He Had Time for Everything but Me Chapter 09

He Had Time for Everything but Me Chapter 09

“Tell him I’m not here.”

My secretary left.

After signing the last document, I walked to the window and looked down.

A man stood outside the building.

He had lost weight. His suit was wrinkled, and his hair was disheveled.

He tilted his head back and stared toward my office.

I closed the curtains.

Grant waited outside the building for three days.

On the evening of the third day, he finally managed to stop me.

The moment I stepped out of the elevator, he rushed forward and blocked my path.

“Claire.”

I frowned. “Sir, I don’t believe we have anything to discuss.”

He looked hurt by my cold response.

His expression tightened. “Claire, I came here to…”

I cut him off, my tone polite but detached. “If you’re here on business, please make an appointment at the

front desk.”

“If this is personal, I have nothing to say to you.”

“Claire…”

Grant stayed in Scandinavia for a month.

He waited outside my office every day.

People began talking about how devoted he was.

He also had flowers and gifts delivered to me.

I returned every one of them unopened, but his efforts still caused a minor stir.

One day, I stood outside the office and looked at him.

Grant wasn’t alone.

Two other people stood beside him.

They were my biological parents.

Their eyes lit up as they approached me.

Disgusted, I took two steps back to put more distance between us.

Grant gave me a pleading look and apologized.

“Claire, I was wrong.”

My parents apologized too.

They said they didn’t know what had come over them. They had neglected their biological daughter and

favored a woman who wasn’t even related to them.

They also said Vanessa had taken their money and disappeared. They had no idea where she had gone.

Now that they’d found me, all they wanted was for me to forgive them.

Grant said, “Vanessa and I have been divorced for a long time. Claire, we can go back and get married now.”

“Claire, I know I was wrong.” His voice was painfully hoarse.

I felt nothing.

“What did you do wrong?”

Grant froze.

I looked at him calmly. “You keep saying you were wrong, so tell me. What exactly did you do wrong?”

Grant opened his mouth. “I shouldn’t have lied to you. I shouldn’t have married Vanessa. I shouldn’t have put you through IVF…”

I shook my head.

“You were wrong because you never respected me.”

“You thought an Al-generated fake marriage certificate would be enough to fool me because you were sure

I’d never leave. You thought I’d go through IVF just because you told me to, because I always did what you

said. You thought I couldn’t live without you.”

“Grant, what did you think I was?”

“A quiet, obedient backup plan who would always be waiting for you? Or just a convenient womb?”

Grant’s entire body shook.

“No… Claire, I love you…”

“When I called you a womb, I wasn’t thinking straight. I had already planned to let you raise the child

yourself.”

“You love me?” I laughed. “Your way of loving me was getting a marriage license with another woman and

having a wedding behind my back.”

“Then you tried to force me to go through IVF so I could give the two of you a baby.”

“Grant, I can’t afford your kind of love.”

I turned to leave.

Grant shouted, “Claire! Just tell me what you want me to do. I’ll do anything!”

I stopped for a moment but didn’t turn around.

“I never want you to come looking for me again.”

“That goes for my biological parents too.”

Grant stood in the wind and finally realized something.

Some wrong turns could be retraced.

But some people, once lost, could never be found again.

Six months later, Grant’s law firm was barely staying afloat, and its reputation had taken a serious hit.

His parents urged him to move on with someone else, but he refused.

He moved back into the apartment where we had once lived together.

He bought the perfume I used to love and sprayed it in every room.

But he could still smell disinfectant in the air.

No matter what he did, the scent wouldn’t go away.