Back to Love: A New Beginning
Chapter 81

Chapter 81:.

Without waiting for my response, Derek smiled as he placed his arm around my shoulders. It didn’t take him long to pull me out of the jewelry store and head to the mall across the street.

It was as if he had joked earlier. He lingered in the bakery for a while and asked me, “Do you think I should go home for dinner today? To my dad’s, I mean.”

It was the first time he mentioned his father to me. After I married him, I got to meet his grandfather, but not his father.

At the time, I had no idea why he was so reluctant to come back. “Of course. You should spend quality time with your family once in a while,” I told him.

When he didn’t respond, I added in a dejected tone, “At least you can still spend some time with your family. I’m not as lucky as you because I don’t have a family now. You should appreciate that.

Suddenly, he grabbed my shoulders and scowled at me. “Who told you that you don’t have a family, do I?”

His words moved me so much that I suddenly burst out laughing. He was right. Indeed, he was now my only family.

In the end, he bought the most expensive cake in the store and took me to his father’s house.

His father lived in a nice house. Although it had been built for many years, it was a bungalow-type house with its own driveway and yard.

The patio door was open, so Derek walked right in.

As I got out of the car, I realized that my palms were sweating.

I had no idea why I was so nervous about coming to meet his father. I wasn’t so nervous when we came to visit her grandfather.

“Derek’s back,” a woman said from the doorway.

Then, I saw a middle-aged, elegant-looking woman.

The way she looked at me from head to toe made me uncomfortable.

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I had no idea how I should address her, so I glanced at Derek. He came to my side, took my hand and led me inside. However, I had no intention of introducing myself to the woman. “Is my father here?” he asked.

“Yes, he is resting inside,” the woman replied.

As I passed her, I gave her a polite smile.

On the couch in the living room was a bespectacled man reading a newspaper.

He gave us a glance as he heard our footsteps.

“Dad,” Derek uttered as he gently placed the cake on the table.

Hearing him address the man with an indifferent tone, I sensed there was an invisible wall between them.

His father seemed like a stern man. That made me nervous. Since Derek’s father was now my father-in-law, I made an effort to greet him with respect.

“Dad.”

I could feel how tense Derek was by his hand. His father quickly put down the newspaper he was reading and gave me a sharp look. After staring at me for a while and startling me, he shifted his gaze to his son, visibly confused.

Derek urged me to sit with him on the couch.

“This is Eveline, my wife,” he told me. Naturally, his father was surprised by his statement. The man looked me up and down and sneered at me.

“Your wife? I don’t understand you young men these days – why do you treat a woman who just slept with you as your wife?”

These words were clearly meant to belittle me. I did not dare to counterattack, nor did I have the strength to do so.

With a nonchalant expression, Derek slowly pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

“We are now a legitimately married couple.”

His father scoffed and replied, “Legitimately married, you say? When did you get married and why wasn’t I informed of it?”

A faint smile appeared on Derek’s lips, “It’s never too late to replace out, is it? Besides, didn’t you flirt with another woman behind my mother’s back before you told her the truth?”

His father became so angry that the man tossed the newspaper aside. “Why are you so rude to me, huh, what gives you the right to talk to me like that?”.

I was really scared at the time.

We had only come to visit Derek’s father, but only a few minutes after we sat down, the atmosphere in the room had already become tense and hostile. Derek and his father seemed to treat each other like enemies.

When I saw Derek nearly crumple the cigarette in his hand, I quickly grabbed his arm, fearing that he was still arguing with his father.

“What’s the matter with you? Derek finally came home, AND you’re yelling at him again! Can’t you just talk to him nicely for once?”

The woman who was at the door earlier also came in, trying to persuade Derek’s father to calm down.

But his father was so angry that the man’s chest was rising and falling as he pointed at Derek.

“What’s wrong with him, is he talking nicely to me?” Suddenly, Derek pulled me up with him.

“Eveline, it’s time to go.”

Among all of us, I was the most embarrassed.

The woman looked at Derek again and said, “Derek, if you want, you can stay for lunch. After all, Lean is not here. If you also leave us, your father will be very lonely.

I agreed with his opinion. I wanted to push Derek back, but he was pulling so hard on me that I couldn’t even elbow him.

“Leave if you must. Don’t come back here again, you ungrateful brat.” Even when we were outside the house, I could still hear his father’s voice echoing behind us.

After a brief pause, Derek quickly bundled me into the car and drove off.

Somehow, it seemed to me that his conflict was my fault. Feeling uncomfortable, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not because of you,” he replied.

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