Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 83: Grieving

Chapter 83: Grieving

Anger, denial, depression, acceptance, and whatever the other one was...She could never remember them all.

When people talked about the stages of grief, they were always listed in the same order. And they always applied to losing either a loved one, or a beloved pet.

Those were that things that people mourned for, things that had a deep emotional connection.

Never in a million years had Emily ever heard of a person experiencing the five stages of grief because they had quit their job. In most cases, the opposite was true, people who chose to leave their jobs were overcome with a sense of happiness, freedom, a renewed purpose.

Emily did not have any of that. In fact, she was not even following stages of grief in the order that most people often talked about. She had somehow skipped the majority of the steps and gone straight to depression.

The same sadness that had cloaked her over the weekend, had followed her into Monday. And she had spent most of the day crying again. But it was Tuesday now, and Emily had decided that enough was enough.

She had quit. She had not been fired like she would have been had she stayed any longer. Quitting was a good thing, she had gone out at the top of her game.

Feeling much better, Emily decided that Tuesday would be different. That she would not waste the day crying.

So bright and early, Tuesday morning, she was up at her usual time. Only now, she did not have to be in a rush getting ready for work. So she used the time to get breakfast ready for herself and her mom. They did not get to eat ir together though, her mom only managing to grab a piece of toast before she was rushing out the door.

But Emily did not let that deter her. She finished her breakfast, forcing herself to eat every last bit even though she did not feel hungry. Once that was done, Emily took the plates to the sink and cleaned up. Not stopping until the kitchen was sparkling.

When that was done, she turned her attention to the other rooms in the house. She cleaned until her hands were raw, and at some point she realized that she was not really scrubbing at the bathroom walls. That what she was doing was more akin to attacking than cleaning.

When she went to put the brush down, she did so with more force than intended and it bounced so high it nearly cracked the mirror.

Oh, anger. She had not miraculously skipped the other stages, her grief going away after depression. She was just having them out of order, and it seemed anger had snuck up on her.

Deciding to do something else before she accidentally broke something that would need her explaining to her mom exactly what had happened, Emily put away all of the cleaning gear and grabbed her coat.

The world outside was...different.

She was used to seeing the city at those times mostly during weekends. And it was always bustling, filled with people. Now, on a weekday morning, there were still people around. But the somewhat relaxed air of the weekend was gone. Everyone seemed to be walking with a purpose, all of them either looking down at their phones or talking into them. Some juggling multiple phones, children, as well as grocery bags.

Stepping into the outdoor sitting area of a nearby café, Emily ordered a latte and just sat down, people-watching and making up stories for the people she watched passing by.

There was a neatly dressed young woman with purple hair. And when she passed by, Emily could make out that she was speaking Mandarin. Taking in the purple hair, and the nose piercings, Emily decided to make her an up and rockstar. The name Zoe, suited her, so Emily went with it. Zoe Chan, on the phone with her bandmates, all of them awesome, their band about to make it big.

The redheaded kid with the acne, she decided was named Billy, and he was on his way to finally ask a girl he liked to go out on a date with him...she was going to say yes, and they would be high school sweethearts and get married right after. Just thinking that made Emily smile, and when the kid walked past, she turned her attention to the next people.

A couple, walking side by side. Their dark skin wrinkled by time, but their smiles bright, the two of them moving slow, unbothered by the hustle and bustle of the city. Jeremiah and Angela, Emiily decided. Married , forty-nine years, about to make it fifty years in a week. Came back to the city where they met so they could see their favourite sites again.

Smiling softly, Emily turned her attention to the next passersby. A young man, dressed for the battlefield that was the office, talking into three phones at once, while holding a coffee cup and guarding a paper bag with a bakery logo furiously. Charles, a PA, Emily’s mind said. And before she could stop herself she was going off the rails.

His boss was having a bad day, so he nipped out of the office to get him something to eat.

Just like I used to do for Derek, Emily thought, and when she looked down, she realized that she did not have just a latte. She had a blueberry muffin too...oh, when had that happened?

And now she was back to the depression stage. At the rate she was going, she would be stuck cycling between depression and anger forever without ever touching the other stages. But Emily’s mood was ruined and she no longer cared.

Pulling out her phone, she stared at the pictures that she had of Derek. She had never taken any personally, thinking it unprofessional. So the ones that she had, were the ones that had been published in the media.

The ones from the strike being the only ones where they were side by side. Running a hand over his picture, Emily’s tears fell on the screen and she let them stay.

She should have taken just one more day as his PA.