'Should I just cancel the meeting, or... should I talk to Shailene about this?' Dorothea pondered.
She thought she could get much-needed advice from Shailene, especially about her changing views. She knew it was abrupt, but Vincent's action shook her to the core, making her feel so much worse, and the guilt was eating her from the inside.
'Though, so far, Shailene always told me to try to reconnect with Vernon. I don't think anything good would come if I try to reconnect with him….'
Dorothea was unsure about that piece of advice from Shailene. She was a good listener, but her advice was consistently ineffective, mainly because Dorothea refused to talk with Vernon.
She was too prideful and embarrassed, thinking of her past sins. It was much easier to keep up with the animosity between her and Vernon rather than trying to be nice to each other.
Dorothea sighed, "Oh well, I still want to talk about Chloe with Shailene," she murmured as she texted Shailene back, telling her that she would come to her office in the evening.
With that being said, Dorothea decided to just wait for Chloe to text her back, hopefully giving her a location they could meet in private. However, she doubted it'd be that easy.
"God, please make this easier," Dorothea pleaded. "I've been eaten by my guilt ever since Vaughn's death. I don't know if I could spend the rest of my life feeling like this…."
**
Vernon was busy reading documents and calling a few people in the office. The mood around the office was a lot more tense than usual, and that affected Diamond, who thought she didn't need to put up a serious act around Vernon all the time anymore.
It was tiring working with a boss that was always on edge. One mistake, and he would yell at every single soul in the office.
Diamond knocked on the door before entering Vernon's office. She put another document for Vernon to read and asked, "Sir, what do you want for lunch?"
Vernon picked up the document and started reading. With his eyes on the file, he answered, "I'm not hungry. You can return to your desk."
…
"Sir, Chloe called me just now, she was telling me to buy you lunch. Just tell me if there's something wrong between you two, it tires me out that I have to get caught between the rift," Diamond said.
Vernon subtly flinched when Diamond mentioned Chloe. He was trying to keep himself busy because he felt guilty for what he had said to her in the morning.
So he ignored Chloe's texts, especially her telling him to get food for lunch and short breaks in case he got too tired.
Those small things made him feel at home with the right woman.
And he didn't want to feel that, at least not now. He was still trying to make a point.
"It's none of your business, Diamond," Vernon said. "Just do your job and stay on your line."
"Oh, I'd love to do that, Sir. But the atmosphere here is choking me, I couldn't concentrate at all!" Diamond complained. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?"
Vernon went silent for a moment and slowly put the document on the desk. He looked at Diamond and said, "Chloe is calling Dorothea, my useless piece of shit mother."
The information was too abrupt for Diamond to process. She blanked out for a moment, "Huh?"
"Yeah, I caught her red-handed calling Dorothea, and they had some serious, heartfelt discussion," Vernon's heart ached whenever he remembered Chloe calling his useless mother. He felt betrayed because he always believed that Chloe would always be by his side at this point.
Turned out he was wrong. She could turn around anytime she wanted simply because of foolishness.
"Why'd she do that?" Diamond asked. "That's so not her."
"That is very much her," Vernon replied curtly. "Chloe is driven by her emotion. Dorothea must've softened Chloe's heart to make her vulnerable and willing to talk. It won't be long before she leaked out our relationship before I could even manage to defeat my Big brother."
"I can't make a mess, Diamond. So does she, she cannot make a mess as well, it's a teamwork if we want to defeat Vincent," Vernon said.
"That is true, Sir," Diamond nodded in full agreement. Sometimes she forgot how emotional her homegirl could be. Diamond remembered how Chloe said she wanted to run away because she didn't want to hurt Vernon and was convinced by it.
As if that was the smartest idea ever.
But Chloe wasn't someone who wouldn't listen unless…
"Sir, you've been so tense and in a terrible mood today. Let me guess, the discussion between you two about Dorothea was NOT going well, was it?"
"It went terrible," Vernon sighed. "I was so angry and betrayed that I came off too strong when I told her to block that badly aging bitch's number."
"She tried to argue with me, but all I heard was weakness and vulnerability. Chloe was being foolish, and I got so angry that I… terrified her…."
"You did not hit her, right?"
"No, oh fuck no! I'd rather kill myself than do that," Vernon denied vehemently. Just the thought of hurting Chloe was enough to make his stomach drop.
Diamond sighed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Sir, sometimes, I feel like you don't know how intimidating you can be. Don't you remember how you made the whole room full of orphan kids cry when we visited an orphanage? That's how scary you are."
"Now, imagine if you're in Chloe's position, you've been abused by Vincent for ten years, and now she had to argue with you," Diamond shrugged at her boss. "Sir, you're like— the scarier and bigger version of Vincent. You don't even need to raise your voice to scare other people, let alone the woman who had been abused by your Big brother."
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