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Chloe completely ignored Vernon and went out of the office, leaving Vernon alone, wondering what went wrong with his sentence.

"Did I say something wrong? She is obviously suffering from bulimia, just looking at her reaction," Vernon murmured. "If she keeps everything bottled up, how am I supposed to help?"

He sighed and put the plate on the table. He was gentle to her and even tried his best to be patient despite Chloe acting like a difficult child.

Vernon also noticed that Chloe thoroughly enjoyed her lunch, but when he confronted her about her eating disorder, she immediately retreated and became extremely guarded again.

He thought he had become his best version and was entitled to obtain all the information he wanted from Chloe.

"This is like playing a cat and mouse game. I keep luring her out by acting nice, but whenever I want to catch her, she would retreat and hide inside her hole again," Vernon murmured.

It was the first time he actually showed concern for another person in his life. He thought that as long as it benefited him, he didn't care what the others felt about him.

After all, that was the recipe for success in the cold world of elite business.

"Should I continue acting nice in front of her? But what happens when I have bad days? Should I continue acting nice even though I want to explode in front of everyone?" Vernon asked himself. He was fighting against his own habit at this point.

"Urgh, I need someone to guide me in this," Vernon finally picked up his phone and searched for a contact number.

He stopped at one contact number, pressed it, and murmured, "Okay, I think he can help."

Vernon pressed the call button, and after a few beeps, the line was connected;

—

"Good afternoon, Mr. CEO. I thought you'd never call."

Vernon heard the voice of a lady in her mid-20s on the phone, and he was familiar with this woman.

"Shailene, I need your help," Vernon said straight to the point.

"Seriously? No small talk, or at least asked if I've been doing well?" Shailene chuckled amusingly.

"… Hey, Shailene, how have you been?"

"Oh? Mr. CEO actually listens to me when I requested something? I thought you were insufferable as always, hahah!"

"It's not funny," Vernon said bitterly. If he didn't have any use for this woman, he wouldn't have called her again.

But Shailene was a young psychologist that was very popular in the U.K. She handled many cases of trauma, mostly from people who had been abused.

She was also dealing with people who had marital issues. Which was perfect since Vernon knew that Chloe was both, even if she hadn't told him anything.

"Well, it's just fun to tease you because you always show a big reaction to a simple joke," Shailene chuckled again, and she finally stopped teasing him. "Well, what can I do for you, Mr. CEO?"

Vernon had known Shailene since their uni days, and he knew how competent she was in her field.

She was the only woman there that he could actually connect with and open up to, so he talked a lot about his life— even about his life growing up with Chloe as his 'Big sis.'

'Too bad we're not close anymore,' Vernon thought.

"I want to use your service," Vernon said. "I have someone— a woman in her 30s, and she has been dealing with stuff that you're expert of, trauma from abuse and also marital problems."

Shailene paused and replied, "Hold on, am I talking to Mr. Vernon Phoenix Gray here? I checked the caller and it is his number, but this is not the behavior that he normally shows, he is an insufferable bastard who would only think of himself and think twice about helping others."

"Yeah, fuck you too, Shailene," Vernon responded harshly. No matter how often he heard Shailene's passive-aggressive talk, he couldn't help but yell and snap at her.

However, Shailene was already used to him— even took amusement at his anger. So she only laughed as a response.

"Ahahahaha… okay, okay, that's you," Shailene confirmed. "So, you want me to console this woman? That's surprising coming from your mouth."

"No, I don't want you to console her. I want you to console me instead," Vernon said.

"… Huh?" Shailene thought she might've misheard that. "You want me to talk with you instead? You know, I'm mostly dealing with people who have experienced severe abuse and trauma. You're more of the type of men who inflict that trauma instead."

"Oh come on, Shailene. I don't need your fucking condescending attitude. I just need someone to help me so I can let her open up to me instead!" Vernon started to regret calling Shailene because this woman always talked to him as if he was an insufferable 10-year-old boy who didn't know how to control himself.

"Ohh, I see what you're coming now," Shailene said. "You know, I don't really want to meet you anymore after many toxic things you did in the past. But I'm quite interested in your problem here. Vernon Phoenix Gray is asking me how to console a woman? Now that's new. How about we set up a small dinner date?"

"Dinner date?"

"Yup, I'm currently in New York for at least half a year. So if you want to meet and talk, we can always do it somewhere nice."

…

Just like Shailene, the animosity between them was mutual. He didn't want to meet her either, but he really needed to have a direct talk so Shailene could help him.

"Fine, we can talk somewhere. I'll ask my secretary to reserve a table for two, I'll text you the location later."

"Oh, that's great, make sure you reserve it for tomorrow afternoon. I'm still busy dealing with a client until 9 today," Shailene agreed. "I'll have to hang up, see you tomorrow, Mr. Phoenix Gray, the rising handsome CEO."

"Urgh, shut up, Shailene."

Beep.

—