The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

Leila hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Hello?"

"Back to the office. Overtime." Nathaniel Cole’s devilish voice came through the phone.

"..." Leila glanced at her phone before pressing it back to her ear. Cherry Cole’s indignant voice was still audible on the other end.

"Are you even human, big brother?! I tell you something out of the goodness of my heart, and you turn around and bite the hand that feeds me! You’re going to make me lose all my friends! You damn capitalist! Who makes people work overtime this late at night?!"

Sean Sinclair noticed Leila’s expression freeze and moved closer. "What’s wrong?"

His voice carried over to the other end of the line.

Nathaniel Cole said, "Half an hour. I want to see you in my office."

The line went dead.

Leila replied, "Overtime."

Sean Sinclair frowned and glanced at the time. "This late?"

"Yeah." Leila nodded. To convince Sean Sinclair to let her leave, she brought up her resignation. "The process is already underway. Once it’s finalized, I won’t have to go to work there anymore. The Cole Group is just really busy right now, so things will be a little tough for us in the meantime."

Sure enough, the tension in Sean Sinclair’s brow relaxed.

He probed, "What’s The Cole Group busy with? Are they bidding on a project?"

Leila’s eyes darted slightly. "I’m just a temp secretary. I’m not privy to that kind of information."

"Right." ’I can’t believe I actually expected Leila to get me any useful information,’ Sean Sinclair thought. ’I really gave her too much credit.’

Leila hummed softly in agreement. "Well, I’m off. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can officially resign."

"Did you put the card away?" Sean Sinclair asked her. "You really think those courses are any good?"

He was testing her compliance.

Leila pursed her lips. "They’re good. Pretty expensive. It’s the first time you’ve ever bought me anything this nice."

Sean Sinclair’s expression faltered, a pang of guilt stirring in his heart. He urged, "You should get going."

Getting her wish, Leila left. She hailed a cab and rode through the crisp autumn air to the foot of the Cole Group’s headquarters. Several windows in the towering skyscraper were still lit, especially on the top floor.

"Leila!" Cherry Cole came jogging out of the building and rushed over to Leila, immediately launching into an apology.

Leila wasn’t angry. ’Any legitimate excuse to get away from Sean is a good one.’

"I don’t know what’s gotten into my brother, insisting you come back for overtime. You’d think being here alone would kill him or something."

She looped her arm through Leila’s as they walked inside. "But don’t worry, I’ll stay with you."

"Thanks." Leila smiled faintly, glancing at her. "Do you and your brother always bicker like this?"

"He’s the one who can’t say anything nice! I, on the other hand... learned it all from him! The big brother is a bad influence on the little sister!" Cherry Cole huffed.

Leila couldn’t help but think of the dynamic between the Sinclair siblings, Sean and Cecilia. One was doting to a fault, the other was a practiced tattletale, yet they were both fiercely protective of each other.

In reality, Nathaniel and Cherry Cole were also very protective of each other. Otherwise, Nathaniel wouldn’t have personally come to her rescue during work hours when she was being bullied, and Cherry wouldn’t complain to him so readily.

The dynamics between the two pairs of siblings seemed different, but at their core, they were the same. The personalities their upbringings produced, however, were not.

"Leila, what are you thinking about?" Cherry Cole pressed the elevator button and pulled a piece of chocolate from her bag, handing it to her.

Leila took it and slipped it into her pocket.

"Nothing."

"You’re not thinking about my brother, are you?"

Leila froze for a second.

"If you want to curse my brother out, you can just say it. I curse him out too," Cherry giggled.

When they reached the office, Nathaniel Cole handed her a document. "Memorize all of this. It’s to prepare for the tech exhibition and the cocktail party."

Leila opened it. It was filled with background information on tech industry bigwigs and senior executives from various companies, including profiles for Professor Cheney and Sean Sinclair.

Under Sean Sinclair’s information, a section indicated he was married. In the field for "Wife," the word "Unknown" had been crossed out and replaced with her name.

The ink was from a fountain pen, and with such sharp, decisive strokes, Leila knew at a glance that Nathaniel Cole had written it.

Further down, a line read, "Sarah Lynch is his suspected Lover." The word "suspected" was also crossed out.

Seeing her reaction, Nathaniel Cole tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "I don’t want to be in a situation where I ask you who someone is and you have no idea," he reminded her.

"President Cole, that day I..."

"Memorize it, whether you’re going or not." Nathaniel Cole didn’t look at her again, turning back to his project proposal.

Leila walked out and went to close the door. Nathaniel Cole looked up. "Don’t."

Instead of returning to her workstation, she went over to the armchair by the window. Cherry Cole was there, her head resting on the table as she stared blankly at her laptop.

Seeing Leila approach, Cherry immediately shifted over, making room for her to sit down.

As soon as she sat down, Leila asked, "Do you have a pen?"

Cherry Cole pulled a pen from her laptop bag and handed it over, then watched as Leila crossed out her own name in the document.

"Huh?" Cherry Cole perked up instantly. "Why’d you cross out your name?"

In the quiet office, Cherry’s voice carried over to Nathaniel Cole.

The man lifted his gaze, his eyes passing through the blinds to lock onto Leila’s elegant face.

Cherry asked, "Leila, since you know how Sean Sinclair treats you, why... why do you keep putting up with it?"

She really wanted to ask why she didn’t just get a divorce.

But she felt that would be too blunt.

"I’ve only known for a few days." Leila flipped back to the first page. The memory of accidentally discovering Sean Sinclair had a Lover made her eyes dim. "I didn’t know before."

"But you know now, so how can you..." Cherry’s voice trailed off. Thinking of Leila’s past as an orphan, she suddenly understood. "Is it because you don’t have any family to back you up? You’re worried you’ll have nowhere to go if you leave?"

"If you don’t mind, I have an apartment nearby. I can lend it to you. It’s convenient for work, and you can get away from that place of heartbreak."

The Cole Group’s headquarters wasn’t in the city center but was built along the river. Its campus consisted of four buildings—East, West, North, and South—plus a set of twin towers connected by a sky bridge, forming a sprawling and beautifully landscaped business empire.

The headquarters of all the companies under The Cole Group were located here. A problem could pop up one minute, and you’d be getting an earful from President Cole the next.

If she lived here, she really would be far away from the Sinclair family, far from Sean Sinclair and Sarah Lynch.

Leila said to Cherry with genuine sincerity, "Thank you."

"Leila, I won’t charge you rent," Cherry said, looking at her with wide, hopeful eyes. "And if you get lonely, I can come hang out with you sometimes! When I was little, I wanted my parents to give me an older sister, but Mom said she couldn’t produce an older sister, only a younger one. Then my dad rapped me on the head."

"Huh?" Leila asked, confused. "Why?"

"Well, after my mom had my brother, my dad didn’t want her to have any more kids. But my mom loves children and thought a single child would be lonely, so she secretly poked holes in... you know. She was three months pregnant before she told my dad. Mom said he was so mad he actually cried. But after I was born, both of them were really good to me."

Cherry suddenly leaned in and whispered, "Actually, my brother is really good to me, too. I’ve just been in the habit of arguing with him since we were kids."

Leila chuckled at the story. As she looked up, her eyes met Nathaniel Cole’s, who was watching them.

"So, Leila, what do you think of my offer?" Cherry looked at her expectantly. "Are you really going to just endure it? You’ll be wasting your life! You’re only twenty-eight, so young—don’t hang yourself from one crooked tree!"

Her voice grew more urgent as she spoke.

Leila looked up at Cherry, who had become so agitated she’d stood up, and pulled her back down by the hand.

"Don’t worry," Leila said. "I don’t plan on putting up with it."

"Are you going to get a divorce?" Cherry’s eyes instantly lit up.

She hadn’t kept her voice down, and Nathaniel Cole heard every word. The tip of his pen froze, leaving a heavy mark on the paper.