Chapter 280: Cry and Spin
Whoever it was who’d said that men don’t cry was one of the biggest liars in history.
The truth was men cried and men cried a lot. Derek knew because he was one of those men. He had just spent the last remaining hours of his weekend crying his eyes out.
And it was not one of those manly cries that TV liked to sell. The ones with a single tear that was hastily wiped away. No, it was an awful, horrible to look at, ugly cry that had gone on for hours. Derek’s sobs coming from somewhere deep within.
Making him feel as though with each exhale he would never be able to take in another breath again. And every time that he’d thought that he had it under control, that he could rise up and deal with the world, he had been wrapped with yet another wave of tears and he had just lain there, crying his heart out.
But if there was one thing that Derek enjoyed about Haven Manor. It was that the staff knew how to follow instructions. He had sent word that he was not to be bothered, and sure enough he had not. His food had simply been left out for him, and though he had wanted to ignore every single tray. He had not, simply picking at the food in an attempt to make it look as though he had eaten something. None of them had knocked or tried to force their way in. They had simply let him be.
Even his mother, showing a rare form of restraint, had not come for him, leaving him alone in his room.
Letting him grieve for what he’d lost, what he would never have. No one in the manor knew that he was grieving the loss of a relationship. How could they, seeing as he and Emily had been keeping things secret. But them leaving him alone, especially his mother, had really helped. After a day of crying. Something that he would never admit even under pain of torture, Derek had finally started coming back to himself at around midnight.
Staring at his puffy-eyed reflection in the mirror, Derek had come to a decision.
He was going to be fine. Come what may, he would be fine. Emily had ended things, not him.