Semua Bab MY CEO, MY OBSESSION : Bab 131 - Bab 140

The joint therapy session takes place on a Wednesday afternoon via video call.Four faces on screen: me, Damien, Dr. Chen, and Dr. Morrison. It's surreal, like we're about to have a very expensive, very uncomfortable double date.Dr. Morrison starts. "Thank you both for being willing to do this. The goal today isn't to fix everything—it's to create alignment on how you're navigating this period together. Elena, Damien—anything you want to establish before we begin?"I glance at Damien's face in the Brady Bunch grid. He looks nervous."Just that—I want to be honest," I say. "Even if it's uncomfortable.""Same," Damien adds."Good," Dr. Chen says. "Then let's start with a simple question. Elena, what's the hardest part about being in relationship with Damien right now?"I take a breath. "Watching him struggle and not knowing if I should help or step back. Like with his father—I wanted to protect him from that pain, but I also knew he needed to face it. And I'm never sure which impulse t

Week four of Damien's leave, I notice something changing.He's restless. Anxious in a way he wasn't before. He starts showing up at my apartment more frequently—not on our scheduled nights, but random afternoons when I'm working from home."Just wanted to see you," he says each time.But I can see it in his eyes: he's unmoored. Without work to structure his days, he's floating.On Thursday, he shows up while I'm in the middle of a video conference.I mute myself and whisper, "I'm in a meeting. Can you wait in the living room?""Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I didn't realize—"When the meeting ends thirty minutes later, I find him pacing my apartment."Are you okay?" I ask."Fine. Just—restless. Thought maybe we could grab lunch?""Damien, it's two PM. I already ate. And I have another meeting in twenty minutes.""Right. Of course. I'll just—I'll go.""Wait." I stop him. "What's actually going on?"He runs his hand through his hair—that tell again. "I don't know how to fill my days. I wake up and t

Week six. Damien and I sit across from each other in Dr. Morrison's office for our first joint session since establishing the no-contact days."How has the forced separation been working?" she asks."Terrible," Damien says immediately. "But also necessary. I hate it but I understand why we're doing it.""Elena?""Same. The first Monday I reached for my phone constantly. Now I'm actually using those days to build other things. Friends. Hobbies. A life that isn't just him and work."Dr. Morrison nods. "Good. You've both done the separation work. Now we need to talk about reintegration.""Reintegration?" I ask."Coming back together from a place of wholeness instead of need. You've learned to be apart. Now you need to learn how to be together without losing what you've built individually."Damien shifts in his seat. "How do we do that?""By being intentional about how you spend your time together. Right now you have three nights a week. What are you actually doing during those nights?"I

Week seven. Dr. Morrison's office feels different today.Damien and I sit on the couch together, not touching but close. A subtle shift from the careful distance we used to maintain."We're at the midpoint of your leave," Dr. Morrison says to Damien. "Six weeks down, six to go. How are you feeling about your progress?"He takes a long breath. "Terrified. Better. Sometimes worse. All of it at once.""Elaborate.""The structure is helping. The forced separation from work, from Elena on certain days. The hiking, the drawing, the therapy. I can feel myself changing. But there's this voice that keeps saying I'm wasting time. That every day I'm not working is a day someone else is getting ahead.""That's the addiction talking," Dr. Morrison says. "What does the healthier part of you say?""That I was killing myself. That the empire means nothing if I'm dead or broken. That Elena deserves better than the workaholic I was.""Elena, how are you seeing his progress?""He's trying. Actually tryi

Week eight begins with a shift in how I experience everything.Dr. Morrison's words echo constantly: "Pay attention to how you feel together versus apart."So I do. I start actually noticing instead of just experiencing.Monday morning—no-contact day—I wake up and take inventory.How do I feel without Damien in my life today?Relieved, I realize. Not in a bad way. Just spacious. Like I have room to breathe and think and be without considering someone else's needs or emotions.I go to work. Lead a team meeting about expanding our mentorship program to middle schools. Keisha challenges one of my ideas and I adjust it instead of defending it. Growth.Lunch with two colleagues who are becoming actual friends. We talk about a documentary we all watched, debate its conclusions, laugh about the terrible acting.Not once do I think about Damien.Not once do I feel guilty about that.Evening, I go to Clara's book club that I joined last month. We're reading a novel about female friendship and