Ava bade Derek goodbye, feeling really sorry for him. He looked very worried as he left, and she guessed that he was probably worried that her parents would convince her not to let him see Harper or something.Her parents would never do that, and they had, in fact, urged her to tell Derek about the birth of his daughter after she gave birth to Harper.They believed that every child should have both parents in their life, so long as the parents in question were good parents and anyone could see that Derek was a great father.What they were worried about was the fact that Ava was so close and friendly with the man who shattered her heart into a million pieces years ago. Although Ava certainly understood where they were coming from, she was also an adult who could make her decisions by herself, and she valued her friendship with Derek very much because it made co-parenting with him super smooth and easy."Well? Has he left?" Ava's mom asked her as soon as she got back."Yes, he has," Av
"You're making a big mistake." Ava's father told her."No, I'm not dad. I'll be making a big mistake if I let you talk me into marrying Marcus. I'm not interested in marriage ... definitely not now or anytime soon, for that matter. Besides, I don't know why you think I'll get married to Derek again. He hasn't even hinted at anything else apart from taking care of and seeing his daughter as frequently as he can. So I'd appreciate it if you dropped the subject.""Fine, I'll drop it, but don't say I didn't warn you. You're right when you say that you're an adult, and I can't force you to do anything you don't want to do. I can only try to advise you, which is what I have done today. It is left for you to decide whether you want to take my advice or not. Even if you do decide that getting married to Marcus isn't what you want, maybe you should sit down and think twice about rekindling your romance with the young man who just left here. You ended your marriage with him for a reason, and
Steve had never been humiliated as much as he had been by Derek just over a week ago. He stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom, peering at his reflection and touching his face gingerly.His face, which was his pride and joy, was now looking very different, despite the fact that he had taken Derek's unsolicited advice and sought treatment immediately after their altercation.His face was still red and swollen from the injuries that he had sustained during his brawl with Derek.If the truth be told, though, it wasn't a brawl at all. What it had been was pure and blatant humiliation. Derek had beaten him hands down, and Steve knew very well that the man didn't even put any effort into doing it at all.Despite the fact that he followed his doctor's instructions religiously and even went the extra mile by icing his face several times daily to take down the swelling, and get rid of the redness, his face was taking its sweet time healing. He had always bruised easily, and he
"Phew! That was insanely good!" Logan whistled, breathing heavily as he rolled off a naked Amanda, who was very much satisfied as well.Amanda made no moves to get up, but instead, remained spreadeagled on the bed in all her naked glory, gazing at Logan expectantly. Her meaning was clear. She wanted some more sex, which was crazy because they had just gone three rounds. What did she think he was? A freaking machine?She was quite insatiable for a fat bitch, but that was probably because she lay on the bed like a dead pig, groaning and grunting like a god-damned generator, while he did all the work.If she could get on top for a few minutes, then maybe she wouldn't be eager enough to say 'let's go again' so soon after they just did the deed.He wasn't exactly complaining though. Sex was sex, regardless of the kind or shape of female he had it with, but then, he wasn't about to let Amanda run him into an early grave with her voracious sexual appetite, either.He couldn't exactly blame
Although Derek wasn’t the type to care about people’s opinions about him, Ava’s parents weren't just ‘people.’ They were important to her, and so he cared about impressing them.This was why he did not like the fact that he hadn’t been prepared to meet them the previous night and he wasn’t looking his best when he met them.He decided to remedy that the following afternoon when he went to drop off Harper from school at Ava’s place by going home early from work, freshening up, and making sure to look as dapper as he always looked.He also came along with a gift for everyone that he hoped they would like. Sometimes, he ran into people who got offended when he tried to get them gifts because they probably felt that he was calling them poor.He hoped to high heavens that Ava’s family wouldn’t be those types of people. He simply enjoyed giving people stuff, whether they could afford it on their own or not, and he had brought gifts for Ava's family because it was the polite thing to do. It
Ava's dad, along with Ava and her sister were in the backyard. Harper was with them, already munching on some food or snack that someone gave her, while still dressed in her school clothes.Just looking at Ava was enough to cause Derek’s heart to start beating. Jeez! He needed to get a grip on himself. What was he? A high school kid with a crush on the cheerleader?He walked over to where Ava's father was by the grill, greeted him, and shook his hand firmly.Ava’s family was clearly not one to hold a grudge because just like her mother had done, her father greeted him as normally as though nothing happened the previous day.Ava also greeted him and smiled at him. However, he couldn’t help but notice that she looked strained, which was not at all the way she usually looked whenever he came around since they became friends again.In fact, after she greeted him, she avoided his gaze altogether and busied herself with doing other things … things that Derek couldn’t help noticing did not a
The rest of the afternoon went well enough, except for the fact that Derek and Ava didn't speak much throughout that afternoon, despite the fact that he had spent all afternoon at her place.He was beginning to think that she was avoiding him. Her father, however, was pleased with the pack of wine that Derek brought for him."This is my favorite wine. How did you know that? Who's been spilling my secrets?" Ava's father asked as they had dinner.Derek couldn’t believe that so much time had passed since he first arrived at the house that afternoon, yet he didn't even notice because he enjoyed being there."Oh, Ava mentioned it sometime in the past and I remembered," He replied to Ava’s Dad’s question.That was when he and Ava newly got married and were having dinner together one night. He poured them each a glass of the wine, which was a gift from a friend and Ava mentioned that it was her favorite wine.Her tone and face were nostalgic as she said it, and since then, he made sure that
"I heard that Jerome is dead. I'm guessing you had something to do with it.” Denise said to Amanda, eyeing the other woman.She more or less lived in Amanda’s house nowadays, while she waited for someone to buy her house that was close to Derek’s so that she could have some money.She hated having to be without money … lots of it, to be precise, so she had also put up the luxury cars that she bought from the time she lived with Derek for sale.At least the sale of these items was going to keep her afloat pending when the scandal died down and she was able to start working again or pending when Amanda finally got rid of Derek and she got her share of his money … whichever one came first.“Of course, I had something to do with it. Having money is a really good thing. If you have money, you can do literally anything you want.” Amanda said, puffing up with her own self-importance.Denise took some time to reflect on how life really wasn’t fair at all. She had worked her ass off ever since
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