Chapter 124: Realizations

"What note?"

Atlas furrowed his brows, but just as his lips parted, Nina quickly jumped to his side.

"First brother, it’s alright!" Nina smiled nervously before casting Penny a look. "Penny it’s okay. First brother is talking about the notes we had to do in Mr. Anderson’s class. But it’s okay now. I can just ask Patricia for it."

"Nina, if Penny is already lending you her notes, why bother other people?" Atlas’ frown deepened. "All I’m saying is, finish your notes next time. If others can finish it, so can you."

"Yes, yes." Nina smiled, eyes moving to Penny. "Then, I’ll borrow your notes, Penny. Thanks again. Right. The snacks! Let’s eat snacks together. I’m actually very hungry."

Penny was confused. She didn’t remember writing any notes yesterday in Mr. Anderson’s class, nor did she remember lending Nina any notes. How could she when she didn’t have any notes in the first place?

She watched the three walk over to the intricate garden table set. Sitting up ever so slowly, Penny kept her eyes on Nina.

"Wow. Mouse is even heavier than Chunchun." Hugo’s voice stole her attention, sitting beside her on the grass with Mouse on his lap. "Penny, are you sure we’re going to call it Mouse? The longer it stays with us, the more I feel like it feels wrong."

Penny smiled because Mouse was actually letting Hugo cradle it while Chunchun was beside him. "I don’t want it to be confused anymore. Hehe."

"I see."

"Second Brother, aren’t you going to eat snacks with them?"

Hugo glanced at his brothers and shook his head. "I’m not in the mood."

"Second Brother..." Penny hummed. She didn’t want to dwell on the thought that Hugo was avoiding Nina, but now she couldn’t help it. "Are you avoiding Nina?"

"No," his answer was quick, without a second hesitation. "I’m ignoring her."

"Why?"

Hugo smiled. "She did something that she knows will hurt me, but she did it anyway." More like what she said. "Don’t worry about it. That’s between me and her."

Penny nodded because she also didn’t want to meddle. "Okay," she said before she tried to push herself up.

"Where are you going?"

She looked back at him and smiled. "Just... want to confirm a theory. Please look after Mouse and Chunchun for a bit. Don’t let them fight!"

"Oh, okay."

Having said that, Penny sprinted her way back into the mansion. She went straight to her room without anyone stopping her. When she arrived, she saw Tiana sitting in the middle of the bed. Her eyes intuitively moved to her study desk.

The drawer was left open.

"No," Penny breathed out, running toward the study desk to check the broken piece of the keychain. "Oh, my goodness!"

Seeing that the keychain was still inside the drawer, Penny held the edge of the desk and heaved a sigh. She patted her chest, calming herself down first.

"It’s still here," she said as she picked it up, checking the piece to make sure it was the same piece. Good thing Penny already saw the serial number and memorized it.

Once she was calm, Penny slowly sat down in the chair. She kept the piece in her hand, staring at it while deep in thought.

Squeak!

Her train of thought stopped when she heard the thin pitch coming from Tiana. Looking at the bed, she smiled.

"You guarded this, did you?" Her eyes softened. "Good thing I couldn’t find you earlier."

Her smile, however, faded when she thought of the more pressing matter.

When Atlas mentioned a note she was lending to Nina, Penny felt this sudden tug in her heart that made her feel uneasy. After seeing how Nina reacted, the uneasiness in her heart grew. And then, her heart started racing to the point she was almost catching up to her breath upon seeing her open drawer.

Now that she calmed down and relaxed, her mind slowly pieced everything together.

"Nina... is the one who dropped the flowerpot?" she whispered, speechless by this awful conclusion.

Nina was a lot of things in their first life. On the outside, she was beautiful like a princess. She also portrayed herself as a kind, understanding, and sophisticated elite. Only Penny was aware of the other side of her.

Initially, Penny tried to tell people how cunning and ruthless Nina was. But alas, people only deemed her as the jealous sister. They saw Penny as the one who was insecure and that she was trying to use her blood relation to the Bennet to kick Nina out. Hence, Penny learned how to keep things to herself and get framed by Nina over and over until no one was on her side.

"Even how I got arrested... Nina is the one who told the police where I live," she muttered, recalling all the bitter tragedies she went through because of Nina. "But to think she’ll try to kill me this time... oh, god."

Her heart thudded against her chest.

In their first life, Nina hated her simply because Penny’s existence was proof Nina wasn’t a Bennet. Penny tried to understand Nina even in this lifetime, thinking Nina was simply scared of losing the life she grew up in. Thus, Penny ignored her and tried her best to avoid any wrong accusations Nina would come up with.

She thought if she didn’t give Nina enough reason to be jealous; if she didn’t try to gain her brothers’ and parent’s affection, Nina wouldn’t see her as a threat. She thought a mere warning would suffice and that since Nina was now going home to the Cortez Household, she wouldn’t stir trouble again.

But this?

"She’d go this far at this age?" Penny blurted out in disbelief. "Why?"

Looking back at the time of the incident, she remembered that Nina wasn’t seen in their class the whole day. But on their way to the school gates, Penny saw her wearing a school uniform. Back then, Penny wondered where Nina stayed throughout the day if she skipped classes.

"There are only a few spots in school where a student can stay to skip class without getting caught," she whispered. "One of the spots is the... rooftop."