He Let Her Move Into His Dorm, I Moved Out of the Country Chapter 03
I drifted home like a ghost. I had just taken out my key and had not even opened the door when I heard a familiar voice from inside.
“Professor Grant, now that you’ve brought me home, won’t Ms. Reed be upset?”
It was Mia.
Adrian’s voice was gentle.
“No. My fiancée is very understanding. She’ll take good care of you.”
My hands trembled as I opened the door. When I looked up, I saw Adrian and Mia sitting close together on the living room couch.
When he saw me come in, Adrian only glanced at me casually before speaking in a flat tone.
“I have to go on a business trip for the next few days. The lock on my faculty apartment hasn’t been replaced yet, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving Mia there alone, so I brought her here to stay for a while.”
“Lauren, while I’m away, I’ll need you to let Mia use the primary bedroom and take good care of her.”
He said it so lightly, as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world.
I forced back the sting in my eyes and said evenly, “Adrian, do you still remember that this is our home?”
Adrian did not even spare me a glance. Impatience crept into his voice.
“Lauren, what are you trying to fight with me about now?”
Mia glanced at me timidly, her voice wounded.
“Professor Grant, Ms. Reed must be upset because she saw me here. I’ll leave right now…”
Adrian finally looked at me.
But the way he looked at me was like he was looking at a stranger.
“Lauren, you’re a grown woman, and you’re supposed to be the older adult here. Why are you picking on a young student like Mia?”
“A child?” I gave a humorless laugh. “Adrian, Mia may be your student, but she’s already in her twenties.”
“Have you ever seen a child in her twenties?”
Adrian’s eyes instantly turned cold. He stood up, stepped in front of Mia to shield her, and questioned me in an icy voice.
“Lauren Reed, what exactly are you trying to say?”
My gaze passed over him and landed on Mia’s face behind him.
“Adrian, I don’t believe you and Mia spend that much time together at the university every day and have never heard the rumors about your relationship.”
Mia’s eyes flickered, and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
Adrian frowned.
“You said it yourself. They’re rumors.”
“Mia and I have a perfectly normal professor-student relationship.”
The emotions I had suppressed for years exploded all at once. I stepped forward and demanded sharply, “A normal professor-student relationship? Adrian, tell me, what professor lets a student move into his faculty apartment and then brings a female student into his home?”
“What male professor abandons his fiancée on her birthday because of one phone call from a female student?”
Adrian’s face turned livid under my questions, but he still did not think he had done anything wrong.
“Lauren, are you finished? I’ve explained this to you so many times. Do you have to act like a hysterical shrew and make my life miserable?”
Mia hid behind him. The way she looked at me was smug and provocative.
But the words she said sounded perfectly considerate.
“Professor Grant, please don’t fight with Ms. Reed because of me.”
“If Ms. Reed doesn’t like me, I’ll leave. I can stay at the faculty apartment.”
She said she would leave, but she did not move at all. Instead, she looked at Adrian with pitiful, pleading eyes.
I walked straight over, took Mia by the hand, and pulled her toward the door.
“Fine. I’ll take you back to campus right now.”
Mia struggled lightly a couple of times, then suddenly yanked hard, dragging me down with her as we both fell to the floor.
Adrian panicked. He hurried forward to help Mia up, half pulling her into his arms as he asked with gentle concern, “Mia, are you hurt anywhere?”
Mia leaned against him and shook her head.
“I’m fine. Professor Grant, check on Ms. Reed first. She fell harder than I did.”
Only then did Adrian look at me, and the next thing I felt was his palm striking my face.
“Lauren! How can you be so vicious?”
“It was bad enough that you got jealous of a student and treated her like a romantic rival. It was bad enough that you made up rumors about her. Now you even pushed her?”
“What if Mia had hurt her hand in the fall? Could you take responsibility for that?”
I looked at the way he believed Mia without hesitation and protected her without a second thought, and a bleak, bone-deep grief settled over me.
But I no longer had the strength to question him.
“Adrian.” I held on to the wall and stood up, my voice exhausted. “Let’s end this.”
Adrian froze for a second. Then he flew into a rage.
“Lauren, can you act like an adult for once? Stop using the same threat on me every time.”
As he spoke, he picked Mia up and walked toward the front door.
“If you won’t let her stay here, then I’ll take Mia with me on the business trip.”
“Stay home and calm down during this time. When I come back, we’ll settle this.”
Settle this when he came back?
I lowered my eyes and hid every trace of emotion.
Adrian, for the rest of my life, I would never have anything to do with you again.
So what could there possibly be left to settle?
…
Five days later, Adrian came home from his business trip.
He was still thinking about what had happened before he left. When he thought about what Lauren had done, resentment filled him more than anything else.
Even so, he still remembered to bring Lauren a gift.
Adrian took several deep breaths at the front door. Then he opened it and set the gift down.
“I was out of line that day. I’m sorry.”
“But Lauren, I hope you can be more mature from now on. Stop fighting with me over baseless suspicions.”
When he finished speaking, he did not get the response he always used to get.
Adrian’s gaze swept over the empty living room, and a sense of panic he had never felt before rose inside him.
