Half-Hearted: Mr. Sinclair, Stop the Act!-Chapter 146: She’s Lying (Revised Edition)

Caleb Sinclair looked at her face, feeling like a part of his heart was collapsing. He answered with a hoarse voice, "Why am I at the hospital?"

"Special Assistant Langley saw you faint and burning up, so he brought you to the hospital. As soon as I got his call, I came over."

Sienna Monroe sighed, "Have you been pushing yourself too hard lately? You need to take a good rest, or you will wear your body out."

Caleb grasped her hand, his eyes deep, "Are you feeling sorry for me?"

Sienna met his gaze and calmly said, "I’m concerned about you."

Hearing this, he swallowed, his gaze suddenly turning fiery, "Honey, I love you, more than anyone else in the world."

"Hmm. Let’s eat first." Sienna turned her head slightly, softly responding, passing the chopsticks to him.

Caleb pressed his lips together, seemingly unsatisfied with her reaction.

But said nothing.

He now only had one thought.

That was to find a way to keep Sienna by his side.

He even started to fear sleeping. After a morning meeting, he felt extremely tired and dozed for half an hour in his office, which led to a dream.

In the dream, Sienna, full of despair and pain, shouted at him, "Caleb Sinclair, I hate you! I curse you to die miserably, to never find peace."

The scene then shifted, with many police officers gathered by a lake, a pale corpse on the shore being examined by a coroner.

As he focused, that face was unmistakably Sienna’s.

He woke from the nightmare, his heart feeling as if it was being torn apart, the pain making it hard to breathe, and ultimately, he blacked out.

After quite a while, suppressing the emotions rolling through his chest, he whispered, "Sienna, right now... you’re all I have."

Sienna was stunned for a moment, then smiled and asked, "What’s really going on with you?"

He lifted his earnest eyes, humbly pleading, "Will you promise, for this lifetime, never to leave me?"

Sienna moved her lips, perhaps finding the promise too heavy to utter easily.

Even if it were a lie, she couldn’t say it.

The words tangled together at her lips, spending half a minute before forming a sentence, "What is it? If anything troubles you, tell me, don’t keep it to yourself."

Caleb’s eyes flickered with a trace of disappointment.

Was she unwilling to say anything to placate him?

She wasn’t like this before.

She was gentle, considerate, bright, and her love for him had been contained yet abundantly so.

His throat felt a bitter tang as he continued to ask, unwilling to give up, "Sienna, you won’t leave me, you’ll always stay by my side, right?"

Sienna was a bit irritated by his questioning.

She knew his current drastic reaction was merely provoked by discovering the truth about the informant.

He was using this way to push her into making a promise.

A promise he wanted to hear.

She pressed her lips and quietly countered, "Are you asking this because you think I will leave you in the future? Have you learned something or heard something?"

Caleb was taken aback by her question.

Indeed.

He was simply terrified that one day she might divorce him and fall into Sebastian Prescott’s arms.

Thinking of this, he clenched his fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

He met Sienna’s eyes, which seemed devoid of emotion, yet somehow feeling a little distant.

It was like a prisoner long trapped, being interrogated sharply by the judge and prosecutor, never able to breathe fresh air.

His probing voice was hoarse and sombre, "Will you... betray me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sienna suddenly laughed, "Caleb Sinclair, what exactly are you suspecting right now? Why don’t you just say it directly, instead of beating around the bush? I don’t understand."

Caleb’s probing was like a rat lurking in the gutter, staring at her with a menacing look.

Making her extremely uncomfortable.

She admitted, she wasn’t a saint either, she had used him, but she didn’t think she was wrong.

And she felt no guilt.

Sometimes, one has to be a bit selfish, for spreading kindness everywhere as she did before, what were the consequences?

Betrayal and stabbing in the back.

If she were to go back to that path, it would truly be foolish.

Caleb’s face went pale, desperately grabbing her hand, hurriedly explaining, "Honey, I didn’t mean it that way, I... I can give you anything, even my life, as long as... you stay by my side!"

The final words, his voice nearly pleading, carried an unspeakable kind of madness.

Exactly.

Madness.

Sienna inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine and did not want to continue this topic, opening the food containers, "Let’s eat. Reheated dishes don’t taste good."

Caleb suppressed the boiling and fiery thoughts in his heart, softly responded, "Okay."

The entire afternoon, Sienna stayed in the hospital room with Caleb. His fever only started to subside at around eight in the evening.

The doctor’s suggestion was to stay in the hospital overnight to ensure the fever wouldn’t return, and with a final injection in the morning, he could be discharged.

Caleb felt guilty letting her stay overnight, yet didn’t want her to leave. When it was bedtime, he intentionally moved aside, "Honey, come sleep over here."

Sienna’s first reaction was to reject.

She did not want to squeeze onto the same bed with him.

She could only gently evade, "This bed is too small for two people to turn over comfortably. You didn’t sleep well last night, quickly rest."

"Then you sleep here, and I’ll take the sofa."

Sienna chuckled, "You’re the patient now, what would I be if I let you sleep on the sofa? Alright, just rest easy, I’ll be here... with you."

Her last words were light, but to his ears, they sounded immensely heavy.

His heart, as unsettled as a ship adrift at sea, suddenly calmed down.

Although he hadn’t slept all night, and even having overslept today, he still felt completely exhausted.

Once the restlessness in his chest dissipated, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Staying alone in the hospital was tedious, especially after staying a week in the hospital before.

Ding!

Suddenly, in the quiet ward, a crisp WeChat notification sounded.

It was from Sebastian Prescott.

[Would you be available to meet tomorrow? I have something for you.]

Sienna’s eyes flickered with surprise as she typed a reply, [What is it?] 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[A pen.]

A pen?

Sienna’s mind stalled for a few seconds before she suddenly remembered the Thousand Jade Fountain Pen that had brought them together.

However...

That pen was key evidence in Esther Sherwood’s case and shouldn’t be returned easily.

She asked, [Is it the Thousand Jade Fountain Pen?]

Sebastian: [Yes.]

Sienna was even more surprised now, and before she could react, another message came from Sebastian, [Free tomorrow?]

She instinctively glanced at the sleeping man on the hospital bed, pondered for a few seconds, and replied, [Not sure if I’ll have time tomorrow, I’m at the hospital now.]

On the other end, seeing the word "hospital," Sebastian’s brows furrowed.

[What’s wrong?]

Sienna: [Caleb Sinclair got hospitalized with a high fever. He seems to have found out that I reported Radiance Beauty Spa, and that you’re my proxy lawyer.]

Sebastian’s frown deepened, his expression unreadable.

He pondered for nearly ten minutes before he asked, [At Central General Hospital?]

Sienna: [Yes.]

Sebastian: [I’ll come over around eight tomorrow morning.]

Sienna was taken aback, and just as her hand touched the keyboard, his text came through again, [I need to see Clarice Shelby about something.]

The question she wanted to ask was retracted, and she sent a short "Okay."

That night, Sienna lay on the sofa for four to five hours, not sleeping soundly, waking before dawn.

Around eight in the morning, another message came from Sebastian on WeChat, [Arriving in five minutes at the inpatient entrance, come down.]

"I’ll go downstairs for a bit, be right back." She turned off her phone’s screen, speaking to Caleb.

Caleb’s heart tightened, quickly asking, "Where to?"

She couldn’t find a suitable excuse, so she quickly made one up, "To see Auntie Rennick."

Watching her departing figure, a dark and grim shade filled Caleb’s eyes.

She had clearly avoided eye contact when she spoke just now.

She was lying.

Caleb’s heart sank slowly, pressing his lips and thinking for more than ten seconds, before lifting the quilt and following her out.