Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 153: The Dragon Sleeps

Chapter 153: The Dragon Sleeps

There were a few things that Padma, the head of HR at Haven Group knew about herself. Things that she knew would never change, come rain, sunshine or even hail.

She was fierce. She was a fighter. And she never quit at anything. It was that attitude that had made sure that she advanced in the ranks at Haven Group. And since it was working for her, Padma was not about to ditch it at any point. But even as she sang herself praises for being a fighter.

And for not quitting at anything, Padma had been keeping her resignation letter close. As the number of fired temporary personal assistants had kept growing, Padma had drafted the letter. Partly as a reminder to herself of what was likely to happen to her if she failed Derek and also as a way to cheer herself up, to remind herself that she was not stuck there, that if things got too hot she could just hand in her resignation and leave. Some nights things had been so bad. That Padma had slept clutching the letter, looking at it for reassurance.

Just having the letter in her possession had gotten her through some tough times. Times so difficult that Padma, despite wanting to believe the best of her CEO, had begun to doubt certain things that he said. Things like whether or not Emily Molson was really coming back.

Was she really taking a short break and she would return?

Padma had even gone so far as to go back and re-read the email that Emily had sent when she had asked for some time off. Only breathing normally once she had realized that the email had not been forged. It truly had come from Emily Molson. The email address and the IP address had matched up.

Even with that, she had still been suspicious at times, because Derek Haven, who Padma was used to being the most logical person in the room, was not behaving very logically in the absence of Emily. In fact, the CEO had been behaving like a man with a broken heart, someone jilted at the altar and it had made Padma wonder. Was Emily really coming back? Because if she was, then why was Derek acting like somebody who had lost something very important? Those were the questions that had kept plaguing Padma for the longest time.

And though she had tried to push them aside, to tell herself that thinking such things would only bring trouble, especially since all that she had was a hunch and did not actually have any concrete proof.

But despite all of the warnings that she gave herself, the thoughts had still kept coming back.

Then they had become almost impossible to ignore , when rather than coming back at the end of her six weeks, Derek had said that Emily was sick and would be taking an extra two weeks on top. Padma had gone along with it, but her suspicions had been tingling nonstop. To be honest, she had not expected much of a difference, when the two-week extension finally ended.

If anything she had expected Derek to come up with another excuse, and Padma had been dreading it, thinking that she would have to launch an investigation into the CEO, and that would have gotten very messy, very fast. But... after arriving late that Monday, Padma had been proven wrong and for once she was glad to not be right. Her first inkling that something had changed came when she ran into Derek in the parking lot.

Ever since Emily had taken her time off, Derek had become nearly impossible to work with. He was always angry. And she had been ready for a rant about her being late. But when he had merely smiled at her, greeting her as though it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be smiling at late coming employees. Padma had known that something must have happened.

And she had found out just how right she was, when she finally made it to her office. Padma’s suspicions were confirmed by her co-workers.

Emily Molson was back.

Those that had seen her in the morning were laughing freely, everybody cheering as though Emily Molson were some sort of hero.

And in truth, she was. The dragon of Haven had gone back to its cave and was now in deep slumber thanks to her. If she had not returned Padma was pretty sure that a lot of them would not have lasted much longer. They would have quit their jobs before the month was over.

There was only so much stress that a human being could take. So with a sigh of relief, knowing that she would not have to quit because she was stressed, Padma had sat down and gotten to work. A few hours later, she was returning from a meeting when she happened to look up and there they were.

Derek Haven and Emily Molson.

The CEO and his PA.

Looking at them, Padma had not been able to stop herself from smiling. How had she never noticed before? There was just something about the way the two of them moved together that made all the pieces just click into place. The two of them belonged together, side by side. Their professional duo was a force to be reckoned with.

Watching the two of them move was like watching the left hand and the right hand working together. Emily held out a piece of paper and Derek took it without even looking. He said something and she took out her phone and was instantly typing. Then when she held out the device he turned to look without her prompting.

The two of them working like a well-oiled machine.

No wonder the man had been so out of sorts without her there, Padma thought.

She watched them walk away, silently cheering them on.

Making her way to her own office, Padma found herself thinking of only one thing. The next time Emily Molson took some time off, Padma would make sure that Derek Haven took time off too. If that was the way that he behaved in her absence, then Padma would rather that they both be absent together.