare. It was reality, a scene from the past."

She was still adamant on her answer despite her words a while ago because of the fact that she was half asleep.

"Why don't you accept such explanation? You were sleeping and having a bad dream, isn't that a nightmare?"

"For me a nightmare was something that is not real and something that didn't happen outside the dream. But what I had a while ago was something that happened two months ago."

"If I kept insisting that it was but a nightmare, then my parents should still be here right? They shouldn't have been buried on that hill and we should still be happily living together."

She looked at him with sadness but not too much, "But everything was real, they are no longer here and I am here alone. So it's not a nightmare for me but simply a recollection."

"I already told you, an eye for an eye. If I insist that it was a nightmare, something like an unreal scary dream. Then why must I have my revenge? For what reason? For something unreal?"

Ashton remained silent, despite it being her own point of view, what she said still made sense to him. Her parents death was her motivation to keep living and getting revenge.

If that motivation become something unreal then there is no point for the revenge.

He couldn't help but to look back at his own selfish revenge back then. The reason why he was still mad, every time he would recollect the incident in a dream.

It became nothing but a nightmare, to the point where he even found his revenge pointless.

Seeing how he was contemplating over her words, "Don't try to incorporate what I said in your own circumstances. I can see that you have your own story to tell. But I am not telling this to you to use as an example for your own circumstances."

"I just didn't want to falter on my resolve that I have such reasoning. But everyone has their own circumstances."

She made her point to explain herself to him, she didn't want to become an adviser where people would think that she was right.

Instead of dwelling on the topic any longer, Ashton pointed towards the pack of headache medicine.

"Do you still feel uncomfortable on your head?"

That's when Amber remembered that she had indeed have what they call head ache last night. And it was so uncomfortable after she had finished with the battle a while ago.

"The sleep helped me, it's actually fine now," she replied with a shake of her head.

"Still take it with you, Carl went out of his way to buy it for you. He was feeling bad that we dragged you here."

She didn't argue and accepted the goodwill.

She checked the time and it was just 6, her first class was at 10. So she still has plenty of time.

"Can I just wash my face? I need to return to the hotel to get change," she then look at him.

He just shrug and letting her wash up in his room.

Just as she was about to enter the room, she gave a laugh, "Seriously why is it that even though we have only met for a good two months, I don't find it unfamiliar to do things in you room?"

Ashton just looked at her, what is he supposed to say?

"I guess having a fiance have its own perks hmmm. I have two houses somehow," she shakes her head and proceeded to the bathroom inside his room.

'It's not a nightmare but a recollection. She truly is peculiar,' he was in deep thought.

He finds her much more courageous than he was. She faced everything head on, no matter how scared she was. She still faced it, while he once run away from it.

He offered to send her back since Carl wouldn't be around until afternoon. To which she didn't decline for she was still wearing her pajamas.

Upon stopping in front of the hotel, "Thank you. Despite me suddenly jumping unto you, throwing myself to you. You didn't push me away but instead comforted me."

She raised her left hand and showed him the ring, that no one noticed to actually be an egagement one.

"This bound you to me, but you didn't got mad. I know that you see it as a duty because of the medicine. Yet you've helped me on my worst, emotionally, and for that I really am grateful."

She opened the door, "See you later. I need some help on the final phase for my software. Bye bye."

He didn't reply nor commented. He waited until she's inside the hotel before driving away.

She was right everything he did was a duty because she had helped cure his sister's sickness.

But he didn't find being bound to her irritating and such. Their relationship was in a give and take level.

She would not even go out of line on her requests to which they knew she would surely return at a given time.

In the end, he actually find it intriguing. Just how far will she go? How long will it take her to get what she wants?

She was but still a young girl, at the tender age of 16. Most of the ladies her age with such good background, only knows how to act cute and shop for clothes.

They didn't bother yet of what their future holds for they were rich and that is more than enough for them.

But Amber was different, it seems that if she forget about her revenge, she would turn lifeless and her purpose in life would be gone.

'Then if her revenge is over. What would be her next move?' he had this thought as he drove back to the university.