The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

Leila Jennings was fiddling with the pinecone wind chime when the doorbell rang.

On the monitor was Cherry Cole, arms crossed, pouting at the camera.

Leila Jennings was taken aback for a moment.

She hadn’t heard from Cherry Cole since yesterday, and there was no message this morning either.

She opened the door.

Cherry Cole stood in the doorway, glaring at her with a look that was both angry and not angry. After her dark eyes darted around, a smile full of delighted surprise bloomed on her face.

"AAAAHH! You’re so amazing!" Cherry Cole stomped her feet in excitement, then threw her arms around Leila in a tight hug.

The hug was a bit tight, but seeing that Cherry wasn’t actually angry and was, in fact, this happy, Leila Jennings smiled too.

"I thought you were mad at me. You didn’t reply to my messages."

"Hah!" Cherry Cole let go of her and said as she walked toward the sofa, "It was that old man’s fault. I was getting totally absorbed in the news reports about you on TV and my phone when he called me over. He kept me locked in the lab until just now."

Leila Jennings sat down next to her and handed her a juice box.

Cherry Cole gulped it down, and when she finished, she looked at Leila with sparkling eyes. "The first time I met you, you helped me with my thesis. I knew you were something special then, but I had no idea *how* special. My whole family was stunned yesterday."

"My family had no praise for my brother, only surprise and admiration for you."

Leila Jennings smiled faintly, feeling that Cherry was exaggerating a bit.

"Oh, right, I heard something else. Your ex-husband and that ’third sister’ both got taken in by the police. Is that true? If it is, Forrester’s ability to control public opinion is insane. There’s not a peep about it out there."

"It’s true." Leila Jennings nodded. "But Sean Sinclair was cleared of suspicion and released. Sarah Lynch wasn’t."

When it came to matters involving the proprietary chip project, she was the first to be notified of any developments.

Just then, she received a message: Sarah Lynch was meeting with her lawyer.

Julian Grant entered the police station carrying a briefcase and met with Sarah Lynch alone.

Sarah Lynch had been detained for over ten hours. She looked exhausted, her beauty faded, and she had lost all of yesterday’s radiance and vitality.

When she saw Julian Grant, her eyes quickly welled up with tears, a mix of excitement and grievance.

"Julian, I didn’t think you would come."

"How could I not come when you’re in trouble?" Julian Grant was thirty years old, with a noble air about him, appearing steady and reliable.

Sarah Lynch had met Julian Grant abroad. They were at the same party, and Sarah saw someone put something in Julian’s drink.

Just as Julian was about to take the glass, Sarah walked over and said in Chinese, "Don’t drink it. There’s something in it."

The person offering the drink didn’t understand and continued to look at Julian expectantly.

Julian Grant’s expression changed on the spot.

Realizing the woman next to him had exposed the plot, the person yelled "Bitch!" at Sarah Lynch and threw the contents of the glass in her face.

Julian Grant quickly moved to block it for her.

That was how the two met and exchanged contact information.

Julian Grant treated her to a meal to show his gratitude, and she, in turn, played the host, showing him around when he wasn’t busy.

During that week, an ambiguous, romantic atmosphere developed between them.

When Sarah Lynch learned that he was a famous lawyer from her home country and the eldest son of the Grant Family in City B, other ideas began to form in her mind.

But soon, these budding thoughts were shattered.

Sean Sinclair flew in to celebrate her birthday, and she took his call right in front of Julian Grant.

Under the circumstances, Sarah Lynch had no choice but to give up on her idea.

When Julian Grant asked, "Was that Ms. Lynch’s boyfriend who just called?"

Sarah Lynch was immediately certain that Julian Grant had feelings for her and was testing the waters.

"You guess," Sarah Lynch replied ambiguously.

Afterward, she noticed that Julian Grant was very respectful of boundaries, likely because he was sure she was with another man.

Still, he contacted her frequently and sent her gifts on holidays. But compared to Sean Sinclair, Julian Grant was a bit stingy.

’In hindsight, it was for the best I didn’t get involved with Julian. He’s a lawyer, after all. People like him are always shrewd. He’d never be like Sean, willing to give up anything for me. He’d probably demand a thick prenuptial agreement if we ever got married.’

Outwardly, she treated Julian Grant as a friend, but secretly, she kept him on the hook.

’He’s such a good connection, after all.’

’And look, he’s coming in handy now.’

She made one phone call, and Julian Grant flew to City A overnight.

"Julian, I’ve been framed," Sarah Lynch said. "I never had any intention of leaking state secrets."

"I know." Julian Grant looked at her earnestly. "Tell me everything that happened, from beginning to end."

"Okay." Sarah Lynch gave a vivid account of all the unfair treatment she had supposedly suffered since returning to the country and joining the proprietary chip project. "As for the so-called video evidence, I just felt that as a member of the project, it would be unacceptable if someone asked me about it and I knew nothing about the project data."

Julian Grant asked, "Did you ultimately obtain the data?"

"No." Sarah Lynch’s face was full of bitterness. "Didn’t I tell you? Leila Jennings was always on guard against me. The entire project team was."

Julian Grant nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

"Why would Leila Jennings think you would leak the data? Did she know about your relationship with President Sinclair of Stellaxis Technologies?"

’He really cut right to the heart of the matter.’

Sarah Lynch had tried to hide the relationship between the three of them, but she hadn’t expected it to be completely unavoidable.

She bit her lip and nodded.

"Julian, I didn’t know at first that Sean and Leila Jennings were already married." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Julian Grant froze, looking up at her in disbelief.

"Are you saying that Sean Sinclair and Leila Jennings are husband and wife? And you interfered in their relationship?"

Sarah Lynch retorted, "I didn’t interfere. Sean and I were together in college. We just separated when I went abroad, and then he suddenly married Leila Jennings. I had no idea. By the time I found out, it was already too late."

"Leila Jennings always knew about my relationship with Sean, but I never knew that Sean had any connection to Leila." She wasn’t lying. She truly hadn’t known that the Dr. Jennings from the proprietary chip project had a connection to Sean Sinclair.

She hadn’t even seen Leila Jennings from the time she joined the project until the day of the bid presentation.

Julian Grant was silent for a moment before saying, "Sean Sinclair deceived you."

Sarah Lynch lowered her gaze as a single tear fell.

Julian Grant handed her a tissue.

"Thank you, Julian."

Sarah Lynch didn’t immediately confirm Julian Grant’s statement, instead changing the subject.

"Leila Jennings knows President Cole of The Cole Group. During the period of the confidentiality agreement, Leila worked as Nathaniel Cole’s secretary for a month. Everyone at The Cole Group knows about it."

"So, you suspect that President Cole and Leila Jennings teamed up—one to crush a competitor, the other to defeat a romantic rival," Julian Grant summarized.

Sarah Lynch nodded without hesitation. When she looked up, her eyes were red-rimmed.

When a vibrant rose suddenly sheds tears, anyone would feel a pang of sympathy.

Julian Grant promised her, "I’ll get you out of here, safe and sound, very soon."