Chapter 294

"Look at you with your high moral standards."

"Not as high as yours."

"Hee hee. Do you work out often? Your abs feel amazing."

“Don't smile like that. You look like a predator.”

"Then give me another kiss."

After some playful banter, they hit the road again.

"What's the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen?" Penelope asked suddenly.

Theodore thought for a moment. "A sunset over the plains."

"For me, it's a sunrise."

"A sunrise where?"

"In my mother's painting." It was the most beautiful sunrise she had ever imagined, a scene her mother had captured on canvas. Looking at that painting, it was as if she and her mother had watched that sunrise together.

"The person who watched that sunset with me has passed away,” Theodore said quietly.

Penelope turned to look at him and saw a profound sadness in his expression, a side of him she had never seen before. She didn't ask who the person was, not wanting to reopen old wounds.

"My mother passed away, too," she said instead.

In the afternoon, Theodore exited the highway and turned onto a quiet country road. The sky grew overcast, and a light rain began to fall. Penelope leaned back lazily, watching the scenery fly by. This was a place she had never been and would likely never visit again, making every view a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The rain seemed to have cleared the road of any other cars or people. But as they rounded a bend, they saw an elderly woman, probably in her sixties, limping along the side of the road. She was thinly dressed and soaked to the bone, each step a visible struggle.

The car stopped, and Penelope rolled down the window. "Ma'am, would you like a ride?"

The woman turned, sizing up Penelope and then Theodore before slowly walking over. "Oh, that would be a great help."

Penelope got out to open the back door, but the woman hesitated. "I'm all wet. I'll get your car dirty."

"Don't worry about it. The seats are leather; they'll wipe right off."

Hearing this, the woman finally got in. Penelope joined her in the back and handed her a clean towel.

It turned out the woman's house was at the end of the road. She'd had an argument with her husband and stormed out only to sprather ankle and be forced to limp back home.

"He complained about my cooking!" she fumed. "He's been eating my cooking his whole life, and now he says it's bad? He must have found another old lady on the side."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that," Penelope said gently.

“Hmph. Men are all the same. They don't change, even when they're old." "Uh..."

"Is that your husband?" the woman whispered, nodding toward Theodore.

Penelope nodded. "Yes. We just got married yesterday."

"You need to keep an eye on him."

"Why?"

"To make sure he doesn't find another woman, of course! My old man is as ugly as a toad, and even he has wandering eyes. A handsome man like yours is bound to be heartbreaker."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Ah, I was young and foolish like you once. Trusting a man is like trusting rat poison not to kill you."

“That's... a bit harsh, don't you think?"

“Ma'am, the rain is getting heavier,” Theodore said, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. "Perhaps we should drop you off up ahead?"

The old woman's eyes widened. “The rain is pouring, and you want to leave me here? What are you trying to pull?”

"And what are you trying to pull?” he countered.

Realizing she had overstepped, the woman cleared her throat. “Of course, there are exceptions. Your husband has an honest face. He probably isn't the cheating type."

Penelope couldn't help but laugh. When she looked at Theodore, ske

saw him smiling with a look af helpless amusement. Adurtle further down the road, they came across an old man.