Derek waited on the bed for as long as his patience could manage. He still awaits her return so they could continue where they left of. After all, he had gotten his body in the right state for a long... Long night with her.
He just wanted to show her that he could do so much even without his eyes.
He hears the door open, but the footsteps walking in are too light and almost silent, he knows it's not her.
"Why are you here so late?" Derek asks as he sighs, a part of him knowing too well why she's here.
Serena isn't coming.
"Just to check on you one last time, ensure you are resting which I see you aren't." The assistant says as she stands at the door, staring at her boss who only seems tense and irritated. "I hope you don't resent me."
"How can I not?" He grits his teeth. "You've always been there at convenient times but I feel recently you are intruding on my privacy."
"I know, and I apologize. You've never needed privacy except during bathroom breaks so I got used to intruding." The assistant smirks as Derek clenches his jaw.
"Is she done with her work? I asked her to come to me once she's done." He says as he clenches the beddings. "She must."
"I sent her to bed to rest, sir." The assistant says as she fixes the glasses on her forehead. "As she should be doing."
"We have matters to attend to... Or did you force her not to come back to me?" He asks with a serious tone. "Why do I feel like it's so?"
"You're rushing things, sir. You have to–."
"– You have no right telling me that, know your place." He hisses as his tone grows darker with anger. "This is business between a man and his woman. Why are you interfering?"
"Because I can sense it's a cry for acceptance from you–."
"–Bullsh*t."
"And I stand by my word." The assistant sighs as she runs her hand through her hair. "You are becoming too engaging with her because you are afraid of losing her. You are pressuring her into things and she will leave."
"I said know your place–."
"–And I do know my place, sir." The assistant clenches her fists. "This is past working hours and hence I am not working for you as of the moment. So I come as a friend to advice you into reducing your acts of desperation."
Derek stays silent as he curses under his breath and turns his gaze to the floor, unable to see anything through his eyes... Unable to simply get up from the bed and go to his beloved and spent the night with her wherever she is.
He just wants her ... She's all he has left to hope for.
"I sensed she resented the fact I had my blindness. I was too ignorant to mind it but I felt she hated that I was blind throughout the years. Most of the time as we were teenagers... She'd claim she's leaving the room but would stay at the furthest side of the room just so she'd not have to talk to me. I could still smell her, hear her subtle movements but she didn't want to talk to me." Derek explains, getting the assistant to frown slightly as she listens.
She's been there since Derek turned nineteen, so she doesn't know his life before then.
"I didn't try to bring it up so that I could just know she's there and that's all that mattered. Then she stopped even approaching me entirely, she'd be in the room and never declare her presence... I felt she was visiting because she was forced to." He shrugs slightly. "But she never left me, even when I was a burden to her. She still showed up and it's all that matters. When she'd talk to me she was nice and kind, she cared for me and constantly expressed how excited she'd be if we were married. Of course her affection withered a bit... These last five years... But she came back months later... In the hospital and I could feel her in the room, silent and watching."
The assistant raises a brow but remembers it's actually Mirabelle he's referring to. On the days she wouldn't wear perfume.
"Perhaps she was shy then, or afraid to talk but you can't convince me... That she has no love for me when she's always been there." He smiles to himself as he feels his fingers for his engagement ring that matches the one he gave Mirabelle. "She loves me, and I've felt it more these past weeks, especially before the doctors failed at their jobs... She told me that she would love me regardless... whether I could see or not didn't matter. I proposed to her... In my blind state and she agreed to marry me..."
"So why should you rush things?" The assistant asks as she's just as puzzled to hear Mirabelle is saying all the words Serena would never.
"Because... " He sighs. "I feel she could leave me even though she's agreed to marry me. I feel it's only a matter of time... Now that she's here... She could realize I'll be a burden and aid her in nothing. She'd think I wouldn't be able to satisfy her as a husband and she would flee... I need to show her that my blindness doesn't affect everything else... That she can be happy even if I may never see again. I need to show it to her... Soon."
Easing her shoulders as she finally realizes this, the assistant looks to the ground as she wonders how on earth she can get Serena to be willing enough to become intimate with him once she comes back.
She knows Derek has the skills to get her into the mood and get what he wants, but Serena... The real Serena hates that he can't see.
She can't stand it and no matter how much he'd try to initiate her body to react how he'd like, Serena just won't do it.
"I understand." The assistant says softly. "But let her consent first. Otherwise you'll drive her off before you can get the chance to express yourself openly."
"Do I look like I would force her?" Derek clenches his jaw. "I felt her consent. Words didn't need to be spoken."
"Very well." The assistant sighs, shaking head at the mess she's just created. "Goodnight sir. Just be careful with being too demanding."
He scoffs and turns away from her as she bows and steps out of the room, closing the door.