"Whaaa! Uncle is the best!" Mackie opened her short arms and hugged Vernon's neck. "Thank you, Uncle!"
Vernon placed his palm on Mackie's back and patted her a few times, "You're welcome. Now go and focus watching your play. You'll see how good you're playing as the Big Bad wolf."
Thus, Mackie released her arms around her Uncle's neck. She sat on the bed with a big bucket of popcorn on her lap and started watching while eating the caramel popcorn.
Chloe looked at Vernon and whispered so she wouldn't disturb her daughter, "How did you get the recording?" Chloe asked. "This is the official recording from the school, right? I don't think that the Old Principal will give you a pass…."
Honestly, Vernon got the recording with Diamond's help. They just found out that one of Diamond's university friends was working in the school as an admin.
She gave Diamond a copy of the recording since she thought there was no harm.
"I have my ways, worry not, I did not rouse any suspicion," Vernon pacified Chloe, who got anxious. "Just watch and enjoy the movie.
Chloe still had plenty of questions, but Mackie suddenly pulled the hem of Chloe's shirt and pointed at the screen with her other hand, "Mommy! Look! I'm blowing the straw house made by the first piggie!"
Chloe shifted her attention quickly to her daughter and stopped asking Vernon immediately. Vernon watched how the two mother-daughter duos complemented each other. It was very refreshing to see them.
Because Vernon never gets that from his mother.
His mother was always busy drinking her pain away and spending money unnecessarily to get revenge on his father.
'She's a good mother,' Vernon commented in his heart. 'Not that I ever doubt her, Chloe took care of me much better than my real mother.'
Sometimes, Vernon wondered if Shailene's words were true. That he was in love with Chloe because she was the one who took care of him when he was young.
Chloe could be replaced by any woman, and nothing would change. Vernon would still fall in love with that random woman, just like how he fell in love with Chloe.
Maybe it was true… maybe it was just a load of bullcrap coming from Shailene's vengeful mouth…
But one thing was for sure, Vernon couldn't imagine the adult him without Chloe's care because there was no way he could survive that nightmarish household without turning insane.
Besides, Gray Mansion was filled with beautiful young maids in their early 20s, and Vernon never liked any of them.
None of those beautiful maids understood Vernon more than Chloe. She knew how to make him open up, pacify him when he was distressed by his parent's fight, and discipline him when he made a mess. She also knew all the simple things that could make his day.
'True, she is gorgeous, I don't think anyone other than my Big bro will ever deny that,' Vernon thought. He leaned and stared at Chloe and Mackie from behind. 'But I crave for her presence more than I crave for her beauty. As long as she's by my side, I think I can fight anything.'
The edge of Vernon's lips perked up. He didn't realize that he had been staring at Chloe and Mackie for thirty minutes until the cinema screen went dark, and the movie ended.
The lights turned on, and Vernon snapped out of his daze when he heard Mackie's loud cheer and claps as she was so proud of her achievement.
"Mommy, I did great!"
"Yes, you did great, dear!"
Mackie twisted her back and looked at Uncle, waiting for his validation.
Vernon smiled and nodded, "You did great. I watched everything."
"Yayyy!"
"Well, do you want to watch other movies?" Vernon offered. "You can ask any movie that you want and they will play it."
"Oh! Uncle, I want to watch Home Alone!"
"Home Alone?" Vernon frowned. "That's an old movie, when did you watch it?"
"I watched it once a few days ago, I like it so much! Mommy said that this is your favorite movie when you're my age!" Mackie claimed.
Vernon glanced at Chloe, and the latter shrugged, "It's true, though. Your Uncle loved watching that movie when he was your age. He watched it at least once a month!"
"Well, that's not wrong…." Vernon actually watched the first Home Alone at least once a week. He loved the movie, but the fact that Home Alone CD was the first gift Chloe ever gave to him set it apart from anything.
It was his first Christmas gift from Chloe, and the little him had never gotten a gift like a CD. He always got a real sports car, a helicopter, or some ultra-expensive toys that he'd destroy in less than a week if he was in the mood.
He even remembered how embarrassed Big sis Chloe was when she handed her gift to Vernon after knowing what kind of gifts he got.
-
'I will buy you something better next year, okay? Big sis needs to save up first,' Chloe promised.
-
Then, Big sis Chloe bought her a skateboard as a Christmas present the next year. She was still embarrassed because Vernon was still getting all those lavish gifts while she could only buy him a skateboard.
But Vernon was so excited about that skateboard he immediately forgot about all that expensive stuff and treasured that skateboard instead. Because that was all he wanted when he was eight years old.
He wanted to skateboard, but none of his family members listened to him, thinking it was stupid and humiliating for them to give the son of a Billionaire something so trivial as a Skateboard for Christmas or a Birthday present.
Now, the Home Alone CD and the skateboard were still in his possession. He stored them in his villa in Bologna, Italy.
Vernon remembered his childhood fondly, and it was also the only coping mechanism for him not to be a terrible person.
Big sis Chloe taught him to be good, so he had to be good.
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