What Nathaniel confessed was the truth and nothing but the truth. It was true that he approached Penny with ulterior motives. He approached her after learning everything about her: her likes, dislikes, hobbies, friends, family, and even her routine. He studied her to gain her trust easily.
But alas, everything he studied about her was unnecessary to earn her trust. She was a foolish woman who would trust a loser like him for no reason.
Initially, Nathaniel found her foolishness hilarious and ridiculous. He mocked her behind her back and criticized her for it. This continued for as long as he could rember, until one night, when his boss called him for their next plan, he realized he didn’t want her to beco a scapegoat.
Nathaniel tried to warn her, but she didn’t pick up on his hints. He attempted to change her mind and send her away, but she found his warnings amusing. He tried to indirectly tell her she would be in trouble, but she was too foolish to be scared.
Therefore, he took matters into his own hands and tried to change his boss’s mind. The night he had a drink with Penny near the bridge, Nathaniel went to see his boss to negotiate. He tried to leverage everything he could just to ensure they would leave her out of it. All he got that night was a good beating.
It was too late. Penny was already part of the plan Nathaniel had concocted from the beginning.
Nathaniel laughed to shrug off the bitterness in his heart. "That’s the story," he said, jerking his chin at the person who shouldn’t be there at all. "What about you? Why are you ddling?"
"I was bored," Zoren replied quickly, as if he hadn’t even thought about it. "That is a touching story. I’m moved to tears."
Yet he didn’t look touched at all. Zoren lifted the pistol at him again, his expression unchanged from the beginning. anwhile, Nathaniel kept his gaze on the man, focusing on the finger sliding on the trigger.
"Where... were you all this ti?"
It was a strange thing to ask soone he had just t, but Nathaniel was deeply curious about it. After all, he was a man of information. He knew everything that was happening in and out of Anteca, including the fact that Zoren Pierson was currently widowed.
Shifting his eyes to Zoren, a twisted, subtle smile crept onto Nathaniel’s face. "If you didn’t know her until now, but you’re still willing to ddle in her affairs to the point of even marrying her dead body... what were you doing that kept you so preoccupied?"
"Why didn’t you get bored a lot earlier?" he added under his breath, wishing Zoren had intervened sooner. Nathaniel had no power to stop it, but Zoren could have—Penny would still be alive. She wouldn’t have even lasted a day in jail.
"Where have you been?" he asked quietly, but received nothing in return.
All Nathaniel got was silence. Zoren simply gazed at him coldly, saying nothing—not because he was ignoring him, but because he didn’t know what to say.
The brief silence they shared was enough of an answer for Nathaniel. He understood.
His lips curled up as his eyes softened, thinking of what this man had been doing to ensure his dead wife—whom he didn’t even know—got the justice she deserved. Then, thinking of Penny, a shallow breath slipped past his nostrils.
"Mr. Pierson," he called. "You and Penny... would have made a great pair. I know this after studying countless people."
He tilted his head and huffed. "She would have been a lot happier, or rather, a little less lonely, if she had t you."
The corner of Nathaniel’s lips curled up as he noticed Zoren’s finger on the trigger. Slowly, he closed his eyes, welcoming his death as he felt he deserved it. After all, when he heard of Penny’s death, he knew he could never live with the guilt in his heart.
He was not a man who deserved to live.
All the things he had gained in return for selling her—cars, money, title, rank, everything—had lost their value. Even his ambition to be respected in the underground, to be feared, vanished without a trace. After obtaining all the things he had chased, he realized they weren’t as good as he had imagined.
So dying for such a reason felt right.
BANG!
A single gunshot echoed in the room, almost deafening everyone. Eyes slowly shifted to Zoren before lines appeared on their foreheads. Even Nathaniel’s knitted brows deepened as he opened his eyes, surprised to find himself still alive.
Looking up, he saw Zoren holding the gun at him. However, the man had missed, and everyone knew it was on purpose.
Without a word, Zoren glanced at Mark and tossed the gun to him. The latter caught it in midair despite his confusion. Everyone had thought Zoren would end Nathaniel’s life—he had said so himself, and he was a man of his word.
"Hey..." Nathaniel called, watching Zoren wordlessly walk away. "Hey! Why didn’t you shoot ?! Hey! Zoren Pierson! What is wrong with you?! Shoot ! Don’t tell you haven’t killed anyone?! Are you scared of killing soone? Why did you stop?! Hey!"
Zoren paused after a few more steps, glancing back at him. The mont his gaze landed on Nathaniel, all he saw was Nathaniel’s desperation to die.
"You said you’re not afraid of anything," he said calmly and emotionlessly. "It’s a lie. You’re scared of sothing and that is living. Yet, you do not have the courage to end yourself because if you did, you would’ve done it. But until now, you haven’t killed yourself. I’m not going to help you. Live a lot longer... and suffer from your own prison."
Nathaniel’s heart dropped as he watched Zoren peel his gaze away from him. Zoren then cast a look at one of the bodyguards on the side.
"Keep him alive," he ordered in the sa calm manner before he resud his strides. But before Zoren could leave, he stopped and looked back at Nathaniel one last ti.
He furrowed his brows and tilted his head to the side. "I was busy... so in my next life, I won’t be. I might et her then, perhaps much earlier, for I am very curious about what kind of person I married. I’d rather hear it from her than from soone like you."
At this point, everyone simply thought what Zoren said was ridiculous. They believed Zoren said that just to maintain the fact that he had answers to everything. However, Zoren’s thoughts were the opposite.
He believed it.
Ridiculous, yes. But it was better to believe sothing than nothing at all.
Who would have thought what he said back then would co true?
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