anwhile...
Penny stopped, her eyes fixed on the floor. When she saw a pair of shoes in front of her, she slowly raised her head and t Mark’s eyes. Their gazes mirrored each other, catching the gloom in each other’s expressions despite the pretty attire they wore for today’s reunion party.
"I don’t want to go," Penny blurted out, shaking her head. "I feel like... I feel like I’m going to get sick."
Mark, his complexion pale, nodded. "Shall we not go, Miss Penny?"
"No, I have to — that thing you said before... can you do it?"
"The appointnt?"
"Yes! That one!"
Mark drew a deep breath and thought about it. "If I say the matriarch of the Pierson Family..."
"What?"
"If the request ca from the matriarch of the Pierson Family, of course, I can."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"How co you didn’t ntion that before?" Penny blurted out after a mont of silence. "I’m not used to that kind of privilege, but shouldn’t you have at least told — or even argued with about it — before we got to this point?"
Mark opened and closed his mouth, wondering how it was his fault that she wasn’t used to the title she carried the day she married Zoren.
"You’ve been Mrs. Pierson for five years," he breathed out before shaking his head. "It doesn’t matter, Miss Penny. Let’s just cancel."
Penny nodded. "You’re right. I can’t — I just saw the reunion the and the venue design — I can’t. I feel like I’m going to get sick."
"Then I’ll call Lily."
"No, I’ll do it. Just call my brothers and tell them I can’t make it. Or better yet, don’t tell them at all. Tell them thirty minutes later, when they’re already there."
Mark and Penny exchanged a determined glance, nodding at each other. At that mont, their hearts had made their decision. However, it ca a little too late. As they turned away from each other after their last nod, the door to the residence suddenly flew open with a loud bam.
BAM!
Penny and Mark flinched at the sound. Even before they could look, they felt a foreboding chill in their hearts. They turned their heads like rusty robots, their faces twitching as they saw Atlas and Slater standing in the doorway, looking like they were making an entrance in an action movie.
Slater and Atlas were glowing — they were almost sparkling. Slater wore a Penny headband on his head, a Penny shirt over his sweater, and Penny earrings on his ears. A small purple backpack hung from his shoulder.
Atlas, on the other hand, wasn’t as extravagant as Slater, but he was spinning his keys around his finger. Attached to the keys were Penny keychains. He also had a small Penny badge pinned on his pocket, and to show off even more, he fixed his cufflinks, revealing a sticker with his little sister’s face on them.
Penny gasped in horror, wide-eyed. "Mark," she whispered. "Can you knock them out without hurting them?"
"..." Mark blinked, equally stunned by the sight before him. It was as though this was enough to bring back all the childhood trauma he had. Mark wasn’t surprised by Slater, as he was the proudest of the Bennets about this whole fan club thing.
But Atlas!? Mark was utterly speechless. And if Atlas was here, carrying all those corny fan club trinkets, it could only an one thing — they were here for serious business.
"Miss Penny, I don’t think they’d go down without putting up a fight," Mark whispered to her, his only ally at this point. "They’d get hurt."
"You’re in this position — and you’re even so high-ranking person in my husband’s... you know?" she panicked, facing Mark urgently. "Co on! Do sothing!"
Mark clenched his teeth, his gaze fixed on his boss’s brothers-in-law. He felt reluctant. This was the Bennets, after all, and if Penny wanted to knock them out, she should do it herself! She was just as capable! But here she was, asking him to be her scapegoat for the thousandth ti when it reached Zoren’s ears.
"Fine," he surrendered, taking a deep breath as he thought of ways to knock out the approaching Atlas and Slater Bennet. But before Mark could do anything, he noticed sothing flashing behind them.
Penny and Mark furrowed their brows, shifting their gaze to the blinking lights behind the two. It looked like soone was wearing lighting butterfly wings, their outlines shimring with different colors and patterns. When the person with the huge, glowing butterfly wings ca into view, they gasped.
"Se — Second Brother?!" Mark and Penny exclaid in unison, watching Hugo flash them a bright smile. Unlike Slater, Hugo wore a sequined shirt that he rubbed down to reveal a portion of Penny’s face.
Penny’s face twitched. Not only was her second brother wearing ridiculous wings, but he was also rubbing his shirt to show off the "magic" of the sequined shirt.
Mark: "..."
Penny: "..."
Slater grinned from ear to ear, while Atlas smirked triumphantly. As for Hugo, he was just happy to be there.
"You..." Penny finally broke her silence, glancing between her brothers, who were surely here to drag her to hell. "... suit the shirts!"
As soon as Penny’s words left her mouth, she turned to flee. She believed Mark could easily knock out Slater and Atlas, but with Hugo there, her chances were slim. It was better to flee than argue or fight back.
But just as Penny turned and took a step away, a hand suddenly grabbed the collar of her clothes. She stopped and smiled nervously. When she turned her head, she saw her third brother grinning at her until his eyes were nearly squinting.
"Penny, shall we go together to your fan club reunion?"
"Ah..." Penny chuckled awkwardly. "... hell no—"
"Alright!" Slater didn’t even let her finish. He turned to the others. "Let’s go! Mark, you’re coming too! Chop chop!"
In Penny and Mark’s minds, all they could do was dramatically scream, "Nooooo!" as the Bennet Brothers dragged them, with Slater pulling Penny along and Hugo clinging to Mark’s arm like a little fairy.
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