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"W—Welcome back, Vernon. I've prepared dinner for you, but it went cold already. I'm going to reheat it," Chloe said. She took the bowls of food covered with aluminum foil to the dinner table.

She had to reheat it first, maybe recooked some because it wouldn't look appetizing even after reheating with the microwave.

"No need, I'm not hungry," Vernon said.

"Huh?" Chloe stopped on her track, looking confused at Vernon. "You… are not hungry?"

"I've had dinner with my business partner. We went to my favorite restaurant," Vernon replied ruthlessly. He smirked when he saw the lost expression in Chloe's eyes.

Honestly, Vernon also noticed the sadness in her eyes. It seemed that she had been crying so much. But he reckoned that she must've been crying because she didn't get all the lavish lifestyle she expected from marrying Vincent.

Now she had to work as a maid every day. A spoiled woman like her would've cried daily because of that, right?

'See? It's your fault in the first place, and this is what you did to yourself,' Vernon sneered in his mind. He always hated that sad expression coming from her.

"But… I've cooked many things for dinner…." Chloe said weakly. She looked down at the cold braised beef stew she made for Vernon.

"Then you can eat it yourself. I'm just gonna grab a bottle of wine from the wine fridge," Vernon said.

"B—But…" Chloe protested weakly. She thought that at least Vernon would appreciate her dinner. She made a mistake yesterday because she forgot to cook for dinner, and Vernon blasted at her.

She cooked a lot of food for dinner, hoping that Vernon would forgive him for her mistake.

But she got a cold shoulder instead, and he acted as if it wasn't important, even though he was the one who blasted Chloe for not cooking dinner yesterday.

She wasn't important at all.

'Well, it's not wrong, but…' Chloe's heart ached when Vernon just ignored her like this.

"Y—You could at least try a little. I can cook more if you want…."

"Huh? How often do I have to tell you I'm not hungry? When I say I'm not hungry, I do not intend to eat! Stop being such a fuss. It's just food anyway."

"You act like your whole life only revolves about cooking food. You're not even a chef," Vernon sneered, mocking her for what she thought was important.

He ignored her and grabbed a bottle of wine from the wine fridge.

Meanwhile, Chloe's heartache got worse, especially when Vernon said those sentences, downplaying her effort and making it as if she didn't have any worth.

It reminded her of Vincent and all the things that Vincent did to make her feel so worthless.

'They are brothers, after all. What did I expect?' Chloe thought that she was being ridiculous here.

Vernon was about to leave the kitchen when he noticed Chloe, who started sobbing. Her body trembled, tears started flowing down from her eyes and cheek, then dropped to the bowl of braised beef.

"Really? Stop crying and wash those dishes. It'd smell bad if you don't wash it," Vernon said.

Chloe continued sobbing, but she said nothing to Vernon. As she had no power nor any right to scold him.

Vernon sat on the chair not far from the kitchen. He popped open the wine bottle and started drinking straight from the bottle.

He sat in a daze, trying to distract himself from listening to her sister-in-law sobbing.

He was annoyed at her. He returned home to relax after such a tiring day, and now he had to listen to a woman crying just because he refused to eat her cooking.

Vernon continued drinking from the bottle. He drank without care. So his eyes started to get blurry.

He wasn't a heavy drinker in the first place, but he could manage if he didn't drink too much in a short time.

But Chloe's sobs made him want to drink more and more, hoping it would silence the sobs.

Yet, what he experienced was different.

The sobs actually echoed inside his head. Whenever Chloe sobbed, it was as if his whole head was filled with her voice, and her sadness also started to affect his mood.

He clicked his tongue annoyedly and got up from the chair.

He saw Chloe washing a few dishes, but there were still a few plates of food on the dinner table left untouched.

"Will you shut up? Why are you crying over food anyway?"

Chloe continued crying while she continued washing the dishes. But she was facing away from Vernon, so Vernon didn't have to see her ugly crying face.

Chloe knew that she had overreacted. After all, it was just food, and Vincent had done this to her constantly for the past ten years.

But what made her cry was the accumulation of everything that happened today, from her mother and sister, who cut her off from their life to Vincent, who taunted her.

She cooked a lot of food for Mackie and Vernon because she thought… looking at them eating and smiling would give her the strength to continue despite all the pain she experienced alone. Since the only thing she could do right now was take care of both of them.

Mackie ate her dinner, but Vernon only came to mocked on her like her effort was nothing.

'I know I'm being dramatic. Why do I have to cry over dinner?' Chloe asked herself. 'Vernon is a busy man. He has a lot to do, just like Vincent.'

'Why do I have to cry myself over food I cooked? It's worthless.'

Vernon was peeved since Chloe didn't answer his question, but he just couldn't hear the voice of her crying anymore. It somehow made his heart aching for whatever reason—

And the weird heartache made him annoyed, very annoyed.

"Urgh, fine!" Vernon sat at the dinner table and opened all the aluminum foil covering the plates and bowls, "I'll eat your dinner, so stop crying and reheat some of this first!"