"Hello, is your company available? I’d like to buy it."
Theo hadn’t processed Penny’s sudden appearance in their ho, and she imdiately blurted out sothing unbelievable. She sounded like she was only buying sothing from the public market.
Disbelief spread across his face as he furrowed his brows, gazing at her from head to toe. Her face looked just as stunning as he rembered it from the charity event, despite being bare of makeup. But her body... it was bigger, as if she were wearing a costu underneath that school uniform he was so familiar with.
When his eyes t hers again, he blurted out, "What?"
---
The Next Mont
"Young Miss Bennet..." Seated in the head chair in the living room, Mister Miller looked at Penny incredulously. "You’re telling us that you’d buy our company?"
"More than its market value," Penny added with a knowing smile. "What do you say?"
Mister Miller held his breath, maintaining a neutral expression. Deep in his heart, however, there was a bubble of joy he didn’t want to entertain. Penny had co to them in the middle of the night. Even if they ignored her outfit and whatever was under that uniform, there was no formality.
"Haha!" Mrs. Miller laughed aloud before her husband or son could gather their thoughts. "Isn’t this convenient for you, Young Miss Bennet? Coming here in the middle of the night in a costu, as if you’re on a trick-or-treating adventure? Do you think the Miller Family are fools?"
"Oh." Penny briefly raised her brows and shoulders.
Mrs. Miller hissed, glaring at Penny. "Penelope Bennet, even if our family is in this situation, you have no right to co here and play us! The Miller Family has been in business as long as the Bennet Family!"
"I know that," Penny smiled again. "That’s why I’m offering this... even though its market value is no more than its debt."
"You—"
"Theo, escort your mother out."
"Husband! Why am I being escorted out not this woman?" Mrs. Miller harrumphed. "Don’t let this little witch co into our house and spew nonsense! Even if she has a company, it’s just started! Do you really think she can afford our company?"
Theo and Mister Miller’s faces darkened, slightly swayed by Mrs. Miller’s argunt.
"Hah! Penelope Bennet, no matter how much recognition you get, we all know what you’re doing," Mrs. Miller snickered. "As businesspeople, it’s obvious you’ve lowered your service rates below the standard to get clients, but that doesn’t an money is flowing in."
"Mrs. Miller, are you in business?" Penny asked out of pure curiosity. "If you’re not, please leave the room."
"How dare you—"
"Young Miss Bennet, I appreciate the offer, but you don’t have the right to speak to my wife like that." Mister Miller frowned deeply. "You ca here with an offer, so don’t be rude. Besides, how could we trust your words when you reek of alcohol?"
Penny arched a brow and chuckled, running her hands through her hair. "Right... I think it’s too rude of to say that your wife is ruining my mood—aning, ruining a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. The only hope your family has right now, and probably the only hope that will co your way."
"You little—get out of our property!" Mrs. Miller barked, growing angrier at Penny’s audacity.
Penny shrugged and placed her hands on the armrest. Looking down at Mister Miller’s chair, a layer of frost slowly coated her eyes.
"Mr. Miller, I know I ca on short notice, and I’m glad you still let in, despite its abruptness. However, I’ve compensated for that with my offer and by letting an outsider—soone who isn’t concerned with this—join the discussion," Penny remarked. "Had I known it would co to this, I would’ve asked my husband to join instead. And considering your daughter’s actions, I thought coming here abruptly wouldn’t matter."
"Either way, you’re right. It’s rude of to co here and ask you to sell your company without proper preparation and formalities. Therefore, my offer still stands," she continued in the sa tone, raising three fingers. "Three days. That’s all I will give you to think about my offer. After that, if I don’t hear from you, I’ll consider it a refusal."
She paused and smiled, shifting her gaze to Mrs. Miller. "I’m sorry for being rude, Madam Miller. You’re right. As a buyer and an owner of a startup company, I need to impress pioneers in business, regardless of how long our families have been in the industry."
"You little wench..." Mrs. Miller hissed, perceiving Penny’s words as taunting nonsense. "Get out of our house now!"
"I will." Penny shrugged, her eyes falling on Mister Miller before drifting to Theo. "Think about it."
After saying that, Penny turned around and left the house. Mrs. Miller followed her, shouting at Penny to never show her face again. Her yelling was so loud that it reached the ears of those waiting for Penny in the car. There was a slight gap in the window to let in so cool breeze, after all.
Zoren heard the commotion and saw it as the Millers kicking his wife out of their property. Even though Penny seed unbothered, he felt sorry for her for having to endure such "hardships" and "humiliation."
"My poor wife... how dare these people...?"
---
[Present Ti]
Now that Theo and Mister Miller recalled what had happened the night before and reflected on the little details Penny had ntioned, Mister Miller’s grip on the paper loosened. The papers slipped from his hands and scattered on the floor.
As for Theo, his heart dropped from his chest to his gut. At one point, rumors had it that Penny married a hoodlum she t abroad, which led to her engagent with the Ito Family being canceled. The rumors suggested she had wasted her youth and bright future on such a bum.
But after everything he’d seen just now—the way Zoren looked at Penny with such affection, how Zoren claid her lips not out of affection but as if marking his territory for everyone to see, and how Penny had free rein in Zoren’s office—only one thing beca clear.
"Zoren Pierson... is your husband?" Theo’s mindless remark sounded like a gong in both his and his father’s ears. "You are... the mysterious matriarch of the Pierson Family?"
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