The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 50

Chapter 32: 1 Must Do Nothing Alone.

Clara

The hospitals have a strange silence. It is not the absence of noise… It is a silence full of contained sounds; the constant beeping of a monitor, muffled footsteps in the hallway, voices that try not to break

anything.

I’m sitting by my father’s bed, I’ve never seen him like this. My father was always structure, column, order.

A man who filled a room without raising his voice. Now he’s lying on overly white sheets, with a line in his arm and a monitor marking the rhythm of his heart as if he needed help remembering how to beat.

I lean forward and take his hand. It is warm, still firm.

That reassures me more than any diagnosis.

The doctor said that it was a strong episode, but that he will respond well to treatment. That they should do more studies. That must be monitored.

“We must be vigilant.”

As if that were simple.

He moves slightly and opens his eyes.

“Clara.”

Just that.

And something in my chest goes limp.

“I’m here, Dad.”

He looks at me with that gaze that has always been able to read me beyond my words.

“You didn’t need to travel,” he says, his voice low but steady. “You have a job.”

Of course I do.

I always have a job.

“He’s not more important than you,” I answer without hesitation.

That is true.

He barely settles into the pillow.

“I never taught you to abandon your responsibilities.”

There it is. Even from a hospital bed, he’s still him.

I smile barely.

Chapter 32.4

“I’m not abandoning anything. Only… adjusting priorities.”

He looks at me in silence for a few seconds.

“Are you happy?”

The question catches me off guard.

It’s not what I expected.

“Of course I do,” I answer too quickly.

He does not insist. But he doesn’t believe me either.

He has never needed to pressure me to question myself.

”

“Success is no good if you end up sitting alone at a big table,” he says, looking at the ceiling. “And you always wanted big tables.”

I swallow hard. I remember our old house. Formal dinners. The plans. The goals.

I remember Ethan, I don’t mention his name. I don’t tell him I’m working with him again.

I don’t want his heart to have one more worry. Not now. Not when I’m seeing him vulnerable for the first

time in my life.

“Don’t stay where you’re not happy just to show that you can,” he adds.

That hits me harder than any diagnosis.

Because I’m always proving something.

I squeeze his hand.

“Rest, Dad.”

He gives me a long look. The kind that says more than they say.

“Live, Clara,” he murmurs before closing his eyes again.

Live.

I leave the room a few minutes later.

The hallway smells of disinfectant and reheated coffee. I lean against the wall and take a deep breath.

My phone vibrates in my hand.

A message from Alexander.

“Let me know when you have any news. Everything is under control here.”

Simple. Direct. No pressure.

Further down, a missed call.

Chapter 324 De Mything Above

Ethan

The screen illuminates my face in the dark reflection of the window.

Both are there. One-represents what I was, the other… what it could be.

And for the first time I don’t feel an urgency to respond.

I don’t want to react, I don’t want to act out of habit, I don’t want to choose out of fear.

I put the phone in my bag.

I walk to the exit of the hospital and the fresh night air greets me with unexpected clarity.

This time I’m not going to run back to work to hide what I feel, this time I’m not going to hold everything just because I always have.

This time… I’m going to decide.

I returned to New York two days later. The flight was short, but my mind didn’t rest. My father’s words kept spinning in my head like an underlined sentence that keeps reading.

Live.

When the plane landed, I felt that strange mixture of relief and weight. This city always demands something from me. And I’m always willing to give it.

I took a taxi, I didn’t check my phone the whole way.

When the vehicle pulled up in front of my building, I saw it.

Alexander was leaning against his car, dark suit, without a tie this time. The jacket unbuttoned. A hand in the pocket. The other was holding his phone.

He looked up as soon as the taxi stopped. And he walked towards me before the driver even lowered my

suitcase.

“I didn’t expect you to come,” I said, trying to make it sound casual.

“Your flight landed at twenty past six,” he replied, taking my suitcase naturally, “it’s twenty-seven past six.”

I looked at him.

“Did you have it figured out?”

“I like to know where the important variables are.”

Important variable.

My pulse barely changed. We silently went up to the elevator. Not uncomfortable. Only… content.

When the doors closed, I noticed something different.

He didn’t wear a watch, he always wears a watch.

* Chapter 35/fffet Do Mothaug Wine

“How is your father?” he asked finally

It was not a mechanical question.

It was direct. Sincere.

“Stable. He’ll have to change some habits… but it will be fine.”

I saw how his shoulders barely dropped. As if he had also been holding something.

“I’m glad,” he said.

And he didn’t add anything else.

That was what surprised me the most.

He did not ask for details. He did not invade. He didn’t turn my experience into conversation.

He was just there, the elevator stopped. When we got out, I noticed that he was still walking at my pace. Not advanced. Not setting the pace… At my own pace.

In front of my door, I reached out to take the suitcase.

He didn’t let go of it immediately, it was just a second.

But I felt it.

“You could have let me know you were coming,” he said quietly.

“I didn’t want to interrupt.”

His gaze rested on mine.

#

“You don’t interrupt.”

Something in my chest moved.

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