The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

Sean Sinclair returned to the cocktail party, but his mind was elsewhere. Sarah Lynch called his name several times, but he was completely zoned out.

Some are happy, some are sad.

Sean Sinclair was the latter.

Nathaniel Cole was the former. He had received a message from his dear sister saying that Leila Jennings was about to escape her sea of suffering—she had already signed the divorce papers and the process was underway!

Nathaniel Cole replied: [You’re just finding out now?]

He sounded like he was showing off, which almost made Cherry Cole furious. She linked arms with Leila Jennings and said, "Leila, we’re the best of friends in the whole world, right?"

Leila Jennings didn’t know why she was pouting like that, but she couldn’t resist her friend’s coaxing and quickly nodded. "Yes."

"My brother will never be as important as me, right?"

Leila Jennings replied without a second thought, "Of course."

’What does President Cole have to do with me?’

’Right now, he’s just my immediate superior. If the Cole Group wins the bid, we’ll only be business partners.’

Hearing this, Cherry Cole was delighted. She typed out a gloating reply to her brother, but this time, she received no response.

’He must be mad.’

"Leila, are you in a hurry to get back?" Cherry Cole winked at her.

Leila Jennings asked, "Why?"

"Let’s go celebrate! Celebrate your divorce from that scumbag!"

Leila Jennings paused for a moment. The autumn wind felt cold on her cheeks. She nodded. "It is worth celebrating."

’At least it was only four years.’

’If it had been ten or twenty years, would I have been able to get out so easily?’

"Then leave it to me. I’ll take you somewhere great." Cherry Cole drove her Ferrari to a tavern. There was a live singer every night, and it wasn’t too loud. In fact, the atmosphere was wonderful.

She led Leila Jennings to a spot on the second floor with a perfect view, which also happened to be her private table.

"I’ll let you in on a little secret: I actually own this tavern."

"Huh?" Leila Jennings was a little surprised. Cherry Cole didn’t seem like the type who enjoyed drinking.

"I just thought it would be fun! I had some money on hand, so I just threw it together. The main reason is that the old man keeps me cooped up in the lab, so I needed a completely different place to get some air. I come here to sit whenever I have free time and have a little drink." Cherry Cole poured her a glass. "Try this. It’s a fruit wine our manager developed. It’s sweet and sour, and it won’t get you drunk."

Leila Jennings took a sip. She quite liked the sweet and sour taste.

The two of them clinked their glasses.

"Here’s to your smooth divorce, Leila! May you find someone better in the future!"

"Thank you." Not only was this Leila Jennings’ first time drinking, but it was also her first time drinking with a friend. Before she knew it, she had drunk quite a bit.

Cherry Cole got more and more into it the more she drank. She would run to the restroom, come back, and keep drinking, even grabbing Leila Jennings’ hand to clink their glasses and drink together.

After a few rounds, Leila Jennings, who had rarely drunk before, started to feel drunk.

Just as she was thinking that Cherry Cole was starting to look a little blurry, THUD! Cherry collapsed onto the table, drunk.

"..." Leila Jennings blinked.

She thought Cherry Cole could hold her liquor better than she could.

She hadn’t expected Cherry to be the first one to pass out.

Leila Jennings was drunk herself and couldn’t possibly carry Cherry Cole home alone. The crucial thing was that neither of them could drive.

She had no choice but to take out her phone and make a voice call to Nathaniel Cole.

It had barely rung once before he picked up.

"Leila."

The man’s voice came through the receiver, vibrating against her eardrum.

She rubbed her ear, only to hear the man’s cold voice ask, "Where are you? A bar?"

Leila Jennings paused.

The questions from the other end kept coming.

"Where’s Cherry Cole?"

"Did she take you there?"

"Is it a bar, or that tavern she secretly opened?"

"Speak, Leila." The man’s voice had clearly grown deeper.

Leila Jennings finally spoke. "The tavern."

"Don’t hang up." Nathaniel Cole put on his earpiece, got in his car, and drove to the tavern himself. It was packed.

He looked up and saw a figure in white sitting near the edge of the second floor.

It was Leila Jennings.

Nathaniel Cole took the stairs two at a time. The second floor was quieter, especially the section where they were. They were the only two people there.

Cherry Cole was already slumped over the table.

Leila Jennings was still sitting up, one hand propping up her head while the other was still trying to pour herself more wine. Because she was so dizzy, a good amount of it spilled.

Just as she was about to pour more, the bottle was snatched away from above.

Leila Jennings looked up and saw Nathaniel Cole, dressed in a white shirt and a dark red tie.

Her mind was sluggish. She just blinked slowly.

But Nathaniel Cole saw the redness at the corners of her eyes and the tear tracks on her face. The words of reproach on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down.

"Let’s go."

"Where?"

"Home." Nathaniel Cole reached out and grabbed her wrist. Her hand was more slender than he’d imagined, very delicate.

Leila Jennings pulled her hand away. "I don’t have a home."

As she said this, tears rolled down her cheeks again. She didn’t seem to realize she was crying, just sat there quietly.

Helpless, Nathaniel Cole sat down next to her, pulled a tissue from the dispenser on the table, and took her chin in one hand, forcing her to face him.

He used the tissue to wipe away her tears.

Leila Jennings looked at him and suddenly cried out, "Director Mom."

Nathaniel Cole’s hand froze. "..."

"Director Mom." Tears blurred Leila Jennings’ vision. She was starting to realize she was crying, but she stubbornly tried to stop, her voice strained. "Sean Sinclair... Sean Sinclair brought another woman into our bed and slept with her."

"And... and Sean Sinclair never loved me. He only married me to... to..." The sense of grievance was like a bursting dam, uncontrollable.

"To provoke Sarah Lynch, to see if she would come back to the country because he got married."

"The biggest event of my life was just a test in his eyes."

"And he wouldn’t divorce me because he couldn’t lose his live-in maid who did his laundry and cooking."

Leila Jennings’ voice was choked with sobs. Before Nathaniel Cole could get another tissue, she had already wiped all the tears from her face with her hands.

"But it doesn’t matter. If he won’t divorce me, I’ll divorce him. I’ll just consider these four years wasted on a dog."

"Director Mom, I’ll have to go back to the orphanage for New Year’s again... You... you won’t kick me out, will you?"

Leila Jennings looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

The sight made Nathaniel Cole’s heart tighten. "I won’t," he said in a low voice.

"Then I want to eat that really, really spicy chili chicken. I haven’t eaten anything spicy in so, so long." Leila Jennings’ lips trembled, and her tears broke free once more.

Nathaniel Cole had never comforted a crying woman before. When his mother cried, his father was there. When his sister cried, his parents were there.

Right now, he just wanted to get these two drunks home.

Cherry Cole was already passed out on the table. It wouldn’t hurt her to sleep a little longer.

Nathaniel Cole stood up, bent down, and lifted Leila Jennings into his arms. The hem of her longish skirt cascaded like a waterfall of flowers over his suit trousers.

Leila Jennings was light in his arms.

Just as light as he had imagined.

’He wondered how Sean Sinclair had been mistreating her all this time.’

At this thought, the man’s gaze darkened.

"Director Mom..." Leila Jennings seemed to regress to her childhood. When she fell while running, the Director Mom would pick her up just like this and put a bandage on her scrape.

She poked hard at her own heart. "Director Mom, the bandage... it goes here."

"Okay," Nathaniel Cole nodded. He carried her out of the tavern and placed her in the pre-warmed car.

Then he went back into the tavern, hoisted his drunk sister over his shoulder, and tossed her into a seat.

The stark difference in treatment made the driver sigh in amazement.

Then, the driver saw President Cole turn and walk to a pharmacy, returning with a plain, simple box of bandages.