The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 146

Chapter 107 A Work Life and a Personal Life

Chapter 107: A Work Life and a Personal Life.

Ethan:

The way back to the office feels different today, I can’t explain exactly why.

+25 Pointe

The streets are the same as always. The traffic, the traffic lights, the people walking in a hurry on

the sidewalks… everything remains the same. But I don’t.

I drive while my mind returns again and again to the same scene.

Clara coming downstairs this morning, sitting across from me in the dining room.

Having breakfast together… as before.

I squeeze the steering wheel slightly and let out a small smile.

If someone had told me a few weeks ago that this would happen, I probably wouldn’t have

believed it.

We have made progress, that is obvious. Last night… and this morning… They were more than just

moments.

They were steps… Steps towards something that I am still trying to rebuild and yet…

Thought inevitably appears.

A small shadow in the middle of all this tranquility, I feel that we are doing well. But I also feel that

everything could stop at any moment.

Clara is still afraid, I saw it in her eyes. I heard it in her questions, I don’t blame her.

If I’m honest with myself… I’m scared too.

‘Cause I know if something breaks this again… Perhaps there is no other opportunity.”

I arrive at my company building and park the car. The guard greets me as I enter the lobby.

“Good morning, Mr. Ethan.”

“Good morning.”

I go directly to my office, when I enter, my assistant has already left the day’s agenda on the desk. I

pick it up, start checking it as I walk around the desk, meetings, calls.

Decisions to make.

The work that never stops, I finally sit in my chair. The same chair I’ve spent countless hours in over the past few years.

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+25 Pointe

I open the planner, but, even as my eyes wander over the day’s commitments… a part of my mind

is still elsewhere with Clara.

I’m going through the planner that my assistant left on my desk.

I turn the pages calmly, reading each commitment of the day.

Meetings, pending calls. The kind of routine that has filled most of my days for years.

I try to concentrate, but my mind comes back to the same image again and again.

The way she said maybe she can do it again when I told her about more sunrises together.

I take a deep breath and look back at the agenda, then the door opens.

No touching.

The sound makes me raise my head immediately, Vanessa enters my office as if nothing had

happened.

Close the door behind her and walk a few steps inside.

“I’m not going to announce myself when I enter,” she says immediately.

Her tone is firm, almost sharp.

I frown slightly. She continues to speak before I can say anything.

“That’s stupid… that you suddenly ask me to announce myself at the entrance of your office as if I

were a stranger.”

He crosses her arms, her eyes fixed on me.

“I’m not an outsider.”

I lean back a little in my chair while I watch her, something about her is different.

Vanessa has always had character. She has always been direct. But this… it’s something else.

There is a tension in her voice, a hardness that was not there before. And I notice it from the first

second she opened that door.

Vanessa didn’t come here just to talk.

Vanessa remains standing in front of my desk, her arms are still crossed… Her eyes don’t leave

I watch her in silence for a few seconds, waiting for her to say what she really came to say.

And it doesn’t take long for her to do so.

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Chapter 107 A Work Life and a Personal Life

“If you want to go back to her… You don’t have to change with me.”

The phrase takes me by surprise, I raise an eyebrow slightly.

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“How frank… does that sound?” she adds, with a half-smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

Then she tilts her head slightly.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Her fingers gently tap her own arm as she holds my gaze.

“You know what I mean.”

I understand it perfectly. And that makes the atmosphere in the office more tense.

“Yes, that’s fine,” she continues. “You want to get back with your wife. You want to save your marriage.”

She makes a small gesture with her hand, as if that were something obvious.

“But that doesn’t have to affect our relationship.”

He leans forward a little on the desk.

“We are partners. We are colleagues.”

I lean back in the chair and clasp my hands in front of me.

“Well, we’re acting like colleagues.”

She lets out a small, dry laugh, slowly shaking her head.

“No.”

Her gaze becomes more fixed, more direct.

“You know it’s not like that.”

Vanessa does not move from her place. She is still in front of my desk, looking at me with an

expression that I can’t quite decipher.

Then she speaks again.

“I feel uncomfortable with the treatment you are giving me.”

Her words come out more serious now.

“You don’t answer my calls… to my messages.”

She pauses slightly.

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Chapter 107 A Work Life and a Personal Life

“You blocked me from your contacts.”

I frown immediately.

“No.”

I shake my head.

“I didn’t block you.”

She raises her eyebrows slightly, clearly incredulous.

“I changed my phone number.”

The surprise on her face is immediate, her eyes open a little more.

For a second she is completely silent, as if she is processing what I just said.

+25 Point

I watch her as that information settles into her head. And I know exactly what she’s thinking.

That she didn’t find out, that no one told her. Which, in some way, was left out of something that

was always inside before.

Vanessa blinks a couple of times.

It’s a small gesture, but I notice it.

Then slowly uncross her arms and drop her arms to her sides. Her hands end up resting on her

waist as she looks around my office, as if she needs a few seconds to process what I just said.

Then she looks at me again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”