They arrived through automated gates and a heavy-duty security team, to a home nestled deep in a forest to a backdrop of mountains—no doubt land that belonged to his family and would be used as hunting grounds for whatever pheasant, deer or bear they wanted to eat. Casper confirmed that fact and said it was a yearly event.
The trees, bled with the colour of autumn, parted to reveal a mansion that hummed yellow with heat in the cold blue. A lake stretched before the home, catching the droplets of stars and the buttery yellow moon upon its mirror-esque tranquillity. Their ride stopped before a fountain that roared with money, huge, richly lavished and made of exquisite marble that featured a black dragon snaking through the sky.
She strained her neck to look as Casper helped her out of the car, almost missing the stone steps that hovered over water that held thousands of gasping koi. The steps that loomed before them after they passed the 'moat' seemed comically inconvenient for someone as rich as Casper's grandmother. It stretched high up through columns and pillars towards an enormous door that towered far and high.
"This seems strangely inconvenient," she whispered to him and Casper shrugged.
"Don't see the point too, there's a travelator to another door," he pointed to the carefully concealed walkway and she had to hide the awe on her face when the world melted into classy velvet warmth as they entered. The walls were marked by twists of extravagant gold and edged with green jade, hanging with glowing crystals. The previously broke Amber screamed at the luxury.
"Everything is a ridiculously costly purchase."
"Nothing's expensive for my family."
Butlers bowed as they approached black doors, which opened revealing hoards of people dressed as if it were a red carpet event and this was the Oscars. Her eyes flickered dancing over the suits and the glittering jewellery, taking in the coiling scent of expensive perfumes and heady cologne. Fuck, rich people didn't talk like teenagers at a party too, and their voices carried low and rumbly. Women giggling in musical notes and the men chuckling in the lowest octave they could manage.
A crystal chandelier dripping with hundreds and thousands of stars hung breathtakingly high over their heads in a room constructed from jade, velvet, mahogany and gold. It stretched, far and wide, halted by the occasional pillar and entrance to the next overly wide room, each decorated with tapestries and marbled statues of gold.
"What's with all the space!" she whispered hastily to Casper. "Got to be hard to clean."
"It's the only reason why they can have so many guests over and we aren't all chest to chest," he chuckled, guiding her across the room and passing groups of people deep in conversation.
They didn't seem to notice them, their eyes flickering and then dragging back as if they were nothing. It was a surprise considering Casper's fame and Amber's supposed notoriety in the family. It made the whole shy act easier for Amber, who stuck herself to Casper's side like a parasitic limb.
The only people that truly noticed were the servants that seemed to flicker into existence to wait on their every need and want. A waiter paused beside them offering a tiny little dessert that seemed more like food from an alien planet, and a glass of champagne each. She took one, not before another waiter appeared with hot towels for their hands.
"We're not going to be here for long," Casper reminded her gently as she popped the appetizer down—identified as crispy sourdough bread topped with balsamic vinegar and richly drenched with olive oil along with some kind of foaming buttery goodness that flooded her tongue with mint. "I'll look for my grandmother." He checked his phone, shifting on his feet.
"But we could at least exploit the buffet," she glanced at him hopefully, catching sight of the rice dumplings with shredded coconut, rainbow agar, snow skin mooncakes, mango sticky rice, sawdust pudding and fuck was that medovik? Her appetite lurched and her tummy clenched, a strange fluttering bursting forth. She patted it, digging into the flutters, intensified butterflies from fear. "I mean we're already here…We might as well have some food, and the variety here is just top-notch—"
"I'll get them to pack some later, okay?" Casper murmured, giving in to her demands with a soft smile. A break from his moody demeanour. "We can share them at home with the rest."
"You are the best!"
"Casper."
The voice that called was unfamiliar to her ears and Amber turned to see a tall, thin woman with sharp, Eurasian features and neatly white hair. It was coiled into the neatest damn bun she'd ever seen in her life, each strand combed and forced into perfect sweeps. She could see her soulmate in her features, the nose, and the foxy dip of her cold, steely grey eyes. The woman stared at her, looking her up at down with a turn of her lips. Disgust. Amber looked down at her feet, this time it wasn't an act.
"Mother," Casper nodded curtly, a smile twisting over his face as he held Amber closer to his body. "This is—"
"Ambrosia," the older woman nodded, with no smile on her lips. The woman watched her like a hawk, coloured eyes shard-like as they traced her body. Amber knew what she was looking for. Flaws. Fat. Things to fuck with her confidence. "Her face is smaller online. The pictures tricked me," she sniffed. "I should have known." Amber's heart pinched at her words. Oh boy…
Fuck people and their desperation for small thin fucking faces.
"It's nice to meet you," Amber replied with a smile, unable to stop herself, then grappled with the term that south-east Asians used to call older women. "Aunty?" Scorn flickered over the older women's face, and Casper's grip tightened on her. A reminder that she was to keep quiet and shut up. But he didn't need to because his mother moved swiftly, ignoring her completely.
"Come Casper, we need to discuss—"
"You will have to excuse me, Mother," Casper answered and for a moment Amber spotted the pain that danced across her face. "We're only here for the succession rite, and then we will be leaving. As promised and as requested." The older women's face twisted
"Not going to stay to meet your father?"
"If he wanted a meeting," Casper bit out, hostility dripping from his voice that he struggled to keep monotonous and polite. "He should request it in advance." The woman remained quiet, her eyes darting down to Amber and back at Casper. Then she offered a smile to Amber, calculative and more for Casper's benefit than Amber's.
"Who are your parents?" she asked, clipped and cold. Amber twitched at her words.
"Soul bond researcher and a translator. They—"
"Businesses? Any inheritance? Hong Kong am I right? I suppose…With the property prices in your country, how many do you own?"
"I don't own it. It's under my father's name just one, two rooms and—"
"Not surprising. Nothing of value then." Translation: You're not going to give Casper a better life. "I doubt we would receive a dowry." Casper's mother narrowed her eyes. "I suppose your parents would go for the modern outlook. They wouldn't be able to afford for seven dowries after all." Amber couldn't stop the aghast confusion from blossoming over her face.
"W-we're middle-classed," Amber said, biting down her real answer. "I was raised comfortable and wanting nothing." Translation: I was happy with my 'shit' life. "I do not know their plans when I get married, but I'll let you know. I'm sure we can work something out." Casper stepped in before his mother could bite back a retort.
"And I do not want them to pay for a dowry. I don't like putting a price on my soulmate, but I will respect tradition and only accept a limited sum if they want to." Casper gently tugged her closer as he spoke, eyes just as hard and steely as his mother's. "But to honour the Korean practice, we will buy a house in her name." Amber's eyes widened at his words and she glanced up at him. She didn't know that they would.
"One-sided," Casper's mother shook her head. "If you stayed Lonely I would have matched you—" His gaze turned to flames and his mother seemed to know that she threaded on dangerous territory as she changed the subject. "So your soulmate is poor," Casper's mother raised an elegant brow at Casper. And Casper's lips turned thin, pressed tightly together. "Unfortunate."
"Money isn't everything." Casper grouched out, taking the words right out of Amber's mouth. "I don't need it, you knew that when father cut me off. And I don't take a single penny from grandmother. The account remains full." His mother let out a low sigh, crossing her arms as she glared at her son.
"I don't like how she isn't studying something of worth. But I suppose, it benefits you that she works in a field that would practically ensure that she'll become a housewife when she's pregnant." The woman smirked and Casper bristled at her words, mouth opening as he stepped forward to defend her.
"She will do what she wants to do—"
"Do not talk back to me, Casper!" his mother snapped, "know your worthless place in this family!" Casper faltered, his body locking as he froze. "You've disappointed me on so many occasions. And you continue to disappoint me with every word out of your mouth!"
The woman scoffed, shaking her head and Casper remained quiet. He stepped back, shaking as he stared at her unable to move. Amber frowned, taking his hand and squeezing it. What's wrong? She tried to say through the taps of her finger but he continued to tremble, his eyes moving to the ground unable to look at his mother.
"If you didn't have my blood, heaven knows what I would do…" the woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She didn't seem to give a fuck that she'd just insulted Casper at the party in front of everyone and his new soulmate. "What a waste of my time, if I could have another child that would prove more useful for the family..."
Amber had never seen him like that. Quiet and reserved, his body trembling as his fingers tightened into fists. She knew him to be a calm, collected leader that protected all under his wing, but to see him so controlled was—
Strange.
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