"Great! Here we go again.” Derek thought to himself, sighing heavily. Why did the females in his life have to be so dramatic? It was so draining. “What has come over you, Derek? Why are you doing this to us?” She asked, the tears falling hard and fast. Amanda had clearly taken lessons in being dramatic from her. “What am I doing to you guys?” “You’re treating us like we do not matter to you at all. This wasn’t how your father treated us when he was alive. You put your poor sister on a paltry allowance, for crying out loud!” “It’s Amanda’s own fault that she cannot be trusted with finances, and it is out of the kindness of my heart that I am even giving her an allowance at all. She ran through her trust fund in an obscenely short amount of time, for chrissakes. That’s nobody’s fault but hers.” Derek reminded his mother. “All the same, she is still your sister. Your very own blood! How can you be so unconcerned watching her struggle the way she is struggling?” Mrs Turner asked
The wind blew fairly strongly and ruffled Derek’s hair as he drove the five hours to the set location in his convertible. He could have flown down there, but he needed some time alone in silence, and this journey provided him with that.It was not necessary for him to be on the set, or even to show up at all, but he found himself making the journey anyway. He needed a break from everything and the long drive was giving him that much-needed break.However, deep within him, he knew the real reason why he had embarked on this trip, and it was because of Ava. For whatever reason, he could not get her off his mind, no matter how hard he tried and he had finally come to terms with this fact.His feelings for her grew stronger by the day, and were even now, much stronger than they had been after she disappeared.If she knew this, she would probably consider him a creep and make sure never to have to work with him again, which was why he was going to play it cool, at least for now.He got to t
EIGHT YEARS AGO“I would like to get married to you,” Ava said. The weight of the words hung heavily in the atmosphere between Ava and Derek. At first, Ava thought that Derek did not hear her request. She herself could barely believe that those words had come out of her mouth.Of course, she had fantasized about being in a relationship with Derek and having him fall in love with her, but that was all it had been… a fantasy since she had somehow caught feelings for him during the period of time that she took care of him.So how come did her traitorous mouth open of its own accord to utter the words that it had just uttered? Derek continued to stare at her passively for a long time, while she averted her gaze, and wished that the ground would open up and swallow her.“You would like to get married to me.” He said at last. It was not a question, but a statement.“Uh, well.”“Why would you like to get married to me?”“I …” Ava began and then trailed off, embarrassed beyond words. Her ch
That had been eight whole years ago and a lot of time had passed now, just as a lot of water had passed under the bridge. Derek was a stranger to Ava now, and that was all he would ever be, even if she ever told him about her daughter.“I have to go check out something. Later.” She said, making a hasty getaway from there before either of the men said something, thus leaving them alone together.It was the first time both men were alone in close proximity to each other in years, and the hostility between them was palpable enough for anyone watching them closely to feel.“So are you going to spend all day pouting? Come on. I’ll show you around.” Steve told Derek, extending his hand toward him, but Derek pushed the hand away irritatedly.“Stay the fuck away from Ava.”“And why on earth would I want to do that? She’s a lovely lady and she is exactly my type. I think that something may be brewing there.” Steve replied, his tone so mocking that it was all Derek could do not to drive his fis
Derek knew that he should leave Ava alone. It was clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, and besides, she had told him so in so many words, but he just couldn’t help himself.He found her in a small room by herself, and she was talking on the phone, totally oblivious to his presence since she had her back turned to the door.“Alright, honey. I’ll see you in two days, okay? I miss you so much too, but I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later this night.” She said into the phone and waited while the other person spoke before she spoke again.“I love you too, baby. Kisses...” She finished and then hung up the call. Her voice was filled with unmistakable love … much like the love she used to have for him.To hear her sound the way she used to when she talked to him as she talked to someone else made Derek feel like a dagger had been plunged straight into his heart. Apparently, he had been barking up the wrong tree all this while.Ava had someone in her life, and this mysterious per
"Look, it doesn’t matter. As I said before, it’s all in the past. Damn, you’re beginning to make me sound like a broken record.” Ava told him, making to walk past him, but he stepped in front of her, his gaze pleading.“Ava, please, tell me what you’re talking about. I’m not trying to justify my horrid behavior to you while we were married, but I also need to know what you’re talking about.”“It doesn’t matter,” Ava told him stubbornly.As much as she liked to think that she was over Derek … and she was actually over him, thinking about his betrayal and the callous way in which he had discarded her still stung a bit.“Please, Ava. I need to know.”“Fine, fine. Whatever. I’m talking about the text that you sent to me the night I caught you kissing Denise at the restaurant that night you asked for a divorce. It was your mother’s birthday and I organized a dinner date at the restaurant, but left early when we had a confrontation and I saw you and Denise ... well …” Ava trailed off.Derek
SIX YEARS AGO“You’re not going to believe who called me today.” Amanda Turner told her brother, Derek, as they sat in a restaurant together, having drinks. She had appeared in his office out of the blue and demanded that he take her out, and short of being rude, there was no way he could refuse the demand, so here they were.“Really? And who was it?” Derek asked politely. It wasn’t like he was really interested because he did not exactly roll in the same circle as Amanda’s friends.“Guess.”“I can't guess, Amanda. I’m not in the mood for playing guessing games. Finish up your drink so I can drop you off at home and go back to my house. I have to be at the office early tomorrow.” Derek replied.Amanda was not pleased with this reply, and she pouted to show her displeasure, but her excitement was too great, so she continued talking, ignoring Derek’s unenthusiastic response.“It was Denise!” She revealed triumphantly, knowing that the name was bound to provoke a sort of reaction from he
Derek soon found out that reuniting with Denise was not as bad as he had thought it was going to be. They had been friends since college, after all, and he had actually missed her.She also knew a lot of things about him and his companies, so having her around was good. His mother and sister were thrilled at this reunion, but Derek wasted no time in telling them that it wasn’t what they were thinking at all.She had to work with his company, and that was the only reason he was hanging out with her so much. Soon, he realized that he was simply deceiving himself. Despite everything, he still had feelings for Denise, which had to make him the dumbest man on God’s green planet.He kept these feelings firmly under check, however, and immediately tried to distance himself from her, but since they had to work together, it was difficult to stay away from her entirely.Denise for her part, seemed to regard him as just a friend and did not seem to have any romantic feelings whatsoever towards
The day was bright, sunny, and cheerful, as were the people who were present at Derek's house to celebrate with him and Ava as they got married for the second time.The large garden at their house had been decorated beautifully and had served as their wedding venue. The two were the stars of the show, and they had eyes for no one but each other.They had just exchanged their vows again, to the thunderous cheers of their friends, family, and well-wishers.To put it more precisely Derek was the one with the friends, while Ava was the one with her family members present.Derek didn’t have any extended family members left, and neither did he want any. The family that he had built and was still building was more than enough for him.He had Ava, who was the best and most supportive partner that anyone could have, and with whom he was madly in love, and vice versa.He also had his beautiful daughter, Harper, who was growing up so fast and was so smart and well-behaved that she melted hearts
He led her back to his room, walked over to a drawer by the side of his bed, opened it, and brought out something from inside it.When he turned towards her and she saw what it was that he brought out of it, Ava gasped out loud.It looked like the black box in which her engagement ring had come several years ago.Derek had always had a taste for good things, and he had the money to support his taste.Thus back then, even when he wasn’t really into her, and was only marrying her out of pity, he had gotten her a beautifully crafted and expensive engagement ring.As he opened the box in his hands now and got down on one knee, she could see that it was the same ring that was inside it.He had kept it even after all these years! Tears sprung to her eyes, filling them as he professed his love to her and asked her to marry him again, promising to treat her right this time around and make up for all the lost years.“Yes, yes, Derek. Of course, I’ll marry you! There’s nothing I want more.” She
Ava wasn’t about to take any chances though. After hugging the living daylights out of Derek, while he hugged her back just as tightly, she insisted that they had to visit the hospital right then.“But it’s already late. Besides, I don’t think there's anything they can do or will have to do. We can wait until tomorrow to go there and celebrate this night instead.” Derek suggested, his voice rife with meaning as he threw a suggestive wink Ava’s way, but she didn't allow herself to be swayed.“No way in hell. We’ve waited too long for you to regain your memory to just take it so lightly now that it has finally happened. We’re going now, and that’s that!”“As Her Royal Highness wishes.” Derek joked, making a small, formal bow that made Ava smile.Yes, he was back. She could see in his eyes that he truly recognized her, but even better, he had the same look in his eyes that he used to have before he went to the conference and everything changed.The look that told her that he was in love
She picked up the papers with the slowness of a very old woman and scanned through them, her hands shaking.She was not surprised to see her name, as well as Derek’s name on the papers because she had recognized the papers the minute they fell out of the book.It was the same ones that Derek had handed to her on that night several years ago, which she had had no choice but to reluctantly sign, while crying her eyes out and swearing never to forgive him for everything that he had done to her.Except that he hadn't really done anything in the sense of the word ... at least, not in the way that she thought.Why on earth were these papers still with him? She had signed them and left that day without giving any thought to what he was going to do with them.Her signature was there on the paper, right where she had signed it haphazardly. In fact, she thought that she could still see a tear mark or two on the papers since she was crying when she signed them, but she couldn’t be sure since th
They walked in companionable silence to Derek’s room. Once they were inside the room, he led her to his walk-in closet where he had stored the journals, making sure to keep a respectable distance between them.Ava knew that it was because she had complained about the scent of his cologne, and now, she wished that she had kept her wide mouth shut.“It’s all in there. Here, let me look for the specific one you asked about.” Derek said, picking it out and handing it to her.“Oh, thank you. Are you sure that you don’t mind me reading it?”“Not in the least bit. I feel like I’d be doing the guy who wrote all that stuff a huge solid by letting you see for yourself all the things that he wanted to say to you for so long but was too chicken to say. He might want to kill me for doing it, but I think he’ll be better for it in the long run.” Derek replied, shrugging.“Okay then,” Ava said happily.Derek, for his part, suddenly became self-conscious. What if she thought that he was a sappy fool a
Several seconds passed, and then Derek rushed in the direction that she had gone.He found her in the restroom adjoining the living room. She was throwing up violently into the toilet bowl.Derek went over to her and moved her hair away from her face, providing support until there was nothing for her to throw up anymore.Once she was done, she slowly turned to face him. It was clear that she was reluctant to turn, andDerek remained immobile for a few more seconds before rushing after Ava.He found her in the restroom adjoining the living room, throwing up violently into the toilet bowl, and rushed towards her.He held her and moved her hair away from her face until there was nothing for her to throw up anymore.Then she slowly and reluctantly turned to face him, a fact that wasn't lost on him. In fact, she seemed to be inching awayfrom him so that there was a little space between them.He figured that it was because she had just finished throwing up the contents of her bowel and did
The next day, Derek arrived home from work with a huge bouquet of flowers for Ava and a smaller one for Harper. The two of them were in the living room, watching Harper’s favorite cartoon and looking all comfy and cozy. Their eyes lit up the moment Derek stepped into the living room, and this filled him with warmth. Harper in her usual fashion, bounded up to run over to him to give him a big hug. Her hugs were one of his favorite things nowadays, and he could never get tired of receiving them for as long as he lived. Ava, on the other hand, was more reserved in her welcome towards him, but she did smile at him in welcome. Her eyes were always cautious around him, which kind of made him sad because that emotion was definitely different from the one he wrote about in his journals after she warmed up to him. “Welcome home. Derek. What have you got there behind you?” Ava asked him. “Thank you. I got you both some flowers.” He replied, and brought forward the hand that was holding th
As the days passed and Derek's memory didn't return, he got more and more frustrated because it felt like things were at a standstill due to the memory loss.On the bright side, catching up with work wasn't difficult for him at all. In fact, it was one of the easiest things he had to deal with and he spent several hours a day at it while Harper was at school and Ava was trying to get back to work.Catching up with the rest of his life was what was difficult though. Nothing made sense, and so he had to go through all of his stuff, trying to find out more about his current than he already knew.He managed to find out a lot just by doing this. He had always been very organized and used to keep journals that documented his daily life.Apparently, he still kept these journals and they were all arranged neatly on a shelf in his library.He went through each and every one of them, trying to catch a glimpse of the man he now was. Going through them made him realize just how different he was f
She smiled at him and slowly came out from behind the chair. Derek had no idea for how long she had been hiding there, but it seemed that it had been quite a while.“Daddy…” She said and without warning, rushed at him and embraced him tightly with more strength than he would have expected a child to have.Derek awkwardly patted her back and embraced her too, not sure if he should pick her up, kiss her cheek, ruffle her hair, or anything like that.“How are you?” He asked her, wincing as soon as the words left his mouth. He sounded like he was having a formal meeting with some board of directors or something like that, not talking to a child.However, Harper didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she made his decision for him by raising her arms, indicating that he should pick her up.“I’m fine, daddy. The bad woman told me that you died, but I didn’t believe her.” Harper told him.Derek immediately did as she wanted and she rested her head on his shoulder in the sweetest gesture ever. To his