Shailene worked on her report while she was waiting for Vernon to come.
She recalled all the words said by Vernon's mother;
"But what she said makes sense," Shailene murmured while writing her report on Dorothea Gray. "There is no way Vernon can be so obsessed with his sister-in-law without any kind of mental manipulation when he was a kid."
"Especially when they had been separated for ten years straight without contact, and Vernon maintained his obsession even after going through countless dates," Shailene added more reason not to believe that Chloe was innocent.
Shailene stopped writing when she realized something unethical with her observation, "Am I biased against Chloe because of my experience with Vernon?"
Shailene started questioning herself. She put her pen down and leaned on the chair while looking at the ceiling. She wondered if she might have a clouded judgment because of her animosity against Vernon.
"I may also have animosity against Chloe as well…" Shailene murmured. "She is the one who indirectly caused me to break up with Vernon. After all, I am just a woman for Vernon to spend his free time with before he returns to Chloe…."
Shailene started thinking about Mrs. Gray too.
Initially, she took the job as Dorothea Gray's main psychologist because it was her specialty to deal with a woman who suffered from the trauma of cheating and an abusive husband.
But that wasn't the only reason…
"I wish to know more about Vernon. I thought I could get more information about that scum through his mother, but what I found is… Chloe."
"Even his mother only knows him because of his attachment to Chloe," Shailene concluded. "So it's not wrong for me to say that Chloe is a groomer knowing their age gap. Vernon must've been in his most vulnerable state when he was a kid because of his parents' marital problem too…."
"Added with the fact that Chloe comes from a lower-middle class family who could barely survive per month, it's very logical for her wanting to have a good life by manipulating Vernon."
As much as Shailene claimed she hated Vernon, she wouldn't lie that she still had feelings for him.
He was her first love and also the one she genuinely fell in love with.
He was wild and emotional, with that devil-may-care attitude that was the polar opposite of Shailene, who always calculated everything.
"You might never love me, Vernon. But I'll do you a favor and help you to escape the chain of a pedophile," Shailene promised. "I'll knock some sense into you."
Ding-Dong!
"Ah, that must be him."
Shailene got up and left her private counseling office. She opened the front door of her apartment and was greeted with the sight of Vernon, who seemed to have a lot on his mind.
Which was rare, knowing that Vernon usually didn't think twice when deciding upon something and wouldn't think about the aftermath.
He would rather deal with what was in front of him. At least, that was all based on Shailene's observation of her ex-boyfriend.
"Uh… hi," Vernon greeted awkwardly. No matter how often they met, he felt guilty for breaking her heart.
Shailene checked her watch, "You're earlier than I thought."
"Yeah, I went here right after meeting with one of my clients," Vernon replied. "Is that a no? Do you still have another client inside?"
"No, I've emptied my schedule in the evening for you," Shailene replied. "Come in."
Vernon followed Shailene to enter her apartment. He thought she'd lead him to the private office to start the counseling.
But she went to the kitchen instead and started rummaging through her fridge, "Have you had dinner?"
"Uh… I haven't…"
"Then I'll cook something for you," Shailene said. "I'll make two plates of spaghetti meatballs."
"Uhh… why don't we just do the counseling instead?" Vernon suggested. He found eating weird in someone's house, especially a woman.
Because he already had a woman at home, and Chloe's food was the best.
'Though, I don't know if she's cooking me something for dinner tonight. Since I said something wrong that hurt her heart, apparently,' Vernon thought.
"Nonsense," Shailene retorted while preparing the ingredients. "It's much better to have counseling with a full stomach, so we can focus on your problem. Besides, I'm also starving, my main client was so fired up telling the story of her second son."
Vernon didn't give a crap about that main client of hers. He didn't understand why Shailene kept mentioning her main client whenever they met.
'Maybe she just wants me to know that she's a professional? Well, I won't return to her after what she said before if she's not the best in this field.'
Vernon wanted to refuse Shailene's invitation to dinner, but Shailene had already put the spaghetti in the pot, so he had no choice.
"Go sit at the dining table. It won't be long," Shailene said.
…
Vernon still felt weirded out by the fact that he would be eating Shailene's cooking.
'It makes me feel like I'm cheating on my wife—' Vernon thought. And then he quickly snapped out of his stupid idea. 'Wait, wife? W-w-w-why would I think of Chloe as my wife? I do love her, and I… I want to spend my time with her… for eternity.'
'But wife? T—that's too much man! I won't let myself be tied up by a woman, never!'
While Vernon was busy with his own dilemmatic world, Shailene had finished her spaghetti and served a plate in front of Vernon and the other one for her.
She sat and started digging her food when she noticed that Vernon was still unresponsive.
"Hey, Vernon," Shailene kicked Vernon's shin lightly to snap him out of his daze.
"Huh, what?"
Shailene rolled her eyes, "The dinner is ready. Go eat it, and then we can continue with our counseling."
"Oh, yeah, thanks…." Vernon stared at the spaghetti and meatballs served to him. The food looked good, but he had no appetite. Because the one who cooked this wasn't Chloe…
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