At that mont, without wasting another second, Cora looked directly at Penelope and spoke with calm determination.
"I'm not interested," she said, her voice steady and clear. "The thing is, I actually have sothing very, very important that I'll be doing that day. I would have loved to co, I really would have, but I'm very sorry - I don't want to collect an invitation card and then end up disappointing you on the sa day by not showing up."
At that mont, hearing what Cora just said, Penelope's jaw imdiately tightened like soone had just slapped her across the face. Even though she tried to quickly mask her reaction, the anger was written all over her features. She was absolutely furious because she knew that Cora had just completely rejected her so-called generous offer, the invitation that she had presented like it was so kind of golden ticket.
Penelope's eyes flashed with irritation, and when she spoke again, her voice had lost all that fake sweetness from before.
"I know you're just pretending to be very busy that day," she said, her tone sharp and accusatory.
"You don't have anything important that you're going to be doing. You just don't want to co, that's what this is really about." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared Cora down. "You feel like the party is too big for you, don't you?"
Imdiately, Penelope continued like she was talking to so confused child who didn't understand what was good for them.
"If you're feeling kind of overwheld about this whole situation, then there's really nothing for you to worry about at all," she said, her voice dripping with condescension.
"You can simply just tell people that you're not really familiar with fancy surroundings like this, and I'll make sure to find sothing more convenient and suitable for you to do at the party." She shook her head like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I honestly don't understand why you're rejecting an offer like this. Do you have any idea how many people would literally kill to attend sothing like this? I'm doing you a huge favor here, and you're just throwing it back in my face."
At that mont, Cora cleared her throat and straightened up in her chair. Her patience was wearing thin, and she could feel her temper starting to rise.
"I already told you - I'm not interested in your favor," she said, her voice getting firr with each word.
"It's not a do or die situation, and I'm simply not interested. Is that really too difficult for you to understand?"
Penelope's eyes widened like she had just been personally attacked, and she took a step back with her hand pressed against her chest in mock surprise.
"Are you being serious right now? Why are you trying to be so aggressive with ?"
Imdiately, without anyone having to say a word, Penelope realized that Cora was never going to budge on this matter. The rejection was written all over Cora's face, and Penelope could feel her carefully laid plan crumbling right in front of her eyes. She had ssed up badly by showing her true colors way too fast, exposing her real intentions before she could even get comfortable. If she had been smarter about this whole thing, she would have sat down first, chatted with Cora for a while, made her feel relaxed and caught up in the nostalgia of their old friendship, and then slowly worked her way into making Cora feel small and inadequate. But no, she had rushed it like an amateur, and now Cora could see right through every single word that ca out of her mouth.
Penelope's mind raced as she quickly tried to co up with a new approach, a different angle to get what she wanted. She couldn't let this end with Cora having the upper hand - that just wasn't acceptable. So she shifted her entire deanor in seconds, letting her face soften and her shoulders drop like she was genuinely remorseful about everything.
"I'm really, really sorry for the way I just spoke to you right now," she said, her voice suddenly sounding humble and apologetic.
"I honestly wasn't expecting you to decline my offer like that, and it just caught completely off guard." She let out a small sigh and shook her head like she was disappointed in herself.
"We've been friends for God knows how long, and having you reject sothing I offered in this manner simply wasn't sothing I saw coming at all. It threw off balance, and I reacted poorly."
She paused for a mont, letting those words hang in the air before continuing with even more fake sincerity.
"I'm very, very sorry for everything - for my tone, for my words, for the entire way I handled this conversation. I'm completely ready to make ands for what I just did and for the disrespectful manner in which I spoke to you." Her eyes moved between Cora and Oliver, and then she gestured toward the table they were sitting at.
"Why don't we just forget all that awkwardness and start over? Let and my fiancé sit down at this sa table with you both and actually have a proper al together."
However, at that mont, before Cora could even get a single word out of her mouth, Penelope and her fiancé Richard moved with lightning speed and plopped themselves down right at the table beside Cora and Oliver. They didn't wait for permission, didn't ask if it was okay, didn't even pause to see if their presence was welco - they just took over the space like they owned the entire restaurant.
Cora's mouth fell open in complete shock, and she felt her heart racing with a mixture of anger and disbelief. She really wanted to protest, desperately wanted to tell them to get up and leave them alone, but the sheer audacity of what had just happened left her speechless for a few seconds. Her brain was trying to catch up with what was happening, and by the ti she found her voice again, they were already settled in like they belonged there.
"You guys are not invited here," Cora said, her voice rising with frustration as she looked between Penelope and Richard.
"Why are you sitting beside us? What exactly is going on here? Are you doing this on purpose or what?" She could feel her hands shaking slightly under the table.
"Your apology has been accepted, okay? You can literally leave now."
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