PAMPERED

247 I can’t marry twice

[FLASHBACK]

The sound of a vase shattering on the floor rang sharply, causing everyone who heard it to panic. Penny jumped in surprise, taking a step back, only to wince when she accidentally stepped on a shard of the vase.

“Ouch…” Penny bit her lip and squatted down to remove the shard from her foot. “Ahh…”

She pursed her lips, holding back her tears. It was just a small wound, so she feared the elders. would think she was overreacting if she teared up. She had learned her lesson.

“Oh, no…”

Her attention was drawn to a meek voice nearby. When Penny looked up, her eyes landed on a young girl about her age.

This girl had been teasing Penny moments ago. But since Penny chose to stay quiet and let it go, the girl tried something else to get a reaction from her, ultimately tipping the vase off its stand. “Sophia…” Penny called out. “Are you hurt?”

Sophia Bennet, age 14, turned her shaky eyes to Penny. Despite her bleeding foot, Penny tiptoed. toward Sophia to see if she was hurt. The boy with them held his breath, shocked at what had happened.

“Oh, my god! What happened here?!”

Before Penny could reach Sophia, the latter pushed her away slightly. “Mom!”

“Sophia!” a middle–aged woman gasped, watching her daughter run towards her. “Sophia, be careful!”

When Sophia reached her mother, she hugged her out of fear.

“Sophia, are you hurt? What happened?” the woman asked worriedly, her eyes scanning her daughter.

Sophia looked up, teary–eyed. “Mom…”

“It’s Penny!” The boy, Sven, was quick to point a finger. “She was teasing Sophia and ended up tipping the vase! I saw everything!”

At this moment, the elders and the rest of the family arrived at the scene. When they did, they caught wind of Sven’s remark.

Penny looked at her cousins in horror. That wasn’t the truth, but she could see the displeasure on everyone’s faces, as they believed Sven.

“Penny!” Allison called out, stopping at the sight of the shards on the floor. But when she saw the blood on Penny’s foot, her motherly instincts kicked in. Ignoring the shards around her, she carefully rushed to her daughter.

“Penny!” Allison held her daughter’s shoulders, looking at her up and down. “Are you okay? Your

247 I can’t marry twice

foot is bleeding. Let’s get it cleaned up…”

“Allison!” Sophia’s mother harrumphed upon seeing this. “What are you doing right now?!” Allison’s breath hitched as she turned to see everyone’s deep frowns.

“Mom…” Nina clasped her hands closer to her chest, but in her mind, this was yet another opportunity to make Penny look bad..

“Allison, first Penny stole something that wasn’t hers! Despite that, the elders showed mercy and let her visit the old residence! But now, you’re acting like she’s the one who needs help when she’s the troublemaker who broke a vase worth more than just money!” the woman fumed. “More importantly, she could have hurt my Sophia! This is deliberate for sure!”

Allison pursed her lips and glanced at everyone. Meanwhile, Penny looked at her mother.

Initially, Allison defended Penny against all the bad accusations from her in–laws. But after many incidents involving Penny and her supposed bad behavior, Allison could only lower her eyes.

“I’m sure Penny didn’t mean…”

“Allison, just because Penny is your child doesn’t mean you have to keep defending her!” an elderly woman, Charles‘ mother, shouted in frustration. “That brat was raised in a poor and ill–mannered family, so it’s no surprise she has a bad upbringing! It’s your job as a mother to correct that!”

“Allison, you’ve been in this family for so long, yet it seems you still haven’t gotten used to the

Bennet faules!” Sophia’s mother added. “If you keep siding with her without disciplining

her, then you’re simply enabling bad behavior! Unbelievable!”

Allison kept her lips tight and let her in–laws express their dismay. She had learned long ago that it was best to stay quiet. Fighting her in–laws would never end well for her.

“What’s going on here?” Suddenly, Charles arrived with the men of the family. His eyes darted back and forth between his wife and daughter, and then to his mother and cousin.

Charles’s expression instantly darkened as he stepped in to defend his wife and daughter.

This had always been a normal occurrence whenever Penny was in the old residence. Although her parents would side with her publicly, they would discipline her at home. Initially, Allison and Charles believed her, but with Nina’s constant drama and schemes, they eventually believed Penny needed to relearn everything and had to be strict with her.

From childhood, the bad image her relatives painted of her, with Nina’s help, stuck until adulthood.

This was why Penny hated coming to the old residence or bumping into one of her relatives. One way or another, burying herself in work was Penny’s only escape, as her world was far too small with all of them out to get her and no one to protect her.

[PRESENT TIME]

Penny smiled confidently as she sat beside Atlas, across from her elders, including her father’s

can’t marry twice

uncles, Charles’s cousins, and Penny’s cousins. All of them held positions in the company, and all of them had a vote in family matters.

‘Sophia isn’t here,‘ Penny thought, somewhat looking forward to seeing that nut job. But all these people…

Penny had come a long way. She was thankful that Charles and Allison hadn’t exposed her to these people. Well, that was because Penny left the household before that could even happen. So, in a way, they were all strangers to her. She had met a few of them during vacation breaks. when they would visit Charles, though.

Like Penny, everyone eyed her with mixed emotions. The last time they saw her, she was still young and overweight. She was even overweight at sixteen. Therefore, they were skeptical if this was Penny or Atlas’s lover.

“I’m not getting married.” Penny broke the silence, and with this, everyone quickly frowned and expressed their dismay. “Not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t marry twice.” (3)