The CEO's Regret: Darling, Don’t Leave Me novel Chapter 399

Chapter 308 If I’m Not Happy.

attention to myself. And there I was, me.

With red eyes, dull skin, a trembling mouth, the face of someone who lost.

Of someone who… never truly had anything. And the contrast… is unbearable.

I look down at the phone again, at them, at their happiness, their damned happiness.

Something inside me… breaks.

Not suddenly, not forcefully… it’s as if something is slowly tearing apart… Silently, like something that was already damaged… And just needed this to finally shatter.

“What did you do to me?” I whisper.

My voice comes out low, almost inaudible, but I know the answer.

“Nothing,” I answer myself.

She didn’t do anything to me, nothing. And yet… I’ve never hated anyone so much in my life.

I grip the phone tightly, my fingers tense, my jaw clenches.

“Nothing…” I repeat.

But that doesn’t change what I feel, because what I feel isn’t logical.

It’s not fair, it’s not healthy. I know it, but it’s… it’s real. Very real.

This isn’t right, but knowing that doesn’t stop me from feeling it, and I hate that…

swallow again, this time with more effort.

“You took everything from me…” I murmur.

Even though I know it’s not true, that’s how it feels. Like you ripped away the most important thing I ever had.

The only thing I wanted, the only thing I… couldn’t have.

I close my eyes, but the image is still there in my head, I feel it in my chest, everywhere.

And then I understand, with a clarity that frightens me. I can’t leave.

“I can’t… at least, not like this.”

Not while they’re like this, happy, whole, as if nothing happened… As if I didn’t exist, as if it hadn’t hurt, as if nothing had happened.

I open my eyes slowly, looking at my reflection again. And this time… I don’t see sadness.

Chapter 308 if I’m Not Happy

Not entirely, there’s something else. Something dark, something new, something that wasn’t t before.

“No…” I whisper.

Shaking my head slowly.

“I can’t…”

My voice changes; it barely holds steady, but it does.

“I can’t leave it like this…”

I look down at the phone once more, at Clara, at her smile, at her white dress.

At her place

place where I wanted to be.

My finger

top trembling.

“I can

clos

way…” I murmur. “Not push you away, I can’t bring you to me. I tried for years, s can’t… my love.”

with my finger. And it hurts to say it, but it’s true.

on her image, on hers… they are steady, cold, different.

ence becomes heavy, dense, and very determined.

ot going to see you happy…” I whisper.

voice barely trembles now.

Not if I’m not happy.”

And that’s it… That’s where something definitely changes, because I’m no longer thinking about leaving.

Not about my mother, not about my father, not about fixing my life.

I’m thinking about her, only about her, and how… to get her out of the way. Because if I’m not happy, then neither should she be.

I put my phone down

To hell with my

*upid call.

Г

Chapter 309: I Want to Be a Mom…

Clara

The drone of the plane is constant, calm, almost hypnotic.

These days have been wonderful; I’ve wanted to savor every moment as if they were th of my life.

The level of intimacy and closeness I’ve shared with Ethan is… I don’t know, I don’t know magic there is in going on a honeymoon with the person you love, but something has br closer together, at least, that’s how I feel.

I lean

my

head back against the seat for a moment, looking out the window, though I’m no seeing anything, I’m just thinking… I think too much.

About these days, about everything that’s happened, about who we are now. And then I tui head slightly.

I look at him, at Ethan. He’s there, next to me, checking something on his phone, with that f expression I know so well. There’s something about his face… something different since the wedding.

Softer, more present, more… ours… I feel a small knot in my chest.

But it’s not fear, not this time.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you told me that time…” I say suddenly.

He looks up.

“What?”

I swallow, my fingers interlacing in my lap.

“The topic of family… of children…”

I see his expression change slightly, attentive, almost expectant.

I take a deep breath.

“I think it’s time…” I murmur, “to go to my doctor… to stop taking care of myself… and start planning, don’t you think?”

I pause briefly, looking directly at him.

“Having a baby.”

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