Chapter 152: Back As They Should Be

Normally after a night of not being able to sleep, Derek was exhausted. Everything hurt, from his head to his pinky toe, and doing day-to-day activities felt as though he was being punished by somebody who had a knack for torture. But the key word here was usually.

That Monday morning Derek did not feel the effects of not sleeping during the night at all. In fact, not only did he not feel them. He was pretty sure that he was more energetic than the people who had gotten the recommended eight hours of sleep, the night before. From the moment that he had picked Emily up from the diner, and driven her to her apartment building, Derek had been thrumming with coiled energy.

But, not wanting to come off as strange in front of her, he had suppressed it all. Doing his best to appear normal and unbothered. He had managed to hold on until the moment that he had watched her step into the building. Then, pulling back into traffic, Derek had done something uncharacteristic of him. He had started to hum, and by the time he had reached his penthouse, he was singing at the top of his lungs. He’d had more than a few stares from people in cars that were opposite his during stops. But he had not cared. He had continued to sing all the way to his penthouse. And even once he had gotten there, the song in him had not died down. In fact, it had gotten stronger. Even though he was no longer vocalizing it, Derek could still hear it as clear as day in his head and he could feel it in his body, throbbing alongside his blood. It carried him through as he got ready for work, pushing him forward as he showered and got into his suit.

Preparations that normally took him around an hour now finished at record breaking speed. For the first time in weeks, Derek was not pushing himself so that he could get to work. Instead he was pushing himself so that he could go and see Emily at work.

And that made all the difference.

Just the fact that she would be present this time gave Derek an energy boost so vast he felt as though it would never diminish. By the time he made it to Haven Group headquarters, there was a smile on Derek’s face that he just could not shake. He was running a bit late but he did not care. In the parking lot he saw Padma.

The head of HR looking like she was about to pass out upon realizing that Derek had caught her coming into work late. But all he did was give her a smile. "Good morning Padma," He said and went about his way. She stared at him as though he had just struck her. But Derek gave her one more smile, this one ending with a laugh and made his way out of the parking lot, whistling a happy tune. He ran into a few more people as he walked through the building. And he made it a point to greet each and every single one of them, from the security guards to some of the PAs.

He might have forgotten their names already, but he still remembered their faces. At his jovial greetings, a lot of them did double takes, as though they could not believe that the words were coming from Derek. Seriously, had he been that bad? Why was everyone acting like him being nice, was something that required being gawked at. Had they never met a happy CEO before?

Deciding to ignore the people and their overreactions, Derek got onto the elevator and shrugged when no one seemed to want to share with him.

He rode to the top floor in silence, glad that he was alone, that there was no one there to notice that his hands were trembling slightly, a clear sign that he was nervous.

Emily was back after weeks of not knowing whether or not he would ever see her within the walls of Haven Group again. She was finally back where she belonged, back as his PA. And as the elevator moved higher and higher, Derek knew that it was moving him closer to where she was.

If he could have, he would have flown up instead of taking the elevator. But since he did not possess such supernatural abilities, all that Derek could do was wait, and the moment that the elevator reached its destination, and the doors opened, he was out.

Barely able to stop himself from running towards his office. She is going to be there Derek. Relax. Deep breaths. Control yourself. He told himself as he walked at a leisurely pace. The slow gait completely at odds with the way his heart, was going a mile a minute in his chest, hitting his ribs so hard he was worried that they might crack.

When he finally made it to his destination. Derek walked in, and there she was, seated at her desk like she had never left. She was focused on her laptop, typing something away. Her fingers flying over the keyboard. When she noticed his presence she paused, and stood. "Derek, Good morning," She said like they had not just seen each other earlier. "Good morning Emily," He replied. And for a moment the two of them just looked at each other.

"I take it you are settling in well after your break?" He asked, and she nodded. "Yes, in fact, I was just getting myself familiar with some of the things that I might have missed when I was gone," She told him.

"I am sure that it is nothing that you cannot do in your sleep. Do not over stress yourself too much on it," Derek told her. And Emily smiled at him. "Of course, everybody can work in their sleep nowadays," She said, and the two of them held eaxh other’s gazes.

Were anyone to listen in, they would think that he and Emily were talking about jobs that were so easy, one did not have to be awake to do them. But it was only the two of them who understood what they were really saying.

Sleep, pretty soon, the two of them would be having a taste of that, being able to close their eyes and sleep just like everybody else in the world. With one more nod in her direction, Derek made his way into his own office and once he got there and shut the door he did not immediately go to his desk and sit down. Instead, he stood in the middle of the office and just breathed. The temperature in the air was just right. The lights were set to the exact brightness that he liked, the kind that reduced the strain on his eyes.

And on his desk there was a cup of tea, next to the tea, there was a giant blueberry muffin.

They were little things. They should not have mattered. But seeing all of them there, Derek instantly felt as though his day had just gotten eons better. Not only was Emily back, but she had also set to rights the little things that had been bothering Derek for a while now.

It felt like a prayer answered, like a ritual done right. All this time he had been struggling, but now, with the little things taken care of, all thanks to Emily, Derek felt as though he could take on whatever came his way.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read