The CEO's Empathy Pregnancy Pains

Emily mulled over the report. She'd had Abigail take all the pregnancy tests for her-blood tests, urine tests, ultrasounds, the whole nine yards.

They swapped samples in the bathroom, and there was no way Michael would catch on. But Emily knew this ruse wouldn't last forever, so she had to make her move before Michael figured it out. "Relax, he won't find out just yet," Emily murmured, patting her still-flat belly. 'Hang in there, little one. We can't let Michael know, or you might never get to see the world,' she thought. After a hectic morning, she was wiped. She said goodbye to Abigail and headed home for a nap.

Maybe it was normal to be this tired during pregnancy. After sorting through some design sketches Abigail had sent over, she crashed. Meanwhile, Michael, who'd just walked into the office before noon, was feeling a bit drowsy himself. He wasn't one for naps, so he brushed it off. Having already lost half the day, he had Andrew Anderson, his assistant, rally all departments for a meeting as soon as he got in.

Andrew was a rockstar assistant, especially sharp in business matters, which made him Michael's go-to guy at the company.

Seeing Michael back, Andrew went straight up to brief him. "Mr. Smith, Mr. Brown from EverBuild Construction Group is waiting for you in the small conference room."

Michael's brow furrowed. "EverBuild Construction Group? What is it? Can anyone just waltz in to see me?" His sharp gaze zeroed in on Andrew.

Andrew knew this was a sign of Michael's irritation but pressed on, "It's Mrs. Smith's father."

Michael let out a bitter laugh. 'Great, just when I'm already pissed at Emily, now her dad thinks he can push me around?'

"Did he say what he wants?" Michael asked.

"Seems like he's here asking for an investment," Andrew replied coolly. In other words, he was there to ask for money. Michael snorted and gave Andrew a look. "Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

Andrew got the message and nodded before heading out. Not long after, security escorted Hayden out of the building.

The big conference room was dead silent. The top brass from various subsidiaries and department heads were all there, sitting up straight as soon as Michael walked in, scared stiff of getting chewed out.

As the heir to Smith Corporation and the head of the Smith Family, Michael had a natural air of authority. Once he took his seat, no one dared to make a peep.

Michael broke the silence. "Why's everyone so quiet? A week ago, I told you about Phantom Beauty coming to check out the project. Has your design department come up with a plan yet?"

Joshua Thomas, the head of Moonlit Treasures, was the one in the hot seat. He quickly replied, "Mr. Smith, we're working on the design sketches and aiming to lock down the collaboration with Phantom Beauty." Joshua had a background in jewelry design. Otherwise, Michael wouldn't have put him in charge of Moonlit Treasures.

Michael's intense gaze fixed on him, his voice cold and commanding. "I want results, not just effort."

No one dared to challenge him, and everyone silently hoped Joshua would be okay. Joshua felt a shiver run down his spine. At 40, he usually had a warm, friendly demeanor, but right now, he couldn't muster a smile at all.

Everyone knew about Phantom Beauty, and Joshua was painfully aware that landing their collaboration was way out of his league. But he had no choice but to nod reluctantly. "Alright, Mr. Smith, I'll get those design sketches to your email ASAP."

There were a bunch of projects on the agenda for today's meeting, but aside from Phantom Beauty, none were super urgent. So after grilling them about that, Michael leaned back and just listened to the other progress reports. No one saw the drama coming.

One project leader, after passionately pitching their vision, looked at Michael, hoping for some feedback and approval. But after a long silence, people started thinking Michael was just resting his eyes. He had a habit of doing that and still catching every little flaw in your project.

After a while, Andrew got nervous and went up to lightly tap Michael, only to find out he wasn't just zoning out he was actually asleep.

The news of Michael dozing off during the meeting spread like wildfire through the company. Michael was in a foul mood all day. He'd always been like a precision machine, never making mistakes and not tolerating any. Falling asleep during a meeting was the biggest screw-up and humiliation of his life so far.

"Call Emerald Lake Manor and find out what Mrs. Smith is up to," Michael barked at Andrew after slamming a folder down on his desk when he got back to his office.

Andrew was confused but quickly made the call. Michael yanked at his tie in frustration.

Three minutes later, Andrew returned. "Mr. Smith, Ava said Mrs. Smith is sleeping. Do you want me to call her over?"

Michael shot him a cold, sharp look, and Andrew wisely backed off. He knew it was because of Emily again. She was seriously messing with his work. But he had no idea what to do about it. He pounded the table in frustration.

Emily slept until 3 p.m. When she woke up, she felt a bit groggy. She sat on the bed for a few minutes to fully wake up. Then she heard her phone buzzing like crazy. She picked it up and saw 40 unread messages. Surprised, she opened them to find they were all from Abigail.

She scrolled through the messages from the first one, finding them increasingly unbelievable. The topic was that Michael had fallen asleep during the shareholders' meeting, and the messages were filled with Abigail's snarky comments and

curses.

Emily couldn't believe it either. 'Michael, the workaholic machine, fell asleep during a meeting?'

Emily still couldn't believe it, so she immediately asked Abigail: [Is this for real? How do you know?]

Abigail then sent a few screenshots, all from the work groups at Smith Corporation headquarters. Emily had no idea when Abigail had infiltrated them.

"I can laugh at him for this for a lifetime," Abigail sent a voice message, sounding delighted.

Emily smiled wryly and sighed. 'But what does this have to do with me? We're about to get divorced. Whether he slept or sang during the meeting has nothing to do with me,' she thought.

Thinking of this, she regained some energy. The most important thing now was to finish the design sketches.

The Emerald Lake Manor villa was huge, and Emily had her own study. Michael usually didn't meddle in her affairs, so he had no clue she could design jewelry.