Chapter 601: Yes

The next day...

"Going to the office?" Zoren asked as soon as he caught Penny entering the walk-in closet from the bathroom.

Penny glanced at her husband, who was standing in front of the drawer while putting on his watch. "My meeting with the girls is later, but I’m dropping by the office."

"Mhm."

"Renren." Penny sauntered toward the drawer full of accessories, leaning her arm against the top. She waited for him to look in her direction before asking, "Is there a person named Jonathan Pierson in your family?"

"Hmm?" For a second, her question took Zoren by surprise. It had been days since Penny confessed to him, but she had been busy fighting with herself, and her energy would’ve been depleted by the time she grew sober.

Perhaps a night of not drinking helped her.

"Nina’s husband?" he asked after a moment, and she nodded.

"The drunken Penny told you?"

"Mhm. She remembered him, but she said she couldn’t remember what he looked like." Zoren walked closer to her. "There’s no one in the family with such a name."

"I know that, but I just want to make sure there isn’t anyone like that." Penny furrowed her brows, casting her eyes down. "That’s weird."

"It is strange," he said. "Patricia Miller said the person who sent her is Jonathan Pierson."

Penny snapped her eyes back to him. "Then that means... there’s someone like him? He exists?"

"I’m still not sure. My men are investigating."

Another wave of silence fell on their shoulders as they stared at each other. That name came from both the past life and the current one. Yet, as of the moment, both Penny and Zoren were certain there was no man named Jonathan Pierson in the family registry.

’How come Nina married him then?’ Penny wondered. ’Nina married that guy from the Pierson family. Although I can’t remember his position, I’m sure there’s someone named Jonathan Pierson in the Pierson family, and Nina married him for whatever reason.’

"I’ll let you know once I get another lead," Zoren’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, making her smile.

Penny walked over to him until she was standing in front of him, reaching out to fix his tie. "This feels nice."

"It is."

"I’m talking about being able to discuss something with this current one and the previous life," she clarified, smiling at him playfully. "But also about being able to act as a wife who is about to send her husband off to work after fixing your tie."

Zoren let out a shallow laugh, standing still while she adjusted his tie. "Let me know if you get a lead too."

"Of course." Penny nodded. "I already asked Yugi to look into it, and also Uncle Wild."

"I asked Mark and Benjamin to do it."

"Mr. Vitt, huh?"

"Benjamin is good at this. Believe me."

"I know he is," she chuckled, pushing his tie to his neck. "If he wasn’t, you wouldn’t trust him with this."

A satisfied smile crept onto their faces as they shared a moment of silence. After a second, Zoren bent down slightly, placing a short but sweet kiss on her lips. She welcomed it warmly, closing her eyes for a second, her hands resting on his chest.

"I’m dropping by the office and then meeting the girls after that," she said quietly as his lips parted from hers. "I might get a little late because my other self wants to meet my friends. I’m sure she misses Grace."

Zoren smiled back. "Have fun."

"It’s not me who’s going to have fun."

"She’s still you," he argued playfully, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Though I hope you don’t forget that you have a husband who’ll be waiting for you all night."

"I already left her a note about that," she quipped. "She better listen, or I’m not touching any wine for the rest of my life."

The corners of their mouths hooked into smiles as they stared at each other, spending a few minutes of the morning admiring each other’s existence.

***

It was true that Penny went to her office, as she had other tasks to finish that she couldn’t do in the comforts of Zoren’s home. However, she didn’t plan to stay in the office all day. She only stayed there for half a day because, in the afternoon, Penny had other important appointments.

"You have an alter ego who only comes out when you’re passed out drunk?" the psychiatrist inquired of her new patient, Penny.

Penny nodded and sighed. "I’ve tried other means to make her come out, but to no avail. I’m afraid that if I keep doing this, it might affect my health."

"I see." The therapist nodded. "So, what do you actually want to do with her? You mentioned you don’t want her to disappear just like that."

"Well..." Penny hummed a long tune, lowering her gaze as she thought about it. "I don’t want her gone because I know she wouldn’t just go away. At the same time, I don’t want her interfering with my life anymore."

"Didn’t you say you’ve been drinking to make her realize that she’s now in a better place in life?"

"Yes." Slowly, Penny lifted her eyes to the doctor she had secretly booked for this kind of help. "I want to reach out. I want to talk to her. It might be impossible, but I want to know if there’s another way for me to communicate with her."

After all, Penny still found the drunken Penny’s memories useful. There were many things that the sober Penny couldn’t remember, as her mind was already too busy with her current life. But with the drunken Penny, that other version of her was more focused on her previous life.

If there was something—anything—that she had missed or overlooked, she was certain drunken Penny would’ve remembered it. After all, in that version of her, everything from the past life was still fresh in her mind.

"We can try hypnosis," the doctor suggested with a short smile. "Do you want to try it?"

A moment of silence fell between them before Penny whispered, "Yes."