The Girl He Had To Marry- An Arranged Marriage Story

Chapter Fifty: Final Act

Then, no more silences. 

"I-" Dylan said, more tears rushing to his eyes. He watched the young woman in front of him stand proud, ready to face the consequences of something that was never her problem. She looked more and more like his past girlfriend, it was starting to become hard to tell them apart. 

She stood there in a tight purple dress, and while Peggy enjoyed to wear black, the style was almost identical. She always got a raise out of pissing off her parents. 

"I can't." He lowered the gun completely, and collapsed onto the floor.  

Penny let out a sigh of relief, exhaustion, horror. She doesn't know. All she knows is that was wasn't going to die that night. 

He says again, "I just can't." He sounded disappointed in himself, ashamed he couldn't complete the dead. 

Penny kicked the gun away from the both of them. She stalked forward, gently, as if not to startle a wild beast. She reaches a hand out, touching the back of his neck. She gentle pet the hair on his head, which brought comfort to his raging spirit. 

"I know you mean no harm," Penny told him in a soft voice. "And I don't want to harm you." 

She starts to walk away, to grab her bag and go to another room. 

She doesn't think that she will be able to step into this simple dressing room the same every again. 

Her hand slipped from his body, but he grabs it with a swift hand. "Please, just... protect my brother and my family. I can't...I can't let them get hurt like Peggy did." He finally looked in her eyes. He was terrified. 

She bent a little more forwards, and whisper, "I will do my best." She tried to smile, but ti was difficult after the tumultuous day the two just had. He picked himself from the floor, unlocked it the dressing room door, and slipped away. He left the door open, and everything around her way dead, void of people. 

How long was she with him?

It couldn't have been long. 

She began to slide the dress off her body and hang it back on the costume rack. She hooked her bra back on, but paused for a moment. Like everything in her life, she was hit by the overwhelming emotions that came after her trauma. Now that the event was over, now that her life has been threatened more than twice, she could finally cry. She was basically crying the whole time with the gun to her face, but this was different. She heaved and groans and sobbed her heart out. This was the aftermath of facing death once again. She thinks about how she gets herself into these situations. She realizes how in those moments she is so prepared for death, but narrowly makes it out alive. She never thought about her life ending, or even ending her own life, but she knew her life on Earth didn't matter. But, being a walking contradiction, she did everything in her power to make sure she was still on Earth. In the past, the first with her father, she didn't know what she was surviving for, but she knew she had too. Now, she had something, someone to fight for, someone to survive for...someone to live with. 

She took a moment after her crying to wipe the makeup away and put her remain clothes back on. She grabbed her to go bag and went out to meet everyone. She wasn't in the mood, but she had to keep up appearances. 

She exited the stage door, out into the streets. She forgot for a moment how cold it gets at night. She looked around and only saw Quentin. He was just standing, looking through his phone. She cleared his voice to get his attention. 

He looked up and saw her, the star of the show. He tried to not let the corners of his mouth creep up, but he couldn't help the smile that came through. He speed walked over to her, she started walking in his director too. He scooped her up under her arms and lifted her into the air. 

This certainly put Penny's mood back on track. 

"That was amazing! I have no words," he told her, putting her down and kissing her cheek. "I'm buying tickets every night to watch you perform."

Penny started to blush, but it was a little to dark outside to see the full color range of her face. "You don't have to do that," she brushed off. 

"I think I do. I'm so proud of you," He gives a final forehead kiss, which made her feel on top of the world again. "Now, let's get you home."

"Yes, let's go back home," She said, snuggling closer to his body and holding his hand.