The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

The Cole Estate.

His second aunt, Helen Cole, was also in the front hall tonight. When she heard the siblings return, she turned to look at them and said with a smile, "Nathaniel is back tonight, too."

"Aunt Helen," Nathaniel Cole greeted politely.

Helen Cole continued, "Congratulations, Nathaniel, on landing a big project."

"So that young lady Rhea asked me to find a job for is that impressive. Miss Jennings certainly has a fateful connection with our Cole family."

Nathaniel Cole couldn’t agree more. "Thank you, Aunt Helen."

"Nathaniel must be back for something important. I’ll head off to rest." Helen Cole reached out and patted her young niece’s head. "Cherry, good night."

"Good night, Aunt Helen." Cherry Cole flashed a sweet smile and watched her aunt leave.

When she turned to her mother, she immediately became docile, occasionally reaching out to tug on her brother’s sleeve.

Nathaniel Cole heartlessly pulled it away.

Cherry Cole: "?"

’Weren’t you supposed to help me?’

’Sean Sinclair dotes on his sister, and Julian Grant dotes on his sister, so why is my brother so different?’

Nathaniel Cole sat opposite his parents, his gaze landing lightly on his sister. He, too, seemed to have joined the "prosecution."

Cherry Cole rolled her eyes. ’If her brother ever manages to win over Sister Leila, she’ll eat her hat!’

"Mom, why don’t you listen to my explanation?"

Ms. Neville looked at her daughter’s cautious and timid appearance and couldn’t help but smile.

"Mm, go ahead."

Seeing that Ms. Neville’s tone wasn’t stern, Cherry Cole immediately sat down next to her mother, linking her arm through hers as intimately as two sisters.

"I wasn’t the one who said it, Julian Grant was. He asked me if you knew I was friends with someone who has no father, no mother."

Ms. Neville frowned. "That boy, Julian."

’How could he say something like that?’

Although marrying into a family of equal social standing is an unwritten rule for the younger generation of wealthy and powerful families, it should never be said to someone’s face.

’Truly ill-mannered.’

She couldn’t discipline a child from the Grant family, but she had to discipline her own.

"He doesn’t know how to talk, but do you not know either? Why did you have to repeat those four words?"

Cherry Cole pursed her lips. "Sister Leila isn’t that fragile... I think..."

She also realized she shouldn’t have repeated the phrase "no father, no mother."

Ms. Neville said, "It has nothing to do with whether she’s strong or fragile. We ourselves must not rub salt in people’s wounds. I’ve told you and your brother since you were children: no matter what others are like, we must restrain ourselves. Haven’t I?"

"Yes, Mom." Cherry Cole promised she would be more careful with her words and actions in the future.

Ms. Neville pinched her cheek, then finally glanced at her son.

"So, you called your big brother here for backup, huh?"

"He didn’t help me at all," Cherry Cole huffed. "So I’m not going to help him in the future, either."

Nathaniel Cole’s deep eyes shifted toward her.

He seemed to understand the threat hidden in Cherry Cole’s words.

He said seriously, "Mom, Cherry Cole didn’t do it on purpose. Don’t be angry."

Cherry Cole: "..."

Ms. Neville: "..."

"Too late!" Cherry Cole stomped upstairs angrily, turning back on the way to glare at her brother.

Nathaniel Cole was very calm. He looked around but didn’t see his father. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Where’s Dad?"

"In the study, on the phone with your fourth uncle and aunt," Ms. Neville said, smiling at her son. "Your cousin is graduating soon and wants to return to the country to build his career."

With just those few words, Nathaniel Cole understood the significance of the phone call.

Mr. Cole came out of the study, slightly surprised. "Look what the cat dragged in. You still know the way home."

Nathaniel Cole watched his father walk over and sit next to his mother. He reached for the teacup on the table and took a sip.

He couldn’t help but think of the "old man" thermos and the Silver Needle white tea that Leila Jennings had given him.

"What position does Fourth Uncle want to put Chase in?" Nathaniel Cole averted his gaze and looked at his father.

Mr. Cole’s hands visibly paused.

"That’s a matter for next year. We’ll talk about it next year."

’For his father to avoid the topic, it seemed Fourth Uncle and Chase had made an outrageous demand.’

Nathaniel Cole already had a good idea of the situation but didn’t voice it out loud.

Mr. Cole also changed the subject. "I heard that boy from the Grant family came to City A. He’s been meeting with all sorts of influential people these past two days over Mr. Jacobs’s affairs. Since when did the Grant boy have ties with the Jacobs family?"

Nathaniel Cole replied, "His ties are with Sarah Lynch."

Mr. Cole was silent for a moment. "That girl is quite capable. It’s just a shame her head isn’t screwed on right. If she focused on her career instead of men, she could have made some decent achievements in the world of scientific research."

"With Mr. Jacobs around, she gets things too easily," Ms. Neville said. "So in her mind, she’s always believed her future is bright, and naturally doesn’t focus her thoughts on her work."

Mr. Cole said meaningfully, "It’s not a good thing for the Grant boy to be mixed up with her. I’m afraid he’ll get burned one day."

Nathaniel Cole said, "He deserves his doom."

Mr. Cole: "..."

’No need to be so venomous.’

Ms. Neville sighed and pressed her forehead, asking her son, "How long is this feud between you two going to last?"

Nathaniel Cole replied, "He’s the one with the problem. I have no obligation to humor his sister to make her happy."

’He barely even humored Cherry, so why would he humor someone else’s sister?’

’Unless he had a problem, too.’

Ms. Neville said, "Julian Grant dotes on his sister because something happened to her when she was little. They almost couldn’t find her."

Mr. Cole said in surprise, "Stella Grant got lost?"

He didn’t know much about the Grant family’s past.

Nathaniel Cole also lifted his gaze to look.

Ms. Neville continued, "I don’t know much either. I just happened to be there at the time, so I know a little bit."

Julian Grant’s father is named Simon Grant.

The Grant family has been involved in politics for generations. Although Simon Grant wasn’t the most outstanding among the children of the Grant Clan, he still followed the family traditions, walking the path arranged for him step by step.

Two years after getting married, when his son was one year old, Simon Grant was dispatched to Province G. The conditions in Province G were harsh, and it was a place where it was nearly impossible to achieve any major political accomplishments. It was a promotion in name but a demotion in reality.

He couldn’t even return home once a year. Simon Grant’s wife found it unbearable and insisted on going to Province G to be with her husband. She became pregnant shortly after she arrived.

Simon Grant, fearing his pregnant wife would suffer, wanted to send her back. Mrs. Grant refused, insisting on staying there. At just over eight months pregnant, the baby was born prematurely.

"But Simon Grant didn’t say anything. Instead, at the end of the year, he returned with his wife and child, announcing he had resigned and was leaving politics for business. The Grant Family was furious at his unilateral decision, but they also noticed something was wrong with Mrs. Grant. She was in a somewhat crazed state. One moment she would be holding her daughter, muttering a few words before tossing the baby aside. Then, hearing the baby cry, she would scramble back over and clutch the child tightly in her arms."

"One time she threw her, and if Julian Grant hadn’t caught her, Stella Grant would have likely been seriously injured from the fall. For a long time after that, Simon Grant and his son didn’t let her near their daughter."

"Simon Grant came to me once and asked if I knew any experts in psychiatry. That’s when I learned a little of the story. Shortly after Stella Grant was born, she was almost lost at the hospital. Although she was found in the end, Mrs. Grant still suffered a severe blow. Only Simon Grant and his wife knew about this; the rest of the Grant Family didn’t. Julian Grant was young at the time, so he probably forgot."

"Later, under the meticulous care of her doctors, husband, and son, Mrs. Grant slowly recovered and started being good to her daughter. Perhaps to make up for the harm she caused her daughter during her mental breakdown, she began to dote on Stella Grant more and more."

"To Simon Grant’s family, Stella Grant is a precious treasure they’re afraid to even breathe on." Ms. Neville looked at her son. "You rejected her in front of both families’ elders, and you hardly give her any face when you see her each year. Stella Grant has tried to get close to you time and again only to be met with a cold shoulder. If her brother, Julian Grant, isn’t angry, who would be?"

Nathaniel Cole remained unconcerned.

’It was still the same thing: he had no obligation to humor someone else’s sister to make her happy.’

Mr. Cole asked, "If Cherry were repeatedly rejected by a boy she liked, would you be angry?"

Nathaniel Cole was just about to open his mouth when he suddenly noticed Cherry Cole standing at the second-floor railing at some point, glaring fiercely at him.

’Bro, you better answer that right!’

’Or I’ll slit your throat tonight!’

Nathaniel Cole: "..."