L.O.V.E.

Ashton

At 4:00 pm, he went out of his office room and strode to the executive lift. Joshua is waiting for him in the lobby, and a car is ready in front of the building's main door. He asked Joshua to bring up his Jeep; he was expecting to pick up his son's, and he needs a bigger car. 

'I'm a father now. I guess it's time for me to buy a family car.' Ashton smiled secretly at his thought. His mood lit up inside and outside.

On the way to Appleton, Ashton makes a call to Emma. "Hello, Emma?" He called her name spontaneously.

On the other end of the line answered, "Hello, speaking."

"I'm on my way to Appleton. I will pick up the kids." Ashton tone is unusually soft.

Joshua, who is sitting in front next to the driver, secretly widens his eyes while listening to his boss's voice tone while speaking to Emma.

"Why do you have to be surprised that I have your personal contact number?" Ashton asked the person on the line.

After a while, he speaks again: "Okay, fine. I will wait at the restaurant. I will send the restaurant location to you via WhatsApp shortly."

Joshua, who is sitting in front, listened to Ashton's words attentively, but at the same time, his heart was laughing and giggling at hearing Ashton's voice tone while speaking to Emma. He had never heard his boss speak with that tone before.

After Ashton ended the conversation, he looked up at Joshua.

"Joshua, are you laughing at me just now? I saw your shoulder shaking a little while I'm on the phone!" 

Joshua froze immediately. "Boss, I'm... I will share the restaurant location with you now. You need to send it to Ms. Austen, don't you?"

Ashton narrowed his eyes looking at Joshua's back. "Okay, send it to me now."

Joshua felt a little relieved after successfully diverted his boss focus to his phone. 

Appleton is a bit far from the city center and with the traffic condition, requiring at least 2 hours to reach the town. Throughout the journey, Ashton was caught up in his feelings and had a flashback about all the situations and twisted memories that he had experienced for the past six years. 

He never thought that the strange feeling he experienced after the incident with Emma, until to this day, was for his son's. However, he couldn't fully blame Emma for hiding the birth of their children's from him. He was not there for his son's for the past six years, his heart aches thinking about what they have been through all those years. But at the same time, he was grateful to Emma for giving birth to his babies and took the parents role with care until today.

He knows Emma's life was not easy and luxurious while living overseas. From the investigation report that his team reported to him, he now knows everything that has happened to her. Including what Zack Reyes, her friends, and even the Austen's had done to her until she decided to flee the country. Not knowing to anyone, Ashton actually has a little grudge against everyone that made her run away. Due to the circumstances, he lost her trace and had to wait for six years to find her and his sons.

Thinking about his son's, he smiles and looks outside the car window. Ashton cannot wait to meet his son's, but at the same time he feels a little nervous. He never had this kind of feeling before. How weird. For 34 years of his life, he never thought he would become a father of three at once. 

'Never imagine the heaviness feeling that I held on to all this time for Emma was actually something much bigger than my life.' He smiled again.

Joshua, who is sitting in the passenger seat in front, will look back at his boss once in awhile and catch him smiling while looking out of the window. 'My boss never smiled like that before. Interesting.'

Ashton's smiley face has now changed to a cheeky one. He suddenly remembered the scenes between him and Emma from their one-night stand video. He has watched the encrypted video, obviously. LOL.

His lost memories of that night were all captured by the hidden camera that was set up by his enemy. 'Damn, I couldn't believe what I have seen. How can I be so brutal and perverted that night? No, I wasn't myself that night. I have to blame the drug. If it's not because I'm under a drug influence, never in my million years of touching a woman like Emma. She's fat! Oh gosh, but the scenes showed a different story. I did really look enjoyed consuming all of her body. The way she moaned and screamed, calling me baby and telling me not to stop, really made my lust explode throughout the s*& course. The entire scene, including how I hugged her to sleep that night, really freaked me out. I can't believe myself!!' Ashton shakes his head, hoping to shake the scenes off in his mind. LOL.

He leans his head backward on the car seat, closing his eyes, trying to calm his heart and mind. He really hopes his heart and eyes will not look at Emma differently after this because there's something that woke up within him after he watched the video. Something weird called L.O.V.E.

"Boss, we are here." Joshua interrupted his daydreaming mode.

"Okay." He got out of the car and entered the restaurant that Joshua had booked for him. It's a Japanese restaurant with a calm ambience.

Ashton arrived at the restaurant first. He is glued to his phone screen while waiting for his son's arrival in the private room. 10 minutes passed, and suddenly the door opened, and he automatically looked up to see who had arrived. It's Joshua.

"Boss, they are here."

Ashton put his phone aside and stood up. "Let them in. You and the driver can go have dinner too. I will call you once we are done here."

Joshua nodded. "Ms. Austen, please come inside."

Emma and the triplet make their entrance inside the private room. Joshua closed the door silently and left.

"Hi." Ashton smiled awkwardly at the triplet. "Please sit down."

"Hi." The triplet replied to him in unison.

"Mr. Greene, I will leave the kids with you. You can have a private dinner with them. I will come back later to fetch them, call me once...." Emma let him know that she didn't intend to have dinner with them. 

"No worries, I will send them home." He interrupted her and offered to send them home himself.

"No, I will fetch them." Emma insists on picking up the kids later.

'This woman is so stubborn. She's scared that I kidnap her children's, don't she?' Ashton speaks inwardly. 

"Kiddos, you guys stay here for awhile. I need to speak with your mother outside." With that, he pulled Emma out of the private room.

"What are you doing? Let me go." Emma looked up at him with an angry face.

"You don't trust me, don't you? I will send them home safely. You don't have to worry; I will not kidnap them from you." Ashton towered over her with his tall body.

"Don't stand too close to me. Space." Emma stepped back away from him.

Ashton narrowed his eyes, looking at her.

"Okay fine! You can send them home. I will send my location to you later." Emma finally agreed with him.

"No need to bother, I know where your house is."

"You...?" Emma can't believe what she heard.

"You don't have to give me that reaction. You knew I had done my investigation on you. Don't worry, I will send my son's to your house safely once we are done here." He smiled to reassure her.

"Okay. Let me see them for a minute before I go." Emma walked past him to enter the room again. But, before she reached the doorknob, Ashton pulled her arm again.

"What?" Emma was shocked by his action.

"Stop calling me Mr. Greene in front of the kids again." Ashton gave her a stern order.

"Okay, I will try." Emma entered the room and Ashton followed her behind.

"Earl, Ean, Eric. Mommy will go home first, and your dad will send you guys home later, okay? Be nice." Emma looks at her son's and finally looks at him.

Ashton smiled happily when he heard her addressing him as 'daddy' to her children's. "Don't worry, they will not go anywhere."

Emma sighed softly and walked out of the room reluctantly.

Now, left Ashton and the triplet inside the room. The father and son's.