Ash smiled and cried after Eiji proposed.
"Eiji... Am I dreaming? Will you pinch me?" Ash said.
Eiji laughed
"I can do more than that! Now you're not dreaming, bitch! Will my sensitive American marry me, the sloppy Japanese?" Eiji said as he pinched Ash.
"Stop it and I'll answer!" Ash laughed.
Eiji stopped.
"I'm serious, Aslan. I love you."
"I love you too, Eiji." Ash said.
Ash took out the ring and gave it to Eiji.
"Now put the ring on my finger!" Ash said.
"But you didn't answer my question." Eiji said.
"Oh... What was the question, Eiji?" Ash said.
Eiji took the Tiffany box, put the ring back in, and got down on one knee.
"Aslan... I love you with all my heart, my soul, and my strength. Will you please continue to make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?" Eiji asked.
Ash got emotional and cried.
"Yes. I'll marry you, Eiji." Ash cried.
Eiji put the ring on Ash's finger and kissed him.
Eiji kissed Ash with all the passion in the world. He was in love with Ash and now he agreed to marry him. "You're mine. Forever." He thought.
Ibe popped out for a second with his camera and congratulated them after he took a few pictures. Ash and Eiji got some hugs from Ibe and then Ibe left.
"Ash... Can I show you something?" Eiji said.
"Of course." Ash said.
Eiji took Ash's ring off of his finger.
"I've asked to have something engraved inside." Eiji said.
Ash looked at the ring. When he read what was engraved inside, he bawled.
"My soul is always with you."
Ash immediately pulled out Eiji's letter from his pocket.
"Eiji... Those words mean the world to me. Your letter... Those words... They gave me the strength to fight for my life that day. I carry this letter with me everywhere I go, and now the ring has those words too." Ash said.
Eiji cried.
"I'm so lucky to have you, Eiji. And soon you'll be my husband too! I can't believe it!" Ash cried.
Eiji kissed Ash passionately again. If Ash had not delivered their daughter that day, he'd be baking sweet, intense love to him.
Dawn was sleeping soundly. Ash passed out right away. Eiji looked at his now fiance and daughter sleeping.
"I promise to keep the both of you safe." He thought.
Dawn woke up at around 3am for a bottle and a diaper change. Eiji was deep in his sleep at the moment. Ash woke up and got Dawn. He held his little girl, fed her, and changed her. After that, he went to the rocking chair in the living room and held her until she fell asleep.
Sing and Yuuya walked up and saw Ash looking at his little girl with a smile on his face.
Sing and Yuuya approached Ash quietly.
"Hey guys!" Ash mouthed out.
Sing and Yuuya smiled and waved.
"You look more beautiful than ever Ash." Sing whispered with great admiration.
Yuuya agreed.
"Thank you." Ash said.
"Do you need help? We can watch her while you sleep." Yuuya offered.
"It's ok. I think she fell asleep now. She's actually not a fussy baby." Ash whispered.
"But if you guys want to hold her, you can." Ash said.
"We can do that in the morning. We'll officially begin uncle duty again when she wakes up." Sing said.
Ash smiled at them. Sing and Yuuya walked Ash back to his room. They didn't notice Ash's ring despite it being super shiny.
The next morning
As soon as Ash, Eiji, and Dawn woke up, everyone went to their room to visit. Yuuko brought them breakfast, Mr. Okumura brought Eiji some coffee and Ash some juice.
Yut-Lung went to see if Ash needed help. Blanca was looking after Eiji. Yut-Lung kept trying to avoid Blanca as he was still angry about his cheating.
"So, we've been dying to know... Have you guys named the baby yet?" Yut-Lung said.
"We did." Eiji said.
"What's her name?" Sing asked.
"Her name is Dawn." Ash said.
"How beautiful!" Yuuya said.
Ibe kept taking pictures of Dawn.
Yut-Lung held Wei in one arm, and had his hand on his now swollen belly as he felt his twins move and kick.
Blanca looked at Yut-Lung and felt really sad.
Wei was crying and Yut-Lung kept rocking him to sleep after he was fed.
Sing noticed that Blanca was sad.
"You two need to talk. Yuuya and I will watch Wei." Sing said.
"Do you think he'll forgive me?" Blanca asked.
"I don't think so. Yue is not that forgiving of a person, but he did change, so there is a possibility." Sing said.
Yut-Lung went to go put Wei in his crib. He arched his back as he felt tired.
Although he wasn't too far along in his pregnancy, he was already showing a lot. He looked like he was 4 or 5 months along. His twins were already active. He still felt sick and got tired easily.
He went straight to the guest bed next to Wei's crib and lied down. He ran his hand up and down his belly to feel his twins.
"If I'm gonna be a single parent, that's fine. I can handle this. I know you would've been by my side, Wu." He thought. He thought about his faithful servant Wu, whom he had also fallen in love with. The feelings were mutua, but Yut-Lung was a little too oblivious and never realized it. Yut-Lung would also tell himself that what he felt for Wu was just a temporary teenage crush, especially because the Lee family would never allow a romantic relationship between them. He and Wu had sex with each other several times. One time, Wu had impregnated Yut-Lung, but upon finding out, Hua Lung drugged Yut-Lung and caused him to miscarry. Wu knew of Hua-Lung's plan and did everything he could to try and stop it, but failed because Wang-Lung and his body guards beat him and kept him kidnapped for a few weeks.
Yut-Lung's heart belonged, and always will belong to four men: Blanca, Ash, Wu, and in a way, Hua-Lung.
Blanca approached Yut-Lung and sat at the food of the bed.
"Yue...-"
"Sergey..."
Blanca tried to get closer to Yut-Lung
"Can we talk?" Blanca said.
"Sergey, I am very exhausted. My feet hurt, my back hurts, our twins are moving a lot, and Wei needs me to be energetic. Maybe we can talk later." Yut-Lung said as he passed out and slept.
While everyone was eating breakfast, there was some chatter going on. Ash looked a bit exhausted. Made sense because he had to get up last night to feed and change Dawn.
Blanca joined them.
"You guys didn't talk?" Sing asked.
"No. Yue was tired." Blanca said.
"Oh..." Sing muttered.
"Don't tell Ash." He mouthed out to Sing.
Sing gestured zipping his lips shut.
"So everyone, Ash and I have an announcement." Eiji said.
"Did you knock him up again?" Sing asked.
Everyone laughed. Ash turned red.
"Not yet Sing... But you're close." Eiji said.
"Babe, you want to show them?" Eiji said.
Ash showed everyone his engagement ring.
Everyone got really happy and cheered.
"Congratulations Ash and Eiji!" Blanca said.
"Thank you!" Ash said.
"So... Have you guys set a date?" Sing asked.
"Not yet... But... I have a few ideas." Eiji said.
"Me too! But we need to hurry because I want to start preparing everything for the wedding!" Ash said.
"How cute! Ash is already thinking like a bride!" Sing said.
"I think helping Yue with the wedding might have got Ash to daydream about his." Yuuya said.
"I'm just really excited. I've never thought that this could happen to me in a million years. I thought that I was let's gonna be a prostitute under Dino. " Ash said, voice tinged with sadness.
Yuuko couldn't believe what she heard. But she did remember the conversation she, Mr. Okumura, Blanca, Max and Jessica (via zoom,) and Ibe had with Eiji the night before.
Flashback:
"So, I've gathered you guys because there's something I need to talk to you about." Eiji said.
"What happened?" Mr. Okumura asked.
"I'm gonna propose to Ash." Eiji said.
Jessica heard and she thought it was cute.
"Ash is so lucky!" She said.
"I should've asked him earlier, but... I was too scared." Eiji said.
"I'm glad you're gonna do it because that sweet baby deserves a complete and stable family." Mr. Okumura said.
"I'm not just doing it for her. I'm also doing it because I really love Ash, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I've never been so sure of anything in my life such as this." Eiji said.
"Well, you have mine and Jessica's blessing. And send us pictures of the baby!" Max said.
Ibe wiped a tear from his eyes.
"You two have my blessing as well, Ei-chan. I have seen the two of you grow and fall in love with each other, and I think you guys are right for each other." Ibe said.
"You have my blessing as well, Eiji. I know just how much you and Ash love each other. Ash has said nothing but great things about you, and from the first moment I knew about you, I knew that Ash loved you." Blanca said.
"You don't even need to ask for my blessing, Son. I know you'll be a good husband to that young man, and an amazing father to my granddaughter. And I love Ash as if he were my own son as well." Mr. Okumura said.
"You've got mine and Yuuya's blessing as well. ;) How dare you not invite us! xD" Sing texted.
"Thank you guys." Eiji said.
