Vernon felt his blood rushing to his dick. The moment Chloe touched his rock-hard cock, he felt the dopamine rush that made his body almost reacted instinctively.
His savage instinct almost overruled his sanity. Had it not for the thorn in his heart right now, he'd definitely carry Chloe into his room and fuck her hard until the morning came.
But he didn't want Chloe to think that he was an easy man to please. He wouldn't yield just because she touched his dick and whispered sweet words.
Thus, when Chloe wanted to unbuckle his belt, he quickly caught her wrist and said, "I'm not in the mood."
"Eh? B—But—" Chloe looked at Vernon's face and then down to his crotch simultaneously. "Um… y—your thing is still hard. Are you sure you don't want to…"
"I'll just take a cold shower," Vernon said. "You should get up and go to sleep. It must've been tiring today."
"Ah, yes, it's very tiring today. But I… um… I can spare some of my energy for you…."
Vernon clenched his jaw as he tried not to lash out at Chloe. In his imagination, Chloe must've had some fun time with this new man, thus why she was tired.
Both his heart and mind were chaotic, and he didn't want to show it in front of Chloe. She was in the process of recovering her appetite and had put on a bit of weight over time.
Unfortunately, she was also prone to lose her appetite whenever stressed out, so Vernon tried his best to lift her mood daily for Chloe's gradual mental and physical health recovery.
Chloe thought Vernon didn't want to look at her because he was a little nervous, just like her. But he'd usually become so eager after Chloe touched him a little.
But today was different.
It seemed like he deliberately refused to look at Chloe for whatever reason, "Vernon?"
"What?"
"Are you alright?"
"I am."
"Then why don't you look at me?" Chloe asked again. She got worried when Vernon replied to her with curt answers.
"I'm not in the mood," Vernon finally couldn't hold himself much longer. He grabbed Chloe's waist and gently propped her up, forcing her to get off his lap.
Vernon stood up and turned around. He walked to his bedroom without looking back.
Chloe was flustered by Vernon's cold attitude, "Wait, Vernon!"
Vernon halted his step, "What?"
"Y—You're acting so weird today. Did something happen in the office? You can tell me what's wrong, maybe that will make you feel better."
Vernon stood in silence for a while before he looked over his shoulder. His hawk-like piercing gaze observed Chloe from head to toe, and he muttered, "There is indeed a problem. But it's not coming from the office."
"R—Really? Then you should tell me, maybe I can help."
"Yes, you can help by stop asking me questions," Vernon said. "I'm tired."
"W--Wait--"
Vernon walked to his bedroom and ignored Chloe, who tried calling him several times.
SLAM!
Chloe jolted when the door slammed. She stood still like an idiot, staring at Vernon's bedroom door, trying to process what had just happened.
"He's mad," Chloe murmured. "But why?"
She wondered if her refusal to move out of this apartment immediately upset him. Or was it because she insisted on attending Mackie's school to handle the bureaucracy?
Or…
Chloe gasped, "D—Did he already guess that I'm meeting someone right now? Did she already guess about Dorothea?"
Chloe quickly covered her mouth and warned herself not to speak too loud, or Vernon might hear her.
She took a few steps back and returned to the kitchen, leaning on the wall near the fridge.
"I don't know why I have a bad feeling about this," Chloe murmured. "Obviously, I have a perfect alibi. I just walked around his apartment because I was bored, and I went on for four hours because I was thinking about transferring Mackie to another school. It's literally perfect."
"But what if… he can see through my lies? After all, people said that I'm a pretty bad liar…."
…
Chloe shook her head as she didn't want to think too much about it, "No, you're just overthinking, Chloe. Vernon would go into an uncontrollable rage if he knows about the meeting with Dorothea."
"That's right, I'm just overthinking. This is all just my anxiety running around," Chloe repeatedly chanted before she returned to her room downstairs. She tried to eliminate her anxiety since she had to spare most of her worries for two different topics.
1. Preparing herself to handle the bureaucracy in Mackie's school so she could transfer without a problem.
2. Finding a way to mend the estranged relationship between Vernon and Dorothea.
Chloe lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling as she thought about Dorothea and Vernon.
"I wonder if there is a way for Vernon to forgive Dorothea. He's not the forgiving type," Chloe thought. "Maybe Dorothea should do something that can make Vernon happy?"
Chloe continued pondering until her mind floated to dreamland. In her dream, she saw Vernon carrying Mackie on his back while she carried a baby in her arms.
Dorothea was standing beside Vernon, while Diamond was standing right next to her. Everyone had a smile on their faces, and it was a picture of a beautiful family that Chloe wanted.
Thus, she spent the night having a good dream.
Unlike Vernon…
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"FUCK!" Vernon cursed while continuously punching the bathroom wall as he was showering with cold water. He didn't care if his knuckles were bruised. He was in so much rage that the cold water somehow felt warm on him.
His teeth gnashed as he was unable to control himself.
"Why? Why are you hiding something from me, Chloe?" Vernon asked. This was the only place he could do such a thing, as he didn't want to scare Chloe. "Why do you need to hide something— or someone? Do I lack something, huh? CHLOE, ANSWER ME!"