Derek had been having trouble sleeping since he was twelve years old. At the age of sixteen, he'd made the decision to lie about being cured. Doing so to spare his mother the constant stress of running a multi billion dollar company while worrying about her son at the same time.
So from then on, his struggle had been a private thing. He had waited until he was eighteen and gotten his hands on some of his inheritance before he had started looking for treatments on his own. Each doctor's visit disguised as being for something else.
Even back then he had known how the world worked. It was one thing for a young child who had just lost a parent to have trouble sleeping. But for the future leader of Haven Group to still be having that problem, that was a big no-no.
The business world was full of cutthroat sharks in expensive garments ( his uncle one of them). They would have torn him apart, rendering all of his mother's hard work useless.
So Derek had quietly packed away his problem and suffered in silence.
And since the problem was on and off, he had been able to keep it under control for a long time.
But now something had changed.
This was the longest bout of sleeplessness he had ever had, and his iron clad control over himself was starting to slip. Bit by bit, he could feel his ability to focus, to figure out complex situations at a glance leaving him, but he was helpless to do anything, only able to just sit there and watch it all fade. He had even noticed that his sense of taste was suffering too, everything tasting bland even when his mother was singing the chef praises.
It was draining.
And now Derek sat in his office, staring at a report, his head pounding. He had no idea why he was still looking, he had even forgotten what it was about. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Derek looked over at his watch.
It was almost lunch time.
Giving up on getting any work done, he closed his laptop and stood. Perhaps a walk in the nearby park would do him good.
Grabbing his coat, he made his way out of the office and froze. To get to his office, a person had to go through Emily's office first, and as usual, she was at her desk. But this time, she was fast asleep.
He had caught her sleeping numerous times. But this time, instead of waking her up right away, Derek just stood where he was, and stared.
Her eyelids fluttered from time to time, her long lashes casting shadows. She was snoring lightly, her head pillowed on her folded arms, her mouth slightly open. She was drooling too, her breath hitching every once in a while. But she was asleep.
Sleep.
As easy as anything, Emily was asleep. Her body was tired, so she was sleeping. Not even caring that she was at work or that she was being vulnerable in a public space, she was just…sleeping.
The minutes ticked by and Derek just stood there, staring. He was being creepy but he could not help it. Even when he did share the bed with someone he always either left first, or kicked them out.
It was his first time in a long time seeing someone properly enjoying their sleep.
It looked so peaceful, Derek badly wanted to be the one in her position, eyes closed in the middle of the day, just sleeping.
But as he watched, his envy was soon replaced by worry. She did not make a sound, but all of a sudden, Emily's body just tensed, her entire frame shaking, her mouth opening wider as she struggled to breathe. Whatever it was that she was dreaming about was clearly terrifying.
Unable to take it any longer, Derek called her name.
"Emily!" She shot right up, her eyes wild until they settled on him. She stared at him in confusion, and Derek pointed at her cheek.
Face red, she wiped at her drool.
"Sorry," She mumbled, clearly still not fully awake yet, Derek merely shrugged.
"It is lunch time, you can stay her and finish your nap, or you and I can buy lunch and have it in the park" He left without giving her a chance to process.
He was almost at the elevator when he heard her running behind him, her tiny steps struggling to catch up to his longer strides.
She was huffing and puffing by the time she reached him, and Derek had to look to the side to hide his smile.