Divorced My Scum Husband, Married His Evil brother

—Loudspeaker—

"VERNON WANTS TO MEET YOU!"

…

…

There was a long silence on the other side of the call. But at least Dorothea didn't hang up the phone, much to Chloe's relief.

Chloe knew that Dorothea was trying to process the whole thing, and she was glad she could at least say that to the old woman. It must be something that she had been waiting for so long.

"Chloe… you don't need to lie to make me happy," Dorothea said. "Don't worry, I will manage to live without my sons. I hope I can."

"No—No! Dorothea, Vernon and I made a deal. He confiscated my phone for an entire month, and we will wait until there is a move from you to attack Vincent. He bet that you won't do anything, but I believe that you will!" Chloe kept on speaking while glancing at Vernon next to her. "Vernon found out that you haven't told Vincent about us, and you also helped by stopping the Gray foundation scholarship money for all of the awardees!"

"Ah, I—I didn't expect everything to go so smoothly," Dorothea murmured. "I thought Nigel wouldn't obey my words, and I had failed you. That's why I dare not to call anymore…."

"But you did! Everything went well, and Vernon said that he now had a lot of windows to start attacking Vincent left and right. He is doing even better because of you!" Chloe began to get excited as she imagined Vernon could triumph over Vincent because of his family support.

He always said that he wanted a family of his own.

The real family that he would love and love him back.

"Tsk, you're speaking too much. I will do well even without her help," Vernon finally opened his mouth, and the first thing he said was to belittle Dorothea's aid.

Chloe heard an audible gasp from Dorothea. There was another long silence before she asked, "I—Is that Vernon? He is by your side?"

"Ah, yes. He is by my side right now," Chloe replied truthfully. "Don't worry, he gives me permission to call you. He wants to meet you."

"I DON'T WANT TO MEET HER, WHAT THE HELL, CHLOE!" Vernon shouted and got up from the sofa. "I DON'T EVEN WANT TO SEE HER FACE! STOP MAKING UP STUFF TO MAKE HER HAPPY!"

Chloe's heart jumped when Vernon suddenly yelled at her. She looked up and saw the pooling tears in Vernon's eyes. She gulped as she realized that she might've said too much.

So she put the phone on the coffee table and then got up. She took a step toward Vernon and wiped the tears at the corner of his eyes while whispering, "I'm sorry, I said too much. I know that you don't want to meet her."

Vernon stared at Chloe for a while, and his tears kept on pooling, which he found to be shameful. He was a man, after all. He shouldn't be crying just because his childhood memories began to flood his mind.

"Just finish the call," Vernon said. He turned around and walked to his room.

He slammed his bedroom door and stayed inside until Chloe finished her call.

Chloe sighed. She grabbed the phone again, "Dorothea, are you there?"

"I am," Dorothea replied. "Chloe, you don't need to lie. I know that Vernon hates me."

"I'm sorry. I was just too excited…." Chloe admitted her mistake. "I just can't wait to have you two meet each other…."

"Us? Meeting each other? Why?"

"To make amends, of course."

"That…" Dorothea paused and then sighed. "I don't think that's possible, Chloe. He hates me, and I deserve the hate. Nothing can change that."

"But you have to try, Dorothea! Convince him that you're a changed woman! Tell him that you want to apologize for all the things you did back then!" Chloe insisted. "You should know that Vernon still doesn't allow me to call or contact you in any way until I won this bet before. This is my—I mean, OUR only chance to make things right!"

"Come on, Dorothea. I don't want you to miss it. Just please, try to have a talk with Vernon. This is your only chance to make him listen, so if you want to apologize, then you should!"

…

"Why are you doing this, Chloe?" Dorothea asked.

"Huh?"

"Why do you insist on making things right between Vernon and I. It's my fault that I abused him when he was young, and it's also my fault for ignoring your plea about Vincent's behavior before," Dorothea admitted. She thought that she was past the point of no return anyway. "Why do you keep trying to fix things when nothing that can be done?"

"Because I want to give him a good family!" Chloe stated boldly. She raised her voice as it was her goal the whole time, and she wanted Dorothea and Vernon to hear her. "I want him to know that he is well loved. He didn't have that privilege when he was young, so I want to give him a good family that he can rely on. And I think, there has to be you in it, because you're also part of his trauma that can be healed."

"Dorothea, while I want you to be healed, you should know that my real goal is to make Vernon happy. He gave me so much and I gave him nothing in return for so long. This is my way to make her happy!" Chloe said. "So please, Dorothea, for his sake, please come and talk to him. Tell all the things you want to tell him, say any kind of apology that has been brewing in your heart, I want him to be happy."

"Chloe…" Dorothea was speechless after realizing that Chloe had grown up a lot after so long. She was a scared woman who didn't know what to do when she was with Vincent. She always looked down and barely said anything, especially when Vincent was around.