Chapter 29

Derek's POV

I sighed in relief when I finally told her about Scarlett's identity, and she didn't create a hype about it by yelling or screaming that why the hell I was taking care of a baby who has vampire blood in her veins. Well, her reaction was much better than my own parents, who were on the verge of disowning her just because they found out she was drinking blood like a vampire.

I recalled everything that happened today from starting to end and smiled like an idiot. Finally, we admitted that we wanted each other. Though we didn't promise anything about the future, but there was a slight hope about it; otherwise, she wouldn't have said about releasing me from my duties as beta, but then I will challenge to which alpha for the duel?

'Should I start working on that from now onwards?' I asked Rex, who rolled his eyes.

'Don't act like a desperate. Sleep right now. Don't you want to go to the amusement park with Stacey and Scarlett?'

"Yeah! I think I should focus my mind on sleeping.', I muttered, nodding my head. 'Do you think I'm doing something wrong by building expectations? What if she never got serious for me, and what if she never released me from my duty, and what if she wanted to keep the things in this way only? What if…

'What if, because of you, the plan for tomorrow gets canceled? What if you will end up upsetting our daughter again?'

'Right! I should sleep.' I finally closed my eyes to sleep because I didn't want to cancel tomorrow's plan at any cost. It was not that I took my daughter out. In fact, this was the first time she was going over there. She should enjoy her childhood before she turned out to be a grown-up young lady in a year.

****

Next Morning!!

Mom was packing a small bag for Scarlett in case she needed anything to eat or drink. Even a pair of clothes in case she ended up spoiling the dress she was wearing.

"I have packed your favorite chocolates and cookies, and here, I have also packed your favorite orange juice. Just like you have chosen, I have also packed the dresses which you asked for."

"What is that?", She asked, pointing her finger.

"This is a diaper, in case…

"I don't pee in my pant.", She said, making cute faces. "I'm a big girl now. So, please take it out. It's so embarrassing."

"But Scar…"

"No. I'm not taking that thing with me.", She again cut mom in between. Mom sighed and took out the pamper from the bag.

"Fine. Just like you said, I took it out.", Mom muttered and pulled her in her arms. "Now you have to listen to me. Don't leave daddy or Stacey's side, no matter what. Don't take or eat anything which any stranger will give to you. And don't talk like an adult person like you do here."

"And what will I get in return?", She questioned back. I chuckled at her negotiation skills and shook my head before walking toward freeze to get chill water.

"I will not keep pampers in your bag."

"But that is for listening for only one request. What about the other two?", She asked, on which I slipped the water out of my mouth, seeing how my mom's jaw dropped hearing her. "If you want me to listen to your remaining two requests, then you will have to get me a desktop and accessed to the internet."

"Princess, you are demanding too much.", I warned.

"But it's not like I'm asking for a Prince, daddy.", I growled, hearing the term PRINCE from her mouth. There was no way she was getting any prince in her life. She might not be my pup, but both Rex and I were equally protective and possessive of her as if she was my own. Tears started brimming in her baby blue eyes. "I…I just..just want to…learn…new things.", She said between her cries. I quickly reached near her and took her from my mom into my arms.

"Okay! Okay! I get it. Just don't cry now." I cooed to her and was about to agree with her wish when I heard a familiar voice.

"Why is she crying?" I turned around and found Stacey standing near the entrance.

"Daddy scolded me.", My head whirled in my daughter's direction, who stopped crying and started complaining already. And at the next moment, she started wiggling in my arms to go near Stacey.

"I can't believe you, Derek.", Stacey huffed and took Scarlett in my arms. "Hello, Mrs. Randell.", she then greeted my mom.

But the whole time, my eyes were on my daughter, who had just changed her team.

"Now, don't you dare scare her with your glare.", Stacey scolded me for no reason. I could see a small smile on my tiny little devil or, say, traitor!! "Sweetheart, does he do that a lot?"

"Yes, Stacey"

My daughter. No, my little devil, as of right now, confirmed. Eyes narrowed, I mouthed, 'What the hell, Princess?'

"Daddy always scolds me and makes me cry for no reason.", She added.

I need a new daughter. ASAP.

That was it. Stacey scolded me in front of her and my mom, and seeing all this, that little devil was getting happy. I remember when I used to fall on the ground when I was a kid, then mom used to scold the ground and even used to slap it. Now, something similar was happening to me.

****

Stacey sat on the front seat, holding Scarlett in her arms, while I grabbed the driving seat.

'You do know that she was lying, don't you?' I asked through the mind link because Scarlett was wide awake, and by standing on the seat, she was looking outside the car. I would have scolded her to sit back on the seat only if Stacey wouldn't have been holding her carefully.

'I know. I just scolded you to make her feel good. I couldn't help myself from doing that, seeing the naughty smile on her face.', She responded. 'I hope you didn't mind that.'

'No. Not at all. It's just I was surprised how my daughter was enjoying after seeing me getting scolded.'

****

Though Stacey had not mentioned yet about us being serious yet, everything that she was doing was giving me a small family vibe. I saw her taking care of Scar like her own, and knowing that this was her first time with baby, she was doing pretty good. She took Scar to all those rides wherever she used to point out. I didn't want to admit it, but to be honest, Scar wouldn't have been able to enjoy this much if she would have come with me because I was scared of a lot of rides.

But I was doing the word in which many men get irritated. I.e., was taking an indefinite number of pictures in a lot of poses, on a lot of rides, at each and every corner of the park. Not to forget, even my Princess was coping with all Stacey's poses.

"Daddy… Icecream.", The best part was Scarlett wasn't using complete with talking with us. I looked in the direction of the ice cream parlor. There was a big queue in the men's part while a smaller one in the women's. I looked at Stacey and requested her, showing my puppy eyes, to get this work done.

"Even I was going to say the same that I will get the ice cream. So, Princess, which flavor."

"Chocolate chips."

Stacey then looked at me, "Vanilla."

"Great. I will be back in a few minutes.", Saying this, she walked toward the ice cream parlor.

"It's too hot over here, Princess. Let's go over there.", I said before taking her to the shadow area. Where we were standing, we couldn't see the ice parlor from there, but I was sure that after coming to the place where we were before, Stacey could find us easily. And even if she couldn't, we could mind linking each other.

She was taking more time than expected. I could still smell her scent near me, so I was positive that she hadn't gone anywhere else, but what was taking her so much time?

"Daddy.." Scarlett showed me the puppy eyes. I kissed her head.

"Let me check." I stood up from the bench, making my way over to the ice cream parlor. When I arrived at the place where I could directly see the ice cream parlor, I saw Stacey talking to a handsome man. I could tell that he was a human by his smell, and it looked as if they were…flirting. Because of a lot of crowd at this place, it was a bit hard to hear everything that they were talking about, so I concentrated a little. I heard Stacey giggle when that human said that he had been thinking about her a lot lately.

'Have you changed your number? Because the old number is switched off.', He said, trying to get her number.

'Yeah! I got a new number now. But never mind, you can have my new number and call me at night.', She responded and what boiled my blood was she literally gave him her new number.

'Sure! Now, let me buy you the ice cream which accidentally fell on the ground because of me.' he tried to impress her.

'Not required. I will get them again.", Stacey said, stopping him.

'All right then! I will call you at night.', Saying this, he left not before giving her a tight hug.

'I shouldn't feel bad. It was not that something serious was going on between us or that we were dating. We slept a couple of times, that was it, and it was because of mutual content. That was it.', I chanted in my mind.

'Stop telling all these things. I know you are hurt.', Rex growled.

'That's because I created my own heartbreak through expectation.'

Grabbing ice cream in her hand, the moment she turned out, her jolly expression changed after spotting me, which was telling me that she knew that I wasn't there before.

"Hey…how long have you two been here?", She asked, coming close to us.

'When you didn't return back to us even after te to fifteen minutes.", It was Scarlett who answered her.

"I'm sorry.", Stacey apologized and passed her the chocolate chips ice cream, but Scarlett grabbed the ice cream that she had brought for me as well and what she did next was unexpected. She dropped both the ice cream from her hand intentionally.

"Oops! I'm sorry too.", She apologized in not such an innocent tone.

"Scarlett.", I warned her for this disrespecting behavior. "What kind of behavior is this? Apologies to her properly."

"Derek, it's fine. She is just a kid." Stacey tried to calm me down.

"I won't apologize when she is the one who should apologize for playing with my feelings. At first, she made me feel like she could be a good mom and then gave priority to some other uncle over me. That is not something that mom does.", Her outburst made me speechless. Maybe she just expected something that she shouldn't, just like me.

"I'm sorry, Princess.", Stacey apologized, but Scarlett just hid her face in my chest.

"I want to go home.", She muttered in a low tone.

I looked at Stacey. She was feeling guilty, and I could sense that. "I'm sorry on her behalf.", I apologized.

Unlike morning, she didn't sit on Stacey's lap; instead, she sat on the back seat for a while and then slept over there. I was sure that she must have been very tired.

"I'm sorry, Derek.", Stacey apologized to me.

"Why are you apologizing to me? It was my daughter who…."

"No. I believe that you might have heard my conversation with Jonas as well."

"I will still repeat the same, Stacey. You don't have to apologize, but I don't give a damn about the fact with whom you share your number, with whom you talk or chat, with whom you flirt or hook up. Nothing is serious going on between us, remember?"

"I won't mind if you will also speak your heart out, just like Scarlett. Because I know I shouldn't have done that."

"You're single and are allowed to do whatever you want. So, don't feel bad about anything. Rest, Scar doesn't know how to stay mad at someone for long. She will be alright." I couldn't help myself from getting snapped at her. I could feel that she was feeling awkward now. After this, we didn't say a word to each other, and I guess we didn't even look at each other. I was trying to remind myself that I had no right to be upset with her. Scar was a kid, so she might have assumed Stacey's care and love as something else, but I shouldn't have made the same mistake.

***

After a long ride, I dropped her at home and was ready to leave when she stopped me again.

"I'm sorry again, Derek. I know you're not telling me, but I can see that you have been off since what happened near the ice cream parlor. I shouldn't…"

"Scar is tired, Stacey. And I'm sure that you are tired too. So, I will see you tomorrow.", I said, cutting her in between. She sighed and nodded.

After leaving there, I talked with Rex.

'Next time, don't forget to give me a reality check when I will start keeping my hopes high.'

'It's fine, Derek! We are stronger than this. And everything happens for a reason, remember?'

'Whatever.'

****

'Slept?', Her voice rang in my mind again.

'Yes! About to. Good night.', I quickly thought to shut her off.

'How is Scar? Is she still mad?'

'She is back to herself. The last time I heard, she was happily sharing all the things that she didn't today with mom.', I said truthfully.

'And how are you?'

'I'm fine too, just a little tired. Good night Stacey.'