Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 82: Insomnia

Chapter 82: Insomnia

On the expansive, soft, and comfortable bed, Emma Hart’s silk nightgown clung to her skin, its fabric made even smoother by the expensive scented bath products she used.

Despite lying in such a grand bed, sleep eluded her.

Wrapped in his silver-grey pajamas, Damien Sterling’s lazy hair fell across his forehead. He leaned over to turn off the light but paused at the sight of Emma’s wide, yet listless, eyes.

"Not sleeping?" he asked.

Emma closed her eyes, trying to regulate her breathing in an attempt to find sleep, but it was futile. She opened her eyes again.

"Can’t sleep?"

Damien’s patience was more surprising than Emma had anticipated.

She shook her head, then nodded.

She truly wanted to sleep, to escape her thoughts for a while.

Her mind felt tangled with countless knots, turning into a tight snarl she wished she could unravel, to make her thoughts lighter, simpler. But it was impossible.

Dimming the light to a warm yellow that might induce sleepiness, Damien adjusted Emma’s pillow and pulled the blanket up, his actions suggesting it was time to sleep.

These movements made Emma subconsciously feel like she was drifting off, but something still felt blocked inside her, as uncomfortable as swallowing a fly.

Emma’s head rested near Damien’s chest, his heartbeat rhythmic and steady, almost lulling her into true drowsiness...

In a half-dream state, Emma barely registered the sound of the light being switched off, the surrounding darkness enveloping her.

Her eyelids grew heavier until consciousness slipped away.

In her dream, she wandered into a forest with dark green underbrush and branches that reached down to the ground, dense enough to obscure the trunks, as if descending from the sky.

Turning to look back, the surroundings suddenly became uniformly dark green. The ground beneath her gave way, and Emma felt herself falling...

Jolted awake, Emma kicked off the blankets, her eyes snapping open to the darkness, which gradually became clearer after a moment of adjustment.

Glancing at the phone beside her, it was exactly 2 a.m., only two hours since she had fallen asleep.

As she had suspected, even in sleep, she found no peace.

There Emma Hart was, staring at a corner of the wall, utterly devoid of sleep.

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was running through her mind, but one thing was clear—she couldn’t fall asleep, and the sensation was unbearable.

A soft noise beside her preceded the light flicking on with a "click."

The light, though dim, was stark against the prolonged darkness, causing Emma to squint and turn towards Damien Sterling, who was behind her.

"Why aren’t you asleep?"

"Did I disturb you?" Emma asked casually, her tone more akin to making small talk than expressing concern, as if silence would somehow embarrass Damien.

"Can’t sleep again?" Damien yawned, his voice laced with fatigue. "I’ll keep you company."

Keep her company?

"No need, you have work tomorrow."

That might have been the longest sentence Emma had uttered all day.

Damien got up, and Emma, unsure of his intentions, watched him leave the room without further explanation.

Was he going to sleep in another room? The thought brought a fleeting sense of disappointment to Emma.

Despite her aversion to him, she felt an overwhelming loneliness that craved the presence of anyone beside her at that moment.

After a while, footsteps signaled Damien’s return upstairs. He entered the room with a glass of warm milk in hand and approached Emma, "Drink this; it’ll help you sleep."

Emma shook her head, uninterested.

Damien, undeterred, set the milk aside and then proceeded to adjust the pillows behind her, adding his own for extra support.

His meticulous care resembled that of tending to a patient—a significant departure from the usual roles where others catered to his needs. For Emma, this was an exceptionally privileged treatment.

Yet, Emma’s interest remained unfazed. "I really..."

"Don’t say you don’t want to drink it."

Damien already had the milk at Emma’s lips, coaxing gently, "Come on, just one sip."

Emma Hart, noticing Damien Sterling’s rare display of good temper, naturally obliged and took a sip of the milk he offered.

Damien, encouraged by her compliance, brought the milk to her lips again, coaxing, "Take another sip."

His voice was gentle, almost intoxicating, making it hard for Emma not to acquiesce.

Thus, under Damien’s gentle persuasion, Emma found herself unknowingly finishing the entire glass of milk.

However, rather than aiding her sleep, the milk only ensured that Emma spent much of the night visiting the bathroom, exacerbating her insomnia.

And so, Damien stayed awake beside Emma, both of them engulfed in sleeplessness until the break of dawn.

Early in the morning, Damien called for a private doctor.

"Pregnant women should avoid stress above all," the doctor noted, suggesting Emma’s insomnia likely stemmed from underlying worries preventing her rest.

"What’s the solution?" Damien inquired, uninterested in the causes or medical explanations, his only concern being how to help Emma sleep well.

"For regular patients, we might prescribe sleeping pills, but Miss Emma is pregnant, and we should avoid medication. We can only try some sleep-inducing foods."

Damien thought back to the ineffective glass of milk from the night before, "And if those don’t work?"

"Then we may have to consider medication, but cautiously."

"How long?" Damien asked, anxiety in his voice.

"Give it five days."

After the doctor left, Damien instructed Mrs. Harris to focus on sleep-inducing foods for the next few days.

Looking at Emma lying on the bed, her gaze vacant, Damien felt an acute sense of helplessness. This wasn’t like forcing her to eat; sleep wasn’t something he could command or she could simply choose to do.

Emma idly played with the edge of the nightstand, yearning for sleep but finding it elusive.

Despite the driver coming in several times to urge them, Damien couldn’t bring himself to leave Emma’s side, seeing her in such a state.

Glancing at the clock, the driver urged once more, "Mr. Sterling, if we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the morning meeting!" Only then did Damien reluctantly depart.

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