Chapter 246

“Teaming up with an outsider to bully your own wife? You call yourself a man!”
Seeing her son get hit and berated, Mrs. Sullivan grabbed a nearby broom and started swinging.
“Get out of my house, you old hag!”
With his mother joining the fray, Zebulon jumped back in. The two of them ganged up on Mrs. Winters, one hitting her with the broom while the other kicked. Freed from Mrs. Winters’ grip, Anna finally had a chance to fight back.
“Three of you against my mom!”
Rebecca was so furious she could see stars. Seeing her mother losing the fight, she charged forward to help. But as she rushed in, someone bumped into her, and she fell hard to the ground.
“Ah! It hurts! I’m… I’m bleeding!”
The fight stopped instantly. Seeing that Rebecca really was bleeding from between Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on.net
her legs, Mrs. Sullivan’s voice trembled as she cried out, “Quick, call an
ambulance!”
Across the way, watching the chaos unfold, Penelope almost collapsed with laughter.
The ambulance came and went, leaving only Anna behind. She seemed remarkably composed. After calmly finishing another cup of coffee, she stood up, walked over to Penelope’s gate, and stared at her through the bars.
Penelope was genuinely confused. She clapped the dust off her hands and walked to the gate.
“You and I never really had much to do with each other, not in college, not in the years since we started working. So where is all this… resentment coming from?”
Resentment seemed like the right word.
Anna narrowed her eyes. “You say we never had much to do with each other?”
“Did we?”
“Do you even know my name?”
“Anna. To be honest, I only remembered it when Zebulon said it. Looking at you, I just thought you looked familiar, maybe a senior from a year above me at Orenth. That’s it.”
The words seemed to hit Anna like a punch. “You don’t even remember me!” “Why should I?”
“Then do you remember Gary?”
Penelope blinked. “Was he a student at Orenth University too?”
This seemed to be the final blow for Anna. She stared at Penelope in
utter disbelief. “You… you even net
forgot him! Penelope, you truly have no heart
With that, Anna stormed off, leaving Penelope bewildered. She tried to rack her brain, but she honestly didn’t know anyone named Gary.
…
After a day of high drama, Theodore texted her that evening, inviting her to dinner.
She replied instantly: Besides the two of us, will anyone else be there?
Theodore: Just us.
Penelope: So, is this a date?
Theodore: Yes.
Penelope: Ooh, I’m so excited!
Theodore: Me too.
Penelope: It’s still four hours until eight o’clock. That’s 240 minutes, or 14,400 seconds.
Theodore: If you spend every one of those 14,400 seconds thinking of me, they’ll be wonderful.
Penelope: Will you be thinking of me too?
Theodore: No time. I’m working.
Penelope rolled her eyes. He had a
ह
knack for setting a trap the moment
she started flirting, just waiting to
spring it on her. But she wasot one
to lose.

She replied: A man who works hard is the sexiest. I wish I could see my husband right now!
He didn’t text back. She had probably laid it on too thick.
…
At seven o’clock that evening, Penelope got ready and left for the restaurant.
Just as she was arriving, she received a text from Theodore. Something had come
up last minute; he had to leave for an urgent business trip to Wye.
It was impossible not to feel disappointed, but she understood She still had to eat, so she went into the restaurant anyway and ordered a meal for one.
But as luck would have it, she had just settled in when Yvonne walked in, arm in arm
with Donald, the two of them laughing and talking.