The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

Sean had bought a luxury apartment for his parents. He’d also picked one out for his sister, Cecilia, as part of her pre-marital assets. And now, he was buying another for Sarah. The only one left out was Leila—his wife of four years.

Leila couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

When she returned home, she found the living room tidy. It was a three-bedroom apartment, and the walk-in closet she shared with Sean was in the master bedroom. The moment she pushed open the door, she was hit by a faint, unfamiliar scent—something like heather. But there were no air fresheners in the apartment.

Leila stepped inside and opened the window. As she turned back, her gaze caught on a strip of black lace peeking out from under the bed. She crouched down and picked it up.

It was a very small black-lace thong. It wasn’t hers. Nothing like it had ever been seen anywhere in this apartment.

It suddenly hit her. She ripped back the covers. The sheets were a crumpled mess—undeniable evidence of what had taken place there, and what had followed after.

The words that came to mind were too filthy to even form in her thoughts. Sean and Sarah had clearly slept together. Right in her bed.

A sharp wave of nausea surged through her. "Ugh..."

She bolted for the bathroom, but since she hadn’t eaten anything that morning, all that came up was bitter bile.

It was so disgusting! Unbearably disgusting. She gagged until her stomach cramped, until her eyes turned red-rimmed.

After rinsing her mouth, she left the apartment immediately and headed to the Cole Group. She arrived at her desk early, but after barely half a glass of water, the memory of that bed made her stomach churn again.

Leila clapped a hand over her mouth and rushed out, bending over a sink in the restroom as she kept vomiting. Even the water she’d just drunk came back up. The sound echoed through the empty restroom.

Nathaniel, who always arrived an hour early, paused when he heard it and glanced over.

Leila was still in yesterday’s clothes. Her slender frame was hunched over, as though she might break under her own weight. He turned and walked toward her.

By the time he reached the sink, she was lifting her head. In the mirror, her face was pale and her eyes bloodshot, while Nathaniel watched her with a frown.

She quickly turned away and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her mouth. "Good morning, President Cole."

"Cherry said you were going home to get changed." His gaze swept over her briefly. She hadn’t managed to change, apparently. But he didn’t say a thing about it.

"I didn’t make it," Leila said.

"Because you didn’t have time, or because you ran into something unpleasant?" He’d seen a woman leading Sean away the night before, while Leila stood at a distance, silent, motionless—like an incompetent wife.

Leila said nothing.

"Looks like I’m right," Nathaniel scoffed. "Handle your personal affairs on your own time. Don’t bring them into the office."

Still, she remained silent.

"What a mute," he snapped.

When the workday officially began, Leila found breakfast on her desk. She asked, "What’s this, Zachary?"

"I bought extra," Zachary said with his usual calm smile. "You looked like you hadn’t eaten." But internally, he was murmuring about President Cole, who seemed to have started taking an interest in his employee—or maybe he had something else on his mind.

Soon he added, "Here’s some stomach medicine. You went to dinner with President Cole last night, so you must’ve had alcohol. If your stomach hurts, take it."

Leila looked at the sandwich and the medicine and said, "Thank you, Zachary."

"You’re welcome," Zachary said, though he thought she should be thanking President Cole instead. He was just the messenger running errands for him.

Soon after Leila returned to her desk, her two colleagues, Caine and Gwen, also arrived.

Caine asked with concern, "How was dinner with President Cole last night? Did you have to drink a lot? I brought you some honey water."

She set a jar of honey in front of Leila.

Leila had never been much of a socializer. She’d grown up in an orphanage and only spoke when necessary—usually just to the director. Later, when she went to school, she buried herself in her studies, focused on earning money and one day having a family of her own.

After she got married, her world had shrunk to a predictable loop: the lab, the home she shared with Sean Sinclair, and his family’s residence.

So all she could manage with her colleagues was a quiet, "Thank you."

"No, I should thank you," Caine replied. "If I had to drink while on my period, I’d be dead." She headed off to prepare some hot water and made a cup for herself too.

Leila held the cup of honey water and took a sip. "I didn’t drink last night."

"Seriously?" Caine leaned in and lowered her voice. "You know, we’re basically President Cole’s ’diplomatic corps.’ We don’t have to be the most capable, but we have to be good-looking, well-spoken, and able to hold our liquor. Before you came, it was just Gwen and me. She’s the sweet type, I’m... let’s say the glamorous vixen. Now you’re here, the set feels complete. But President Cole has one perk no other boss does—he always makes sure we get home safe." Caine said, applying lipstick in front of the mirror and smiling. "But it’s impossible that you drank nothing. That’s the essence of the job!"

But Leila really hadn’t had a single sip. She’d even gotten to eat the food she liked.

Leila continued drinking the honey water before turning to the sandwich.

Being a secretary wasn’t a difficult job for Leila. She was skilled at sorting documents, making coffee, and the like. After all, she’d spent years taking care of Sean in exactly the same way.

But the easy work left her mind wandering—back to how Sean had slept with Sarah in her bed—and she felt the nausea rising again.

Then suddenly, Gwen widened her eyes and said, "Leila... are you pregnant?"

Nathaniel, who had left his office door slightly ajar, paused and lifted his head at the sound, glancing in Leila’s direction.

That was something he hadn’t considered. Was she sick because she was pregnant?

Leila shook her head. "No."

"You’ve been sick several times already," Caine said worriedly. "Maybe you should go to the hospital. If you’re uncomfortable asking for leave, I can do it for you."

"It’s fine," Leila said quietly. "I just thought of something unpleasant." As she spoke, she saw Caine receive a message and head into Nathaniel’s office. When she returned, she had a card in her hand.

"Paid afternoon off! We’re going shopping!" Her lipstick curved into a smile. "President Cole wants us to pick out higher-end outfits for the tech expo networking gala next week."

Gwen lit up and snatched the card, giving it a kiss. "Another treasure for my closet!"

"Do I have to go too?" Leila asked.

"Of course. The Cole Group is hosting it. We’re supposed to be President Cole’s public face." Before she could refuse, the two women each grabbed one of her arms and pulled her along.

A driver from the Cole Group took them to the mall.

Leila knew this place. It was the kind of place you didn’t walk into unless you were prepared to spend serious money.

She and Sean had once passed by it. "When I get my promotion," he had said, "I’ll take you here to buy clothes."

He did get the promotion—became President Sinclair of Stellaxis Technologies. But he was too busy to remember the promise. As Leila thought about it, not a single promise Sean had ever made had been fulfilled.

They took Leila all the way to the second floor, where Gwen accidentally bumped into someone. "Hey, watch it. You just bumped into someone." The voice made Leila freeze.

It was Sean. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

There was no mistaking it. It was a voice she’d heard constantly for four years.

"It’s fine, Sean," a woman’s voice said softly. "I told you before, you should be a gentleman with ladies."

It was Sarah.

Gwen quickly apologized as she recognized President Sinclair.

Sean gave a faint smile as he recognized she was one of President Cole’s secretaries. "Good afternoon..."

He stopped as he saw Leila, who had just turned around to face him.