The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 134

Chapter 98: A Dinner at Home.

Clara

I’m keeping some documents inside my bag when my phone vibrates on the desk.

I look at the screen, my heart jumps a little.

Ethan… I open the message.

“I want to invite you to dinner.”

My lips curl on their own.

I can’t help it.

I bite the corner of my lip slightly as I write the answer.

“Okay.”

The answer comes almost immediately.

“Do I pick you up at your work?”

My fingers hesitate for a second on the screen.

But I finally write.

“Yes.”

Three dots appear.

Then another message.

“Well… I’m already out.”

I frown.

Outside? My eyes read the message again.

Already out? My heart suddenly flutters.

I feel that strange tingle in my stomach, the one that comes when something takes me by surprise.

I grab my bag quickly. I leave the office, walk down the hallway, and enter the elevator.

The doors close. As the elevator descends, my reflection in the mirror returns an image that I recognize all too well.

I’m smiling. And I can’t help it.

When the doors open in the lobby, I walk to the exit. And there it is.

Ethan… Leaning against his car as if he had been waiting there all his life.

One hand in his trouser pocket, the other resting on the car door.

When he sees me leave… his expression changes. His eyes light up in a way that makes my heart

flutter even more, it straightens up immediately. Walk towards me.

Without saying a word, he extends his hand, I look at him for a second.

Then I place mine in his. And as soon as our fingers touch… He gently pulls me.

My body is close to his.

“I was dying to see you,” he says quietly.

His hands slide towards my waist. I am drawn more to him, I am stuck to his chest.

Everything happens too fast, his face leans towards mine and his lips meet mine.

The kiss is firm, sure. As if no time had passed between us, as if the years of distance had not existed.

I feel the air go away for a moment, my hand resting almost instinctively against his chest.

My heart beats fast, very fast.

When he finally barely separates from me, my lips are still parted. I look at him, and I feel my breathing uneven.

My mind tries to find something to say, but the truth is… right now…

I can only think of one thing. Ethan.

Ethan circles the car and opens the passenger door for me. That simple gesture… It makes me feel something strange in my chest. He didn’t do it before, or maybe he did it at the beginning…when he was still trying to win me over.

I look at him for a second before entering.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

I settle into the seat.

The interior of the car has that clean, masculine scent that he’s always had. A smell that, although don’t want to admit it, I still recognize too well.

I’m reaching for the belt when he closes the door and circles the car to get into the driver’s side.

The engine starts.

But before driving off, Ethan turns slightly toward me. His eyes drop to my chest.

“Wait.”

I frown a little.

“What’s wrong?”

He reaches out to my side and grabs the seat belt.

“You’re not wearing it.”

For a second I stand still, his arm passes close to me as he searches for the brooch.

The gesture is simple… But the closeness makes me nervous.

The seat belt clicks when fastened.

It will be just a dinner. Or something else.

The car pulls up in front of the house, my breathing slowing down a bit as I look at the place through the windshield. This house.

get out of the car as he opens the door for me, but my feet stop for a second on the stone road, I look at the facade. The lights on, the windows. It’s strange.

Everything looks the same… and at the same time it feels different.

Walking to the entrance next to him, each step feeling heavy. When I walk through the front door..

Chapter 98 A Dinner at Nome

something inside me contracts.

That aroma, the soft smell of the wood, of the atmosphere of the house… and then some.

Food…

The door opens completely and a woman appears. A familiar, familiar face. The housekeeper.

Her eyes fall first on Ethan, then on me. And at that moment her expression changes.

She is very surprised.

“Mrs. Clara…”

She says it almost as a reflex.

As if my name had come out of her mouth before she could stop it.

My lips curl into a small smile… a little embarrassed.

“Good evening.”

She still looks at me as if she is seeing something she didn’t expect.

Her eyes move between Ethan and me.

“Welcome,” she finally says.

enter. And the aroma of the food becomes stronger.

Something hot, homemade. My chest tightens slightly.}

Because that smell brings back too many memories, too many nights in this same house, too many dinners in this same place.

My eyes scan the interior, the furniture, the walls, the stairs.

Everything is still there. But I don’t belong here anymore. And yet… My body remembers every corner.

I feel strange, strangely familiar.

As if a part of me still recognizes this space as home… while another part reminds me that this is

in the past. I exhale slowly. And I continue walking towards the interior of the house.