46: Chapter 46

Chapter 46

"What are you doing here?"0

Mackie saw a man sitting at the dining table, his eyes were like a hawk's, and his brooding gaze only scared her even more.

He looked like her Daddy, but without the trace of his Daddy's kindness. He was also bigger and scarier than her Daddy! 

Mackie took a step back immediately. She was always aware of stranger danger and feared random, scary-looking adults. 

"W—Who are you?!" Mackie asked loudly, almost screaming as she became so guarded. 

Vernon scoffed, "That should be my question. This is my house, do you not know? It's not good to walk in without permission."

"B—But…" Mackie didn't understand why would her Mommy visit and work with this scary uncle that looked like Daddy. 

"W—Where is my Mommy?"

"Your Mom is in the laundry room," Vernon pointed with his chin before returning to his pancake breakfast. Mackie saw the fluffy five stacked pancakes with maple syrup and dried berries and pointed at Vernon;

"T—That's Mackie's pancake!" Mackie yelled.

"Huh?" Vernon swallowed the pancake inside his mouth and turned his head towards the little girl again. She saw Mackie pointing at the pancake. 

"That's Mackie's pancake!" Mackie repeated.

"And why is that?" Vernon asked. He gave the little girl a deep gaze, thinking it would scare her. But much to his disbelief, Mackie got even braver, as if her life depended on that pancake.

"Mommy said that she will make five fluffy pancakes for Mackie!"

"You think your Mom is the only one who can make a pancake?"

"But that's Mommy's Pancake! I know it!" Mackie insisted. "Scary uncle is a thief!"

STAB!

Vernon's lips twitched out of annoyance. He felt a stab in his heart when he got called a thief by a little girl. He never liked kids— in fact, he hated them most of the time, and the hate was mutual. Because all the kids would be scared of him for an obvious reason.

Vernon had a similar appearance to Vincent, but Vernon was taller and had a bigger frame, also a completely different aura and behavior. Vincent would smile and look amiable in front of kids, just like he did in front of the press. 

But Vernon never hid his true expression. If he disliked something, everything would be exposed just by looking at his face. 

And he disliked a lot of things most of the time.

However, Chloe's daughter was more interesting than he thought because she seemed adamant about claiming a pancake.

A mischievous thought popped in his head, and Vernon stabbed the five stack of pancakes with his fork and sliced it with a knife. 

He grabbed the maple syrup and poured it on the pancakes before showing it to Mackie, "You're right. Your Mom cooked this for you. But I'm the first to find it, so it's mine now!"

Vernon fit the whole thing inside his mouth before chewing it, deliberately showing an expression of delight as he ate the pancake.

After he gulped it, Vernon looked at Mackie, whose eyes were already glazing with tears, "What can you do about it? Your pancake is mine now."

"I—I will tell my Mommy!" 

"Go on, tell her," Vernon said. His pettiness showed, and he took delight in Mackie, who got upset.

"Wu… wu… WUAAAAA!" Mackie ran towards the laundry room and rushed towards her Mommy, who was loading the laundry into the dryer. "MOMMY!"

"Wha—" Chloe almost lost her balance when Mackenzie suddenly stormed in and jumped on her thighs. "W—What's wrong, Mackie? Why are you crying?"

"Wuu… wuuu… my pancakes, a scary uncle stole my fluffy pancake!" 

"Scary uncle?"

"Yes, um… he looks like Daddy, but bigger and scarier!" Mackie reported.

Chloe got the idea of the person immediately. Mackie must've been talking about Vernon.

'Mackie must've thought that pancake was her breakfast since Chloe promised to make pancake as breakfast last night,' Chloe thought. 

But she didn't make one for Mackie because she was still sleeping, and the pancake wouldn't be tasty anymore if it got cold.

"Mackie, no need to be mad—" 

"Mommy, scold the thief! Mackie wants the pancake back!"

"W—wait—" Chloe had no time to explain when Mackie suddenly jumped out of her thigh and grabbed her hands.

Mackie tried to pull her Mommy towards the living room.

Once Mackie was able to bring her Mommy in front of the man that looked like her Dad, she quickly hid behind her Mommy's legs.

Mackie pointed at the man still sitting on the same spot, leaning at the dining chair while spreading his legs like he was some kind of boss.

"There he is, Mommy! The pancake thief!"

Chloe was a little scared when she had to face Vernon like this. But when she saw Vernon didn't seem to be in a bad mood, she tried to clear things out;

"V—Vernon, I'm sorry for my daughter's words. She thought that pancake was—"

"She accused me of stealing pancake," Vernon suddenly interrupted. "Obviously, you make it for me, right?"

"W—Well, yeah…."

"Then I'm the rightful owner of that pancake!"

"But Mommy promised it was for me! You must've forced my Mommy!"

"Who forced her? She made it for me!" 

…

Somehow, Chloe felt she was standing between an argument between two kids. Vernon was beyond petty, even to a little kid. Rather than saying sorry and acting guilty in front of Mackie, he decided to challenge her in an argument.

After hearing enough, Chloe sighed and raised her voice, "Okay, stop!"

Vernon and Mackie stopped their argument once Chloe raised her voice, "I will cook for Mackie the same thing. There is a banana- apple and milk smoothie inside the fridge."

"Huh? How do you know that I drink a banana-apple smoothie for breakfast?" Vernon asked. He was a little surprised because it's actually his favorite. Any kind of banana and dairy product was his favorite. Combining them into a smoothie with other fruits was a great mood booster for him in the morning.

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