Back to Love: A New Beginning
Chapter 16

Chapter 16:.

“So, Eva, which one of those handsome men do you like?” maybe because of my strange expression, Louise suddenly leaned towards me and whispered that question to me.

Uneasily, I whispered back, “The person who took me to the hospital that day is among them.”

“Really? Which one?” Curious to know who I was looking at, Louise followed my gaze. “Is that the handsome man in the white shirt who’s smoking right now?”

Derek was not only handsome, he had a presence that couldn’t be ignored. It was perfectly reasonable for Louise to notice him at a glance. The moment I nodded to her, she grabbed my wrist and dragged me towards Derek. “Stop it, Louise!” I did my best to stop her, but to no avail.

Although I wanted to thank Derek, I had no intention of doing so on an occasion like this

“There’s no need to be afraid, You know! You know him, don’t you? Let’s go say hello to him.”

Louise would never listen to me. She had practiced Taekwondo and was twice as strong as me, so there was no way I could stop her.

“Hello, handsome! Long time no see.”

I had never actually seen Derek, but he had a talent for relating to people. She was the only one who knew, but she was too reserved to utter a word.

When Derek leaned back against the couch, he suddenly looked up and fixed his bright eyes on me.

This was an unexpected encounter, so it was normal for me to be nervous. “Excuse us, but we are old friends of yours, do you mind if we sit with you?”

Louise said to the others at the table. She pressed me next to Derek and then combed her hair before sitting down herself.

As she pressed me down, I lost my balance and fell on my butt next to Derek. He managed to catch me with one arm just in time. It was then that I smelled his masculine scent. It overwhelmed me to the point that my cheeks turned red.

I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to leave immediately, but Derek grabbed me tighter. Obviously, he didn’t want me to leave. Instead, he suddenly leaned into my face, almost as if he was about to kiss my ear

“Are you still mad at me for what happened? I think it’s time to forgive me, don’t you think so too?”.

The sound of his magnetic voice flowed through my ears like an electric current. His voice was loud enough for everyone present to hear him clearly.

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His abrupt words confused me and made me blush again.

One of the men at the table, the balding middle-aged one, looked at me curiously for a while.

“Who is she?” he asked Derek.

“My girlfriend,” Derek replied without hesitation.

His statement surprised everyone at the table, including Louise and me.

The bald man looked at the girl sitting next to him with regret in his eyes.

“It seems my daughter is too late,” he said.

“This is most unfortunate. It seems that my daughter and Mr. Sullivan are not meant to be together either. You know Mr. Sullivan is a very private person. I didn’t even hear that he already had a girlfriend,” sighed another man at the table, the one with the beer belly.

Hearing his comments, I deduced what was going on. These men wanted to set their daughters up with Derek, and they showed us just in time for him to use me as an excuse.

Those two girls were young, beautiful and quite charming. Then, I noticed they were giving me cold stares. I felt aggrieved by their stares. But there was no way to explain myself about this matter now. Derek had helped me a lot. If I could return the favor this time, it would only make us even.

“So, what family is this Miss from?” the bald man seemed to want to humiliate me.

I couldn’t answer his question.

I was not a Miss from a rich and noble family. If I told them my origins, I would only humiliate Derek.

Derek put out his cigarette, took my hand while it was on my leg and smiled at them.

“My future wife,” he declared proudly.

The way he fiercely protected me at this moment was the same way he did in the hospital that day. When I remembered every single word he said that day, I still felt just as excited as before.

Derek’s words had left them speechless, and it stifled their envy and curiosity. For a while, an uneasy atmosphere reigned. Finally, the man with the beer belly raised his glass and proposed a toast, easing the awkward tension.

Judging by the looks of things, they seemed to be trying to get Derek to like them.

Who was Derek, what kind of business was he doing?

I thought I could glean some clue from their conversation, but I didn’t get it.

They were just talking about unimportant matters.

From time to time, the two middle-aged men toasted Derek. Derek didn’t turn them down once, but throughout the conversation he wouldn’t let go of my hand.

Later, when I said I needed to go to the bathroom, Louise said she wanted to join me. It was obvious that she was curious about my relationship with Derek. I knew her well enough to know that it wasn’t easy for her to sit quietly without even asking a question.

And sure enough, before we moved away from the table, Louise slipped her arm around my shoulder and questioned me.

“Hey, hey! When did that happen, huh? You’re really something, Eve! You’ve successfully managed to hide something so big from me.”

I had no idea how to react to her question. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart, Louise? You’re clearly using me as an excuse to reject those girls.”

“Oh? But why does it seem so real? Judging by the way he’s looking at you, I don’t think he’s just acting,” Louise rebutted.

“That just means he’s good at acting,” I said.

The truth is, I had no idea how he was looking at me. I felt too embarrassed and nervous to look back at her.

After repeating to Louise that there was nothing special going on between Derek and me, she finally decided to let me go.

Once I used the toilet, I had barely walked a few steps away from the bathroom when I stopped dead in my tracks.

Not far away, there was a man pressing a woman against the wall, kissing her passionately. It was my demon of a husband, Shane.

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