The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 422

Chapter 331 Confusion

Chapter 331: Confusion.

Clara

The silence isn’t empty… That’s the first thing I notice.

It’s not dark, it’s not cold, it’s not scary… it’s strange. As if I were suspended in a place where time

doesn’t exist, where there’s no pain, no noise, no rush.

Only… calm.

And then I see him, my father. He’s sitting across from me, as if he’s always been there. As if he’s

never left. As if the years I missed him… never happened.

My chest tightens.

“Dad…”

My voice comes out softly, almost fearfully, as if saying it out loud might make it disappear.

But it doesn’t. He smiles. That smile of his… calm, steady, that always made me feel that everything was going to be alright, even when it wasn’t.

“Hello, my child.”

My throat closes up because I hear him. I really hear him.

And something inside me breaks and rebuilds itself at the same time.

“No…” I deny it, but I smile without realizing it. “This can’t be…”

But I don’t want to question it too much, I don’t want to think. I just want to feel him there.

I move closer, or at least I think I do… because I can’t feel my feet, I can’t feel the ground, but

somehow… I’m closer.

I observe him closely; he looks the same. Just as I remember him, just as I’ve kept him in my

memory all this time.

“I missed you…”

The words come out on their own.

He tilts his head, as if he already knows.

“I know.”

He always knows, he always knew everything about me.

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Chapter 331 Confusion

I sit down next to him, or something like that. There are no chairs, no proper place. but we’re together. That’s all that matters.

“So many things have happened…” I murmur.

And then I start to talk; I don’t know how much time passes. I don’t know if it’s minutes, hours… or days.

But I tell him everything about my life, my mistakes, my decisions, my fears. About Ethan.

When I mention his name, my voice changes. It becomes softer… more real.

“I got married again…”

I barely smile.

“To him… to Ethan.”

My father looks at me intently.

“And are you happy?”

The question pierces me, because it’s simple… but it weighs heavily.

I take a deep breath.

“Yes…”

And then I hesitate.

“Well… yes… but I’m also afraid.”

He doesn’t interrupt, he never did.

“I’m afraid that everything will change… that things will break again… that I won’t know how to hold onto something good…”

I lower my gaze.

“Of not being enough…”

feel his hand on mine, warm, real.

“Clara…”

I look up.

“Life isn’t about not being afraid.”

His voice is firm, yet gentle.

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Chapter 331 Confusion

“It’s about moving forward despite it.”

I swallow.

“But… what if everything goes wrong again?”

He barely smiles.

“Then you’ll have to get back up again.”

Just like that, just as difficult.

“You can’t live avoiding the pain, my child… because then you also avoid experiencing the good.

His words hang in the air, and I feel them, I truly feel them.

ou’re not the same as before,” he continues. “You’ve learned… you’ve grown.”

looks at me with pride.

nd that changes everything.”

My eyes fill with tears.

“Sometimes I don’t feel that way…”

He squeezes my hand.

“But it is.”

Silence… A comfortable silence, one that doesn’t hurt… One that embraces.

“You know?” I add, with a small laugh. “I’m thinking about being a mom…”

My voice trembles slightly.

“I’m scared… but also… I want it.”

His expression changes, becoming even softer… Deeper.

“You would be a great mother.”

And there… That’s where I break down, because I needed to hear that from him.

From him, of all people.

“I wish you could be there. “whioner. “I wish you could meet them…”

My voice trails off,

He just looks

tely.

Chapter 331 Confusion:

“I’ll always be here, Clara.”

I frown slightly.

“But not like this…”

And then… Something shifts, it’s subtle. But I feel it.

The air feels different, heavier, more… distant.

My father lets go of my hand, stands up. I look at him, confused.

“What are you doing?”

He looks at me one last time, with that same calm, that same love.

…” he says. “It’s time for you to go.”

nat?”

don’t understand.

“Where to?”

My voice quickens.

“Dad… what do yo

He doesn’t ans

That smil

He sta

My

ne just smiles.

t goodbye… even though I never wanted to accept it.

I try to. Because something won’t let me.

n, but I can’t. My legs won’t respond, my body won’t move.

aks, he keeps walki

hout looking back.

III

Chapter 331: Confusion

I feel desperate.

One I hadn’t felt in all this time here.

“Dad, wait!”

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