The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 388

Her words feel… important.

“It’s not the title of wife that changes things, Clara. That’s what people do with that title.”

I swallow, because that… makes sense.

“If they stop trying, if they stop taking care of each other… If they stop looking at each other… Then yes, everything cools down. But not because of the marriage itself, but because of the decisions they make within it.”

My eyes well up, because suddenly… The fear feels less overwhelming.

“But I also want you to understand something else.”

She says, her tone more serious. Deeper.

I look at her.

“I want you to be happy, as long as things work between you.”

My breath catches for a second.

“But…” She pauses. “The day you feel there’s no going back… That you’re no longer happy… That you’re losing yourself…” She squeezes my hand tighter. “That day, don’t hesitate to leave.”

I blink in surprise.

“Mom…”

“Listen to me.” She says, not letting me interrupt. “Love shouldn’t be a prison. Or an obligation. It should be a place where you want to be, not where you feel you have to stay.”

Chapter 296 Real Fears

I feel a tear slide down my cheek.

+25 Procto

“I don’t want you to endure out of habit. Or out of fear, or because of what others will say.”

Her voice softens again.

“I want you to always choose yourself. Even if that means letting go.”

My chest tightens, but it doesn’t hurt. It feels… liberating.

“And the same for him.” She adds. “That you both be where you truly want to be. Not where you think you should be.”

I nod slowly, letting it all settle inside me.

“Thank you…” I whisper.

She smiles and gently wipes away my tear.

“You don’t have to have everything figured out today. You just have to be sure of one thing.”

“Of what?”

“That you want to be there. With him, now…”

I take a deep breath. And for the first time since I woke up… The fear doesn’t disappear. But it settles, it shrinks.

“Yes…” I say with a certainty that comes from deep within. “I want to be with him.”

My mother nods.

“Then that’s enough.”

She leans down and kisses my forehead. I close my eyes for a second. And I let that moment embrace me. Because yes… I’m afraid, but I also have something stronger. The decision to love and to choose myself at the same time.

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Chapter 237: A Footprint in Me

The day series bus rosen because has to Bur because can sleep.

fri standing in fight of the wow my sort sill unbuttoned wanding the city

slowly begin to ser

New York Always in motion, always horny Burt today. Today feels different more… distar off all of that no longer maten so much

I take a deep breath and run a hand over my face

Today is the day’

I don’t know, I think this day is so special that feel emotional sentimerral frenes something about it that gives me a lump in my throat

“Again, my wife I murmur to myself And yet it still doesnt aute feel real

I hear movement behind me, the door opens

“I knew you were swake

My mother’s voice makes me turn toward her She enters with a gentle smile, sosening me as if I were still the child who used to run through the hallways of the house

1 couldn’t sleep. I admit it, and she nods. That’s normal.. exciting days often bring a little anxiety. You must be very happy, aren’t you?

She comes closer and straightens the collar of my shirt with that automatic gesture she’s always had.

“You look just like your father did on our wedding day

That makes me stop.

“Really?”

She smiles nostalgically.

“Yes, with that same mixture of excitement and fear you try to hide”

I let out a soft laugh.

I’m not scared”

Of course you are

+25 Pant

She answers without hesitation, and I can’t argue with her. Because deep down… she’s right. it’s not fear of getting married, it’s fear of everything that comes with it. What comes next is doing it right, not failing

My real fear lies in that, in doing everything as it should be done…. because I know I only have

one chance this time

Your father was like that too Go on. She sits on the bed, looking at me. “But he never said it

out loud

Toross my arms.

He never said many things out loud… you know how he was.”

No but he showed them in his own way, the way he knew how.”

And that That hits me differently Because my father was always like that, a man of few words. But of firm decisions, of presence, of responsibility.

He built everything you see today from scratch.”

My mother says, as if she were reading my mind.

He had nothing when he started… when we met, he was just another worker, but a disciplined one, driven, passionate, Someone with a strong character… and a clear vision.”

I nod slowly.

‘I know

And you inherited that.”

Hook up at her.

“You don’t have to be perfect today, Ethan.” She says gently. “You just have to be yourself.”

Her words stay with me, settling somewhere deep inside my chest.

“Thanks, Mom”

She gets up, comes closer, and smooths my hair as if no time has passed.

PA Footprint m Me

“I’m proud of you.”

I swallow, because that… That really weighs on me.

“And I know he is too, even if he doesn’t say it.”

+25 Pointy

She kisses me on the cheek and leaves the room. And I’m alone again, but not the same.

I look at my reflection in the mirror, and for a second… I don’t just see myself. I see everything behind it. Everything that brought me here: the decisions, the mistakes, the losses, the rebuilding. And now… This.

“Do it right.”

I look at my hands, clasped together in front of me, firm on the outside… but inside, something is stirring. Something that isn’t just about this moment. It’s about him… about my father. I don’t know why he appears now, perhaps because these are the kinds of moments where you measure what you are… and what you don’t want to be.

I remember his figure, always impeccable… and always busy. A man who didn’t need to raise his voice to command respect. His presence was enough… the way he entered a room. But also… A man who wasn’t there. Not really.

I close my eyes for a second, and a memory comes, blurry but insistent.

I must have been… eight years old? Maybe younger. I was in the living room, holding a drawing. One of those things you do hoping someone will tell you it’s okay, that they’ll smile, that they’ll look at you as if it mattered.

I waited for him… I remember looking at the clock several times, and my mother trying to distract me.

“He’s coming, honey…” She’d say, but he didn’t arrive, or he was late. Always late… And when he finally appeared… I was already asleep. Or I no longer had the drawing in my hand, or I no longer felt like showing it.

He wasn’t a bad man, he never was. That much I know.

He provided, he supported, he built. But… he wasn’t there. And with time… I stopped waiting for him. I learned not to need him in that way, I learned not to search, not to ask, not to insist.

My memories with him are few, fragments. Isolated moments, a hand on my shoulder once in a while. A curt “well done,” without emotion… A look of approval… that lasted seconds. Nothing more…

My mother, on the other hand… She was everything: present, warm, constant. She filled the

Rasterent

spaces he left, without complaining, without reproaching, simply being there.

I open my eyes and return to the present. But that feeling… It won’t go away, because now 1

understand it more than I’d like.

I lower my gaze for a second and let out a long breath.

“You repeated it…” I murmur to myself, without realizing it, I repeated it.

I became that man, the one who works, the one who solves problems, the one who builds. The one who is… but isn’t. How many times Clara spoke to me… and I was thinking about something else. About the company, about a problem, about a decision. How many times! was physically with her… but mentally somewhere else, how many times I prioritized everything… except what was important.

I clench my jaw slightly, because it hurts, it hurts to admit it, it hurts to accept that….. unintentionally… I became like him. Like that man I always swore I wouldn’t be, but also… There’s something different, something that changes everything.

I do see it, I see the pattern, I see the mistake. And that… That’s already a difference.

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