There had been countless instances where Penny had encountered this guy, Mark, before she left Anteca. In her first life, she knew him as the guy who was kicked out of school for standing up for Slater. He had always seed like a good guy with a face that made him look like trouble.
Penny hadn’t ddled much with him because she was able to stop the big event that got him expelled by dealing with her third brother’s bullies early on. However, she had crossed paths with him several tis since they were in the sa fan club — her fan club, apparently.
From what she rembered, Mark had strayed far from the delinquent image she once had of him because of that fan club.
How could she forget? There had been tis when Mark wore headbands and rchandise with her face on them while doing fan club duties. She knew it was against his will, yet he always completed the tasks given to him by the other club mbers flawlessly.
"Oh, my god..." Penny gasped, lowering her head as she walked back to the residence with Mark by her side.
Mark, anwhile, stayed silent. His flushed face and wide eyes, fixed on the ground, said everything.
"That’s you...?" Penny slowly turned her head toward him, still in disbelief. She caught him peeking at her and pursed her lips. "Well, hello there, my forr schoolmate."
Mark forced a smile, but couldn’t hide his discomfort. "Please, Miss Penelope, don’t tell anyone about my past." — his dark past.
’Why does he make it sound like being my fan is a terrible experience?’ she wondered, though she also didn’t have fond mories of the fan club. Although it had good intentions that contributed to her legendary title at the Summit School of Excellence, she didn’t want to relive the horrors of those banners, standees, and rchandise with her face plastered everywhere.
"The feeling is mutual." Penny scrunched up her nose. "I don’t want to rember that part of the past, either."
Penny and Mark both stared at the ground and let out simultaneous deep sighs. Recalling that shared past wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. Just as Mark had been constantly harassed by young girls who forced him to join the fan club, Penny had her own struggles at that ti.
Noticing her similar reaction, Mark raised an eyebrow. He glanced at Penny and furrowed his brows.
"You didn’t like that mory either?" he asked, only for her to look up at him with a soured expression.
"Do you think I wanted it in the first place?"
"Well, you were very popular back then."
"The only good thing about that club was that it gave students sothing positive to do," she sighed, shaking her head. "But other than that, it was a pain in the neck."
"I understand." He nodded, sighing at the sa ti. "Aside from that, everything else was... horrible."
"Sotis, it still gives nightmares."
"The feeling is mutual."
Again, they both sighed as taphorical dark clouds lood over their heads. The guards watching them walk back, with Renny and Chunchun following behind, furrowed their brows.
"Why do the young madam and the captain look so gloomy?" one of the bodyguards wondered. "Did sothing bad happen?"
"Bad? Or sad? Looks like they’re bonding over so trauma to ."
"Is it stress?"
The guards made a few guesses, but none of them could figure out why Penny and Mark seed so down. After all, they rarely interacted with Penny, as their job was to watch over her... and make sure she wouldn’t kill anyone.
"Well, as long as they’re not killing each other," one of the bodyguards said, giving up on guessing. "I guess everything’s fine."
The other guard nodded. "Yeah, as long as no one’s getting hurt, it’s none of our business."
"She didn’t sneak a drink, did she?"
"Where’s the wine cellar now?"
"Guest house."
At that, all the bodyguards looked at each other, suddenly on high alert. Their reaction was more of a trauma response as they quickly set their eyes on Penny, checking for any signs she had been drinking. They also glanced at Mark, making sure he wasn’t roughed up.
Unaware of the guards’ concerns, Penny and Mark reached the other entrance of the house.
"What’s wrong with them?" she mumbled, noticing more guards outside, all glancing in her direction cautiously.
Mark raised an eyebrow and looked at where she was looking. "Probably just doing their rounds."
"Ah..." she nodded, then snapped her eyes back to him. When their eyes t, she clicked her tongue. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about that, okay?"
"Miss Penelope, are you sure?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "Although I’d like to know how you ended up as Renren’s bodyguard. But I’d rather hear it from him."
Mark sighed. "I’m sure he’ll tell you everything. Though the story isn’t as complicated as you might think."
"Hehe, small world, huh?"
"Mhm. Small world indeed."
"Anyway, nice eting you again. I’m heading back to the study room." She grinned, shoving all the embarrassing childhood mories into a corner of her mind she never intended to revisit.
Mark lowered his head, watching her walk inside. Once she was out of sight, he let out another sigh of relief. This ti, it was because she hadn’t caught the person in the guest house.
’Good thing I was following her,’ he thought, glancing in the direction they had co from. ’Was that guy trying to sneak out? The boss needs to decide what to do with that guy now that he’s denied Patricia Miller’s existence.’
Little did he know, though Penny might have been distracted by embarrassing mories, she hadn’t completely ignored her instincts.
---
As soon as Penny reached the study, she marched to the window and peeked outside. "I never realized that from here, you can actually see quite a bit," she whispered, her eyes locked on the guest house from the distance.
"My instincts tell soone’s in there... and my instincts are never wrong."
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