The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 101

Chapter 79: In the Midst of the Roses and the Paper Bag.–1

Clara

Alexander is sitting in my armchair as if he belonged to space, straight, serene, safe.

Claim

I leave the roses on the shelf by the window. The red contrasts too much with the sobriety of my living

room. Too obvious. Too present.

I turn to him with a polite smile.

“Do you want something to drink?”

I feel strangely responsible for their comfort. As if bringing flowers forced me to reciprocate in some way.

As if his gesture had created a silent debt.

“Do you want orange juice?” I ask almost reflexively, pointing to the kitchen.

He raises an eyebrow, amused.

“Don’t you have wine by chance?”

My gaze slides to the dark wooden shelf where I keep the bottles. I swallow hard.

“Yes… I do have wine. Do you want a drink?”

Alexander nods naturally.

“I’d love to.”

I walk to the kitchen feeling that slight discomfort in my chest. It’s not fault. It’s not emotion. It is…

consciousness.

I serve the wine carefully. The sound of liquid falling into the glass fills the silence. I take a deep breath

before returning.

I hand him the cup.

Our fingers barely touch each other.

“Thank you, Clara,” he says, holding my gaze for a second longer than necessary.

I sit across from him, but not too close.

Alexander observes the space carefully, as if he were taking invisible measurements.

“I’ve always liked your apartment,” he says. “It’s very you.”

“And what am I like?” I ask without thinking.

He smiles, takes a small sip.

“Elegant, strong. Hard to impress.”

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Chapter 79 in the Midst of the Roses and the Paper Bag -1

Lalmost laugh. If only he knew the chaos I have inside me right now.

I’m about to respond when someone knocks on the door, my heart leaps. An involuntary jump.

Unmistakable.

Alexander notices it. I see how his eyes thin slightly… I get up.

I don’t walk, I almost float to the door. This time I don’t run. But my pulse is going faster.

I open it and there it is… Ethan.

He smiles when he sees me, that soft, private smile. Like I came with something that’s only for me.

“Hello,” he says.

But then the door opens a little wider. And his gaze shifts over my shoulder.

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The smile disappears, not all at once. He slowly erases himself, first he sees the roses, then Alexander in

the armchair. Then the glass of wine in his hand.

The silence becomes thick.

I can feel it physically, Ethan doesn’t speak. Just watch, his jaw tightens barely. His eyes are no longer

warm. They are calculating. Processing. Containing.

Alexander gets up calmly.

“Wow,” he says with a perfectly polite smile. “I didn’t know you had company tonight, Clara.”

The use of my name in his voice sounds almost strategic.

I feel the weight of the two men in the room. One represents the past that wants to return.

The other, the possibility that never hurt me.

Ethan finally speaks.

“I didn’t know you were busy.”

Its tone is neutral, too neutral.

“I didn’t know you’d come either,” I reply, trying to balance on an invisible rope.

Ethan holds my gaze, and in his I see something that throws me off.

r

It’s not uncontrolled jealousy, it’s fear. The same one I saw on the avenue, the difference is that now it is

not in front of a memory.

He is facing a reality. Alexander steps toward us, extending his hand with impeccable courtesy.

“Alexander.”

Ethan looks at him for a second before accepting the greeting.

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Chapter 79 in the Midst of the Reses and the Faper Bag -1

“Ethan.”

The grip is firm. Measured. A silent battle disguised as formality.

I still stand among them, feeling the air change temperature.

Ethan lets go first.

His gaze returns to me.

Claim

“I just stopped by to drop this off for you,” he finally says, holding up a small paper bag I’ve just noticed in

his hand.

I hadn’t seen him carrying anything; my heart is pounding. Alexander watches. He analyzes.

I take the bag with slightly tense hands.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

Our fingers rub against each other, and that simple touch ignites something that Alexander also senses.

I know this because his posture changes, subtle, but defensive.

Ethan takes a step back.

“I don’t want to interrupt.”

But it doesn’t go away, and I realize something with brutal clarity… I’m not seeing two men competing. I’m

seeing two “futures” looking at me at the same time.

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Chapter 79 in the Midst of the Roses and the Paper Bag -2

Chapter 79: In the Midst of the Roses and the Paper Bag.–2

The roses on the shelf, the glass of wine on the table. The bag in my hands.

And my heart… incapable of feigning indifference.

Claim

I swallow hard. And for the first time in a long time, I understand that the decision will not be comfortable.

It will be definitive.

Ethan holds my gaze for another second, that second feels eternal. Then he nods barely, as if he had just

made an internal decision.

“Happy night.”

He looks at both of us. There is no reproach in his voice and that makes him worse.

He turns around, walks into the hallway without haste, but without hesitation.

“Ethan, wait…”

The words come out before I can filter them, I don’t know exactly what I was going to say to him.

I don’t have a ready–made argument, I just didn’t want him to go like that.

But he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t even turn his head, he keeps walking to the elevator.

The doors open with that soft, mechanical sound that I find unbearable now.

He gets in. The doors close and he is no longer there.

I stand motionless in the doorway, staring at the empty space where he was just seconds ago.

I feel something sink into my chest. I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t owe him any explanations.

I’m not committed to anyone, and yet… The feeling is that of having been discovered.

As if I had been caught betraying something that doesn’t even have a name yet.

I close the door slowly. The click of the insurance sounds louder than normal.

I take a deep breath.

r

When I turn, Alexander is already sitting back on the couch, with the glass in his hand, watching me.

Too attentive, too aware. Lift the wine slightly.

“It’s delicious.”

His smile is impeccable, I try to imitate it.

I force a slight curve in my lips.

“I’m glad.”

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5 Chapter 79 in the Midst of the Roses and the Paper Bag -2

I walk towards the room with steps that do not feel quite firm.

t sit in front of him, but my mind is not there. It’s in the hallway..

In Ethan’s expression when he saw the roses, in the way his smile faded away.

In the neutral tone of his “happy night“.

Alexander tilts his head, studying me.