"You can go downstairs and take a bath yourself, right?"
"Yes, Mommy! Mackie is… smart and independent!" Mackie claimed, to which Chloe chuckled as a response.
Mackie had just heard about the word independent at school about three days ago, and she started using it because she thought it was a cool word.
She also wanted to show Mommy that she was a cool, independent girl!
Chloe was washing Mackie's large plate after she ate a whole banana cream pie all by herself. Then, she heard a click from Vernon's bedroom door and turned around instinctively.
Vernon left his bedroom with a large plate of empty banana cream pie and an empty glass. He walked to the kitchen and saw his sister-in-law staring back at him.
Their eyes widened at the same time, and after that… there was only silence.
Vernon noticed that Chloe was paler than before. Hence, his assumption was correct, 'She is seriously disgusted just because she ate something from me? Was it the spoon? Did she get disgusted because she ate with the same spoon I used? Damn it, thinking about it already ruined my mood.'
Meanwhile, Chloe was also thinking about Vernon, 'Did he notice any difference? Please, please don't get disgusted with me, please….'
Vernon's eyes darkened, but he wasn't in the mood to get angry because the banana cream pie was so good that it prevented him from lashing out for a while.
He walked to the dishwasher, where Chloe stood near, and ignored her completely. He passed her and put the large plate on the kitchen sink.
He frowned when he noticed something, "Why are you washing the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink? There's a dishwasher, you dumb."
"Ah—"
"Did you not know how to use the dishwasher? Are you that spoiled by my big brother?" Vernon started asking Chloe questions that took time for her to process. Because he thought that Chloe was used to so many maids in Vincent's mansion, she never touched the dirty dishes to the point that she didn't even know how to operate the dishwasher.
Actually, it was the opposite;
She could use the dishwasher, but Vincent always complained, calling her a lazy woman because she used the automatic dishwasher instead of washing the dishes manually.
So she developed a habit of washing the dirty dishes by hand in the kitchen sink to save up on water bills, just in case Vincent would also nitpick at her for that.
Vernon clicked his tongue when he didn't get any answer from Chloe, "Speak, I'm asking you."
"I—I just like washing the dirty dishes by hand…." Chloe replied.
…
"That's buillshit," Vernon said. "Just admit you're a spoiled woman who doesn't even know how to use the dishwasher. It's that easy."
"I—I am a spoiled woman, yes…." Chloe admitted, though, that was a complete lie. As long as she didn't make Vernon angry.
She thought Vernon would ridicule her even more, and she was mentally prepared for that.
But contrary to her expectation, Vernon crouched in front of the dishwasher and said, "Let me teach you how to use it."
…
Chloe saw Vernon pressing a few buttons and opening the dishwasher. She started putting the dirty dishes in the sink to the dishwasher.
"You should press this one, and this…." Vernon started explaining.
She watched everything; of course, she already knew all the buttons and how to operate them. She pretended to listen carefully so Vernon wouldn't get mad at her.
In fact, she was more impressed with Vernon, who knew how to operate this. After all, he was the second son of the Gray family. He could get all the maids or housekeepers he wanted, and Chloe knew well how spoiled Vernon was before he left the family right after Chloe married Vincent.
'Makes me wonder what he went through in Europe for ten years…' Chloe wondered.
After explaining, he looked at his sister-in-law, who was dazed, "You're not listening, aren't you?"
"I—I do!" Chloe said as she snapped out of her daze. She crouched beside Vernon and explained how the buttons were used. It was convincing enough for Vernon, at least.
"Good, you can return downstairs now. It's already night," Vernon said as he turned around and walked to his bedroom.
"W—Wait, Vernon!" Chloe said spontaneously. She wanted to apologize for vomiting, making it unappetizing for Vernon to eat his favorite banana cream pie.
Vernon halted his step and asked, "What?"
"Um, about my face before… I'm sorry…." Chloe said. "I don't know how to control it. I hope you understand…."
Vernon knew what Chloe was talking about. She must've apologized because she couldn't control her disgust at eating with the same spoon as Vernon and sitting close to each other.
'You might not remember, sister-in-law. But remember that you said you're grossed out— disgusted with me.'
'I don't know what I did wrong, but apparently, I'm that disgusting. You don't even want to be with me. I thought your disgust had disappeared after ten years, but it's still there, huh?' Vernon sneered, thinking all the good memories in his childhood that he cherished didn't matter anyway. Because his sister-in-law never appreciated him, never actually liked all the time they spent together when he was young.
For her, he was just a gross little kid that would never reach the same glory as his big brother.
…
"I don't care about that," Vernon replied despite his heart feeling heavy. "You don't need to eat in front of me anymore. You can eat alone or downstairs or wait until I leave," Vernon said, thinking it was the best solution so his sister-in-law wouldn't be disgusted because of his presence.
He entered his bedroom and slammed the door, leaving Chloe alone.
"Ah, he is definitely disgusted with me…." Chloe lamented. She had a bitter smile on her face. "He doesn't want me to eat in front of him. Maybe he knows that I'll vomit everything in front of him and gross him out…."
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