Chapter 4

PENELOPE

I wake up in the morning because of the loud voice calling my name outside my room. I am still not opening my eyes because I'm still sleepy and I still feel exhausted.

Who is the one calling me early this morning?

"Madam Penelope, please wake up. You should not be late for your class!"

I suddenly stand up when everything's now clear to me, and I realize what she is saying. I looked from my right side and stared at the clock on the study table beside the bed.

Oh my gosh! I am late!

I hurriedly walked to the comfort room in order to take a bath and immediately ready myself to go to school. While I am still taking a bath, all of the memories from yesterday keep flashing back in my mind.

Now, I remember. I am destined to marry an old man. Kendy also told me that we were going out on the weekend to buy a wedding gown for me and many other things that we would need for the wedding.

I sighed deeply. I now realize that all the memories from yesterday are not just a dream. It is real and is still happening right now.

After I'm done bathing and already done wearing my uniform, I go directly to the kitchen to eat my breakfast. I looked around when I couldn't see Kendy in the kitchen.

The maid noticed my worries, so they approached my direction after placing and preparing the food for my breakfast.

"Madam, please eat your food now. So you could go to school now."

I smiled at her before sitting in the chair that was just in front of me. I wasn't actually surprised when I saw a lot of different foods in front of me.

"Where is Kendy? Is he still sleeping?"

The maid shrugged her head in response to my question. "No, madam. He already left earlier because he has early work. However, he made sure that we will need to let you eat a lot so you have enough energy in your class."

I could not help but have an annoyed face when I heard the statement of the maid. Based on Kendy's statement, he almost told me that I have low grades because I am energetic enough in my class."

I fix my glasses that are slowly falling down at the top of my nose.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to eat anymore. I will just go to eat at my school." I stood up and was about to leave when I looked at the food again and the five maids that were standing beside me.

Because of what I said, they silently cleaned the table and removed all the foods that I didn't even eat in a single bite.

I suddenly feel guilty. For sure, they wake up early to prepare this food for me so I have food that I can eat in the morning.

I took a deep breath and decided to sit again. After that, I looked up to meet the eyes of the maid, who was silently watching me.

"Nevermind. I will eat here, but please eat with me."

They looked in my direction with confusion because of what I said.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We are not allowed to eat with you."

They all bowed their heads in front of me to show some respect. However, my eyebrows were raised in annoyance because of what they said.

"Your master is not even here, right? He will not know that you eat with me," I insisted.

I looked at the door to the dining room when two men wearing black suits suddenly walked inside and bowed down in front of me.

"Ma'am, you should hurry so you can finally go to the university. We will be the ones who come with you."

Because of what they said, I made a bad face again. I crossed my two arms and faced them properly.

"Now that you both are here, you could eat with me too. I am not going to school if you're not going to follow my request."

They were all stunned because of what I said. Heh. They are not going to win over me.

After a few minutes, I heard a sighed from the two men, so I could not help but make a smile after that.

One of those men made a sign to one of the maids I am with, and they let them sit in front of me. The two men, however, sit beside me.

"Let us eat now, ma'am."

I still could not help but smile and nod in response to him. Now, I could easily have a conversation with them.

***

After I went inside the classroom, Raelynn came over to me. He pulled my hand, and we both sat in our own chairs. She immediately looked at me after doing that.

I suddenly felt nervous when I noticed her behavior. Did she hear about the wedding already? How did she find out about that?

I could not help but overthink, especially when I think about those men who came with me here to our university. Now that I remember, I forgot to ask their name and the maid that I'd been with earlier.

"Penelope?"

The nervousness I felt came rushing back when I heard the voice of my friend. I smiled at her, and she just looked at me with annoyance in response.

"I knew you weren't listening to me. I have been asking you since earlier about what you did inside the Dean's Office yesterday. Did you do something against the school rules?"

I sighed in relief. I thought she already knew about the wedding. I don't have any plans to tell her about it, especially mentioning the name of the groom.

I am scared of my friend's reaction when she finds out about it.

My smile widened while looking at my friend, Raelynn. I just hope she won't notice the emotions that were hiding behind my smile.

"Don't worry too much because nothing bad has happened. She just commanded me about something."

Raelynn stares at me like she is trying to find out something about me. I'm glad that our professor finally entered the room, so we just stopped talking for now.

A few minutes had passed when the man that my friend and I saw yesterday also entered the room.

One of my eyebrows went up while I was staring at him. I think, based on my memory, his name is Escanor Kennedy. So it is true that he is really my classmate.

I acted like I was fixing my glasses when I saw him suddenly look in my direction.

"I'm sorry, I'm late."

There's no reaction in our professor's face after hearing those words from him. The professor doesn't even bother to look in his direction. What? Why did the professor get mad at me when I was the one who'd been late before? Tss.

He looked around. After that, he walked in my direction. I felt like a statue in my seat when he suddenly stopped in front of me.

"I want to sit beside you. Thank you in advance."

I couldn't answer him anymore because he was already sitting beside me.

The class continued while my friend was taking a glance in my direction and tapping my elbow. I looked in Raelynn's direction, and I saw her mishievously smile at me.