Since Penny woke up from the clinic and drove herself to her meeting place with her friends, her mind drifted to something else. She didn’t even bother to think about the fact that she was late; she didn’t check how late she was.
But the moment she saw what was happening in the VIP lounge she had booked, she instinctively checked the time.
"I’m an hour late..." she murmured. "... just an hour late and this is already happening. What did I miss?"
Slowly, Penny lifted her eyes to the women inside, her face twitching. She tilted her head slightly, confused. She was certain that even if she was late, these women would do something meaningful—perhaps catch up and chat, finding a good time while waiting for her.
She didn’t think they would get themselves drunk!
’Oh, my God...’All the thoughts filling Penny’s mind disappeared, replaced with puzzlement at what had happened in the first hour they were here.
Meanwhile, as Penny cautiously entered the lounge and closed the door behind her, her friends continued their dramatic antics.
"Ginnie, you were asking what happened to me when I got here, right?" Lily hiccuped, teary-eyed. "This happened—my heart is ripped to shreds!"
Lily clasped her dress and pulled it down, exposing more of her chest as if to show her shredded heart.
"That good-for-nothing boyfriend ripped this heart to shreds!" Lily continued, her voice rising to the point she was almost screaming. "That bastard... I should’ve listened to my parents. I fought so hard to make them accept him into the family, but look what he did to my heart!"
Ginnie frowned, darting her eyes from Lily’s face to the dress she kept pulling down. "I can’t see your shredded heart, but I might witness you rip that dress and expose your breast!"
"But I’m in so much pain!"
"So much pain I can almost see your nipples!"
Lily sniffed, letting go of her dress before reaching out to hold Ginnie’s shoulder. "Ginnie, how about we marry each other, hmm? I can love you! I’ll be good to you!"
"..." Ginnie blinked, staring at the hysterical Lily. "No."
"Lily, you’re too pretty for me! If I marry you, my team might want to steal you from me!" Ginnie raised her voice in frustration. "Our team needs to win this season—I can’t kill them all! My paycheck lies on their performance."
"Are you the coach?" The tipsy Grace cupped her flushed face while laughing at them. "How come your paycheck depends on your team’s performance?"
"I think Ginnie is... the analyst." Despite her red face, Nina remained calm and engaged in the conversation. "But I didn’t know that a game analyst’s pay depends on the team’s performance. I thought I was the only one whose pay was based on how many clients I close and finish."
"You’re commission-based?" Lily asked out of pure curiosity as if she had forgotten her dilemma moments ago.
Nina nodded before returning to the topic. "Lily, what did your boyfriend do to break your heart?"
As soon as Nina brought it up again, Lily’s face crumpled, and her piercing, hysterical voice filled the room. Grace quickly chuckled at Lily’s drama, while Ginnie shook her head. All of them had different reactions to Lily’s continuation of her heartbreak story.
"You have no idea!" Lily huffed. "During his birthday, I planned to surprise him! So, I told him beforehand that I’d be on a business trip on his birthday. That bastard acted so disappointed and made me feel so guilty about it, but who would have thought that, in that birthday surprise, I’d be the one who would get a surprise instead?!"
Grace and Ginnie’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. "Tell us what happened," urged Grace, now invested in the story.
"I snuck into his place and prepared this huge surprise for him with all our friends!" she remarked. "But while all the lights were off, he came in!"
"And then?" Ginnie moved closer.
Lily pressed her quivering lips together, her eyes teary once more as she thought about it again. "He came in... making out with the very woman he told me not to worry about!"
"Oh, my God..." Grace gasped, while Ginnie’s eyes lit up with unquenchable fire. Nina, on the other hand, covered her mouth as she stared at Lily in shock.
"Huhuhu!" Lily wept, wiping the little tears from the corners of her eyes. "It was so humiliating! That bastard! Where’s my phone? I’m going to call him and tell him just how rotten he is!"
"Woah, woah, woah!" Ginnie stopped Lily from looking for her purse. "Chill! Don’t call him!"
"Nope." Grace shook her head and smirked. "Call me."
"Huh?" Lily furrowed her brows while Ginnie nodded.
"Lily, didn’t you say Grace is your lawyer?"
"Yes, Penny recommended her to me."
Grace smirked. "Lily, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this."
"About my heartbreak?"
"No, the gossip." Grace tapped her index finger on the surface of the table. "He’s a good-for-nothing who wouldn’t even be accepted by your family. Show him that he’s nothing without you."
Ginnie nodded and simplified Grace’s remarks. "Destroy him."
"Isn’t that a little too much?" Nina asked, only to flinch when Grace, Lily, and Ginnie cast their flaming eyes at her. Nina let out an awkward laugh, feeling a little dizzy under their gaze. "Hehe. I guess he deserves it?"
"He does deserve it."
"That’s right." Ginnie nodded.
"Lily, you’re so pretty, and you picked him up from the mud," Grace commended. "This just proves that even if you dress a monkey, it will still be a monkey."
"Send him back to where he belongs."
"Correct!" Ginnie and Grace replied, only to pause when they realized who that voice came from.
Slowly, everyone turned their heads to the end of the table, only to see Penny already seated with them. Penny smiled from ear to ear, raising her hand to the side.
"Hello?" Penny let out a nervous laugh when all eyes were on her. "Sorry, I’m late. But not late for the gossip, I guess?"