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She was disgusted to be touched by someone with the same mindset as Vincent, even if that man was her cute little Vernon, whom she raised and adored so much.

Vernon sensed the hostility and disgust in Chloe's eyes. He noticed how she kept rubbing her wrist as if she wanted to get something dirty off her skin.

Vernon's eyes turned red, and his veins popped out almost instantly. He got up and yelled at Chloe, "How dare you rub your wrist like that?! Do you think I'm disgusting?!"

Chloe said nothing. She was scared right now, of course.

But there was another feeling that beat fear, and it was disgust.

"Say something!" Vernon yelled again. Chloe's action seriously angered him to the point that he was losing control.

He didn't want to be looked down on by anyone, especially not by Chloe, whom he had built his entire career for.

Chloe kept glaring at Vernon for a while. She wanted to yell back at him, telling him that he was disgusting for looking down on her just because she was a woman.

But she didn't have the urge to be mad.

Or perhaps she simply couldn't raise her voice at Vernon, the little boy she raised so dearly.

Thus, Chloe opened her lips slowly;

"I raised you and taught you to be respectful, Vernon Phoenix Gray," Chloe said. Her voice was shaky, and she was absolutely terrified right now.

But she stood on her ground. Because she wanted to save a little bit of dignity that she had.

She had thrown most of her dignity for the sake of survival. She became a maid and a bed warmer for her brother-in-law because she needed to survive with her daughter.

But she was working an honest job that didn't hurt anyone.

So when someone said that all women were materialistic, it also poked that small dignity she desperately tried to protect.

"Yeah, you raised me to be respectful, and then what? I AM respectful to you! Don't you see how kind and patient I am?!" Vernon continued yelling.

He saw that Chloe didn't look scared or run away like usual. She stood on her ground, and that somehow made him very uncomfortable.

The way she kept glaring at him as if she was challenging his authority!

"What? Why are you looking at me like that? Am I some sort of criminal to you?!"

"Vernon..." Chloe called his name gently but with a certain reprimanding tone that she usually used when he was a kid. "You don't understand, do you?"

"W--What? What do you mean?" Vernon was taken aback by that question. Because truthfully, he didn't understand anything right now.

He was like a lost kid that got angry when someone pointed out that he was lost.

His defense mechanism told him to get angry, so he could mask the fact that he was ashamed for knowing nothing.

"I--I understand! I understand that you're offended by some of my words!" Vernon retorted, trying to get some confidence back. "That's why I told you to let it slide, because I feel like I haven't said anything wrong!"

"I can't let it slide. Because it's offensive to me...."

"Then tell me what I said wrong!" Vernon gritted his teeth and pointed at Chloe's face. "Why are you so dramatic over this? Just tell me and we can sort it out!"

...

"If you don't realize what you said wrong, then I have no obligation to tell you, Vernon. You're an adult...." Chloe said. "But let me tell you why I don't want to eat with you now...."

Chloe took a deep breath, knowing this would be painful and she would definitely regret everything after this.

But she couldn't endure this in her heart for too long, especially after Vernon called her dramatic.

"You want me to be healthy and eat well, right?"

Vernon nodded without hesitation, still not understanding the connection between those two different topics.

"Well, I can't look at your face right now, Vernon," Chloe said coldly. "You remind me so much of Vincent, and I can't eat anything when I imagine him around me. He... disgusts me."

Vernon was stunned the moment Chloe mentioned Vincent. He never expected himself to be in the same category as his vile Big brother.

"W--What do you mean by that?" Vernon's voice softened, but he was mostly confused and in shock. That sentence was hard for him to digest.

"You remind me so much of him, Vernon. You literally said the same thing that he usually said to me. You and him... have the same mindset."

Chloe was trying hard to cover Vincent's abuse from Vernon. But at some point, she knew that a few things were bound to get leaked, especially after Vernon accidentally triggered her trauma and she called him the wrong name.

'Ah, I regret this already...' Chloe fretted. 'But whenever I remember about Vincent, I feel like fighting back. There is no way I'll keep being his doormat after ten years of abuse.'

Chloe felt that her anger was misplaced towards Vernon. After all, Vernon looked absolutely devastated right now.

But she just couldn't hide her disgust.

'I don't know what Vernon will do next. Maybe I should be the one who apologized... but not now. I just... can't.'

"Please understand that I can't see you right now, Vernon...." Chloe said. "Please excuse me, and... don't forget to eat lunch. You have a meeting after lunch, right?"

Vernon continued staring at Chloe in silence. He watched her back as she left the office.

Vernon continued gazing emptily at the door until his gaze started getting blurry.

"Ugh! Don't cry, you loser!" Vernon scolded himself. He rubbed his eyes to stop the tears that almost dropped from the corner of his eyes.

Vernon lowered his head and stared at the food that Chloe had prepared.

"She's right...." Vernon murmured. "I seriously have no idea what I did wrong. But what should I do if she refuses to tell me? How can I correct myself?"