Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 120: Elephant Ignored

Chapter 120: Elephant Ignored

It was still morning when Emily woke up. Late morning, mind you, but morning nonetheless. After stretching languidly, hearing her joints pop. Her mouth wide open, Emily stayed in bed for a bit, just blinking at the ceiling. She had been dreaming of suffocating slowly. Blocks of ice piled on top of her and then melted until she drowned.

The nightmare had made zero sense, but it had still terrified her. Getting out of bed, Emily went to open the curtains. Instantly the late morning sun was in her eyes, and she had to squint them to stop feeling as though she was being blinded every time she looked at the light. Eyes still closed, she made her way back to bed, and settled down. Then, thinking better of it, she got back up. She retrieved the key to her secret drawer, and opened it. Looking through her collection of embroidered materials Emily picked one at random and went back to bed with it.

The piece that she had settled on was one that was meant to look three dimensional. An effect that Emily was achieving through the use of wool. Settling down in bed, Emily got more comfortable and then she started her work. After making sure that the fabric felt just right. Emily punctured and pulled the thread. She punctured, pulled, punctured and pulled some more. It was easy to get lost in the process.

Over an hour passed with Emily her head back against the headboard, hard at work. She only ever paused to readjust herself so that she was more comfortable and then she carried on with her threading. Emily worked, and worked, the repetitive motion helping to clear her head.

And as she got more settled. Emily finally began to think on the issues bothering her.

And the main one happened to be that of Derek Haven. Derek had not come to the diner. He had broken the little routine that they had. Like it or not, Emily had gotten used to seeing him without even realizing it. His absence had really thrown her off balance.

Had he chosen not to come in, on any other night, Emily would have been able to just dust herself off, and carry on like nothing had happened. But instead, Derek had chosen to disappear on her, on the very night that she had finally decided to just go ahead and confront him, instead of dancing around the issue.

Of all the nights for him to not come in. He had chosen the one when Emily was going to address the elephant that sat in the room with them at the diner.

And as she sat in bed puncturing away all of her frustrations, Emily finally admitted something else to herself. She had not just been intending to get an explanation, and an apology from Derek. There was something else that she had wanted to do as well. And discussing her issue with Derek first, would have made way for her to talk to him about what it was, that was on her chest.

What Emily had wanted to talk to him about was nothing mind-blowing in the least. At least not to most people, but to her it was something important.

Had Derek come in that night, Emily had been planning to tell him two things, two truthful things.

Her first truth would have been to come clean to him about the fact that she had not quit because she was feeling too stressed. That day at his office it had felt like a very good excuse to give when she had been leaving. But now that she had, had time to sit down, and reflect, Emily realized that it might not have been such a great idea to tell such a lie.

Afterall, an overworked employee, who was also over stressed, was often the fault of the employer. In taking what was the easy way out for herself at the time. Emily had inadvertently been pointing the finger of blame in Derek’s direction. Derek Haven might have been many things to her, but he had never been an inconsiderate boss. In fact in all of the times that Emily had felt over stressed, and overworked. She had only had to look over at Derek, and see the same things mirrored in him. When they struggled, they struggled together, and when things were good they both took a breather.

But rather than acknowledging that. When she had quit Emily had made it seem as though Derek had been shoving work down her throat until she had been unable to take it anymore, and had decided to leave.

In hindsight the lie bothered her.

She had no idea if he was still caught up in that. If he was somehow affected negatively, by her saying that she had quit because of stress. Either way, she had wanted to apologize to him so that she could feel better about herself, and also rest easy, knowing that he was not blaming himself for something that was not true.

In coming clean about stress not being her reason for quitting. Emily would have made way, for her to get to her second truth.

She would have had to tell him about her nightmares. And that was a big deal for her.

Not only where her nightmares a personal issue, they were also a private one. Emily had never really shared them with anyone (Ayo did not count). And since Emily’s mom actually believed that the whole thing had been resolved years before, she also did not count. So that left Emily as the only other person who knew what she was going through.

It was a heavy secret to carry. But she had been intending on telling Derek despite him owing her an apology. It was the only way she could think of, to right the wrong that she had done in telling him that being at Haven had stressed her to the point of leaving everything altogether.

He had to know that her true reason for leaving was not his fault. That she had left because she was worried that her nightmares would hinder her performance. But there was also another reason that Emily had left one that she had not intended on bringing up. But if she had felt confident enough, then maybe she might have brought it up.

Emily had left because the temptation to ask Derek to sleep with her again had been becoming too great. Even at Bee’s diner she had often felt the compulsion to ask him for one more night, just one more night together. So that she could know for certain whether he was the reason for her being able to sleep that night at the motel, or if it had been something else.

But he had not come and so Emily had not been able to ask him. Which had left her in this limbo where she was wondering if the rest of her days would be like this. Nightmare, after nightmare, until her body finally gave up.

Putting aside her embroidery, Emily finally got out of bed for real. It was time for her to go back into the eternal cycle that was her life, wake up, fix up the house, and get ready for work, go to work, come home, sleep, have at nightmare and wake up again...