365 Chapter 365

"I will not leave, Vernon," Chloe said. "Not when I promise myself to struggle a little against him."

They hugged for a while, and none of them had any intention of letting go.

For Vernon, he simply loved this feeling of burying Chloe in his chest. Maybe his intention was also tainted with a little obsession.

An obsession that demanded him to keep Chloe by his side or even bury her body into him if that meant he wouldn't lose her again.

Meanwhile, Chloe had another idea in mind. She simply loved the hug because Vernon's body temperature was naturally hot, so he was like a human heating pillow, very comfortable during this cold autumn.

It took her at least twenty minutes until she felt too stuffy, "Umm... Vernon. It's been a while, shouldn't you... stop hugging me?"

...

Vernon reluctantly released his bear hug as he had no other reason to hug her for too long.

But they didn't separate even after Vernon stopped hugging her. They stared into each other's eyes. Chloe was a little nervous when those hawk-like eyes gazed at her deeply.

While Vernon was already charmed when those cute doe eyes stared at him with such dependency.

His eyes trailed down and stopped right on her lips. Chloe had thin lips that were a little dry because of the cold wind, which tempted him to make it wet, sharing a warm, passionate kiss.

Vernon gulped as his intrusive thought told him to kiss her right now.

'I--I should be able to kiss her, right?' Vernon asked himself. 'But why am I getting nervous? We kissed a few times, and I don't see any problem with it.'

Vernon kept telling himself there was nothing wrong with kissing her here.

But he acted like a teenage kid who had just experienced his first love. He got so nervous even his palms started to get sweaty.

Chloe didn't realize that Vernon wanted to kiss her, so she patted his shoulder twice and said, "You shouldn't stay here for too long, okay? It's almost the end of autumn, you're going to catch a cold."

She turned around and returned inside the penthouse, leaving Vernon standing like an idiot on the balcony.

He was dumbfounded as he realized he had lost his chance for a kiss.

"Ah, you're so fucking stupid, Vernon!" Vernon blamed himself for his loss. How could he-- a young, ruthless businessman who could always find an opportunity-- suddenly lose his cool and act like a nervous teenage boy?

"Why are you nervous? Don't you see that she is wide open? You can wrap your arm around her waist and kiss her! Argh, idiot!"

Though Vernon continued beating himself, he actually knew the reason for his nervousness.

Because when he kissed Chloe before, there was no love in it.

It was nothing but a lust-ridden, domineering kiss. Even if there was a trace of love in him, it was mostly buried with an even stronger feeling of wanting to ruin her.

But this time, it was different.

"I... I can't help to think whether she will like it or not. Whether she will reciprocate my kiss...." Vernon murmured. His face got redder as he got ashamed of his own actions. He acted like a boy who had just hit puberty yesterday.

"Ugh, stop thinking about this cringy shit, Vernon. You'll look uncool in front of her," Vernon scolded himself. "You should focus on protecting her first and finding a dietician to help her. There are lots to do, so you should put your feelings aside for now...."

**

Chloe woke up early in the morning.

As usual, she prepared breakfast for Mackie and Vernon before waking them up and pulling them to sit at the dining table where she had prepared everything.

Vernon and Mackie were still sleepy, but their eyes didn't leave Chloe's figure, who went back and forth preparing breakfast and juice for them.

She was like warm sunshine on this cold morning, and Mackie was the first to comment on it, "Mommy, you're glowing today!"

"Hm? Glowing?" Chloe was confused by her daughter. "What do you mean? Mommy hasn't taken a bath, you know."

"But you're glowing like the sun!" Mackie realized that her Mommy wouldn't believe her. Thus she was searching for support.

She glanced at the Big bad Uncle staring at her nonstop and commented, "Look at Uncle, Mommy! He keeps staring at you! He's even drooling! Ew, Uncle is gross! You drool like a baby!"

Vernon snapped out of his daze and quickly wiped the drool from the edge of his lips. He glared at Mackie, but Mackie had no fear of him because the image of Uncle Vernon drooling was far more entertaining and funny, so it overrode any intimidation he made.

Vernon could feel his face getting hotter, especially around his ears.

"Uncle is so red! He is like a tomato head now!" Mackie commented. She was giggling mischievously, and that pissed Vernon so much.

'Damn this little devil! She seriously has no tact!'

Chloe also smiled at how her daughter teased Vernon, but she knew that Vernon was as embarrassed as he could be, so it was better not to call him out for it, or else he might start yelling for no reason just to hide his shame.

"Well, Mommy is glowing because of Uncle too, you know," Chloe commented while giving Vernon a side glance. "You should thank him for it."

"Wha, really?" Mackie never expected her Uncle to be helpful. In her mind, Uncle was always there to bully Mommy with a big police stick!

"Thank you for helping my Mommy, Uncle!" Mackie said loud and clear. "Mommy has never looked this happy before. Please help her more so she will shine everyday!"

"And don't bully her again! I don't want you to bully her with a police stick!" Mackie yelled.

"Mine's even bigger than a police stick-- ugh!" Vernon retorted instinctively. As a man, he got offended if his real size got shrunken down. But he suddenly got a silent warning glare at Chloe, and he had to zip his mouth, much to his grievance.