He Knelt and Asked Me to Give My Heart to His Student Chapter 06
I got into his car and went home one last time to pack my things.
Neither of us spoke during the drive.
The only sound in the car was an old love-song CD from ten years ago playing softly through the stereo.
That CD had been a birthday gift from me the year we first got together.
The moment I stepped inside, I saw a pair of rabbit slippers by the door that didn’t belong to me.
Adrian said reflexively. “Chloe’s lease ran out, so she’s staying here for a few days.”
I had already looked away.
But he kept explaining anyway. “She doesn’t get along with her roommate, so she hasn’t gone back to the dorm.”
I went to the walk-in closet. I had only been gone for two days, and already my clothes had been shoved into a corner.
All kinds of pink dresses had taken over most of the closet.
Adrian frowned when he saw it. “She has a little too much stuff. Don’t mind it.”
I said nothing. I just folded my things carefully and put them into my suitcase.
He stood in the doorway and watched in silence.
When I left the closet and pushed open the master bedroom door, it looked exactly the same as it had the last time I
walked out.
I took my time sorting through everything that belonged to me.
Just as I was about to leave, Adrian suddenly held out a box. “There’s this too.”
Inside was a blessed St. Christopher medal,
After I lost our first pregnancy, he had gone all the way to a chapel to get it for me.
He had climbed that endless stone stairway step by step, all by himself.
When I found out, I hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry. I’d asked him, “I thought you didn’t believe in things like
this.”
He had smiled and ruffled my hair. “But you do.”
From then on, I took that medal with me everywhere I went.
Snapping out of it, I gave a small smile and told him, “I don’t want it anymore. Keep it or throw it away. That’s up to
you.”
His hand froze in midair for a second, then he pulled it back as if nothing had happened.
I didn’t pay attention. I dragged my suitcase out to the living room.
We had moved into this house when we were twenty-four.
Five years of life together had left traces everywhere, not so many that they were overwhelming, but not so few that
they meant nothing.
By the time I was done packing everything, it was almost evening.
He asked, “Do you want to get dinner together?”
A little surprised, I still declined politely. “No, thanks.”
He gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment. “Where are you going? I can drive you.”
I shook my head again. “No need. I already called a car.”
His lips parted slightly, but in the end he said nothing. He lowered his head and helped me drag my two suitcases to the
front door.
That was when Chloe came back.
The moment she saw me, she smiled sweetly. “Natalie, you finally decided to come home.”
Adrian felt a sudden, inexplicable unease and said to her, “Go back to the bedroom first.”
She blinked. “Why?”
“Professor Carlisle, didn’t you say yesterday that Natalie would come back sooner or later because she was pregnant, and that I should take the chance to get along with her?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize something and looked down at my stomach in surprise.
After a beat of flustered silence, tears welled up on cue. She looked at Adrian pitifully.
“I’m sorry, Professor Carlisle, I didn’t realize Natalle would mind my being here this much.”
“It’s all my fault. I’ll leave right now. I’ll never show up in front of either of you again…”
Her whole body started shaking as she cried, and in less than a minute, she was struggling to breathe.
In the end, Adrian couldn’t bear it. With practiced ease, he got her medicine and water, fed it to her, and patted her back
to comfort her.
“This isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”
Right before I left, I turned back for one last look.
She was leaning against him, and where he couldn’t see, she curved her lips at me in a small smile.
I looked away without expression.