Penolope smiled, wiping her tears. "Yes. A long ti ago, she was my student. But we ended developing a relationship far more greater than teacher and disciple. We beca friends."
Her voice softened. "I’m sorry about what happened to your mother, Jayden. I’m sorry about your sister. I’m sorry i couldn’t save them."
Jayden exhaled. He’d been getting a lot of this lately and it made him wonder just how popular his mother was. He took everything Penelope said to heart, but only one managed to register in his brain.
"Do you know where she is? My sister." he asked.
Penolope shook her head slowly. "I’m sorry, Jayden. I’ve tried searching for her, but... it’s like she’s not on any of the five resident planets."
Jayden sighed. He didn’t expect anything less. This had been the sa response he’d been hearing so far. It started to drive him to a single, grim conclusion.
But he shook his head and discarded the thought. He didn’t want to let himself believe it. He couldn’t.
"I’m really sorry, Jayden." Penolope continued. "I didn’t know you were Cyllene’s child until you visited at my house. The day we t at the restaurant, i felt sothing familiar about you, but i couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But when i saw that silver hair, i imdiately recognised you."
"Those years ago, I heard you had been taken in by one of Cyllene’s friend. So i focused more on finding your sister. I’m really sorry. I should have been the one to take you in... it was my duty."
Jayden smiled wrly. "No, it wasn’t. Infact, I’m glad you didn’t take in then. I was a problem child." he chuckled, causing Penelope to laugh as well.
"No, seriously. I caused a lot of trouble for the family." he continued with a laugh. "But in the end, I’m fine. I miss my mum, but... life goes on. I guess."
Penolope smiled. "You sound too mature for your age, you know that?"
Jayden shrugged. "I guess i grew up too fast." he chuckled.
Penelope chuckled too. She couldn’t believe this was the sa kid she’d carried as a baby. The sa one she’d buy chocolate for every ti she visited the beastn settlent.
"Y’know, you don’t have to wear the queen act with ," he continued.
She arched a brow. "Oh, don’t I?"
"Nope. You can just be Penelope. The girl who likes starlight fruit and rooftop jazz. The girl who—" He leaned in slightly. "—blushed earlier when I gave her a rose."
"I did not blush." she retorted playfully.
Jayden chuckled. "You totally did."
She scoffed, but her smile was brighter now. More free.
"...Maybe I did," she murmured.
There was a pause.
Then she rose slowly, stepping out from the table and offering him her hand.
Jayden blinked up. "Uh... are we—?"
"Dance with ," she said, eyes glowing like stars behind wine-tinted glass. "You owe that much."
There was no music loud enough to drown the way his heart beat in that mont.
He took her hand. And they began dancing.
The rooftop buzzed softly with low jazz from hidden speakers, strings and piano curling through the air like perfu. The glass ceiling above shimred with stars, and the city’s heartbeat blinked below in a billion lights.. distant, dreamy, watching.
Jayden held her hand in his, the warmth of her fingers humming against his callused palm. Penelope moved like moonlight through water—fluid, unhurried, but entirely in control. Their bodies swayed gently to the rhythm, as if caught in their own gravity.
She didn’t speak at first.
Neither did he.
And in that silence, sothing real blood.
"You’re really good at this." Jayden began. "Were you a dancer?"
Penolope smiled. "Sort of. I wasn’t exactly a professional, but i trained just as hard. And that made my dancing skills one of the best in the continent."
"That’s incredible. I’m.. not much of a dancer," Jayden murmured.
"You’re doing fine," she replied, her voice soft and close. "You’re just... tense."
Jayden chuckled. "Hard not to be when you’re dancing with soone who looks like a goddess."
Penelope raised a brow, lips tilting upward. "Flatterer."
Jayden smiled. "I’m just being honest."
"You do realise that I’m older than you, right?" Penelope chuckled in amusent. "Way older."
Jayden shrugged. "That’s not a problem for ." he said, cause Penolope to burst into laughter. She was deeply flustered, but she used the laughter to cover it up.
"Though honestly," he continued, stepping with her into a gentle spin. "Maybe I’m a little intimidated too."
Penolope smiled, but there was a flicker in her gaze. A shadow behind the glitter.
"Don’t be, i don’t bite." she winked. "And I’m not as hard as you think... you could swoop of my feet with a rose and a few poetic words."
Jayden laughed, so did she. There was a mixture of joy and tension between the duo. And at that mont, it wasn’t a dance between a teenage boy and a woman old enough to be his mother... It was a dance between two souls in sync.
A nostalgic smile grew on Penelope’s face as Jayden twirled her, circled behind and caught her by the waist.
He saw it.
"...Can I ask you sothing personal?" he muttered softly.
"You just did." she chuckled.
"Okay.. can I ask another?"
She gave a playful sigh, tilting her head. "Go on then."
"Your husband." He said it gently. "What happened to him?"
The question slid between them like a blade.
Penelope froze. Just a heartbeat’s pause.. but enough to disorientate her completely.
Her hand loosened in his.
Without a word, she turned and walked back to the table. Her heels tapped like echoes across marble, and her silhouette.. so strong a mont ago, suddenly seed distant. Fragile.
She sat down and, without ceremony, reached for her wine. She poured herself a fresh glass, then downed it like it was water.
Jayden followed quietly, his brow furrowed. He took the seat beside her again, cautious.
"I shouldn’t have brought that up," he said. "I’m sorry."
She waved a hand. "Don’t be."
He studied her... the delicate lines in her face, the storm behind her eyes, how even in sadness, she looked composed. Regal. Like heartbreak had beco her second skin.
"I consider him my my ex-lover." she corrected. "Not my husband."
Then she sighed. "But.. he was the best thing that ever happened to . He wasn’t just a na on a list. He was... everything."
Jayden stayed quiet.
"He was brave. Fearless, really. The kind of man who’d jump into a fire for a stranger, just because soone needed saving. And not just once... but every damn ti. He couldn’t stand to see people suffer, no matter who they were."
She smiled faintly, like rembering sunlight on old glass.
"He was kind. He would stop in the middle of the street to feed a stray. He helped people. of all kinds. Rich, poor. Criminals. Outsiders. Even those who hated him."
Jayden didn’t respond. He just listened.
She glanced at him, her voice growing quieter. "You remind of him, you know. How you saved Cassandra when no one else did. How you stood up to those n that day. Those were qualities he had. Qualities of a hero."
Jayden smiled. A small, wry tug of the lips. "Sounds like he was a good man."
"He was," she whispered. "He was a good husband, too. Loyal, loving, and honourable. He once went on a long journey—far, far from ho. For his people. He didn’t say how long it would take. Or if he’d even return. But.. he did return. Just to see again."
Jayden leaned forward a bit, curiosity breaking through the quiet.
"People? Was he so kind of leader?" he asked.
Penelope smiled without humor. "Sothing like that. Yes."
Then her expression dimd like a storm passing over a fla.
"...But in the end," she said, "he betrayed ."
Jayden blinked.
"He forsaked ," she whispered, her voice thin, sharp. "He left to face everything alone. The battles. The politics. The grief. The threats. All of it. And he never ca for . Never explained. Just... gone."
She poured more wine, her fingers trembling faintly.
"I’ve never forgiven him for that."
Jayden reached out, gently taking her hand. His warmth t her chill. His silence was deeper than words.
"You deserved better," he said. "And it’s not too late to have it."
Penelope looked up, sothing cracking behind her eyes. Vulnerability. Rage. Regret. All folding into a single, quiet exhale.
And in that mont, their eyes locked.
Sothing shifted.
Not romance. Not quite yet.
But sothing real. Sothing raw. The kind of connection that only exists between people who’ve both lost too much and yet dare to care again.
She leaned in, just slightly. Her breath mingled with his.
"How are you so good at this?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. "You’re just a kid."
Jayden smiled wrly. "Yeah, i am. But I’ve survived things even so n can’t dare to endure."
Penolope smiled and kept staring at him. He looked young. But he was sounding more like an adult. And that caused sothing to spark in her chest. A feeling she never thought she’d feel again.
Jayden was just starting to settle again, still holding the echoes of Penelope’s story in his chest, watching the starlight dance across her cheekbones, when...
A muffled voice pierced the atmosphere like a fork scraping crystal.
"I said, that’s ridiculous! It’s a room, not a palace! Why would one woman need the entire floor?!"
The murmur of an argunt was rising just outside the room. A flustered, muffled voice.. clearly Paul, the waiter, was trying, failing, to calm soone down. But the person wasn’t having it.
"The room has ten seats! You people are just being difficult. Don’t make call my manager, I know the owner of this place!" it sounded like a man in his late forties.
"Sir, please." Paul pleaded. "The person using this place is just as important as the owner. Infact, she’s..."
"I don’t care!" the man said. "Now, move! Or I’ll have n beat you up."
There was silence for a few seconds.
Then, the door to the room creaked open.
Striding in like he owned the sky ca a chubby, overdressed man in a diamond-studded blazer that shimred like cheap champagne. Gold chains clung to his neck like dals. His rings could’ve blinded soone under better lighting. He was clearly a wealthy person.
Following him were eight n.. burly, square-faced, Intimidating. The usual rent-a-thug aesthetic.
He took a few steps further, with a wide smirk. "Alright. Let’s eat."
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