"I'll eat your dinner, so stop crying and reheat some of this first!" Vernon said.
Chloe stopped what she was doing and looked at Vernon, who checked the food that she made at the dinner table.
Unfortunately, she had already washed away half of the food she made tonight…
She quickly dried her hands and wiped her tears. She approached Vernon and grabbed the plates, "I'll reheat it first. Please wait."
Vernon watched Chloe, who was busy reheating the food by microwave or stir-frying some on the pan. She seemed happier when cooking, and Chloe returned to the dining table and put the food in front of Vernon.
She also served him a plate and a glass of warm water, "You should drink the warm water first before eating. I can smell the alcohol from your mouth."
"Heh, so what if I drink alcohol? You're going to reprimand me? I'm not a teenager anymore, sister-in-law," Vernon replied. But he still obediently drank the warm water before adding a variety of food to his plate.
Chloe sat on the opposite seat, staring at Vernon, who was eating. He said he wasn't hungry because he had already had dinner outside. But he was still eating like a hungry hippo.
Vernon noticed that his sister-in-law was smiling while staring at him. He frowned and asked, "What now? Why are you smiling like that?"
"Ah, I was happy you ate my cooking," Chloe replied. "It might not be much since you must've been used to seeing many powerful women working on the same ground with you, but taking care of my family is what I see as my duty. I want to make sure that everyone is well taken care of."
Chloe knew it might sound pathetic in this age of empowered women where women could be everything they wanted, but her drive was to be a stay-at-home mom and take care of her daughter.
If she
"But your relationship with my brother has turned south," Vernon said ruthlessly. "That means you're not doing well at caring for your family."
"Ah… that's…." Chloe's smile faded as Vernon rubbed her wound. "I—I just think that I can at least take care of my family here—"
Vernon stopped eating and peered at Chloe with displeasure.
"Don't call me your family. That's repulsive. I gave you a contract to work with me, and I paid you salary," Vernon stated. "Just because I still called you sister-in-law doesn't mean that you can outright say we're family. I called you sister-in-law to honor my big brother, who still sees you as his wife."
"S—Sorry…" Chloe lowered her head. She felt disheartened as she always thought of Vernon as her family member. Since he was just a kid, Chloe never saw him as a stranger. He was always her cute little Vernon.
Vernon clicked his tongue annoyedly. Again, she had that sad expression that made him uncomfortable again.
"Damn it, stop making that sad expression. You're annoying me!" Vernon yelled.
"I—I'm not making a sad expression… at least I don't remember making one…." Chloe replied.
Vernon snorted. Whenever Chloe made that sad expression, his heart would be mixed with rage and an unknown feeling of sadness.
He was angry because she still had the gut of making that sad expression after picking her choice.
But at the same time, the ache in his heart got more painful the more Chloe got sadder.
'But we're not family,' Vernon thought in his heart. 'I will never be your family, not anymore. I fucking hate you, sister-in-law.'
Chloe knew that they weren't going anywhere with this. She didn't want to dwell in her sadness, not in front of Vernon.
Because she knew Vernon already disliked her for some reason, maybe he already disliked all women.
So the only thing she could do was not to push his button and make him snap.
Chloe noticed the bandaged fist and realized, "Ah, I need to change your bandage!"
"What?"
Chloe pointed at the bandaged hand, "It's not good to keep one bandage over a period of time. I'll put a new bandage, but you should finish dinner first, okay?"
…
Vernon looked at his bandaged hand and remembered the million-dollar question that haunted him for the whole day.
Did Chloe hear him talking about something? Or maybe that whole dream was not actually a dream?
"Sister-in-law…"
"Yes?"
"When did you bandage my hand?"
"Ah, at night, I checked your condition because I heard loud banging on the wall plenty of times, so I thought it must've been pretty bad…." Chloe said, telling the truth that happened the previous night.
"And you treated my hand while I was sleeping?"
"Yeah."
"… Did you hear anything?" Vernon asked.
"Heard anything?"
"Yeah, maybe me mumbling about something."
Of course, Chloe knew what he meant because Vernon didn't even mumble at that point. He outright talked about his love life with this woman that hurt his heart so much that he wanted to destroy both of them with his passionate fire.
It was tragic and sad, but Chloe had no right to tell Vernon about this, knowing it would only embarrass him.
Though, she was curious about the woman's identity that could have such a special spot in Vernon's heart.
"I heard you mumbling about something, maybe a name? But it's mostly inaudible," Chloe replied. "Is it a girl's name? Like… your loved one or something…."
Vernon's gaze sharpened towards Chloe, "She's dead."
"D—Dead?!"
"Yeah, she is dead in my heart, and I hate her. You don't need to know about her identity, sister-in-law," Vernon replied. "She's long gone."
Chloe was a little lost from his extreme reaction. It seemed that he truly hated this woman. But if he really hated him, why would she come to his dream frequently?
However, she didn't want to press further and shifted the topic, "Well, you should finish your dinner first. I'm going downstairs to grab the first aid kit."
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