I'm Afraid I Won't Be Able to Leave

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Did I Hit the Jackpot?

Leah Sinclair asked, puzzled, ”Why would I blame you? If it were me, I wouldn’t have said anything either. She’s... suffered enough over the years. Besides, it’s not like she really wanted anything to happen to me. Otherwise, she could have just given Lynn Lawson another lighter.”

Asher Keating watched her quietly for a moment before pulling her in for a kiss. Leah Sinclair immediately blushed. Edward Yates was still driving up front.

And Edward Yates, acting as the driver for the day, just stared straight ahead. ’I can’t see anything. I can’t see anything. I can’t see a thing.’

Back at the office, Zion Sawyer and the others pulled Leah Sinclair aside, asking why she was gone for so long and what had happened to Lynn Lawson. Leah gave them a rundown of the situation.

After hearing the story, Zion Sawyer was speechless and exclaimed, ”You’ve got to be kidding me! So if Lynn Lawson is really declared mentally ill, does that mean he won’t have to go to prison?”

”Not necessarily. Even if he is, he still did what he did. He’d probably be sent to a psychiatric hospital, right?” Todd Coleman analyzed seriously.

They gathered around and discussed it for a while but couldn’t reach a conclusion. Zion Sawyer sighed and said that Leah Sinclair had been so unlucky recently, with one bad thing happening after another, that she should go pray to a buddha to wash away the bad luck.

Zion Sawyer mentioned that the neighboring Brightwater City had a famous temple, the Serene Buddha Monastery. There was also a hot spring resort nearby. After purifying their souls by praying, they could go purify their bodies with a soak in the hot springs.

As soon as the suggestion was made, Manager Langdon remembered how busy his department had been. They hadn’t had a team-building trip for almost two quarters. Since things were a bit slower now, he figured they might as well all go on a trip together.

Leah Sinclair, however, was hesitant. She didn’t know if Asher Keating would let her go, since it was for a whole weekend. That evening, when she got home and pitifully asked Asher if she could go,

he simply said, ”Go ahead. It’s not like I can chain you up at home, can I?”

”Really?”

Leah Sinclair’s eyes instantly lit up. She gave him a hard kiss on the lips. ”I knew you were the best, Asher!”

After the kiss, she cheerfully went to discuss the Brightwater trip with Zion Sawyer. Asher Keating touched the spot she had kissed and smiled. ’Hot springs, huh? I did say I’d take her before.’

As she was about to fall asleep, Leah Sinclair suddenly remembered Ruth Hughes’s visit that day. She asked Asher Keating, ”Asher, was your mom here to see me today?”

Asher Keating hummed in affirmation. Leah grew tense, her drowsiness vanishing. ”Did... Did your mom say something to you?”

”No. She just found out and wanted to come see you.”

Asher Keating patted her back. Afraid of scaring her, he didn’t explicitly say that his mother had come entirely with the mindset of checking out her son’s girlfriend.

”Then... they’re not against you... keeping me?”

”My parents don’t meddle in these things.”

”Asher, does... does your mom think I’m awful?”

A wave of bitterness washed over Leah Sinclair. She had never imagined she would meet Asher Keating’s mother, especially not with her current ”status” and under today’s circumstances, where someone had screamed in front of so many people that she was a seductress.

Asher Keating lifted her head and gave her a kiss. ”No, my mom thinks you’re great.”

Leah was stunned. ”Why would she think I’m great?”

”She said your first reaction was to push her out of the way, which means you’re a good girl. So don’t overthink it. My mom’s not a difficult person.” Asher smiled and pinched her cheek.

Leah didn’t quite understand what he meant by his mom not being a difficult person, but she didn’t dare ask further. Her mind was preoccupied with the fact that Ruth Hughes had come to see her, and she couldn’t tell if Asher was just saying that to comfort her.

That afternoon, Ruth Hughes had indeed seemed quite kind to her. There hadn’t been any dramatic scene where she was thrown a credit card and told, ”Here’s five million. Leave my son.”

Leah sighed silently, suppressing the bitterness in her heart. She snuggled into Asher Keating’s arms and slowly drifted off to sleep. As Asher felt her breathing even out, he reached out and caressed her face.

’Less than two months left. I just have to be patient.’ After spending this much time together, Asher knew very well that while Leah Sinclair looked gentle, good-tempered, and easygoing, she was incredibly stubborn deep down.

’If they agreed on half a year, it would be exactly half a year. If he tried to end it early, she would bring up paying him back. He didn’t want them to have a falling-out over something so trivial. It wasn’t necessary. As long as she was by his side, that was all that mattered.’

「Early on the weekend」

Project Department One set off for their team-building trip. The Serene Buddha Monastery was located in the southern suburbs of Brightwater City and was named for its particularly majestic reclining Buddha statue. Many people said the temple was very effective for prayers for safety and finding love.

While planning the trip, Zion Sawyer had started asking around about hotels at the hot spring resort. Someone told her about a four-star hotel, The Creston Hotel, that was having a promotion. She called and confirmed the price was very reasonable, so she booked it.

After arriving in Brightwater, the department split into two groups. Some went to the Serene Buddha Monastery to pray, while others went directly to the hotel at the hot spring resort.

As they were about to enter the Serene Buddha Monastery, Zion Sawyer noticed many people hiring guides. They discussed it and, worried their own boisterous group might offend the deities, spent two hundred yuan to hire a professional guide for assistance.

Following the guide’s instructions and suggestions, they made their way from the main hall, successively praying before various bodhisattvas for safety and wealth.

Inside the Hall of the Reclining Buddha, Leah Sinclair gazed at the kind-faced statue before her. Kneeling on a prayer cushion, she prayed devoutly, ”Bodhisattva, please bless my grandmother with good health and keep Asher Keating safe and well.”

After three deep kowtows, Leah remained kneeling for a while longer before slowly rising. She asked the guide if it was possible to get peace charms. She wanted to get one for Grandma Sinclair and one for Asher Keating. The guide pointed to a spot nearby, and Leah went over.

Zion Sawyer and the others, meanwhile, had gone to The Wealth Hall. She and Todd Coleman were kneeling at the entrance with a few scratch-off tickets, furiously scratching them. When Leah Sinclair found them, she saw the two of them looking utterly devout, muttering something under their breath as their hands moved nonstop.

Seeing Leah approach, Zion Sawyer casually handed one to her. ”Leah, quick, try one!”

Leah thanked her and took it. She pulled a coin from her purse and began to scratch it slowly. When the sparkling number ”300” appeared, she was stunned.

She checked it again, uncertain, then asked Zion Sawyer, ”Did I... Did I win three hundred?”

Zion Sawyer leaped up from the ground in excitement. ”AHH!! Yes! See? I told you! I told you! It really works, right?”

With that, she started furiously scratching again. The rest of the tickets were only ten or twenty-yuan winners, but the group was still delighted. They packed up their things, took the cable car down the mountain, and headed for the Brightwater Hot Spring Resort.

It was almost 5:00 PM by the time they got to the hotel. The others were so tired they collapsed onto the lobby sofas, unwilling to move. Leah Sinclair and Zion Sawyer went to handle the check-in.

Leah was looking down, organizing everyone’s IDs, when she bumped into someone. The things in her hand scattered on the floor. As she apologized and bent down to pick them up, Zion Sawyer cried out in shock, ”President Keating?”