The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

This time, Sean Sinclair heard it clearly.

Divorce certificate.

He walked into the house, frowning. "What divorce certificate?"

Mrs. Sinclair immediately pursed her lips, not daring to look her son in the eye.

Mr. Sinclair shot his wife a look, clearly blaming her for her loose tongue.

Sean Sinclair: "Last time, you mentioned a marriage certificate, and now it’s a divorce certificate. What’s going on?"

Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair had originally planned to tell their son that he was divorced from Leila Jennings after the bidding was over. But now the situation had changed, spiraling into chaos, and they had no idea how to bring it up.

Their son had just suffered a major career setback. To break the news of the divorce at this moment would be kicking him while he was down.

Mrs. Sinclair looked at her husband silently, asking him with her eyes to make a decision. Should they tell him or not?

’Of course, we have to tell him eventually. The papers have been issued; we can’t hide it forever.’

’We need to wait a few days, pick the right time.’

Noticing the exhaustion etched on his son’s face, Mr. Sinclair slowly said, "It’s your mother’s and my divorce certificate."

Mrs. Sinclair’s eyes went wide.

’How could he joke about something like this!’

"What?" Sean Sinclair was stunned as well. ’How can so much happen in one day!’

Mr. Sinclair continued, "That time we took our marriage certificate to the Civil Affairs Bureau, it wasn’t for some event. We were going to file for divorce."

Listening from the side, Mrs. Sinclair’s temples throbbed. She was terrified his words might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

’Is divorce something you can just talk about so casually?’

’Not even as a joke!’

But she was helpless against her husband. In this family, the man always had the final say.

Sean Sinclair was clearly skeptical. "It’s only been a few days. How could you get a divorce certificate so quickly? And why are you getting divorced?"

"We haven’t gotten it yet. We’re still in the cooling-off period. Your mother was just worried about how to tell you when the time comes." Mr. Sinclair lied without batting an eye. "As for why it’s come to this, that’s between your mother and me."

Sean Sinclair heaved a heavy sigh, clearly exhausted.

Mrs. Sinclair quickly added, "We haven’t decided for sure that we’ll divorce. We’re just cooling off."

’I really do need to cool off,’ she thought. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Sean Sinclair sat on the sofa, his eyes lowered. He was too tired to even speak.

He’d just dealt with Chairman Forrester, and tomorrow he had to face the shareholders and reassure the employees who had been working so hard with him.

He couldn’t get in touch with Leila Jennings at all.

Sarah was still at the police station, and he didn’t know the specifics of her situation.

He’d heard that Mr. Jacobs had been hospitalized from anger. As a junior, he should at least pay him a visit at the hospital.

He had thought coming home would be a refuge from the storm, only to find his parents, at their age, were in the middle of a divorce drama.

He tossed out a weary sentence, "You two handle it yourselves. I’m going to take a shower."

When Sean Sinclair came out after his shower, he saw his parents were still sitting on the sofa, waiting for him. They probably wanted to ask about what happened today.

He sat down with them and grabbed some crackers to fill his stomach.

’If Leila were here, she wouldn’t let me go hungry.’

The thought that Leila Jennings had blocked him and that he had no idea where she was made him lose his appetite for the crackers.

"Dad, Mom, give Leila Jennings a call," he said before his father could ask anything.

Mrs. Sinclair frowned. "Why would we call her?"

Sean Sinclair was silent for a moment. "Today at the meeting, Nathaniel Cole made a huge deal about me and Sarah, which caused me to lose the bid. Leila was at the meeting too. She must have heard some rumors and gotten angry. I can’t reach her."

Mr. Sinclair: "Do you know about Leila Jennings’s identity now?"

Sean Sinclair nodded. "I never imagined she could hide it so well. I only knew she was a student of Mr. Thorne’s. I didn’t know she was capable of this."

Mrs. Sinclair snorted. "That’s because she never saw us as family. She hid it on purpose. They’re both in research, and Sarah didn’t hide anything from us, did she?"

"Mom," Sean Sinclair said, his tone slightly displeased. "Leila signed a confidentiality agreement. It was right of her not to tell us. You really can’t say a word about it. In fact, Sarah and I were brought into the station for questioning today because of this very issue. Sarah still hasn’t been released, and even Mr. Jacobs was called in for questioning."

"What!" Mrs. Sinclair shot to her feet, pulling her son up and looking him over with concern. "How are you? They didn’t do anything to you, did they?"

’Damn it all, what kind of bad luck has the Sinclair family run into this month! First her daughter, and now her son, both ended up at the police station.’

Sean Sinclair: "No, they let me go once the investigation was cleared up."

"As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters. But... how could Sarah cause such trouble?" Mrs. Sinclair said with a displeased look.

Sean Sinclair didn’t even want to respond to his mother. She was the one who was delighted when Sarah leaked the information, and now she was the one who was upset.

Sean Sinclair looked at his father. "That’s the reason I lost the bid."

Mr. Sinclair frowned. "Sarah Lynch didn’t say anything specific, so how did it blow up into such a big deal?"

He recalled the name his son had just mentioned.

"Nathaniel Cole."

"I underestimated how treacherous he is." All Sean Sinclair could think about now was Leila. "Dad, please, give Leila a call."

Mr. Sinclair took out his phone and dialed, but the call wouldn’t go through.

Sean Sinclair looked at his mother.

Mrs. Sinclair tried as well, with the same result.

Sean Sinclair was about to ask his sister to try, but Mr. Sinclair stopped him. "There’s no need to have Cecilia check. Leila has blocked our entire family."

The divorce certificate was in hand. The bidding was over, just as they had agreed.

Today’s bidding had concluded, and Leila Jennings had fulfilled her promise.

Still unaware that he was already divorced, Sean Sinclair was utterly baffled.

’It’s one thing for Leila to be angry at me,’ he thought, ’but why block my parents too?’

’She’s taking it too far.’

Sean Sinclair failed to notice that his parents, who usually loved to find fault with Leila, said nothing about her disrespectful behavior this time.

Normally, Mr. Sinclair would have been scowling, scolding Leila for her lack of manners and berating his son for not being able to "control his own wife." Mrs. Sinclair, on the other hand, would have launched into a tirade, saying whatever nasty things came to mind.

But now, the couple’s silence was unnervingly abnormal.

Sean Sinclair had been through too much today. His mind was so full of problems that he couldn’t think straight.

"Tomorrow, after I deal with things at the company, I’ll go find her and clear things up."

Once again, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair said nothing.

"Isn’t Sarah still at the police station? Are you just going to abandon her?" Mrs. Sinclair asked. ’The divorce is final anyway,’ she thought. ’Leila never respected her in-laws before, and she certainly won’t now that she has status and power. It’s better to set our son up with Sarah.’

Sean Sinclair: "I have Charles Jordan keeping an eye on it. He’s already looking for a lawyer."

Mr. Sinclair, however, was inclined to have his son win Leila back. ’I never should have gone to get that divorce certificate!’

He was regretting it to his very core.

"Notify the Lynch family. They’ll have a way to handle it. Tomorrow, after you sort things out at the company, go find Leila. Explain everything that needs to be explained."

This time, Sean Sinclair finally noticed the subtle shift in his father’s attitude toward Leila.

Surprise showed in his eyes, but it quickly turned to determination.

"I know. I’ll go to her the moment I’ve handled things."

"Good." Mr. Sinclair patted his son’s shoulder. As he stood up, he shot his wife a look, signaling for her to go back to their room with him.

The moment the bedroom door closed, the two began to argue.

Mrs. Sinclair: "What did you mean by that just now? You’re still planning on accepting Leila as your daughter-in-law, aren’t you? They’re already divorced! Sarah has family connections and a good background. What does Leila have!"

Mr. Sinclair: "You’re just a woman. What do you know?"