"Uncle can eat Mackie's food, but promise me not to eat Mommy!" Mackie said. She had a deserted look after she pushed her food toward her Uncle.
"Pffthh! Ahahahahah! So dumb!" Vernon laughed out loud. He didn't even try to be nice to his niece.
"Mackie is not dumb! Uncle is dumb!" Mackie retorted. "I—I gave Uncle food, so don't eat my Mommy!"
"BWAHAHAHAH!"
Chloe watched the two of them bickering, and she had a thin smile as she remembered the little Vernon.
"Luckily, I wasn't dumb like you when I was a kid! AHAHAHAH!"
"Mackie is not dumb! Uncle, stop laughing now!"
'Actually, you act just like Mackie…' Chloe said in her heart, afraid she would offend Vernon if she said it out loud.
The cute little Vernon was very similar to Mackie— personality-wise. He was a little brat that threw temper tantrums often and would listen to certain people only.
However, he was incredibly smart at such young age, just like Mackie.
'Well, maybe he just doesn't remember what he looked like when he was a kid,' Chloe thought.
She finally interfered before Mackie got upset, "Your Uncle is just joking. You're not dumb at all. Give me your plate. I will add a little more for you."
"But Mackie doesn't want Mommy to get eaten!"
"Mommy will not get eaten," Chloe said. 'I think I won't get eaten… right?'
Chloe got up and took her daughter's plate. She added more carbs for her daughter, but not too much because it might upset her stomach, and Chloe still had to make sure Mackie ate healthily and in the right portion.
So Mackie won't grow up fat, ugly, and gross like her, at least those were the words that came out so frequently from Vincent's mouth, so she started to believe it.
Vernon decided to stop teasing his niece, and they ate in silence. Mackie and Vernon returned to their rooms to prepare for school and work, leaving only Chloe, who had just finished her plate of banana and apple before she started cooking again. This time, she had to prepare two lunchboxes.
She was relieved that Vernon seemed to be in an okay-ish mood from last night. Maybe he felt a little embarrassed because of Mackie, but wasn't that a good sign?
That meant he wouldn't do anything bad as long as Mackie was around.
…
Chloe's body stopped completely once she realized Vernon didn't yell at her because Mackie was around.
'Isn't that… the same with Vincent? Vincent abused the hell out of me until I felt numb. But he would act like a good dad in front of our daughter….'
'Vernon and Vincent… are blood brothers, so they must be the same at the roots…' Chloe thought.
She tightened her grip on the spatula because her entire body started shaking.
'That… that might be true. But I'm here to work and escape…' Chloe thought, trying to find the bright side of her current situation.
She shook her head and focused on cooking again, 'This is the only thing I can do right now, knowing that Vincent basically blocked all my way to get a proper job in a regular company. So I have to be serious about my duty as a maid.'
Vernon left his bedroom after he was done wearing his suit. He peeked from the door and asked, "Sister-in-law, where is my tie? I can't find it."
…
There was no response from Chloe, but he saw his sister-in-law packing the lunchboxes in a daze as if she was thinking about heavy stuff.
Vernon's gaze cooled once he realized the sadness in her eyes, 'She must be thinking about her failed marriage with my brother again. I saw her looking sad a few times.'
'Why is she so sad anyway? It's her fault in the first place.'
Vernon decided to grab a new tie in his drawer rather than asking for one from Chloe. Whenever he saw that sadness in his sister-in-law's eyes, it made him so annoyed that he wanted to curse at her.
'It's her fault. It's her fault in the first place. You're the idiot. I'm just here to have fun and look at your suffering.'
'What kind of suffering did you get anyway? My brother might not be the best husband. But he must've treated you with all kinds of lavishness, and you could buy everything you want, isn't that what all women want? My mom is alright with dad cheating, as long as she got paid.'
'Or maybe that's what actually matters for you. You just want the money, right? Now that you're separated from him, you have nobody to support you.'
'Did you reject my black card because it's not as much as my brother has? Yeah, fuck you too, bi—'
Vernon stopped right at that last word, not wanting to call that woman a slur. Maybe it was because of his habit when he was a kid. So he held off whenever he was angry at her.
All kinds of narration started running inside his head, and that made him even more annoyed than before. He fixed his toe and cuff by himself before he opened his bedroom door.
He saw Chloe sitting on the long sofa with two lunch boxes on her lap. She turned her head once she heard the door open, "Ah, Vernon, I wondered if you want your lunch now or later—"
Chloe was surprised when she saw Vernon looking at her like he was holding a lot of rage in his heart. She wasn't sure what she did wrong now, but she kind of got used to Vernon's crazy mood swing.
Vernon walked toward Chloe and snatched his lunch bag, "Don't come to the office today, do whatever you want. I don't care."
Vernon walked away with the lunch bag in his left hand and his briefcase in his right. Chloe stared at Vernon's back until he left by slamming the main door of his penthouse.
She sighed and got up from the sofa, 'I don't understand him at all….'
Visit freewe𝑏nov(e)l.𝗰𝐨𝐦 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience