All Chapters of Love They Shouldn’t Have: Chapter 11

The separation wasn’t announced.It simply happened.Days passed without seeing each other at the office. Meetings were reassigned. Emails became strictly professional. Their names no longer appeared together on schedules.It was clean.Too clean.She told herself it was for the best. That clarity needed distance. That feelings, when starved of proximity, either faded or revealed their truth.Still, every morning she reached for her phone before stopping herself.Still, every evening felt unfinished.⸻Ethan threw himself into work like it could save him.Late nights. Early mornings. Back-to-back calls. He became efficient again—sharp, focused, unreachable.The version of him everyone respected.The version that had cost him everything before.But now, it felt different.Now, the silence hurt more than the exhaustion.He stopped by her desk once, instinctively, before realizing she’d been moved to another floor.The absence felt louder than any argument.⸻Clara watched from a distanc