Inside the presidential, both sides of people sat facing each other in silence, with Selena, Ryan, Dan and Justin sitting on a single lounge chair and Ethan and Tyler sitting on another opposite them.
Selena stole a glance at her brothers with had no intention of speaking to them since she had no idea what to say. But the current atmosphere was really awkward and for some reason, it made her tense...
Thankfully, the heavens must have heard her pleas as someone finally took the lead and spoke up.
"So.. were these the people who rescued you?", Ethan suddenly asked, sounding particularly curious.
Selena who was a bit absentminded didn't realise at first that he was speaking to her until she felt several gazes on her. Only then did she finally react, "Yes.. they were the ones who came to rescue me."
Ethan nodded at her words and when he looked at Ryan, Justin and Dan again, there was additional sincerity and gratefulness in his eyes.
"Thank you. You really did our family a great favor this time."
Ryan didn't even blink as he said cooly, "You don't need to thank us because it is what should do."
At the same time, he took Selena's hands again into his and clasped them tightly.
The meaning of his actions was really clear and even Ethan and Tyler who planned to ignore this particular matter was unable to anymore.
"He is your man?", This was Tyler asking Selena in a flat tone that made it impossible for people to know whether he was happy or not.
Selena tensed up slightly at his question and even the hands that she secretly wanted to remove from Ryan's control was forgotten as she looked at Tyler nervously, not knowing why he was asking.
Justin and Dan also pricked up their ears as waited for Selena's answer and her brother's subsequent reaction.
Would it be the scene that they and imagined happening next or..
"Yes. He is my man", Selena found the courage from hers and Ryan's clasped hands and looked into Tyler's eyes and answered with seriousness.
Yes, he was her man. The man she found she couldn't let go. The man she felt she wanted to spend her whole life with, till death do them apart.
She didn't know the reason why Tyler asked that question but no matter the reason, she was determined to hold this hands tight and never let go, not again. She wasn't a kid that they could tell what to do, not to mention the fact she hadn't grown up with them in the first place, so even if they had some scruples about Ryan, she only wanted to say she didn't give a damn!
Ethan looked at his twin's expressionless look and then at his new sister's serious look and couldn't help but chuckle out loud. Then, he found that several eyes were now on him and tried suppressing his amusement before speaking, "Sorry. I really couldn't help it. I just find it quite amusing that everyone was looking so serious."
With Ethan's actions, the somewhat tense situation was successfully relieved. Only then did Selena realized that her palms held by Ryan was already sweaty, showing she wasn't as unbothered as she thought.
To be honest, she really hadn't thought deeply about what her reaction would be if her family didn't accept Ryan, neither did she ever want to be such an occasion where she has to think about it.
"He seems okay", While she was being absent minded, Selena heard someone say and quickly gathered her thoughts. She saw that it was still Tyler speaking and when she remembered what he had just said, she realized he was replying to her answer.
Selena's face instantly lit up at that realization and she looked at Tyler with abnormally bright eyes, making him have no choice except to avert his eyes with some embarrassment.
Ethan who noticed his actions felt like laughing again after all, it wasn't every day you get to see THE Tyler Preston looking embarrassed!
And the fact that he was able to witness this rare sight was all thanks to his new sister. She really made it impossible for him not to adore her, though the reason why he felt that way was because he had a feeling that with her back in the family, he might just get to see more fun sides of his brother.
Not to mention the others, even Ryan looked at Tyler with a hint of surprise and probing in his eyes. He was indeed surprised that this brother of Selena's had said what he did, although that could barley count as a compliment but still..
The fact that he said that was really.. surprising. This was because he had perceived that Selena's brother was the same type of person as he was.
Domineering. Decisive. Apathetic and particularly Arrogant.
And most of the times, when two persons of same personality like theirs meet, it was inevitable that there was going to be a clash and in the worst case, they might turn into enemies.
These thoughts ran through Ryan's mind for only a few seconds after which he became calm again.
No matter what intention Tyler had in mind for saying that, whether it was really a compliment or he was being sarcastic, he had no intention of digging deeper into it.
On the other hand, Selena was about to say thank you to Tyler since him saying that meant he wasn't against Ryan and her being together but before she could even open her mouth to speak, they heard the sound of the door opening and simultaneously, all of them turned to look in that direction.
This made it so that when Mr. and Mrs. Preston stepped into the room, they saw several pairs of eyes staring back at them and looked a bit startled.
"Mom! Dad!", Selena called out as she stood up in excitement on seeing the duo who came in.
The old couple came back to their senses on hearing the familiar voice and almost instantly, their eyes locked onto Selena.
On seeing that familiar face looking at her with excitement, Mrs. Preston eyes couldn't help but water. Only by seeing her before them did she finally and truly believe that their daughter was fine and back to them.
"Mom..", Selena called out guiltily on seeing Mrs. Preston's glassy eyes and hurriedly walked towards her.
"..I am sorry for making you so worried about me.."
Mrs. Preston shook head to her words and after composing herself, she replied, "It's great that you are fine. That nothing happened is all that matters.."
The room was harmoniously silent as everyone watched the hugging women.
"Stop standing her and let's go over sit down", Selena and Mrs. Preston suddenly heard Mr. Preston speak in the midst of their hug.
Only then did they both straighten up, with Selena calling out 'Dad' softly. Mr. Preston only glanced faintly at her and just when Selena thought he wouldn't say anything, he patted her shoulder. "It's good that everything went well."
He didn't wait for her to react and quickly walked into the room leaving a teary Selena and a amused Mrs. Preston behind.
"Don't mind your father. He is just that way. Don't look at him acting like that but he was just as worried as I am when we were unable to reach you", Mrs. Preston whispered conspiratorially in Selena's ears while watching her husband's fleeing back.
Her words made Selena both touched and amused especially when she thought about the fleet of embarrassment she had seen on her dad's eyes after he patted her shoulder.
Only now did Selena realize that her taciturn father also had such a side.
"Let's join them quickly before they start wondering what we are up to", Mrs. Preston said jokingly as she dragged her along to where the others sat.
...
Months later, a grand wedding was being held in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world located in F Nation. Royalty and dignitaries were all in attendance as they sat in the wedding hall of the only daughter of the Preston family and her groom.
Friends and families also sat on their seats as they watched the obviously happy and loving couple take the marriage vows in front of the priest.
In front of the priest, Selena faced the man who had always owned her heart with happiness bubbling in her chest. Finally, she and him were doing this in reality and not just in the imaginations and dreams she had had!
That day, in the presidential suite back in Nova, after she and her mother sat down, her dad had suddenly stood up after that and called Tyler and Ryan into the study in the suite. Moments later, the trio had come out and made everyone one else who was left in the room burning with curiosity as to what they had talked about. She, in particular had been anxious since she knew that it was definitely related to her and also Ryan's troublesome identity.
Unfortunately, neither of those men were people to show their feelings on the faces. She had asked Ryan later on but he had never told her what they discussed in the study that day, he only said everything was fine and with that, Selena knew that it meant he really had no plans of telling her as of that moment, though she couldn't say about the future.
However, probably to shift her attention, he had come clean to her about his family's background and well, it was just like she had guessed. The most shocking part was however still about his mother's death. Turned out that after his father, no, that man didn't deserve the title, Mr. Anderson had planned and murdered his father and only brother with a car accident as a ruse, Ryan's mother had accidentally found out through some secret documents he kept in the study one day. Mr. Anderson had caught her red-handed and proposed that if she wanted to keep her life, she had to promise not to tell another about it.
To lower his guard, Ryan's mother had agreed readily and acted normally for the next month after which she told him she planned to take her two sons, which were little Ryan and Luke to her parent's place for the weekend and immediately he heard that, Mr. Anderson had instantly gotten suspicious, so he looked into it and found that Ryan's mother had contracted the services of a P.I and was looking for evidences of his murder.
Knowing that, he had instantly panicked fearing that she would really find evidences he might have overlooked, especially when he was running for an higher official position back then. So, to eliminate that possibility, he hired a killer and murdered Ryan's mother in the same way as he did to his father and brother.
With regards to his grandfather and uncle, Ryan couldn't care less about the fact that they died since they had done no less bad deeds than that b*stard father of his but his mother...
To little Ryan, his mother had been his only beacon of light in the darkness and swamp called the Anderson family but that man took that light away from him.
The funniest part was that he wouldn't have known neither thought of it if that man hadn't stretched his arms toward Selena after he learnt of her existence which he thought was the reason why he went out of his control. All he wanted was a handle to threaten the man to keep his hands off his business but he found so much more..
The moment he got that report, he didn't even know of he should regret beginning the investigation or should be thankful for it. After all, no matter how bad, disgusting, heartless that man was he never thought he was the one who killed his mother!
Selena could still remember how distressed, hateful and sympathetic she had felt and still feel on knowing his 'dark' history. Thankfully, that man would never be able to come out in his lifetime after being thrown behind bars for murder, manipulation of electoral votes, bribery, extortion and so much more. The most serious of them being the behind-the-scenes owner of Blood Gang!
How many of powerful officials still on the scenes or even the retired ones hadn't had their dirty secrets revealed or used as a means of extortion by the Anderson family throughout generations? It was the secret to the family's untouchable position as officials after all.
But now that everything has come to surface, one could very well imagine what all those people would do to the Anderson father and son in the prison...
With those thoughts in mind, Selena's smile grew bigger and bigger as she stared into Ryan's eyes deeply and Ryan's already softened features softened even more as he looked at his beloved woman with impossibly gentle eyes.
Soon.. They would be a family in the true sense the word. Their home.. children.. and much more.
The End.
Author's Note: Yay! It's finally ending! Yup, we are done with Selena and Ryan's part of the story. I still don't know if I would be continuing with Dan and Ariana's part of the story but still.. It was awesome to have you, my dear cute readers together with me as I wrote this book and immerse ourselves in the character's joys and sorrows. You guys have been a very wonderful companion, saranghae(I love you!) and kamsamida(Thank you!) A thousand thanks and I love you's can't even begin to express how I feel!
Thank you for unlocking the chapters, for commenting, voting, giving golden tickets and also writing a review. I really, really appreciate it!
If you like you can check out my other novel on Dreame titled 'The Duplicates: Our Lives, Out Fates' It's a college campus story about doppelgangers. I will super duper appreciate it if you do check it out and for the last time, tbank you for reading 'The Supermodel's Ex-Fiance'!!!!