The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 247

< Chapter 174-2omething Doesn’t Click

Chapter 174: Something Doesn’t Click.

Clara

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Returning to the office after Boston should feel like a return to normalcy. But it isn’t. Nothing feels normal. Ever since I walked through the door this morning, everything seems… slightly off. Like the pieces are in place, but they don’t quite fit.

“Good morning, Clara,” I hear someone say around me.

I respond with an automatic smile, placing my bag on the desk.

I turn on my laptop, check emails… I try to focus. I try, but my mind isn’t here. It’s on him. On Ethan. On the way he looked at me last night, on how little he said. On how… restrained he was.

I gently press my lips together.

I don’t want to think the worst. I don’t want to go back to that. To the doubts, the assumptions, the

scenarios that only exist in my head. But there’s something. And I feel it.

2

“Clara.”

Alexander’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

I look up and find him leaning against the doorframe of my office.

“Do you have a moment?”

I nod.

“Sure.”

I grab my notebook and walk toward his office.

He goes in first, I follow, and close the door behind me.

Everything seems… normal. He does too, too normal.

He sits down, reviews some documents, explains the project’s progress, dates, adjustments. I nod, take notes, participate. But there’s something about his demeanor. It’s not tension. It’s not discomfort. It’s…

control. As if everything were perfectly measured. And that unsettles me more than it should.

“By the way,” I say suddenly, almost without thinking, “when did you get back from Boston?”

He looks up for a second. Just one.

“That same night.”

I frown slightly

“So soon?”

He nods, leaning back in his chair.

Chapter 174-Something Doesn’t Click

“Yes. I finished what I had to do and… decided to come back.”

“I thought you were going to stay a few more days,” I add.

He lets out a soft sigh

“I considered it.” He pauses. “But ran into someone at the hotel bar… and let’s just say… it completely

ruined my night.”

My attention shifts to him.

“Someone?”

“Yes.”

He doesn’t elaborate, doesn’t say who. And for some reason… I don’t ask. I don’t know if it’s intuition or instinct, but I feel like I shouldn’t.

“So I took the first flight back,” he continues. “There was no point in staying.”

I nod slowly.

“I understand.”

But I don’t understand, not completely.

Something about the way he says up. I drop the subject.

“… doesn’t quite

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We continue talking about work. Projects, meetings, pending tasks. But my mind keeps returning to the

To that uncomfortable feeling I can’t shake…. same thing. To Ethan, to last night

***

Dinner is quiet, too quiet. We’re sitting across from each other, the table set, everything in its place… as if it were a perfectly rehearsed scene.

“How was your day?” he asks.

“Good,” I reply. “We made good progress on the project.”

He nods.

“I’m glad.”

Silence. I take a sip of water. I watch him without him noticing.

He’s here… but he’s not. His gaze wanders sometimes. He checks his phone more than usual. He replies short messages, he’s not rude… He’s not distant. But he’s not himself either.

“Everything okay?” I finally ask.

He looks up.

“Yes, of course.” He smiles at me, but it’s not a full smile. “Just work stuff

< Chapter 124 Something Doesn’t Click

nod, of course… Work. It’s always work, and it shouldn’t bother me. But it does.

“If you need to take care of something… that’s fine,” I add, trying to sound lighthearted.

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“No, I’m fine,” he replies. But he isn’t, I know it. I can feel it. And that… bothers me more than anything else.

That night, in bed, the silence is different. It’s not the comfortable silence of two people who know each

other. It’s… restrained.

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