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

Chapter 135: Chapter 135: 1,000,000

Asher Keating shot him a cold glance. ”Don’t be in such a hurry to jump to conclusions, Second Brother.”

With that, he ignored Aaron Keating and, after excusing himself to the old Mr. Keating, hurried over to Leah Sinclair.

”Damn! Grandpa, look at him! What’s with that attitude?” Aaron Keating turned to the old Mr. Keating to complain.

”That’s enough. You don’t even know what’s going on, so what are you shouting about? I met that young lady this afternoon. She’s a very good girl.” The old Mr. Keating completely dismissed his complaint.

”Dad, Ruth and I will go have a look,” Theodore Keating said, looking over with some concern.

”Mm, go on. Don’t let the girl be wronged.”

Theodore Keating and Ruth Hughes also hurried over. Aaron Keating was so angry he gritted his teeth, while Alan Keating didn’t say anything, merely watching the scene unfold as he slowly sipped his wine.

Mason Grant casually tossed a card at the feet of the three women and said coldly, ”Your compensation. The clothes the three of you are wearing don’t add up to more than a million, right? There’s exactly one million on the card. Don’t say the Grant family bullies people.”

”The Grant... The Grant Family! You’re one of the Grants?”

The three women’s faces instantly flushed red. They regretted it now. If they had known this person was also from the Grant family, they never would have dared to come. ’Why didn’t Madeline Sterling say anything?!’

”My cousin, Mason Grant. Oh, and he’s my aunt’s son. You know who my aunt is, right? Mabel Grant. You’re bullying her son. Tsk, tsk,” Nash said with a smirk.

The three women’s faces instantly turned pale. They didn’t know Mabel Grant—their status wasn’t high enough to even know who she was—but from what Nash was implying, she was definitely not someone to be trifled with.

No, to be precise, no one from the Grant family was to be trifled with. Their own families were merely upper-middle class. They were only qualified to attend this time because the old Mr. Keating was celebrating a milestone birthday and had invited guests from all corners.

Mason Grant sneered. ”Heh, just like my sister said. Three idiots.”

”We’re sorry! We’re sorry, Second Young Master Grant! We were blind and failed to recognize your greatness.” After saying this, the three of them tried to slip away. They were truly scared now.

”Get back here! Apologize to my sister!” Mason Grant forcefully stopped them from leaving.

”We’re sorry, Leah Sinclair.” The three of them were extremely reluctant but could only apologize obediently.

Leah Sinclair nodded. Only then did Mason Grant stop making things difficult for them. They scrambled to leave, but Shawn Grant, who had just arrived, stopped them again. ”Pick up the card. The Grant family doesn’t just go around bullying people.”

The woman who had thrown the wine trembled as she bent down to pick up the card. Just as she was about to leave, she was stopped again by Asher Keating’s icy voice. ”Stop.”

The three women were on the verge of tears. One after another, their legs were about to give out. ’If we had known it would be like this, we would have rather died than come looking for trouble with Leah Sinclair.’

”Third... Third Young Master Keating, is there something else?”

Asher Keating crouched down and held up Leah Sinclair’s dress to examine it. A short while had passed, and the dark red wine had soaked into the aqua-blue fabric. Although it wasn’t a large stain, it was still quite jarring to see.

He stood up, his gaze cold as he looked at the three women. ”You dirtied my girlfriend’s dress. Don’t you have to pay for it?”

”Ah? We’ll pay, we’ll pay. How much is it?”

”One million.”

”!!!”

”!!!”

Leah Sinclair’s heart trembled. ’This dress I’m wearing... is worth a million?’

”Third... Third Young Master Keating, you can’t be serious... How could this dress possibly... be worth a million?” The voice of the woman who had thrown the wine was trembling.

”I called you idiots, and you really are idiots. This dress is a custom design from BLANCEN. You’ve heard of BLANCEN, right? It seems not. And those diamonds on it, did you think they were glass?”

Nash snorted. She had been the one Asher Keating had asked to help pick out this dress. He didn’t know much about women’s fashion, but at the time, she had felt that he was, in his own way, putting in a real effort for Leah Sinclair.

Leah Sinclair, tugging at Asher Keating’s hand, trembled slightly. Asher squeezed her hand, his expression still cold.

The wine-throwing woman tremblingly handed back the card with the million she had just received. Asher Keating gestured for Leah Sinclair to take it, and Leah, pretending to be calm, accepted the card.

Seeing Leah Sinclair take the card, the three women immediately fled in disarray. Ruth Hughes came up, pulled Leah over, and examined her carefully. After confirming she was unharmed, she let out a sigh of relief. ”Leah, I’ll have someone bring a new gown over right now.”

Theodore Keating and Asher Keating began dispersing the crowd of onlookers.

”Okay, thank you, Aunt.” Leah Sinclair sighed and tried to return the card to Mason Grant.

”No need. It’s their compensation to you.” Mason Grant refused to take it.

”Aunt Ruth, there’s no need to get another gown. It would take a long time to go back and forth, and it might not even fit. I have an idea.”

Nash pulled Leah Sinclair to the side and carefully observed the wine stain on her dress. Leah had dodged quickly, so not much had spilled on her skirt.

She thought for a moment, then said to Shawn Grant, ”Have the driver bring my things from the car.”

Shawn Grant made a call, and a short while later, the driver arrived with Nash’s paintbrushes and pigments. Leah Sinclair stared, stunned.

When she realized Nash was planning to paint directly on her dress to cover the wine stain, she couldn’t help but become intrigued.

”Nash, you must be amazing at painting, right?”

”Of course! My sister studied in Varis. This is just a piece of cake for her.” Shawn Grant sounded very proud as he said this.

”Oh, shut up. Look at you, getting all worked up over nothing. Go get me a bottle of water.” Nash shot him a look as she mixed her paints.

”Here.”

Chester Hale had already opened a bottle of water and handed it to her. Nash froze for a second, then accepted it, looking a bit flustered.

When Asher Keating returned, he saw Leah Sinclair and Nash discussing something in low voices. Seeing the supplies laid out beside them, he understood what Nash was planning to do.

Nash raised an eyebrow. ”Leah, I didn’t realize you knew about this stuff too.”

”My major requires drawing, too. Haven’t you ever heard the saying, Nash? ’Why did no one tell me before I started school that architecture students also have to study art?’” Leah Sinclair laughed.

Leah Sinclair had shared some of her ideas with Nash. If she weren’t wearing the dress herself, she probably would have taken on the task herself.

Nash smiled and began to sketch on her dress. ”But I feel that, compared to other flowers, roses suit you better. So...”

She said no more, focusing on her painting. Leah Sinclair looked down at her and saw that Nash’s hands moved as if by magic. With just a few simple strokes, roses began to bloom beneath her fingertips.

Chester Hale stood nearby, watching Nash’s focused expression, a warm smile unknowingly gracing his eyes.

Asher Keating saw his expression and the corners of his mouth curved up. ”Nash is pretty great, isn’t she?”

Teased by him, Chester Hale cleared his throat. ”She’s always been great.”

Asher Keating just smiled and said no more. He looked at Leah Sinclair, who was watching Nash with a look of pure admiration. He had seen Leah’s drawings before. In a way, Leah was quite talented at painting herself; she had just chosen to specialize in architecture. ’Yes,’ he thought, ’my girlfriend has always been pretty great, too.’

Before long, Nash stopped her brush. ”Done.”

The original wine stain on Leah Sinclair’s dress was no longer visible. In its place were several lifelike roses.

This added a splash of vibrant color to the originally simple dress, yet it wasn’t jarring at all. On the contrary, it was surprisingly harmonious.