Chapter 976: Are you sure you and I are the same person?

"Hey, Penny."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think about it?"

"About what?"

"Renren — our husband."

"Hmm... what do I think about him?" Penny turned to her right, her eyes falling on another version of herself. The better version of herself — the successful one, the good one, the one who was able to live her dream.

The two of them were seated in this dark space, with just a spotlight on each of them.

"Nothing, to be honest," the drunk Penny answered, peeling her eyes away from the other version of her to look at the darkness ahead. "I thought what he did for me... is kind of noble. But at the same time, he’s kind of sick in the head too! How can he marry me when I’m dead?"

"You married him while he was hovering between life and death."

"Well — that makes sense." The drunk Penny shrugged. "I guess there’s the two of us."

The sober Penny smiled, keeping her eyes on the darkness ahead. "Won’t you ask me what I thought of it?"

"Why would I? You and I are the same. It’s not like we’re two different people in your body. I am you, and you are me. Even if I don’t want to, I have no choice but to share your train of thought."

"Then why are we still having this conversation?"

"Because you’re a crazy bee?"

The sober Penny chuckled at her other version’s response. "I guess I did have such a funny sense of humor in the past, didn’t I?"

"We are pretty hilarious, yeah."

A moment of silence fell between them as their laughter eventually subsided. Both of them gazed ahead, as if there was something to see in that darkness.

"What are you thinking?" asked the sober Penny, looking at the other self.

"Are you really asking that question when you already know what’s on my mind?"

"Hearing it from you wouldn’t hurt."

The drunk Penny shrugged. "Just... my husband."

"Our."

"My husband did fight for me, and I’m moved to tears." The drunk Penny ignored her other self. "But... we need to protect him, don’t you think?"

"Why do you say so?"

"I married him while he was on the brink of death," she explained. "Only people like me... crazy people like you and me would do that. But that man... he married a corpse just because no one else would take our body home and host us a proper burial."

Slowly, the drunk Penny cocked her head toward the other Penny. "You get what I mean?"

"Our marriage isn’t out of love," the sober Penny whispered. "It’s not even out of pity."

"It is insanity, Penelope. I might not know what was going on in his head back then, but what I do know is that... when I married him, I wasn’t in the right state of mind either. I was the person I was most scared of, Penelope. The very person you are scared to be. The very person you didn’t want to become." The drunk Penny turned to the sober Penny and smiled wryly at her. "When he married me, Zoren Pierson... didn’t want to live anymore."

"It may not be out of pity or love, but insanity... but what I am certain of is that, just like you... he’s probably scared of being that person he used to be as well."

Because at the end of the day, the drunk Penny and the sober Penny might be one. The only difference was that the drunk Penny was more uncontrollable. Why? Because the drunk Penny still carried memories of their past life as if it had just happened to her the other day.

"When you do something without thinking of the consequences, it means... there isn’t anything to look forward to in life. Just like how I decided to marry him while he’s hovering between life and death," she continued in the same quiet tone. "I know... we know... we’ve been there."

"I’ll protect him," the sober Penny breathed out as a subtle smile crept across her face. "No matter what."

"You should."

"You don’t have to tell me."

"I have to because it seems you’re forgetting something."

The sober Penny furrowed her brows, turning to the drunk one. At the same time, the drunk Penny looked back at her.

"I think... in a way, he’s the reason I am alive," the drunk Penny muttered. "I don’t know. Maybe I forgot, or you forgot. Or perhaps it’s an instinct. But, I think the reason this mind of ours is so distorted by alcohol is because somehow, someway, the reason I believed I got out of prison is because of him. I would’ve gotten out, right? If only I held on a little longer and fought a little harder."

A short smile appeared on the drunk Penny’s face as she squinted her eyes, and the spotlight on her seemed to brighten. She squinted and gazed up.

"Oops. I guess it’s time to go," the drunk Penny laughed, snapping her eyes back to the sober one. "Wake up, girl. There’s no point in hiding in here. I’d rather stay alone in here than have you — also, that freaking reunion was the best! Though I wished they printed more photos of me from every angle."

"Hell... no."

"Don’t get drunk! Or there’s gonna be a reunion 2.0! They hadn’t worshipped me enough!"

"Are you sure you and I are the same person?"

"I know you liked it." The drunk Penny winked as she smirked playfully.

---

Penny moaned, her throat feeling a little dry. Her eyes slowly cracked open, her brows furrowing.

"Hmm?" she hummed, catching the top of Allison’s head on the side of the bed. "Mom?"

Penny’s brows rose as she noticed that there seemed to be more people in her and her husband’s bedroom. She turned her head, catching Zoren sleeping in the chair on the other side of her bed. Near his chair was Slater, sleeping with his back to the side of the bed, arms crossed.

Atlas was also sleeping on the one-seater couch, while Hugo, Charles, and Haines were seated and sleeping on the long couch.

A shallow breath slipped past Penny’s nostrils as she leaned back, her eyes set on the ceiling.

’This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this scene,’ she thought as she slowly closed her eyes to rest. ’But I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing it. Moreover, it’s a reminder... of what I have to protect in this lifetime.’

Regardless of her thoughts about how things spiraled out of control in their first life, this life was a different one. All she had to do was make sure it wouldn’t end like that.

Promise.