Chapter 159: Rules For Sleep
One of the things that Derek liked about Emily was her ability to plan for the little things that most people overlooked. And in bringing up the idea of the two of them coming up with a list of dos and don’ts, she had once again proven that quality to Derek.
After she had gone and he had time to think about it. Derek had come to realize that she was absolutely right. In the world that they lived in, entanglements were very common. It was best for the both of them to come into their arrangement knowing what expectations they had of one another. Instead of just assuming that things would work themselves out. And so instead of taking her idea lightly, and just filling up a blank piece of paper with random rules. Derek was actually taking his time to think, coming up with some things that worked well for him, and would not be offensive to Emily. It was surprisingly hard to do, so hard in fact that the end of the workday came and went, with Derek still in his office trying to think of something to write. He had expected Emily, since she had been the one to come up with the idea, to have it done before him.
But when she bid him farewell and went home, she did not show him anything. So he assumed that she too was still thinking. In a way, it made things easier for him. It made it a whole lot less harder for him to try and think of something, knowing that she too was struggling. But after a few hours of doing nothing but just thinking. Derek was finally able to come up with something. And once he came up with the first one, it became easier to move from point to point. He started off simple. Derek’s list, he wrote at the top of a piece of paper, and then he underlined it for good measure.
Rule number one: no media.
He could have left it at just that, but he decided to expand the list so that if he happened to freeze up later on, all he would have to do was glance at his notes and he would know exactly what he had meant by a certain rule.
So instead of just leaving rule number one as it was, he wrote rule number one: no media. And then he went on to explain it. No media means no taking of pictures or videos of the two of us, together outside working hours. He trusted Emily, but in the world that they lived in, phone hacking was a real thing, and he did not want somebody getting a hold of innocent pictures and then turning them into something sick and twisted, that they could benefit from. In addition to the no media rule which focused on no pictures or videos being taken.
Derek also specified that there would be no talking to the media about their relationship. It was private, and he wanted it to stay that way.
As an employee of Haven Group, Emily had signed a non-disclosure agreement, but that one only covered the professional side of things. He was not worried that she would be one of those ladies who, after spending a bit of time with him, immediately ran to the reporters to tell all.
But he just felt the need to put it in there. Rule number two was also something that he considered a given, but one could never be too sure. So he wrote it down. Rule number two: no drinking alcoholic drinks, taking drugs, or anything else that could impair judgment.
For him, that was very important. When drugs and alcohol were concerned, things tended to get out of hand very quickly. He did not want anything happening between himself and Emily that would leave either of them with regrets. Regrets of things that they could not take back. So there would be no drinking and no drugs whatsoever. Even sleeping pills, scratch that, especially sleeping pills. Derek hated those things with a vengeance. On the night that the two of them chose to come and sleep together, they would both be stone-cold sober. It was the only way that he would feel that both of them were not being cheated.