The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 437

Chapter 343: Back Home? Part 3.

Ethan

I arrive at the mansion before her; it wasn’t by chance… I planned it.

Because I need time, time to tidy up, time to prepare. Time to try to make this place… mean something to Clara again.

I get out of the car and stand for a few seconds looking at the facade. Everything is the same: immaculate, silent.

Too perfect… And yet… today it feels different.

I push open the front door and enter, the echo of my footsteps resonating in the foyer.

“Welcome, sir.”

The butler’s voice greets me as always.

I nod.

“I need everything ready.”

He looks at me, attentive.

“For the lady?”

That word… “The-lady.” Clara. My wife… And at the same time… no.

“Yes.”

I reply.

“Clara is coming today.”

The staff springs into action, and so do I.

I can’t stay still, not today. I walk toward the main hall, Everything is in its place, too much so.

I frown.

“No…”

I murmur.

“This isn’t enough.”

I turn around.

“I want flowers.”

The butler nods.

“Any in particular, sir?”

< Chapter 343 Back Home? Part 2.

The roses my wife likes… all the ones she likes…

stop.

Something in my chest tightens,

“No…” I correct myself. “Not roses.”

He waits.

“Peonies.”

I say finally.

“And… those… the ones she likes best…”

I run a hand through my hair.

“What are they called?”

The butler doesn’t hesitate.

“Tulips, sir…”

“That’s it.”

I exhale.

“Tulips.”

He studies me for another second.

“What color?”

I overthink it.

“Everyone.”

I reply.

“I want color. Lots of it.”

He nods and leaves.

Okay, one… Something good. I walk toward the stairs, I go up. Each step feels heavier than the last.

Because I know where I’m going, our room.

I push open the door and stand still in the entryway. Everything is the same.

The bed, the pillows, the perfectly made sheets. Her side… Untouched.

As if she’d never left, as if nothing had happened. As if this were enough to bring her back.

I approach slowly, I run my hand over the bedspread.

< Chapter 34-Back Home? Part 2

“No.

tmurmur

“It’s not like this.”

I turn to the closet, I open it, her clothes are there, neat and perfect… Too perfect.

She wouldn’t leave it like that. It’s so… it’s so robotic, like I’ve never touched any of those clothes.

+25 Points

There were things she bought recently and never got around to organizing, so I want it to look the same.

I barely smile.

“You always said you were going to organize it… and you never did.”

I walk into the closet and start moving things around.

Separating, reorganizing. Doing it… the way she did, or at least the way I think she did.

“This doesn’t go here…”

I murmur as I move a blouse.

“Neither does this…”

I take out a dress, look at it, remember… Dinner, her laugh, her gaze.

I swallow and hang it up carefully.

“Good…”

I exhale.

“Let’s go…”

I leave the closet and look around the room again. I feel like something’s missing, something’s always

missing.

I walk to the nightstand and open the drawer. And there it is, the ring, the second one. The one I gave her when she said yes again.

I pick it up… I hold it between my fingers and remember when they gave it to me at the hospital with the rest of her things… That day was awful.

The ring shines like it did that day she wore it at the wedding, like she did. I close my eyes for a second.

“You should be wearing it…”

I whisper…

I place it on the small table, where it’s visible. It looks perfect… And to think I had to clean it because it had traces of blood.

I leave the room, walk down the hall, try to remember, to think.

20

< Chapter 343-thek Home? Part 2.

What else? What else made this place hers?

go back downstairs; the staff is already bustling about… Flowers coming in, colors, life.

I stop dead in my tracks when I see a vase.

Too full, too… excessive.

+25 Points

“No.”

I raise my hand.

“That looks like a funeral.”

The butler tenses.

“Excuse me, sir.”

“No… no, it’s fine.”

I run a hand over my face.

“Just… less.”

Simpler, like her…

He deletes half of it… He nods and starts.

Good… very good.

I turn around and then I see it. The photo, it’s on the shelf. Our wedding, the second one, the real one.

The one that was real.

I go over, I pick it up. There we are, smiling, truly happy.

“Look at us…”

I murmur.

“Even you don’t know it… but we were happy.”

I run my thumb along the edge of the frame,

“And not just a little…”

I put it back, but I adjust it, make it more visible.

I walk to the living room, I collapse onto the sofa, finally. One second, just one.

The silence hits me, and then… Everything crashes down on me; The weight, the fear, the uncertainty.

I run both hands over my face, exhaling slowly.

“How do you make someone fall in love with you… for the second time… when they no longer know they once loved you?”

< Chapter 343-

Home? Part 2.

The question hangs in the air, unanswered, unresolved.

took around; everything is ready, or so I think.

425 Points

Flowers, tidiness, thoughtful touches, memories. But none of it guarantees anything. None of it ensures she’ll come back.

That she’ll feel, that she’ll remember, that she’ll look at me the way she used to.