Chapter 162

Third Person POV.

“Hi, Amber,” Richard whispered, and Amber almost couldn't believe her ears.

Her heart raced as she watched Richard, her eyes filled with tears of hope. For so long, she had yearned to hear her name on his lips and to see a hint of recognition in his eyes. And now, as she stood in front of him, she dared to hope that her prayers had been answered.

“Amber, I…,” He was about to say something, but the words caught in his throat, and he found himself unable to say anything.

When he called her name again, time seemed to stand still as she tried to be sure that this was really happening. Could it be true? Was he finally going to remember her?

Tears welled up in her eyes as she took a step closer to him, her heart pounding in her chest. His teary eyes mirrored her own, and she reached out to him, her hands trembling with emotion.

With a tenderness born of longing and desperation, she cupped his cheeks in her hands, her touch gentle yet firm as she searched his eyes for any sign of recognition.

Her breath caught in her throat as she dared to hope that he had regained his memory—that he had finally come back to her.

"Richard," she whispered. "Do you remember me?"

For a moment, there was only silence as Richard stared back at her, his eyes filled with conflicting emotions. And then, without warning, he broke down in tears, the tears he had been holding immediately streaming down his face.

Her heart shattered at the sight of his reaction to her question, her own tears mingling with his as she tried to understand what could be making him feel so sad. She brushed away his tears with trembling hands, her touch gentle and reassuring as she tried to calm him down.

"What's wrong?" she whispered as she continued to wipe away his tears with her trembling fingers. "Why are you crying?"

Richard's tears flowed nonstop, a torrent of emotion unleashed by the fragments of his memories that began to stitch together. Amber, her own tears mingling with his, reached out to console him, her voice trembling with concern. "What's going on? Why are you crying so much?"

In the midst of his sobbing, Richard's eyes shifted towards Amber, realizing that she, too, was already shedding tears. A flicker of guilt took hold, compelling him to wipe away her tears with a tender gesture. "Please, Amber, don't cry," he pleaded, hating that she was crying again because of him.

Amber's voice trembled with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty, her tears still streaming down her face. She repeated her question. "Richard, do you finally remember who I am?"

For a moment, he closed his eyes, a wave of guilt washing over him. He had forgotten the woman who stood in front of him—the person he claimed to love most in the world—and he hated it so much, to the point where he almost couldn't believe it.

"Yes, my love," he whispered. "I finally remember. You're my Amber, the person I love most in this life. My beautiful Amber."

A wide smile illuminated Amber's tear-streaked face, her heart soaring with joy at his confirmation. She immediately pulled him in for a hug, her hands securing his form with a happiness that words couldn't describe. "That's right, my love. I'm your Amber, your beautiful Amber," she said. "You have no idea how happy I am right now. I thought this day would never come."

Richard's arms wrapped around Amber, holding her as though she would slip away from him if he didn't. The warmth of her hug sank into his being, giving him the sense of peace that he knew he could only get from her. He pressed his cheek against her hair. "I still can't believe I forgot you. Of all people, of all the things to forget, I forgot you. I can't even begin to imagine the pain I caused you."

Amber shook her head, her eyes filled with compassion, as he expressed an overwhelming guilt for forgetting her. Pulling away slightly from their hug, she met his gaze, a smile gracing her lips as she placed a hand on his cheek. Her touch was gentle and reassuring as she spoke. "I beg you, Richard, please don't feel guilty about anything. Nothing that happened was your fault," she said. "What matters to me right now is that you're alive and well. That's what truly counts, and that's the only thing I'm going to focus on."

Richard's eyes blinked away tears, his gaze dropping to Amber's stomach, where the signs of their growing baby were beginning to show. A surge of emotion washed over him, and he let out a shaky sigh, pain and regret etched on his features. "Regardless, Amber, I still hate it so much that I forgot you as well as our unborn child. I don't want to imagine how devastated and down you must have been because of me," he said, his voice trembling.

Amber's hand instinctively moved to rest on Richard's, offering a gentle squeeze. Tears welled in her eyes as she met his gaze. "Again, my love, none of this is your fault, okay? If anything, it's my fault you almost died, and I'm just grateful that you're here with me right now," she said, assuring him that the last thing she was at the moment was upset.

A broken sob escaped Richard's lips, his shaky voice carrying the burden of a thousand apologies. He pulled Amber back into his arms, holding her tightly. "I'm so sorry, my love," he choked out between sobs. "I'm really sorry for everything."

She held him close, her arms wrapped tightly around him, and after she pulled away, she wiped away the remnants of his tears. She then gazed into his eyes, her heart overflowing with love as she traced the contours of his face with trembling fingers.

As Richard's breathing steadied, her fingers brushed against his hair, pushing his now-long hair away from his face.

"There's something I've never said to you before," she began, her voice barely above a whisper. "Something I should have said sooner, and something I regret not saying every chance I had. When I thought you left me, I realized that I never got to say those words to you, and it ate me up so much.”

Richard's brows furrowed, confusion etching his features. Before he could utter a word, Amber blurted out the three words that had been etched into her heart since the day she laid her eyes on him, even when she never realized it. "I love you, Richard Romero," she confessed. "Just as you consider me the person you love most, you are also the person I love most in this world. You mean everything to me. Absolutely everything, and I'm sorry I'm only just telling you how important you are to me. From now on, I will make it a point to tell you every day how much I love you, how much you mean to me, and how I don't think I could ever live without you."

Richard's eyes welled with tears at her words, his heart swelling with an overwhelming sense of love. He had always known that she loved him, but to hear her say it to him directly made his heart skip a beat. He reached out to cup her cheek in his hand.

"I love you too, Amber," he whispered. "More than words can express, and I promise you that we're going to be happy, my love. You, me, and our beautiful baby are only going to experience happiness from now on. I give you my word."

With tears in their eyes, they leaned in to meet each other's lips in a passionate kiss, and as they kissed with tears of joy rolling down their cheeks, Amber could only think of how happy they were going to be, but not where they were.