Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 83: Staying Up With Her

Chapter 83: Staying Up With Her

Despite Mrs. Harris’ creative efforts to prepare sleep-inducing meals for Emma Hart every day, Emma herself consumed very little, thus hardly benefiting from these specially prepared dishes.

The following day, Emma Hart found herself lying in bed early again, devoid of any trace of sleepiness.

Damien Sterling had grown accustomed to Emma’s condition, visibly anxious yet his face betrayed no concern.

Beside him, Emma Hart tossed and turned restlessly, her agitation palpable.

Damien Sterling got out of bed, walked over to where Emma lay, and bent down... Emma Hart reacted with alarm, her hand shooting out to the edge of the bed as if to struggle.

"Don’t move," Damien’s deep voice commanded, right next to Emma’s ear.

This man always had his way, his words were law, leaving no room for Emma to refuse or react; he made decisions on his behalf, arbitrarily.

Damien gently lifted Emma Hart’s body.

"Where are we going?" she inquired, puzzled. They were already in bed; where else could he possibly take her?

Damien carried Emma to another room on the same floor, a few doors down.

Indeed, Damien Sterling’s villa was filled with numerous rooms.

Emma couldn’t fathom why his villa needed so many rooms; it was not a hotel. Could it be he intended to keep a different lady in each?

Damien placed her on another bed, equally spacious and soft.

"Do you think changing rooms will help you sleep?" he asked, his tone indifferent. "Perhaps changing villas would be better," he suggested dryly.

If that could help her sleep, it would be fine by him; after all, he was not short of money.

But as things stood, even if Emma Hart were to lie on a bed of billions, she likely wouldn’t find sleep.

This room was slightly smaller than the master bedroom, with a plain white wall opposite the bed.

Damien fumbled in a drawer for a remote and pressed a button, causing an image to appear on the white wall. It was a projector.

Turning off the lights, the screen lit up, the image quality sharp.

"Watch a movie with me," Damien commanded, already browsing through various films to select one.

Was he proposing they watch a movie? His equipment was indeed comprehensive.

Emma Hart thought, rather than lying bored in bed unable to sleep, why not get up and watch a movie?

And so, the two of them leaned back against the soft headrest, watching the movie together.

As movie after movie played, Emma Hart found herself increasingly engrossed, her engagement deepening, occasionally letting a smile break through, though it seemed somewhat superficial.

Right after a particularly humorous scene had passed, Damien Sterling straightened up and rewound the movie a few minutes, asking, "What just happened?"

He had noticed the smile tugging at Emma’s lips and deliberately went back.

Whenever a sad farewell scene appeared, Damien always found a reason to fast-forward.

As Emma continued to watch, she suddenly became aware of hurried breathing next to her.

Looking down, she saw Damien, leaning against the backrest, had fallen asleep.

His face, now peaceful in sleep, was devoid of its usual sternness.

Emma gazed at Damien’s perfect features for a while before turning her attention back to the screen, still devoid of any desire to sleep.

She never envied anything about Damien, but at that moment, his sweet slumber beside her sparked an uncharacteristic envy within her.

Emma forced herself to sleep every night, with little success, managing only an hour or two of rest.

The chirping birds outside the window woke Damien, who felt sore all over.

As he was about to stretch, he noticed a lovely face resting on his shoulder. Emma had fallen asleep leaning against him.

Her face, thinned and slightly pale from lack of sleep, seemed troubled, her brows frequently furrowed.

Damien, waking to the continued play of movies on the screen, realized it must have been late when she drifted off.

Carefully moving his other arm, he turned off the screen, bringing tranquility to the room.

In this quiet, Damien maintained his uncomfortable position, leaning back and casting another glance at the woman beside him.

Her face was captivatingly innocent, her beauty natural and effortless.

Her emotions, whether joy or displeasure, were always plainly visible on her face.

Having seen too many insincere faces, Damien treasured Emma’s authenticity.

Perhaps this genuine expression of her inner feelings was why he never grew tired of her antics.

In a moment of panic, it seemed something had startled Emma Hart awake.

Slowly lifting her head, she realized she was no longer asleep.

Despite feeling exhausted, Emma found herself unable to drift back into a deep sleep.

It took her a moment to notice her head had been resting on Damien Sterling’s shoulder, and she moved away with a shy apology, "I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep."

Rubbing his shoulder, Damien remarked, "Your head is quite heavy."

"Did I hurt you?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Damien responded, rotating his shoulder. It was true; it hurt, but hadn’t he allowed her to continue using it as a pillow?

Emma pursed her lips, looking down, uncertain of when she had fallen asleep or for how long she had been leaning on Damien’s shoulder.

"If you can’t sleep, you might as well get up," Damien instructed.

As Emma got up to follow Damien to the downstairs dining room, he suddenly stopped, "You go ahead."

"You’re not coming?" After a brief thought, Emma felt her question might be redundant and quickly added, "Oh, I’ll go down now."

In the dining room, Mrs. Harris had prepared a variety of foods conducive to sleep.

Carrying soy milk, Mrs. Harris looked up to see Damien descending the stairs slowly and couldn’t help but chuckle.

Emma turned around only to see that Damien had applied eye patches.Really? Doing an eye mask now?

Considering Damien had hardly rested the night before, his eye area did appear somewhat swollen and dark-circled.

But did Damien Sterling, a man, need to take such meticulous care of himself?

Especially the eye mask he chose enveloped the entire area beneath his eyes, making it look from a distance as if he was sporting two large bags under his eyes.

Could it be that Damien also managed only an hour or two of sleep like her? He doesn’t suffer from insomnia. Was he staying up in solidarity with her?

Impossible. She couldn’t believe he would be so considerate as to keep her company.

Emma was convinced that Damien must have been troubled by guilt over some recent deed, preventing him from sleeping.

She refused to believe that he had any genuine concern for her well-being.