Her once true love defects to Dauntless, abandoning her.
Penelope finds herself lonesome two years later. She has everything she could ask for, but nothing is fulfilling. That's until she comes across Charlie again. Old feelings are lost but somethi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
IT was chaotic.
Getting ready, makeup, hair, and even picking out my shoes. My anxiety increased with every passing second, but I had no remedy for it. Eric had gotten ready downstairs, and I never caught a glimpse of my soon-to-be husband.
Through my opened bedroom window, no matter the distance, I swore I could hear the excitement of everyone.
"Penelope," Damien breathed, rushing to me. "It's time."
My breath caught in my throat. I turned back to my reflection, checking that everything was okay. My makeup, which I wanted light, nothing too flashy, was perfect. My hair was pinned up, soft curls falling.
"Everything's perfect from the back," he commented, smoothing my dress out from behind.
I took a deep breath, making sure Eric's gift—the necklace—was in place. My eyes took in the beauty of it, while my mind processed that it was real. Eric had gone to such extremes to get me such things, and the only question was how much it all cost him.
"I still can't believe he gave you something like that," Damien breathed, but out of amazement.
"I know, he's completely nuts."
Damien laughed softly, spinning me around. His dark-brown hair was parted to one side and his brown eyes sparkled from such an exciting event to take place. He was under 6 feet, and my silver, 3-inch heels gave me a small boost so that we were almost the same height.
"Tell that to Stark. ." He frowned. "He was trying to convince me that Eric hit you. .or something, but I didn't believe him. .I couldn't understand why Stark would even suggest something so bizarre."
I forced a small smile, looking down at his chest. "Stark was only worried since no one knew of Eric."
Damien laughed, taking my hands. "I still can't believe you hid him from us."
I flinched, shaking my head. "Yeah. .I don't know how I did it."
Damien caught my chin under his fingertips, tilting my head up so that I looked him in the eyes. Guilt ran through my entire body but I hoped he didn't catch on to it. I still couldn't believe that everyone sucked up our little lie, except Stark, of course.
"You're scared," Damien stated, tilting his head to the side.
I nodded, knowing that was something I could be completely honest about.
"Of?"
I sighed, losing his touch as I turned to look somewhere else. "Moving to Dauntless. .having to say goodbye to Xa and my parents. .and you and Stark."
Damien brought my face back, his eyes pooled with tears now.
"We'll miss you so much, Penelope, but you'll be happy with him. Dauntless might be scary at first, but you'll get used to it. I'm sure you will. And I'm positive that Eric will let you visit us."
