Loss

I was trying to focus on frying the eggs in silence. But in my heart, his words had left me befuddled, and at the same time, it saddened me.

I wondered if he even had a woman at this house. Nevertheless, I refrained from asking him the question, for fear it might be offensive.

Derek didn't leave yet. I could feel someone staring at me from behind, and it made me quite nervous.

"The dress suits you well," he remarked abruptly.

I glanced at the beige dress I was wearing, and suddenly blurted out, "Won't your girlfriend get angry that I'm wearing her new dress?" Oh, how I wished I could bite my tongue off after saying that!

He did not respond to my question.

Within an instant, I felt as though the air in the room had frozen. My mind became chaotic. I couldn't imagine what kind of look he had on his face right now.

"Who says that I have a girlfriend?" he said, sounding quite amused.

His remark left me wondering why he had a dress, since he didn't have a girlfriend. I stopped asking questions. My face turned bright red because of how embarrassed I felt.

I had no idea when he left the kitchen. By the time I got out, he was already at the dining table, staring at his phone.

I put down two bowls of noodles and some sandwiches on the table. Afterwards, he pushed a cup of brewed tea towards me 'This tea is a good hangover cure," he remarked.

My head was indeed aching. I took the cup of tea and expressed my thanks. As I held it in my hand, I felt that its temperature was optimal. Both my palm, and my heart felt warm.

At this moment, I wondered once more what kind of person he was. He was as strong as a thousand-year-old wine, but he was more complicated than that. On the surface, he seemed easy-going, but sometimes, he was stern and cold. It was as if he had an invisible wall between him and strangers. He didn't seem to be lacking in friends, but I sensed that sometimes, he was lonely.

As he put down his phone, he leaned back against his chair and stared at me. "A woman should cherish her dignity. Don't get drunk in front of strange men, Eveline. There are all sorts of men in this world, and not all of them are gentlemen."

Defiantly, I responded, "Weren't you the one who said that I needed to show my sincerity? Frankly, you indirectly forced me to drink."

A playful smile appeared on Derek's lips. "How could a married woman be as simple-minded as a maiden? You drank just because I indirectly forced you to do it? Are you stupid?

His words left me speechless. I had no rebuttal to that.

Indeed, I was quite stupid to do it.

"So, in a way, you were giving me a lesson last night?"

Derek grabbed the cup of tea in front of him, but he didn't drink it yet. He just swiveled it slightly, staring at the leaves of tea floating inside.

"Eveline, don't judge a book by its cover. There are many things in this world that aren't as simple as they seem to be."

There was a deeper meaning to his words.

As a matter of fact, I already had a feeling that he wasn't as simple as he seemed to be. Given the fact that he was able to afford a magnificent villa, and owned a luxury car, it was obvious that he was doing big business.

After that brief interaction, we ate our breakfast. Derek praised me for my cooking skills. Meanwhile, I let out a sigh.

Back then, in order to win Shane's heart, I studied all sorts of recipes to sate his appetite. But not once did he praise me for my cooking. I never won his stomach, nor his heart.

"There are two things in this world that I'll never do. One is to loot a burning house, and the other is to take advantage of other people's peril. I do have a clear distinction between gratitude and hatred. And I will never show mercy to my enemies," Derek remarked all of a sudden.

I figured he was implying that I was being too soft on Shane last night.

Truthfully, it wasn't soft-heartedness, but it was sympathy.

After breakfast, I refused Derek's offer to drive me home and just hailed a cab back to the alley where my old house was.

I didn't expect that Shane would be waiting for me at the entrance of that alley.

"What do you think you're doing here? I said I wouldn't divorce you."

I didn't even want to look at him. I just passed him by, and walked into the alley.

"I'm just here to take back what belongs to me," Shane said from behind me.

Truthfully, I thought he was here to talk about the divorce.

When I heard what he said, I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and looked at him with amusement.

"What belongs to you?"

"Before we got married, I remember that I bought you a new pot, and an electric fan."

Shane looked quite embarrassed when he spoke. Perhaps he now realized just how shameless he was being.

At this moment, I had finally understood that two years was nowhere near enough to know someone well.

It was all so ridiculous!

"Right. You also bought a thermos bottle. Take them all if you want. Seeing them just upsets me." Having said that, I opened the door to let him in, so that he could take what he said belonged to him.

He was so utterly shameless that he didn't even let go of a measly umbrella.

I pointed at the faucet in the bathroom and said, "You bought that one as well, right? Want to remove it and take it with you?

Shane didn't respond to that. It took him two trips to take out all of his stuff. Before he left, he asked me, "When are you going through the divorce formalities with me?"

I sneered, "Don't you understand human language? Did I not already say that I won't divorce you?"

Shane frowned at me.

"Eveline, delaying it any longer won't do you or me, any good."

After that day, he called me almost every single day. I was so annoyed that I turned off my phone.

A week later, one of my colleagues in the hospital came to me, and told me a piece of bad news that finally broke my spirit.

My mother had died.

I rushed out of the alley and ran to the hospital as fast as my legs could carry me. Not far away, I saw a car pull over in front of me. It was Derek.

He then drove me all the way to the hospital.

Upon my arrival, the doctor told me that my mother died at six in the morning,

Her condition suddenly got worse last night, but the staff of the hospital couldn't get through to me. They spoke to Shane this morning and found out my current address:

During that time, my mother's corpse was covered with a thin white cloth, which separated her from the world of the living, and by extension, me.

I dropped to my knees, crawling hopelessly to the bed. The pain made me lose my mind. I repeatedly hit my head against the bed, crying at the top of my lungs.

"Mom! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Mom! I failed you!"

The doctors and nurses who knew me pretended to comfort me, but in reality, they were enjoying the show.

Suddenly, a firm hand pulled my shoulder, preventing me from hitting my head again.

He didn't say anything, but he held onto me as tight as he could.

On the day my mother was buried, I knelt before her tombstone for what seemed like forever, and refused to leave, even when it started raining. All the while, Derek just stood behind me in silence, holding up an umbrella for me. "How long are you going to keep kneeling there?" he asked. I could barely hear the sound of his voice because of how noisy the rain was.

I didn't answer him. Truthfully, I didn't know for how long I would keep kneeling. All I knew was that even if I knelt until my legs became limp, I would never stop feeling guilty over my mother's death.

Soon, dusk was approaching and the rain was getting heavier. Suddenly, Derek threw away the umbrella and picked me up. It wasn't until my face was against his chest that I realized that he was soaking wet.

He then put me in his car, and fastened the seatbelt for me.

While he was driving, neither of us spoke. I held onto my mother's portrait during the entire journey, as if I were holding onto the whole world.

The sound of rain dripping over the car window was so loud that to me, it seemed like it could destroy the world.

I told him that I wanted to go home.

My voice was hoarse and lifeless; probably because I hadn't spoken for a long time. Upon hearing me, Derek frowned. He turned the steering wheel with one hand and took out a cigarette with the other. But for some reason, he put it back

When we arrived at the entrance of the alley, it rained even harder. Derek had thrown away the only umbrella we had earlier, so we had to stay in the car for a while.

My eyes peered through the rain-riddled car window and focused into the depths of the alley Perhaps because of the ambience and the scenery, I suddenly recalled many things that happened in my past.

Back then, I came in and out of this same alley every day. My mother would send me out each morning, and would open the door for me and take my schoolbag each night. Although we weren't rich at the time, we lived a full and happy life.

But such happy days did not last long. Perhaps because of that reason, they stayed in my heart and became an unforgettable memory that could never be restored again.

Some people said that parents were the only ones who asked nothing in return for their love and devotion. And unfortunately for me, I would never again experience this kind of love.

Derek must've noticed that I was shaking violently, so he unfastened his seatbelt, and then he leaned over to unfasten mine.

Afterwards, he locked me into his embrace.