Chapter 595: Nina’s husband

Hours later...

"Hey," Hugo called while Zoren was busily writing at the desk. "Hey."

Zoren paused and slowly snapped his eyes to the couch where Hugo was idling. When their eyes met, the corner of Hugo’s mouth twitched.

"You good?" he asked, only to see Zoren sigh. "What happened last night?"

Zoren took a moment before saying, "Nothing."

"I didn’t ask this morning because I didn’t want to bombard you with questions, but did you ask her last night?"

"Second Brother, is it really that important to you?"

"Yes."

"Then, I’m sorry."

"Huh?"

"I’m not allowed to say it."

Hugo opened his mouth but then closed it again. He stared at Zoren, studying his brother-in-law, before he nodded.

"Well, I guess that’s better than a lie," he shrugged, sighing. "I’ll probably never know about it, huh?"

’Probably’ was what Zoren wanted to say in return, but he stopped himself from speaking his thoughts aloud.

Last night, Penny had told him a ridiculous story. It was so absurd that even though Zoren believed her, he couldn’t help but take a step back.

According to her, she had been sentenced to death. When he asked how she ended up in that kind of place, she mentioned her meddling with a deal Atlas had. Penny didn’t detail all of it but focused more on the general aspects of her life. She did so because she didn’t want his interest to fade so soon.

Although she mentioned rebirth, she talked about being crazy and a lot of other things.

It was a lot to process, but he listened to it all until she fell asleep. How he wished he hadn’t listened, because if he hadn’t, he would’ve stayed home and talked about it. Maybe things would be clearer.

’Though she mentioned the information center...’ he told himself, deep in thought. ’That thing... in the upper circle.’

Zoren tapped his pen on the paper, not noticing the countless dots he was making. A glint flickered across his eyes as he remembered his conversation with his drunk wife last night.

***

Last night...

"That night you came to me..." Zoren trailed off, snapping his gaze to his wife, who was idling beside him on the balcony. "... do you know the guys who were following you? From the short footage you were caught in, it seems you knew they were following you."

Penny chuckled. "They’re following me because they want me dead."

"So, you knew?"

"Mhm."

"How did you know?"

"Darling, husband, sweet cake, lovely dear, hasn’t my sober self told you about this?"

"Sadly, you don’t remember anything when you’re drunk."

"Ahh. And no one told me yet?"

"Now, you know. Second Brother told you about it."

"I see." Penny rocked her head and shrugged, mumbling, "I guess I really can’t expect Atlas to tell me about it, since he’d be too traumatized to even think about it."

"Penny," he called solemnly, watching her turn to him with raised brows. "Who are they?"

She grinned and smacked her lips. "I don’t know."

"How come?"

"How would I know when, all this time, I thought I was in prison? All I know is that they’re after me because the same people had been after me in prison. I recognized their tattoo." She shrugged. "One of their members, a friend of mine who used to be a part of their gang, told me about it."

Penny looked ahead, inhaling the fresh air with a smile. "Do you know about the information center?"

"Hmm?"

"Nathaniel works there," she said without looking at him. "He works there and sold the information he gathered from me to an interested client. If I was reborn, then there’s no way to know who was behind my demise through him. After all, it seems I died as a felon."

"What a messed-up restart," she continued, sighing. "It would’ve been better to start over, not from the beginning, but from the time before I met Nathaniel. If so, I could find out who was behind it. The person who... turned me and my family into traitors."

Penny then slowly faced him, tilting her head to the side. "Speaking of family, did you marry Nina?"

"Huh?"

"In my previous life, Nina married into the Pierson family. I didn’t think much about your surname, but now that I am using my brain, I think I now share her damn surname. Did you marry her?"

"..." Zoren was rendered speechless for a moment, having just met Nina not long ago. It was strange for Penny to sound so irritated at the woman she considered her sister. "I don’t know what you’re talking about since I, unfortunately, didn’t get reborn. Or rather, I couldn’t remember anything from our previous life."

"However, Nina isn’t marrying into our family in this lifetime," Zoren remarked. "She has a fiancé, but he is not a Pierson."

"Oh? Did I change her life too?" she wondered. "Who is she marrying this time?"

"Finn," he said. "Do you know him?"

Penny stared at Zoren and furrowed her brows. "No," she said. "Who is that?"

"Finn Davis," Zoren replied. "You went to the same school. Though, I’m not sure if you went to the same school in the past as well, since it seemed to me that your life now is different from how you remembered it."

"Well..." Penny shrugged, but the confusion in her eyes still lingered. "I don’t have any friends, and I don’t pay much attention to people. Finn, huh? Is he a good man?"

"He’s a cunning man," Zoren replied almost instantly, earning a look from her. "Don’t worry. Since I am here, I wouldn’t let Nina get hurt."

"So, he’s a bad guy, huh?" Penny smirked, cupping her face as she stared ahead. No words were said between them for a while until she hummed. "The information center... I wonder what kind of progress I made now?"

Zoren maintained his gaze on her, sensing her confusion and how she was trying to get things straight and clear. But while he did so, he heard her whisper,

"This Finn... did I ever have a schoolmate with a name like that?" she wondered to herself, not realizing she was speaking her thoughts aloud. Just then, Penny’s mouth opened as she clapped. "Jonathan!"

"Huh?"

Penny faced him and grinned. "Jonathan Pierson! That’s Nina’s husband’s name!"