The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 148

< Chapter 108 Idealized in My Life

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When I met Ethan, I felt different. It wasn’t just that attraction to his looks… it was more, more than

sex, more than all that…

I remember perfectly the first time he really looked at me. We were already working more closely.

We were working on a complicated project. He had spent nights reviewing figures, reports, looking for solutions. One day he walked into the meeting room, reviewed everything he had prepared, and

looked up.

“Good job, Vanessa.”

That word was stronger than any orgasm. He really looked at me, like they never did.

Just that, but he said it looking at me with respect, attention. As if what I had done really mattered.

It seems ridiculous to say it now… But that moment stayed with me, because it was exactly what

had always wanted to hear.

Over time came more moments like that, confidence. Long conversations about work.

His way of including me in important decisions and at some point… I began to imagine something

else.

That night when in the middle of a speech he noticed me and exalted my work, he stuck in my

chest.

I remember the room full of people perfectly. Lights, applause, glasses rising in toast. Everyone

was talking about the company’s results, about new projects, about how far we had come.

I was in the background, as always. It didn’t bother me, really. I have always known how to work

from the shadows. Making things work without needing to be in the center.

But then Ethan took the microphone. And he started talking about the project, about how it had

been difficult. About how we had to make complicated decisions.

And suddenly he said my name.

“A lot of this was made possible by Vanessa…”

I felt the world stop, people turned to look at me. I raised my head myself in surprise.

And he went on to talk about my work, the hours I had invested, the ability I had to solve problems that seemed impossible.

I remember the applause, I remember the looks… But what I remember the most… It’s how he

looked at me.

With pride, with admiration. And at that moment… Something inside me opened, like a door that

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< Chapter 108 Idealized in My Life had been closed all my life.

+25 Pointe

I also noticed something, something no one else saw. His ex-wife left when she heard my name.

And I think that’s when it all started… It wasn’t love at first sight, it wasn’t sudden madness.

It was something much quieter, more dangerous.

I began to need those moments, his words, his approval. His gaze.

And over the years… without realizing it… I began to build a place for him in my life that perhaps he

never occupied.

Now I’m here, in my kitchen. With an almost empty glass in my hand. Crying like a child who just

understood something too late.

Because today… in his office… when he told me about his private life… when he made it clear that I

didn’t belong there… I understood something that breaks me inside.

Ethan never promised me anything, he never hinted at anything. He never made me believe that I

would be the woman of his life. All that… I invented it.

I wipe my tears with the palm of my hand, take a deep breath. But the pain is still there.

Because, even if I understand it now, even if I see what I did to myself… My heart still doesn’t know

how to stop loving him. And my mind does not stop idealizing what I once dreamed of with him.

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