Prepared for Pain
The day Emily got her job at Haven Group, was also the day that she got herself ready to leave the company.
It was not her being ungrateful, or a pessimist. She had simply been working based on what had been true for her up to that point.
Normally her employment story went something like this:
She applied. She got called in for an interview, aced It, and then within a few weeks, the very same people who had welcomed her into the company were regrettably informing her that they needed to part ways.
The reasons were usually because she got too little sleep the night before and made a monumental error( She had once deleted all the information in a six month project because she had fallen asleep on the laptop keyboard). Other times she was fired for sleeping on the job, also caused by her getting too little sleep.
Sleep, that was what had gotten her fired in her previous jobs. But at Haven Group, it was what was keeping her employed.
She had once fallen asleep smack dab in the middle of Derek's uncle showing off about how great he was. She had not even noticed that her eyes were closing until she had been woken up by the pain of her forehead hitting the table.
Derek had given her an unimpressed look and ordered her to follow him in cold tone. Once alone in his office, the reprimand that she had been expecting had never come. Instead, Derek had collapsed onto the office couch. His body overcome with laughter. Rather than fire her, he had given her the rest of the day off.
Another time when Emily had thought she would be fired for good, she had fallen asleep at her desk and missed a call. Derek looking tired and haggard, had been the one to wake her up. She had blinked the sleep out of her eyes and gone to apologize but he had brushed it off.
'Sleep is a gift, embrace it,' Was all he'd said, then he had walked away like nothing had happened. From time to time, he still caught her napping, but nothing ever came from it.
No reprimands, no verbal warnings, no written warnings.
It made a strange sort of sense. The man known for being difficult to work for, and to work with, was the only one willing to put up with her slip ups.
It was thanks to her long employment under him that she was able to figure out one small benefit that came with nightmares keeping her awake.
When they had to work extra long, not leaving the office until around two in the morning, and then come back in. While the others were flagging, exhausted after a night of no sleep. Emily, who was used to It, was soaring. The only other person who also seemed unbothered after such nights was Derek, the two of them often the only people functional while everyone else was recovering.
It was an advantage she would have never known she had it had not been for Derek putting up with her. And that made her have a soft spot for him.
It was unprofessional, and did not bode well for her future job prospects, but she could not help it.
She had realized that unlike the other bosses, whose PAs were often running after them with endless supplies of coffee, Derek did not like it. So when it was warm, Emily brought him glasses juice, and colder months she either ordered tea, or made it herself(not that she would ever tell him, but it gave her great satisfaction to realize that he loved her brew more than the coffee shop one).
Her soft spot did not just extend to his food. Since she came in first, she made a point of adjusting the air conditioner to his liking, so that when he came in, the temperature was just right.
Even the little bit of spying she had done for him in the beginning of the week was part of the little extra things she did. People tended to forget she was there. Most people classed her looks as average, cute, but average. Lucas had taken great pleasure in letting her know that. At the time, Emily had been so offended she had 'accidentally' stepped on his toes. But as time had gone on, she had begun to see what her mostly plain look with very little make up could do for her.
She was easily dismissed, blending into the background. All of the sharply dressed men and women talking freely, forgetting exactly who she reported to. Just like the morning of the secret meeting, all she had to do was be in the right place and keep quiet.
She knew who had gone on vacation and come back with an STD. She knew who was having an affair. She even knew who was in debt, and had absolutely no chance of paying it all back in their lifetime.
All information that she shared with Derek. Her boss lapping it up despite swearing up and down that he did not like gossip. Sometimes, during a lull, when there was nothing to do, she would tell him about everything that she'd heard, even information that was not useful to the company.
Emily did all of that, and she had long accepted that she was not doing it as a way of impressing her boss.
She was going above and beyond the call of duty because in addition to being grateful that he had given her a job. Emily also genuinely liked him as a person.
Sure he was demanding, spoiled and very self absorbed. But he was a multi billionaire who had come from money. He had known nothing but all the best from birth, if he were not a tiny bit spoiled, then something would be very wrong with him.
But even with his spoiled rich kid tendencies, there was a kindness to him. He never got angry at Emily taking mini naps throughout the day. He was a hard worker, genuinely putting in effort to get results, and not only that, he actually cared about the people.
Unlike the other people Emily had seen, who were all smiles but saw people as nothing but numbers that could be easily replaced. Derek was cold on the outside, but thought on the safety and happiness of his workers.
Once she had gotten to know him and not his cold exterior, developing a soft spot for him was inevitable. And Emily knew she was in trouble. She had gone soft, but at the end of the day, it was still a job.
If she had to move again, to find a other place to work. Moving on would hurt more than it had ever before. She hoped that if that day ever came, she would have the strength to handle it.