Andrew hung his head low, his face a mask of guilt and remorse, unable to muster another word. He turned on his heel and left.
The door swung open once again, and Charlie glanced at the newcomer, snuffing out his cigarette in the process.
Emily walked over and took a seat beside him, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder. "You've already confronted Susanna. Let it go. Kya's alright; she'll forget all about it soon."
"Emily, let's get married!" Charlie blurted out unexpectedly.
Emily was taken aback for a moment, standing up to meet his deep, dark gaze. After a brief silence, she spoke, "Do you think getting married will change the fact that I come from a humble background?"
"If we get married, no one will dare to mock you anymore!" Charlie declared.
"The mockery will still be there, just behind our backs," Emily replied, her eyes clear and piercing. "I've felt frustrated and guilty when Kya was bullied, but Estelle quickly snapped me out of it. What about you? Do you care?"
Charlie frowned deeply. "You know what I care about!"
Emily's heart softened, and she wrapped her arms around him. "It was an accident. Aren't we happy most of the time?"
But Charlie couldn't let it go. "Then let's at least get engaged. Let everyone know you're mine, the person I'm going to marry no matter what. That'll keep the riff-raff from looking down on you or Kya."
Mentioning Kya struck a chord in Emily, and she nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's get engaged first."
"After the holidays, I'll start planning. If you don't want to take a break, you can keep working. It won't get in your way," Charlie, somewhat pacified by her agreement, said, "Emily, is it really that stressful to be with me?"
Emily leaned against his chest, slowly shaking her head. "It's more about having confidence."
The past few years had been tumultuous, filled with emotional entanglements with Charlie and her family's issues, significantly altering her outlook on life.
But when she thought about it, without Charlie, she'd probably be lost and helpless somewhere.
Charlie had given her the courage to face everything head-on. Without a family of her own, he had given her one.
"No, from now on, I'll take her to the office with me every day. I need to have her in my sight at all times," Charlie said, the fear evident in his voice.
Emily noticed a phone on the couch across from them and reached for it, intending to check the security cameras.
Charlie grabbed her hand and pulled her into his embrace. "Let's not dwell on it. Consider this a lesson for us. We can't let Kya out of our sight, no matter where we are."
Emily nodded. "I understand."
Charlie kissed Emily's forehead gently. "I miss Kya. Let's go find her!"
"Okay!"
Emily stood up, hand in hand with Charlie, and they walked out together.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
Norah took Estelle to tutor her brother. Both of them are around the same age. So why is Janice and Xavier father feel that there's an age gap for Norah and Xavier. L I know they will be together....
Norah isn't a girl, but a twenty -five year old beautiful woman that loves Xavier Fleming/Gonzalez/Hanson....
Update 3103 hasn't been received and it hold pertinent information. Please fix it for us. Thank you....
This is great! I love the updates....
Now Xavier needs to call in the reinforcement, Gabriel and Jonathan to settle this. Thank you for the updates....
May we please have updates. Thank you...
Xavier will always protect Norah he must admit this to himself and Norah. I believe after they return from this , he'll need to approach Norah 's parents and he'll get support from Jonathan and Ella....
I like how you are getting all the different love interest committed, thank you for the updates....
Hoping Manly have his own love story here, atleast a short one...
Emily has finally stood up for herself. Now with Charlie's support, her mother and sister in law will be as quiet as church mice....