Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 62: Square One

Chapter 62: Square One

Derek lay in bed for a full thirty minutes before he finally accepted that sleep would not be coming easily for him like it had the night before. Then just to be sure he stayed still for an extra ten minutes. The ten minutes then turned into an hour, which then became two hours, but even with his eyes closed, and his breathing even, Derek could not sleep.

Unlike the other countless nights, Derek knew what the feeling before actual good sleep felt like, and he could feel it, it was just out of reach. Rather than lose his cool at his failure to just close his eyes and have sleep be there instantly. Derek took a few deep breaths and sat up.

He had eaten muffins right before bed. Of course, he would be too wired to sleep right away. Yes, that had to be it. There was no way him being able to sleep had just been a once off thing. With the problem identified, Derek had a solution.

Just like he did most nights, he would go out for a swim. But this time, he would not be swimming to pass the time. No, this time he would be swimming to burn off excess energy so that he would be out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow.

Going to his walk-in closet, Derek made a beeline for his swimming gear. The outfit for the night was black swimming trunks with a red line on either side. Taking off his pyjamas, Derek quickly pulled on the shorts and tightened the draw string. Once that was done, he took off his slippers and replaced them with flip flops. Swimming attire complete, Derek made his way out of his room.

And had to quickly run back inside when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He waited for a little while, his ear pressed to the door. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the same set of footsteps passed by his door again. Just to be safe, Derek stayed in his room for a while longer.

He had not been caught in all the years that he had been sleep starved, he was not about to get caught now that all that he needed was just a bit of exercise to burn off his unneeded energy and allow his body to sleep. And so Derek bided his time, and waited.

Once he was sure that whoever it was, was not coming back, Derek slowly opened the door and took a peek. There was no one waiting for him.

Good, but just to be sure, he waited a few more minutes to make sure that whoever it was did not come back that way again.

Satisfied, he once again made his way out of his room. This time there were no interruptions in his journey, and he safely made it to the pool.

The water glittered up at him, inviting, and Derek jumped in without a moment of hesitation. The artificially controlled temperature was just right, and Derek’s body relaxed at the feel of the liquid.

For a while, he just floated on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He had been thinking of having the milky way painted onto it for a while. Maybe he should get that done soon, or maybe he would have them paint a rain forest, then whenever he swam he would have exotic flora and fauna high above him. He would make sure that all of it was painted with paint that glowed in the dark too. That way he would be able to have something beautiful high above every time he was in the indoor pool.

Yes, a painting was a very good idea.

With that settled, Derek began doing some leisurely backstrokes, going to one end of the pool, kicking off in the opposite direction, and then starting all over again. He kept it up for a few minutes then he turned onto his front and did breaststrokes. He did lap after lap, until there was a pleasant burn in his muscles. Deciding that he had done enough, Derek pulled himself out of the pool and made his way back to his room.

He showered at a leisurely pace, the water just the right side of warm. Once he was done he turned it off, towelled himself dry, got dressed in his pyjamas and got into bed again, and lay down on his side.

He was just the right amount of tired. His body’s way of telling him that he had burned all of the extra energy that the muffins had given him. Satisfied that this time he would be able to sleep, Derek pulled up his covers, then he once again closed his eyes, and waited, and waited, and waited some more.

After a few minutes with nothing happening, he rolled over, then when that did not work he rolled over again and ended up on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

Nothing was happening...

He had been laying in bed for three hours, why was nothing happening. He had nodded off almost instantly the night before. So why was the magic that worked then refusing to work now? Turning over onto his front, Derek screamed into his pillow. His frustration getting the better of him. After screaming for a good while, Derek finally accepted defeat and got up. For the second time that night he went swimming. Only the second time around there was no leisurely swimming to be had. There was only him nearly punching the water as he moved through it. And then allowing himself to sink to the bottom where he once again screamed, being careful to make sure that none of the water went down his throat.

When he rose up again, Derek felt like a failure.

How was his insomnia back so fast? He had been certain that after all the sleep he had gotten, that he was cured. Why was he back to square one?