“You won't guess what happened some days ago,” Amanda said to Denise, smiling secretively as she waited for the other woman to guess, but Denise wasn’t in the mood for guessing games.“What is it? I’ve got a headache, and as you well know, I'm not really good at playing guessing games.”“Well, well, well, someone’s in a shitty mood today. What's it with you and the scowling and grumpiness that you’ve been doing all day?” Amanda asked, not sounding particularly offended. In fact, she was in a very good mood.Money always put her in a good mood, and a few days back, she had received money … lots of it, from her dumb brother, so yeah, she was as happy as a kid in a candy store … at least for now.“Well, if you must know, I'm not happy at all. Derek has blocked my access to the account he gave me, from which I used to be able to withdraw at any time. I mean, I still had access to that account even after he kicked me out of his house, but now, I can't access it all of a sudden. How on eart
"Anyway, you were going to tell me about something that happened some days ago,” Denise said, finally remembering that she wasn’t the one who started the conversation.“Ah, yes. Derek transferred my share of the money our father left behind to me. I’m now wealthy. I’m so happy.” Amanda divulged, her gaze far away.She was thinking about how she couldn’t wait for the luxury car she ordered immediately after receiving her money to arrive. It was also high time she went on a much-needed vacation.“Are you serious?” Denise asked, unable to hide the blatant jealousy and anger in her voice.“Yeah. I was surprised too.”“Hmm … is it just me or do you sound like now that he has paid you off, you no longer care about our plan to take all your father’s wealth for yourself?” Denise asked, watching Denise closely.“Of course, I still plan to do that. In fact, I plan to do that now more than ever. I was going to tell you, but we haven't seen each other in a few days, and I couldn't say such stuff
Steve was avoiding Ava, and she had a good suspicion as to why this was so. He no doubt knew that Derek had told her about his escapades and he probably thought that she was mad at him and was waiting her out until he felt that she was no longer angry.She wasn’t mad at him, though. She was just done with him and she had realized that the longer she waited for evidence of his cheating before breaking up with him, the longer she was going to be stuck with him and that wasn't something she wanted.Besides, what if he decided to turn a new leaf and change his ways so that she wouldn't end things with him? It was highly unlikely, but still. Each time she requested to see him so they could talk because she didn’t want to break up with him over the phone, he gave excuses as to why they could not see yet.On the day he finally came to see her in the house, he arrived with a truckload of gifts for her and Harper and acted as though everything was perfect, and then as soon as she mentioned the
Ava and Helen became close really quickly after the event she attended Helen. In fact, they were so close that they both visited each other’s houses frequently now, attended events together, and even went shopping together at times.The day before, Helen had come over to Ava’s house and had forgotten some of her stuff there. The two women had originally planned to go shopping together that evening, but Helen canceled at the last minute, saying that something had come up urgently.At first, Ava thought of postponing the shopping until the next day when Helen would be free because she hated shopping alone and always did it with Harper, but Harper was spending that weekend with Derek.In the end, though, she decided to go alone because several of her groceries were finished and she needed to stock up, plus she wanted to get some new clothes for Harper, so she went shopping by herself.While doing that, she saw a dress that Helen had once mentioned that she wanted to get, so she decided t
Ava was not surprised when Steve pulled up in front of her house less than thirty minutes after she got home from Helen's place. She was already outside the house because she went to throw out the garbage, otherwise, she wouldn’t have opened the door, and she would have ignored him until he left.He parked his car, and hurried down from it with his head bent low and his face cap covering his face to avoid recognition, even though the streets were deserted as it was late.Then he came towards her quickly, and grabbed her hands, before fixing her with the most earnest expression that he could muster.“Ava, I know how you must feel, and I can't tell you how deeply sorry I truly am. I only hope you can forgive me and we can get past this.” He told her.“What are you doing here?” Ava asked harshly, dragging away her hand from his savagely.“I came to apologize, of course. I’m sorry for hurting you, but I swear it was a one-time thing, and I don’t know what came over me. It won't happen aga
Derek was right! Derek was right!! Derek was right!!! These words refused to leave Ava’s head as she continued to stare at Steve, who looked as surprised as she was.She could clearly remember Derek telling her that if Steve ever did something remotely akin to what he had just done, she should let him know immediately, but she had thought that he was just exaggerating.Now, she realized that he knew just what he was talking about and that she did not know Steve at all. Never in her life had she been hit by a man before.“Jeez! I’m so sorry, Ava. I shouldn’t have … Christ! I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never hit a woman in my life before. Please don’t tell anyone … it will affect my career. I know you owe me nothing, but please, I’m begging. I'm truly sorry.” Steve apologized, looking furtively around to be sure that no one had noticed him hitting her.“Are you going to leave now or do you want me to get you arrested for assault?” Ava asked him quietly.The quiet tone was effect
Rage was too mild a word to describe the emotion that Derek was feeling as he took Ava in his arms and listened to her sob while he tried his best to comfort her.The thought of Steve laying his filthy hands on Ava was enough to make Derek want to break every single bone in his body and listen to him squeal in pain without showing him mercy.He had known all along that Steve hadn't and couldn't, or wouldn't change his horrid behavior. A leopard couldn’t change its spots, after all.Derek had failed Victoria, but he wasn’t about to do the same with Ava. He wasn’t about to let Steve get away with hitting Ava, even if he and Ava were no longer an item, as Ava told Derek. Thankfully, Ava wasn’t like Victoria, in the sense that she wasn't going to cover for Steve and continue to take his abuse silently while refusing every form of help.“I’m really sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying. You did try to warn me, after all.” Ava apologized, raising her head and wiping at her eyes. She was look
Derek was already anticipating such a move from Steve, so the shove did not even shake him too much.He shoved Steve back with the full force of his anger, catching him unawares so that he staggered backward comically and ended up landing on his butt.Steve sputtered in indignation, got up with the full force of his fury, and rushed at Derek. His hand was raised and he formed a fist to punch Derek, but again Derek was prepared. He had always known how to fight because his Dad used to demand that he take self-defense classes from time to time when he was younger.After he recovered from the kidnapping ordeal, he became nearly obsessed with learning every single self-defense technique there was, so taking on Steve was a walk in the park for him.He blocked off Steve’s punch as easily as an adult could take candy from a baby and delivered a solid and oh-so-satisfying punch of his own to Steve’s jaw so that the other man staggered back several paces due to the force of the punch.It too
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