He Knelt and Asked Me to Give My Heart to His Student Chapter 09
To avoid talking to Natalie, Adrian started staying at school night after night.
That was also when he finally noticed there was an undergraduate in his lab named Chloe.
She was hardworking and always the last one to leave, even though her results were consistently disappointing.
One day, with red-rimmed eyes, she asked him, “Professor Carlisle, am I really that terrible?”
He paused, but in the end he told her the truth. “Yes. Your results are the worst in the group.”
Chloe let out a small sound, then her tears came harder and harder until she could barely breathe.
That was when he found out she had a heart condition, and from then on, he started paying more and more attention
to her.
The day he realized he had fallen for Chloe, he spent the whole night drinking on the balcony.
At four in the morning. Natalie sleepily pushed open the balcony door, sat down beside him, and asked softly. “What’s
wrong? Is something bothering you?”
He said nothing. He just pulled her tightly into his arms.
In a low voice, she complained, “It’s been forever since you held me like this.”
“You’ve been too busy lately, haven’t you? You need to rest when you get the chance.”
“Mom’s been asking about you at the hospital these past few days. She keeps saying you haven’t visited in a long time. I
told her you were busy, but she wouldn’t believe me.”
The next day, he went to the hospital carrying bags full of supplements.
During that time, he took care of Natalie in every possible way.
He thought that would be enough to put everything back on track.
But it wasn’t. A still lake only needs one stone to stir the whole surface.
One time, after Chloe got drunk, she cried and said she wanted to marry him.
That was the moment he regretted marrying Natalie so young more than he ever had before.
You can’t control who you fall for, he told himself.
So later, when Chloe casually mentioned that her period cramps were acting up, he left Natalie, five months pregnant.
alone in New York City on Christmas, when everyone else was home with family.
By the time the sun came up, he was walking home alone.
On the way, he passed a couple. The wife was cradling her pregnant belly and complaining.
“I feel sick when I’m hungry, and I feel sick when I eat. It’s like something greasy keeps coming up from my stomach and
getting stuck in my throat. It won’t go up, and it won’t go down.”
“Every time I throw up, I get so dizzy. If I open my eyes, the ceiling spins. If I close them, it feels like I’m spinning in
midair. I swear I’m about to lose it.”
“Hey, are you even listening to me?”
She turned irritably to the husband beside her, who was staring at his phone.
The man waved a hand dismissively. “Every pregnant woman goes through that. If you can’t handle it, what kind of
mother are you supposed to be?”
The wife looked like she was about to cry, but there was nothing she could do. In the end, she just stamped her foot in
frustration.
Adrian quickened his pace and walked away.
It was like looking at himself.
He had acted as though all of it were perfectly normal, as though Natalie were just being overly dramatic.
When contractions hurt so badly she curled up on the couch and begged him to stay with her, what had he said?
“My being here won’t make your pain any better.”
“Carrying a child is hard. Once the baby’s born, it’ll be fine,”
She had cried then too.
He had only found it irritating, so he’d gone straight into his study.
Remembering all of it now, Adrian’s eyes suddenly burned red.
So that was how cruel he had been to her.
No wonder she didn’t want him anymore.
When he got home, Chloe had actually been waiting in the living room all night.
The instant she saw him, her eyes lit up.
“Professor Carlisle, you’re finally back.”
He paused. “Why didn’t you get some rest first?”
Chloe smiled lightly. “I was worried about you.”
“I found a place last night. I’m moving out today.”
After saying that, she looked at him for a long time, but never got the words she was waiting for.
Adrian only nodded and went into the bedroom.
A strange sense of loss settled over him.
Natalie was gone. He should have felt relieved.
But her scent still lingered in the air.
He closed his eyes and told himself it was only because he wasn’t used to this yet.
After all, he had never once imagined she would actually leave him.
After washing up, Adrian went straight back to work.
He found that as long as he stayed busy, things felt no different from before.
He spent three straight days and nights bouncing between the lab and Carlisle Holdings, until the exhaustion left dark
shadows under his eyes.
On the drive home, he thought he might finally get a full night’s sleep.
Then the hospital called.
“Mr. Carlisle, Ms. Evelyn Brooks has been discharged. Mrs. Carlisle checked her out.”
He went still.
“Mr. Carlisle?” the caller prompted.
He answered absently.
The moment he hung up, he couldn’t hold back anymore and called his assistant.
“Find out where Mrs. Carlisle went.”