The End

THE END

Derek wrote the final words to the story, his final story, the last book he would publish. After this book, his writing career would be over. This was the last book Derek Chauvin would sell.

It was about time that he retired. His last child was already sixteen and he needed to spend more time with his family before they completely drifted apart.

He saved his work on his computer and as the story saved into his hard-disk, he felt accomplished and fulfilled. He got up from his chair and stretched. He walked out of his office and down the stairs into the family room where his wife Alexis sat, cross-legged on the huge sofa. her attention completely fixed on the television set in front of her.

Derek settled down beside her catching her attention. She sent him a small smile and rested her head on his shoulder. “So, did you finish it?” Alexis asked, her voice tired.

“Yes, I just did. Now, why are you still awake at this ungodly hour?”

“Justin went out this afternoon and he still isn’t back” she replied, holding back a yawn.

“Go get some rest I’ll wait for him”

“Okay,” Alexis said, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

Derek sat on the couch flipping through channels when Justin stormed into the house. He was already up the stairs before Derek could get a word out. Derek sighed and got up to lock the door before going upstairs to join his wife in their room.

Derek woke up at six in the morning but Alexis was still fast asleep hugging her pillow like a teddy bear. He snorted at her childish behavior and smirked a little. He walked into their bathroom performing his morning routine.

He walked down the stairs and strolled into the kitchen to find Chloe, his sixteen-year-old daughter typing away on her phone. She never slept past five in the morning except she was sick. She looked up as soon as he walked into the kitchen sending him a small smile.

“Good morning daddy,” she said still typing on her phone

“Good morning Chloe,” he said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He sat across from his daughter and cleared his throat to get her attention. She put her phone down and looked up at him. He took a sip of coffee before he spoke.

“So, I just finished writing my last book yesterday-”

“Oh my god that’s so wonderful,” Chloe said, cutting him off with a huge smile on her face.

“So now that I have completed most of my work before I retire, I was hoping you could go out with me to celebrate. I haven’t asked your siblings yet of course, but it would make me very happy if you could come.”

“Of course, I would love to,” Chloe said with a big grin on her face. She was just like her mother, she got excited about every little thing. Surprisingly she and her mother never got along most of the time. She was a lot closer to her dad who had the job of settling petty disagreements between the two.

Derek opened his mouth to speak when Jenna, Justin’s twin sister stormed into the kitchen with a big frown on her face. She grabbed a mug from the counter and poured herself some coffee barely acknowledging them.

“Good morning to you too,” Derek stated, giving his daughter a look.

“Sorry dad, Good morning.”

“Good, now why are you upset?”

“It’s Justin, He was supposed to drive me to school today but he got home too late and he has a headache from last night.”

As if on cue, Justin stumbled into the room gripping a water bottle in his hand. He sends Derek a small nod before touching his head with his other hand in pain.

“Damn my head hurts” He muttered

“That’s what you get when you go out drinking,” Jemma responded, sending him a glare. He returned her glare with his own as he poured cereal into a bowl.

“I was wondering if you two would like to go out with me tonight,” Derek said stopping both of them from getting into an argument.

“Why? You have one of your famous people's dinners again.” Justin asked his father with his mouth full of cereal.

“No. As a matter of fact, we won’t be going for any more ‘famous people dinners’ for a while”

“We won’t? Why not?” Jenna asked identical looks of confusion on her and Justin’s face.

“Because daddy is retiring!” Chloe said not being able to contain her excitement any longer.

“You’re kidding me,” Justin said, with a big smile on his face.

“No, Your sister is right. I just finished writing it last night.”

The twins had the biggest smiles on their faces as they both moved to hug their father, forgetting their little disagreement.

“Of course, we would love to come with you,” Jenna said happily

“Yeah, we would,” Justin said toying with the keys in his hands. “You know what? I am feeling better all of a sudden, c’mon you two will have to get to school on time”

He got up from his seat and the girls followed. They said their goodbyes and left the house for school. Derek picked up his phone to call his editor and publisher giving them the news. They were happy about it although a bit worried about his choice of retirement.

He spent the day with his wife relaxing and catching up with old friends. When his children got home, they got dressed and headed to the restaurant.

They settled and ordered their food. They were halfway through the meal when Justin clenched his fork tightly in his hand. He had a frown on his face as he stared out the window. His family turned to face the crowd of reporters and paparazzi and Derek let out a sigh and calmly got up from his seat to address the reporters.

As soon as he stepped out, cameras clicked and microphones were pushed in his face. He let out a small smile before he began addressing the crowd.

“I am glad you are all here today, it just makes my announcement a lot easier. As you probably know, I just finished writing a book. And I have come to the decision that this will be the last book I will be writing. In other words, I will be retiring”

Questions were thrown at him from left and right but he just walked back into the restaurant with a small smile. He was happy; although his writing career had ended, a new chapter of his life had just begun.