The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 77

Chapter 55: My Hand and yours–1

Clara

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I had a complete mental blackout, I don’t know how much happened, I don’t remember when they removed the cables… I don’t remember signing anything.

I only remember the feeling of Ethan’s hand holding mine as we walked down the hospital hallway.

How did I end up here with him?

I looked at his hand carrying me, firm, present. As if I feared that I would fall apart again at any moment. And perhaps he was right.

He wasn’t keeping track of my steps, he was walking for me.

The cold night air hits me when we go out, I’m weak, but I’m no longer out of control.

The pain is now deeper, more conscious… it’s more real.

My father.

The word resonates in my head over and over again. Ethan opens the car door and helps me in like it’s something delicate. Like I could break down, maybe I could.

He puts my seatbelt on and adjusts it properly… I saw him walk around his car, he sits next to me in the driver’s seat, this time he drives the car.

We arrived at the apartment and I didn’t notice it. Together we went upstairs and I only realized we had arrived when I’m standing in the middle of my living room, looking around like it’s the first time I’ve been here.

Everything is in its place, orderly, silent, normal. And nothing is normal.

“I need-” I murmured, but I didn’t finish the sentence.

My mind goes faster than my hands, traveling, clothes, documents… Charger.

Where’s my charger?

I walk into the room and open the closet too hard. Hangers, blouses, dresses.

Why do I have so many things I don’t need now?

I was lost in my own home.

“Clara.”

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< Chapter 55: My Hand and yours–1

Ethan’s voice is low. Controlled.

I take a suitcase out of the bottom and leave it on the bed, open it. I stare at it empty.

Like my head.

“I have to pack,” I say, as if he doesn’t know.

I start pulling out random clothes, a dress.

What do I want a dress for?

I toss it aside, a sweater. It’s cold in my city. Is it cold?

I’m not sure.

I feel like I’m moving inside water, everything is slow and fast at the same time.

I open the drawer of the bedside table, look for something. I don’t know what.

“My ID,” I whisper.

It’s not there, of course it’s not there. Why would it be there?

My hands begin to tremble.

“I can’t find anything.”

My breathing quickens again.

“Clara.”

I feel his hands in my arms, firm, warm… Anchoring me.

“Look at me.”

I do, his eyes aren’t nervous. They are not overwhelmed, they are concentrated.

“Don’t worry.”

I shake my head.

“I can’t… I’m wasting time.”

“No.”

His tone becomes firmer.

“You’re not wasting time. You’re in shock.”

The word hits me, shock… Maybe so.

Chapter 56 My Hand and yours. 1

“Let me help you.”

And this time he does not say it as an option, he says it as a decision.

He approaches the suitcase.

“How many days?”

“I don’t know.”

The answer is broken.

“We packed for a week,” he resolves. “If you need more, we buy there.”

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He begins to fold clothes efficiently, two pants; three blouses, a coat. Everything was orderly

and methodical.

As if he were organizing a meeting, but now I am the priority.

“Your ID,” he says without looking at me. “Where do you usually leave it?”

I think, I make an effort.

“Bag… the brown bag.”

He leaves the room and returns seconds later with it. Check it, take it out.

“Here it is.”

He places it on the bed, visible… Real.

That calms me down more than it should, I try to collaborate. I open the bathroom, take my things. My electric toothbrush… I almost dropped it. He holds it before it hits the ground.

“Breathe.”

That word again.

I breathe slowly. I inhale, exhale.

“I’m not functioning,” I whisper.

He approaches.

“You’re doing what you can.”

His hands rest on my shoulders.

“And right now, that’s enough.”

Chapter 55: My Hand and yours–1

I look at him. And for the first time since it all began… I don’t feel useless, just human.

Close the suitcase with a firm motion.

“Ready”

Ready? How can I be ready if my life is about to break down?

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55. Chapter 55. My Hand and Yours. 2

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Chapter 55: My Hand and Yours.–2

But it is. Everything you need is inside.

“Your phone?” he asks.

I look around, it’s on the living room table. I take it.

“Good.”

He walks up to me and grabs the suitcase.

“Let’s go.”

I sit still for a second, look at the apartment. The messy bed, the open closet.

Clothes out of place. All stopped in the middle of an emergency.

“Clara.”

His voice is soft now, I come closer. I don’t think, I just get closer. And I rested my forehead on his chest for a second… Only one.

“I’m afraid,” I confess in a low voice.

I feel his arm wrap around my back.

“I know.”

It does not try to minimize it, it does not try to correct it. He only recognizes it.

“But you’re not alone. I’m going with you.”

I nod.

“The plane leaves in an hour,” he says quietly. “Everything is ready.”

I look at him.

“What?”

“It’s faster that way.”

He doesn’t ask if I agree, he doesn’t overwhelm me with details. It only resolves. And for the first time in a long time… I don’t feel like I have to be the strong one. The journey to the airport is silent, I look out the window, but I don’t see anything.

Chapter 55: My Hand and Yours.–2

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My mind is somewhere else, in a white room, in my mother alone, in my father connected to

machines.

I swallow hard.

“I don’t know if I’m going to get there,” I whisper.

The sentence comes out without permission, Ethan barely turns towards me.

“You’re going to get there.”

It is not empty hope, it is conviction.

“And if-”

I don’t finish, I can’t. He takes my hand without drama.

“Then you’ll be there.”

That breaks me again, because I know what it means, because sometimes it’s not about

saving.

It is about accompanying.

We got on the private plane and I barely remember the takeoff.

I’m sitting by the window, hugging myself. The sky is dark, infinite.

Ethan takes off his jacket and places it on my shoulders without saying anything, that small, silent gesture… It makes me close my eyes.

“You can try to get some sleep,” he says.

I deny.

“If I close my eyes I feel like I’m wasting time.”

It’s strange, one night when I traveled to my desperate city, I took a bus because it would take longer to arrive, because I was going to need time and… Now time is what worries me.