"I got us married...?"
If Penny and Zoren hadn’t reached this point in their relationship, or if they had found out about it much earlier, it could have been a breaking point for any connection they had. Given their backgrounds, it wouldn’t be surprising if this revelation beca the catalyst for a long-standing distrust Zoren might hold against her.
"Oh, my god..." Penny scoffed, her hand trembling slightly. ’I did marry a handso guy—but I didn’t an soone on the brink of death!’
Penny didn’t like to linger on her previous life anymore, especially her ti in prison. However, with this new information, she couldn’t help but recall a mory—one of her and Grace talking about Penny dating a guy. That ridiculous conversation she had with Grace in her previous life.
Penny pressed her lips together as she helplessly looked up at the man across from her. "How did you know all of these details, though?" she asked, since the files only confird their location, Penny’s presence in the ward, and the stand-ins who officiated the wedding.
"You told ," Zoren shrugged. "You told the night you snuck in here, drunk."
Although his voice was calm and forgiving, without a trace of mockery, it stirred a bubble of sha in her heart.
"I rembered? All of it?" she asked, and he nodded. "All this ti, I knew how I got married?"
"When you’re drunk... that’s what I believe."
She gasped, scoffing at the sheer absurdity. Penny glanced down at the file again before pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I think I’m starting to get it now," she muttered. "So, in other words, I forget everything once I’m sober? But when I drink, I rember all the things I did every ti I was drunk?"
Zoren nodded before she asked, "Should I see a psychiatrist?"
"Do you think you need to?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. "Would that be alright with you?"
"Well..." Penny gazed down, clasping her trembling hands.
All this ti, Penny believed that when she was drunk, her drunken state seed to live more in her past life. But with this new piece of information—sothing she wouldn’t have known without Zoren—it changed everything.
It didn’t just make her just a drunk.
It showed just how split her mind was. It scared her—terrified her, even. She knew herself better than anyone, and thus, she knew that to deal with thatPenny, she had to confront herself.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Zoren respected her mont of silence, letting her process everything. After all, this wasn’t the only thing he wanted to tell her. Zoren believed that for him to protect herself, she needed to know everything else. Only then could she also protect herself and beco even more mindful than she already was.
’I didn’t ask for her father’s permission about this,’he thought. ’But Atlas agreed with my plans, so he can handle the family while I work with her.’
Penny took a deep breath after collecting her thoughts. When she lifted her gaze to him, her expression was solemn.
"Did you tell Dad about this?" she asked.
"I ntioned your drunken antics in passing, but I don’t think we delved into it because of the matter at hand," he replied in the sa serious tone. "Though, I did tell your First Brother about it."
"That ti in the restaurant?"
"Yes, but that was before I had these reports. I told him I’d update him once I did," he explained. "And now, he knows."
"I see." Penny let out a shallow breath. "When you ca by our house... why? I initially put the question on hold because of everything that was happening. But I know you wouldn’t rush to et with my family without telling unless there was sothing else."
"The people I ntioned earlier—we found them dead."
"What?" Deep lines appeared between her brows. "Those guys I had a bet with?"
"Yes."
"When? I an, how?"
Zoren shrugged mildly. "They were perfectly fine until I started looking into what happened five years ago. Then I found out about an anonymous order they received to take care of you. Before my people could reach them, they were dead."
Again, silence fell between them. But this wasn’t the sa silence they shared during the al or monts ago. This silence was heavy; the air was thick. Penny could only stare at Zoren in slight shock, her mind blank.
"They died? Because you started looking into it?"
Zoren nodded. "Your father told what might have happened."
Her already furrowed brows deepened. Now that he ntioned it, Penny recalled that Hugo had told her about them knowing about Charles’s past, and that Zoren knew as well. However, hearing it from Zoren stirred an inexplicable feeling in her heart.
"Okay." Penny exhaled deeply, placing the docunts down and leaning back. She t his gaze sternly. "Is that why you said you wanted to take ho?"
"No." His response was quick. "I wanted to take you ho because I wanted to be with you. And if they were only hurting you, then I’d take you away from them. Obviously, I was wrong." Which was strange because Zoren was rarely wrong.
Even his intuition about Penny being his Thursday girl was right. He had simply dismissed the idea, believing it was unfair to date soone just because they reminded him of his precious friend. Even so, it turned out he was right, and Penny had been good at hiding it.
Penny smiled wryly at him, knowing he wasn’t wrong. The Penny he t when she was drunk was hurt—broken. So, technically, his intuition had been spot on.
"So, to clarify, you also know that coming here doesn’t protect you? But rather, whoever they are, they might target you as well," she asked, and he nodded. "Why did you still do it when your plate is already full with your family?"
"My family doesn’t take up my entire plate," he replied knowingly, smiling. "I can handle it."
Penny sighed. "Renren."
"Are you saying you’d go ho because of this?"
"No."
"Then that settles it."
Penny pressed her lips into a thin line before saying, "I’ll deal with them soon."
"We will," he corrected. "We’ll do it together. You’re not alone, Penny, and you’ll never be alone again."
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