Chapter 600: A mess

"So, that’s why your drunken self believes Hugo should’ve been dead, huh?"

"Yes."

"How about Atlas? What did you do to him? Do you remember?"

"My drunken self didn’t say, and honestly, I don’t want to know."

"Why?"

"Just because I know what I’m capable of."

"I see."

"How about you?" Penny asked, glancing at the man lying beside her as Zoren accompanied her, staying up late because she couldn’t sleep. "Last night... you mentioned a lot of things. Are they true?"

Zoren kept his eyes on the ceiling and hummed. "They are."

"You really did ask Blacky to bite someone?"

"Mhm."

"But he’s alive?"

"In my mind, he’s dead. He should be."

"Why should he be dead?"

"He almost took away my grandma."

Silence quickly followed Zoren’s answer. Both Penny and Zoren stared at the ceiling, sharing a moment of silence. After bathing, they had been talking and then suddenly stopped before continuing again.

"I’m going to keep drinking." Her quiet voice sliced through the stillness between them. "I will keep drinking until she is satisfied with the life I had. I know myself, so I know she won’t let go until she thinks it’s time. Besides, I think having her existence linger with me brings back some things I had forgotten. At least, some things that I thought had slipped my mind."

The corner of her mouth hooked up. "Hopefully, everything will be fine."

"It will be."

Penny turned her head, and her eyes instantly landed on the side of his face. Zoren kept his eyes on the ceiling, smiling and repeating, "It will be."

Looking at him and hearing him say those three words were enough for her to feel reassured. Now, she believed it would be. Everything would be fine.

Little did she know, the future might be inevitable, but the process wouldn’t be easy.

*******

[Dear Me,

Are you insane? Just why did you befriend an ex-con who is also a troublesome old man? This doesn’t make sense to me. Were you trying to project or using him as an example of what you’d be if you survived prison?

Also, by the way, are you sure Yugi is trustworthy? That guy is a red flag.]

[Dear Legal,

If I am insane, you are insane. Meeting Uncle Wild is a coincidence — it’s called fate. He saved my life and Uncle Haines’s life. If not for him, you wouldn’t even have the liberty to write these emails to me.

And yes, Yugi is trustworthy. I trained him.]

[Mistress,

I checked the weighing scale today... I’m speechless. You need a diet. I can’t do that because, in this state, I am drunk. Physically.]

[Drunk,

Can you please stop sending these emails to me? I’m tired.

Begging, Sober.]

[Sober,

Nope. Sorry, but I’m not sorry. How else can I communicate with you? Don’t you dare avoid alcohol, or you’re dead.]

Days had passed since Penny’s confession to Zoren. His acceptance and understanding of her situation was something Penny was grateful for. She might’ve gone past that scare, but not this one. Penny only had a day off to prepare her schedule for a long vacation for the sole reason of fixing her alter ego. She knew that even though she had confessed the truth to Zoren, this alter ego would remain until she did something about it.

Which explained her current situation.

Seated on the bed with her back against the headboard, Penny stared at the laptop in a daze. Instead of using letters, she resorted to sending emails to herself. She should’ve known that typing was easier than writing manually because drunken Penny had a lot to say.

"I’m going to become an alcoholic before I can even fix myself," she mumbled to herself, glancing to her side as Zoren joined her on the bed. "Renren, I’m torturing myself, am I?"

Penny moved the laptop away from her, rolling toward him. He had barely sat down when she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his leg.

"Renren, please don’t leave me when I’m drunk," she casually lamented, as she was actually tempted to leave herself and deny her own existence. If she felt this, she was afraid her husband would feel the same.

Zoren chuckled, brushing her back to comfort her. "Don’t drink today."

"I’m not! I need a break!" Penny looked up at him, her eyes wide and shaky. "It would’ve been easy if this were someone else. I could easily block them for temporary peace of mind, but this is me! And I aggravate me!"

Again, she buried her face in his thigh and yelled, "I’ll cry!"

"..." Zoren rubbed her back with a smile, letting her quietly lament. It was strange, but at the same time amusing. After all, Penny had been constantly stressed and riled up, but the person who riled her up was also herself.

Surely, his wife would never give him boring days.

"Then let’s just sleep for tonight," he proposed, carefully adjusting himself until he was able to lie down beside her. Penny quickly moved until her head was resting on the side of his shoulder.

"Any plans for tomorrow?"

Penny smacked her lips and sighed. "I arranged a date night with the girls." Another heavy sigh escaped her as she thought of the reason. "The legal wife wants to meet her friends."

"Oh."

"Should I not go?"

"You should go." He smiled reassuringly. "I’m sure she’ll appreciate it."

Penny blinked and blinked, staring at her husband, who had been so supportive of her and her drunken self. Moving closer to him as if there was still space between them, Penny smiled.

"I’m lucky," she expressed. "I didn’t win the lottery, but this is surely better than that."

"Speaking of the lottery, why didn’t you do that?"

"Just because." Penny shrugged. "Do you think I should’ve?"

"No, just curious."

Penny arched a brow and squinted her eyes. It was an odd question, just because it came from Zoren. This man was not like that at all. Penny wasn’t wrong, though. Zoren wouldn’t ask such a question, if not for Hugo. After all, Zoren had randomly and vaguely asked Hugo about rebirth, and the latter’s first answer was the lottery.

He wondered if Hugo even bet on them. But surely, this story would’ve been entirely different if the one who had a rebirth was Hugo and not Penny.

"Then have fun tomorrow," he said. "You and your other self."

Penny smiled helplessly. "I’ll just hope nothing big will happen."

But Penny seemed to forget that when she hoped for one thing, the opposite happened.