BXBX NOVEL 199 Chapter 199
[Music Recommendation - Dealova Guitar Cover.]
"But you\'re so blinded with your hatred, Vernon. The only thing you did was trigger her trauma…."
"Vernon Phoenix Gray, you\'re a fucking idiot."
Vernon sat weakly on the sofa. He stared blankly at the couch opposite of him, the spot where Chloe sat just now.
The image of Chloe, who got nervous when he asked about Vincent, was imprinted in his mind. Because that version of Chloe was vastly different from the Big sister Chloe, he knew growing up.
Big sister Chloe was very smart, bright, bubbly, and firm when needed. She was like a gentle light that became a guiding light for Vernon amidst his life in a dysfunctional family.
"I always thought… as long as Big sister Chloe is by my side, then I\'ll be doing just fine…." Vernon murmured. "I\'ve always wanted her to be by my side. But when she\'s with me right now, all I did was hurt her ...."
Vernon was already 100% convinced that Chloe had been abused by his Big brother. Her reaction was too real and extreme to be faked, and she didn\'t even wail when her forehead was bruised after hitting the floor.
She cried silently, and in Vernon\'s eyes— Chloe had been enduring so much that she cried on the spot whenever she remembered Vincent.
…
Vernon lowered his head and stared at the bite mark made by Chloe on his wrist just now.
"Even this bite mark… she was so desperate just to escape me…."
Vernon lifted his arm to have a better look at the vicious bite mark.
Chloe bit his wrist so hard that the bitten area had turned purple. It was painful, of course. But Vernon wasn\'t all that bothered when he got physically hurt, so he didn\'t really care about the throbbing pain.
What he cared about the most was the pain in his heart. Because the more he stared at the bite mark, the more he despaired.
Vernon gently rubbed the teeth printed on his wrist and murmured, "I should\'ve noticed sooner. Now I\'m not sure how to make you trust me."
Originally, Vernon reunited with Chloe to torture her, so she would understand the pain he experienced. But he felt so stupid now since what he had done was just ruining the bits of trust from Chloe.
Just because he was a petty bastard.
"Am I too late?" Vernon asked himself. "I want to ask for her forgiveness. I want her to know that—"
"—That I will protect her," Vernon murmured. He had wanted to say this sentence the moment he entered the penthouse.
"I want to be the one who sees your smile every morning. I want to be a good dream for you. I… I want you to trust me, Big sis—no— Chloe."
"This little Vernon is a full-grown man now. I can protect you, even if that will kill me…."
Vernon closed his eyes, and his mouth continued spouting all the things he had been holding for so long.
He was talking to the air like an idiot, even though he could say everything right in front of Chloe a moment ago.
"You\'re my nightmare, and also my daydream, Chloe. I don\'t know if I should let my guard down or not."
Vernon went silent for a while, trying to retrieve a piece of love he buried deep in his heart.
"Chloe, I want you to know that you are my first love, and that feeling never disappears."
…
…
…
There was no answer because the woman who was supposed to hear about his confession had run away because she was terrified and traumatized.
Vernon scoffed, feeling like an idiot.
"Ah, I don\'t know if I can say that again. I will probably let it be buried deep in my heart…."
**
Chloe slammed the door shut and locked it after successfully escaping her abuser. Her whole body was trembling, even after she had locked the door.
She was afraid that Vincent would suddenly break in and hit her.
She ran to the bathroom to find a safer space and locked the bathroom door.
She stood at the corner of the bathroom while staring at the door, ready to scream if Vincent suddenly appeared.
But after a while, she realized there was no sign of Vincent everywhere, and her mind gradually recovered.
"I— What am I doing?" Chloe asked herself.
She opened the bathroom door and checked on the empty bedroom.
There was no sign of struggle and no broken mirror or scattered items on the floor. Because she remembered clearly that she threw everything toward Vincent just so he would back off.
Chloe sat on the bed and stared emptily at the door. She turned her head to look in the mirror and saw that her forehead had been bruised, and tears were still streaming down her cheeks without her knowing.
Gradually, she remembered that she had mistakenly seen Vernon as Vincent.
Maybe Vernon didn\'t realize it, but the way he spoke, the way he hugged her from behind, and the way he tried to persuade her— all of them were almost an exact copy of what Vincent did.
Vincent was like a viper who coiled your body and spouted venom from his lips. He would destroy Chloe\'s self-confidence and ensure she could only look down and obey him no matter what.
She felt guilty for acting crazy in front of Vernon because she basically had confirmed the abuse that she had experienced for the past ten years.
"I… I\'ve promised myself not to tell him because I don\'t want him to think about my abuse…." Chloe murmured. "He also didn\'t deserve to know— nobody deserves to know about what I experienced. They will see me as a crazy bitch…."
Chloe told everything to that psychologist and also the psychiatrist that Vincent brought, and they called her a crazy bitch. She shouldn\'t make up stuff because Mr. Vincent Gray wasn\'t an evil man.
"He will not believe me, right?" Chloe asked herself. "Vernon will see me as a crazy bitch, just like the rest of them."