The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

The Sinclair Residence.

To ward off bad luck for Cecilia Sinclair, Mrs. Sinclair had specially prepared pomelo leaves, which she dipped in water and dabbed on her daughter.

"That Leila Jennings is so ungrateful," she said. "Trying to harm you even at the very end. She has no conscience."

"Is Leila Jennings still insisting on suing me? Even The Cole Crest Hotel wouldn’t dare to sue me. Where does she get the nerve?" Cecilia Sinclair said with a look of disdain. "My brother will never let her get away with it."

"He believes me. He even said he’d bring Leila Jennings back to apologize. I’ll make her kneel before me when she gets here!"

"That’s enough," Mr. Sinclair interjected. "Leila Jennings won’t be part of our family for much longer anyway. Just let her come, apologize to you, and learn her lesson. Don’t push her too far."

When Mrs. Sinclair had returned that morning and relayed Leila Jennings’s exact words to him, he had grown worried that she would refuse to leave the Sinclair family, ruining his son’s entire life.

Cecilia Sinclair pouted, still displeased, but she cheered up when she heard her father say Leila Jennings wouldn’t be part of their family in the future.

"Mom, Dad, you both agree that Leila Jennings shouldn’t be a Sinclair, and that Sarah is the one who should marry my brother, right?"

Mr. Sinclair nodded. "Sarah Lynch is indeed an excellent choice. Good family, good career, poised and polite."

Mrs. Sinclair added with a smile, "Exactly. Only Sarah is worthy of my son. For the past four years, that toad Leila Jennings has been eating swan meat. We can’t let her keep feasting, can we?"

"But Brother has been unwilling to divorce Leila Jennings. Sarah has been back for a month, and there’s been no sign at all that he’s going to divorce Leila." Cecilia Sinclair crossed her arms and leaned back on the sofa. "If he had just done something, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this."

"It makes me so mad! The drug was so strong, but Leila Jennings still managed to trick me by pretending to faint? The moment I left, she locked herself in the bathroom. The guy I sent went up and couldn’t find her—all he saw was a floor covered in water, so he had no choice but to leave."

She was filled with regret.

"Sarah even brought my brother over. If they had successfully caught them in the act, I refuse to believe he wouldn’t divorce that slut, Leila Jennings."

"Besides..."

BAM!

The front door was thrown open.

The three of them turned their heads toward the entrance and saw Sean Sinclair.

Sean Sinclair’s gaze fell heavily on his own sister, who was lounging on the sofa.

A chilling sensation, as if he’d been plunged into an ice cellar, washed over him.

Cecilia Sinclair sprang up from the sofa, her face a mask of panic. "Bro—Brother... Y-You’re back."

She was so scared she stammered.

’I hope he didn’t hear what I just said.’

"What did you just say?" Sean Sinclair tossed the suit jacket in his hand onto the sofa, his aura murderous.

’Looks like he heard me.’

Tears welled up in Cecilia Sinclair’s eyes. She stumbled backward, hiding behind her parents. "N-Nothing. I didn’t say anything."

Mrs. Sinclair scolded her daughter in a low voice, "I told you to watch what you say. Now you’ve let it slip."

"*Sob...*"

Sean Sinclair stepped forward and demanded, "Did you really do what happened last night?"

Cecilia Sinclair shook her head. "No, I didn’t."

"I heard everything!" Sean Sinclair had been in a car accident that evening, and then Leila Jennings had left with Nathaniel Cole. He was already seething with anger, only to come home and discover that the sister he had been defending was the real culprit.

Mrs. Sinclair shielded her daughter. "Son, you can’t blame Cecilia for this. It’s all in the past now."

"You and Dad knew?" Sean Sinclair stared at his parents in disbelief, then turned to his sister. "Cecilia Sinclair, why did you do it!"

He’d used her full name.

Cecilia Sinclair’s tears began to fall.

Back in middle school, when she had been taken to the police station for bullying someone, her brother had bailed her out. But as soon as they got home, he had beaten her with a bamboo switch.

Just remembering it made her back ache with phantom pain.

"Brother, Brother, I just..." Deciding to go all in, Cecilia Sinclair yelled, "I just wanted you to divorce Leila Jennings! She’s not worthy of you! You like Sarah, don’t you? So why won’t you just divorce Leila and marry her?"

"None of us in the family like Leila Jennings, so why not just let her go!"

Mrs. Sinclair tugged at her daughter, trying to get her to quiet down. If Sean Sinclair truly lost his temper, no one in the family could handle him.

"Cecilia Sinclair, who gave you the nerve to do this?" Sean Sinclair yanked Cecilia out from behind their parents and grabbed her by the nape of her neck.

Cecilia Sinclair’s body arched forward.

"Brother, Brother, Brother, I was wrong! I was wrong, okay?"

"Cecilia Sinclair, do you have any idea what would have happened if something had really happened to Leila Jennings because of what you did?"

"Then you’d get a divorce."

"What about her honor!" Sean Sinclair gritted out, warning his parents away with a single glare when they tried to pull him back.

Cecilia Sinclair shot back defiantly, "You’ve been married for four years. It’s not like she’s some untouched virgin. What honor is there to talk about?"

"Cecilia," Mr. Sinclair rebuked his daughter. She had gone too far with her words.

Sean Sinclair raised his hand to slap his sister, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

The thought that he had just been demanding Leila Jennings come back and apologize to Cecilia made him feel like a complete bastard.

And when he thought about what could have happened to Leila Jennings last night, he trembled with belated fear.

’What if Leila had really been... with another man...’

He couldn’t bear to imagine it.

He would have regretted it for the rest of his life.

Cecilia Sinclair hid behind her father again. "But she’s fine in the end, isn’t she? Nothing happened! And she’s still suing me."

Sean Sinclair glanced at the hot meal on the dining table, then at the still-defiant Cecilia. "As for Leila Jennings suing you," he said, "I’m not getting involved."

"What!" Cecilia Sinclair’s eyes widened. "Brother, you mean you didn’t convince her to drop the lawsuit? She’s so in love with you."

"Shut up." The veins on Sean Sinclair’s neck bulged as he struggled to control his emotions.

He suddenly said, "No wonder Leila Jennings doesn’t want to come back."

"Then don’t let her come back. It’s not like she’s one of us," Mrs. Sinclair said. She knew in her heart that no matter how angry Sean got, he would never help Leila Jennings successfully sue his own sister.

Mrs. Sinclair’s expression was just as nonchalant.

"Mom," Sean Sinclair said, "how is Leila Jennings not one of the family?"

"She isn’t," Mr. Sinclair added.

"Dad, even you won’t acknowledge her?" Sean Sinclair’s expression turned serious. "Leila Jennings is my wife, which makes her your daughter-in-law."

Mr. Sinclair looked at him grimly. "Sean Sinclair, let me ask you. What are your feelings for Leila Jennings? And what are your feelings for Sarah Lynch?"

If his son truly loved Leila Jennings, he would have to reconsider the matter of the divorce.

After all, it wasn’t worth alienating his son over a woman.

"I’ve seen how you are with Sarah Lynch and how you are with Leila Jennings," Mr. Sinclair continued. "So, what are your intentions?"

Sean Sinclair was stumped.

"I..." His voice faltered before he quickly continued, "I married Leila Jennings, so I have to be responsible for her and take care of her."

"Is that all?" Mr. Sinclair pressed. "You won’t get a divorce just because of that?"

"Dad, why do you want us to divorce, too?" Sean Sinclair didn’t understand what had happened to his family. Weren’t things fine and harmonious before?

"Leila and I can’t divorce. It would affect the company. Our assets would have to be split in half." Sean Sinclair recited the reason, but his heart pounded in his chest, as if deliberately contradicting him.

It felt as if something was about to break the surface.