Back to Love: A New Beginning
Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

I couldn’t have been more embarrassed to hear such lewd voices from my phone, next to a man I had only known for a few hours. Embarrassment almost made me throw the phone away.

And when I saw Derek’s reaction, it scared me that he would lower his opinion of me.

But now that I’d heard it, I’d look guilty if I turned it off immediately. The only way to disguise my embarrassment was to pretend I wasn’t ashamed.

So, I forced a smile.

“My husband and I have been married for two years. It wasn’t until today that I finally met him. Several hours ago, he forcibly aborted my child, just so he could have fun with another woman…”

She was too sad to keep talking.

Derek grimaced, rolled down the window and flicked his cigarette butt out the window.

“Your husband is not a man. A responsible man would never do that. He’s nothing but scum.”

I knew she was right. Shane was a beast; a fucking asshole. It was ridiculous that I ever thought about being with him for the rest of my days. I could still hear the voices on the phone.

“Who’s better, me or Eveline?” the woman’s mention of my name made me nervous.

Shane gasped, “She’s like a dead starfish in bed. I don’t even feel anything for her. But you, honey…I can’t live without you.”

Couldn’t live without that woman? I scoffed in my heart.

Shane’s comments as he slept with another woman were straight up disgusting. Not only did he betray our marriage, He cruelly aborted my baby himself, but he also mocked and belittled me in front of his whore!

What embarrassed me the most was the fact that Derek heard it all.

I immediately turned off the bugging app, returning the car to its silence.

I had heard people say that one way to win a man’s heart was to win his stomach. That’s why I’d been learning to cook, so I could satisfy Shane’s palate in different ways. But only until now did reality tell me that the only way to win a man’s heart was to pleasure his penis first.

As we passed an old street, I asked Derek to stop the car. I ran to a clothing store down the street and bought a red cloth. Then, I tied the red cloth to Derek’s rearview mirror.

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It didn’t match his car at all. With a frown, he looked at the red fabric billowing under the rearview mirror. Then, he looked at me in confusion.

I understood why he reacted that way. When I got back in the car, I explained, “My horoscope said I would have a disaster this month. Well, lo and behold, it came true. The horoscope said that if I didn’t want to involve others, I had to give them a red decoration to ward off evil spirits. And drivers had to be especially careful. You know, my father, he…”

At the mention of my father, my heart began to ache and my voice choked with sobs.

“My father died in a car accident.”

Derek looked into my eyes, nodding as if he understood why I had done so. A faint smile appeared on his lips. “I don’t believe in that stuff.”

“Then what do you believe in?” I asked unconsciously.

“In myself,” he said bluntly.

I was surprised by his confidence and couldn’t resist the urge to look at him. From any angle, he seemed charming, both in appearance and demeanor. Even when seated, he gave off a masculine charm that would seduce anyone.

“So, where are you off to now?” he suddenly turned his attention to me, causing our gazes to meet.

Uncomfortable, I averted my gaze and pointed a finger down an alleyway ahead.

“That way.”

When the car stopped, I thought for a moment before expressing sincere gratitude. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me today. How much should I pay you for the car wash and the fee? I really want to pay what I owed you.”

Derek smiled at me, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue.

“I may be a businessman, but money isn’t the only thing that matters to me. I’m a man. A while ago, I saw a woman crying and she told me she was now a pauper. No man with the slightest sense of responsibility would go without helping her.” s

Surprised by his response, I looked at him in admiration. Perhaps because of how much Shane had hurt me, I believed Derek was a truly good man.

It was a shame that I wasn’t meant to be with a good man. Otherwise, I would never have chosen a devil like Shane among my admirers, and I would have treasured him.

I didn’t enter the alley until I saw Derek’s car pull out.

The alley was narrow and lacked streetlights. In the moonlight, I could faintly see the bumpy ground and the mottled traces of weathering on the limestone walls on either side of the alley.

As soon as I opened the door to my former home, I was overcome with a distant sense of familiarity and intimacy. Soon I found myself crying again. This house had not been occupied for a long time.

There was dust everywhere. But right now I didn’t have the strength or desire to clean. So, I just tidied up a few things and soon lay down on the bed.

I charged my phone and logged on to Whatsapp, only to see an unread message from Seagull.

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