"WHAT are you doing?" He was running now to the table, as she quickly closed his journal and put it back in a drawer.

As she was closing that particular drawer, she tried to say something. "I was just…"

"Just reading my journal yet again, after I specifically told you not to?" He was standing near her now, his voice tense but not quite mad yet, more so disbelieved.

"I wasn't reading it, I promise." She said still looking down, taking a step away. From the table or from him, was it?

"Then what the heck were you doing?" Now he was definitely angry.

"I just wanted to know today's date. I promise, that's all. I did not read anything else." With her last sentence she looked up at him, her eyes filled with sudden fear. Did she just make everything way worse?

"Date? Could you not ask anybody from the stuff?"

"I guess I haven't thought of it. Forgive me. I won't even come close to your desk from now on." She said and she walked closer to the bedroom door with slight tense in her voice now too.

"I didn't say you could not use the desk. But journal…" As he was saying those words, he realized he might have overreacted too quickly. "It's just personal." He tried to explain calmly.

"I won't touch it anymore, as I said. Sorry again." She stated in a bitter style, as she was about to turn around and go out of that room. His hand suddenly reached for hers.

"I didn't mean to get so angry. Forgive me. I just…" She was deeply surprised by his actions, as much as his words. "I don't want you to read it, it's not as good as your works." He said looking down with slight shame now.

"Not as good? Colin…" She squeezed his hand a bit. Was he ashamed that his journal was not good enough? "What I read that day, it was great. I would love to read more," Her eyes transferred to the floor for a second saying. "but I heard you, so, I won't." And she looked back up at him and added. "But I would love to." He suddenly looked up at her with surprise in his eyes.

"You like it?" He asked, slightly taken off guard.

"Colin, I am sure your stories are exceptional. What I read that day, I could not stop, because of how good it was written." She answered in a soothing voice. And it seemed he did believe her, as he said.

"Well, maybe one day then…" He held both of her hands now, as took a deep breath. "Now, I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow…"

"Yes?" She asked silently, a fear hidden somewhere deep inside her.

"If there's a chance you would not tell everyone if I would say no to that idea?" He asked carefully.

"Colin… I thought I explained it pretty clear. It is the best choice considering…" She started. Could he not see how that was the best course of action?

"You also said it is supposed to be our mutual decision." He remembered her words this morning. She did say that. She did. But mutual meant the right one, excepted by both sides, for her.

"Yes, sure…" She prolonged the last word, wanting to add more, but he continued.

"But it feels more like you already decided everything without me." His hands left hers, as the conversation was getting heated yet again.

"Is that the real reason you're against of the idea?" It suddenly dawned on her. He hasn't really given a thought to the idea itself. More so, the only thing that was consigning him was that it was indeed HER idea.

"I did not say that. I asked if my words would mean anything to you?" He tried to defend himself, backing down a bit, both in conversation and in the room, taking a step back.

"Colin, for God's sake… I understand you think man should be the head of the household that comes with all of those responsibilities. But it's not about that right now. It's about our future. If that would help us, who cares who came up with that idea in the first place?" Now she was mad. How could he be so blind? Why it always came back to her making a choice or else? Why he could not see a bigger picture here?

"I am simply asking, would you still do it, if I would say no?" His voice was both incredibly tense and silenced. She could swear she heard his teeth making a sound grinding. In that case she would, but in any other she was not sure, she could be wrong sometimes too. So, she decided to explain it more clearly.

"Yes. Yes, in that case I would. In any other case I would consider your alternatives and your reasonings before, surely." She simply said to his face, as she watched him grew even more angry in a matter of seconds.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, trying to regain himself.

"It means exactly what I just said." She answered calmly. "I cannot feed your ego every time, just for you to feel important. In that particular case there's nothing that would be more right than this." She said now in a bitter tone as well.

"But what if I had some other plan, would you give yours up?" That made her think for a second. If it was better, sure… But wait a minute. – she thought. Were they back to the start yet again?

"Do you have some other plan?" She asked, squinting her eyes a bit, as if she already knew the answer to that question.

"We are talking hypothetically." He said way too quickly. Oh, well, so he just wanted to hear the words. – she thought. She was getting indeed quite mad actually.

"So, you don't have any other idea, you just want me to say I would be silenced and do what you tell me to because you are the man?" She said taking an angry step towards him, her voice louder this time.

"I am not saying that!" He screamed back, defending himself. Why can't she just answer the damn question? – he thought.

"Then why does it feel like you are?" She said, tears starting to form in her eyes. Why did he had to push her so hard? Why could he just not talk about an actual situation for a chance? "Do you know how hard it is to be a woman in our times? You have no idea and you probably never will. We have to follow the rules and constantly play along, simple to be accepted. We are not allowed to do anything besides what society allows us." She was screaming by the end of this small speech. Could he really be this blind? Was he a usual part of this society? Blinded and restrained?

"I just asked…" He was really taken aback by those words. Surely, he had heard that from Eloise way too many times. Was it really that bad to rely on a man after all? – he thought. But in her eyes, he saw real hurt. She was talking from a heart. And her heart was burning. She looked like kind of phoenix to him now, raising from the ashes time after time.

"And that just proved it once again." She interrupted him, taking a deep breath. She stood there thinking for a second, as he felt something inside her shift suddenly and she said the next words. "You know what, Colin. It doesn't event matter if I would consider that or not. I said to you today I planned to do it even before all that damn blackmail. I planned to reveal MY secret." She was screaming, hands flying in the air. His eyes grew bigger from the shock of witnessing her in that state. Somehow her outbursts triggered his own, as now he felt not heard either.

"That could ruin MY family." He screamed back.

"Actually, OUR family." She quickly corrected him.

Eye locked.

Tense growing.

Both breathing heavily.

Standing inching apart.

As suddenly her shoulders relaxed and she had spoken once again.

"That's why I asked, I asked for your support. That same support you said I never need. The one time I actually do need it, you're being bling by your own insecurities!"

"I am not…" He tried to cut in, he tried to fix it somehow. But he felt unfamiliar cold in her once warm blue eyes.

"Oh, yes, you are. Yes, you are, Colin." She said taking a step back herself. "And I simply cannot deal with it now. It is even harder for me. It is a secret about my life after all. And I am indeed the first person they might go after first." She felt incredibly hurt by all she had just heard. She wanted nothing but to fall go to bed as soon as possible, just for this day to be over. Her hand reached to opened the door to the bedroom.

"Pen…" He started, taking a small step after her. She swiftly turned around.

"No, I needed your support. I did need it. But if you plan to continue acting like this, I might just do it alone." She said in an angry voice, as a single tear ran down her cheek.

"What do you mean alone?" There was fear in his voice.

"I mean exactly that. I can and I shall." Her confidence rising up, as much as her tiredness of this day, as she turned to leave once again, only to be stop by his words.

"Pen. Stop." She turned back around, not with growing annoyance of this despairing situation they became.

"What now? You need details of how exactly I am planning on telling it to everyone?" She blurred out annoyed.

"Well, yes. At least I deserve that." Her last words made him come back to angry state rather quickly. If she can be that ire, he could be too. But she was so tired of this battle, she just said.

"I will just simply tell everybody at that ball tomorrow. Simple as that. And if you don't want to be even present at that, you could do whatever you want." Her voice was kind of calm, but still bitter. Her chin wasn't down at all, she was indeed looking straight at him, not hiding her eyes at all.

"Maybe I will." His eyes squinting at her. He was so hurt by all of that, he could not think straight.

"You're not planning on attending then?" Her brows rose up forming a question.

"I do not know yet." He was not sure of anything now, truly.

"Well, thank you for at least telling me this time, I guess." The irony in her tone was not lost for any of them.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked carefully, but still annoyed.

"The last ball. I was looking for you. People might have started asking questions." Now it was her time to bring back the past, and she indeed had succeeding at it. It felt like a knife in his heart.

"I showed up." He tried defence again.

"I didn't know that until you did." She answered, as all her posted screamed with 'I won this battle after all'

"I think I'll sleep on the sofa tonight." Was all he said. He did feel beaten up. He did feel like in the end he was the one who screwed up. But that phrase cut deep into her heart also. And something inside her broke. It broke to so many pieces she could not see a way to fix it at that moment. Taking a deep breath, she quietly said.

"Great. Do that. And if you are so concerned for Your family's reputation, there's one thing that I would not deny you, if you asked for it." As he looked up at her yet again with ire in his eyes, expecting another hurtful knife flying in his way.

"And what that one small thing you would not deny me?" He asked.

"An annulment." The awe on his face was indescribable. "If you ask for one, that's it." She added, turned around and opened the door to the bedroom.

"Penelope…" He tried to stop her.

But she closed the door.

He was tossing and turning for hours. Annulment. Was it what she wanted? Was he just too much for her? And her words ringing in his ears 'I cannot feed your ego every time, just for you to feel important'. Was she right? Was it just an ego? He never wanted to be big-headed. He never wanted to be this kind of a man. And he wasn't. Wasn't he? Why did he continue asking her that question? Why he needed to hear those words so badly?

He knew her idea to simply reveal the truth was indeed the best thing they could do.

'OUR family'

She was so right. They are a family now. Or at least for now they were. He wanted to fix it. Badly. He could know lose her over something so stupid as his own insecurities. He was even willing to tell her it was indeed an insecurity, just to keep her. He would tell her anything at this point, just for her to stay.

But he was indeed the one that had left. Left to sleep on the sofa. What the heck was he thinking, saying that. There was nowhere he wanted to be than in bed with her right now. He was stupid.

That night he swore to himself he would never say or do anything like this night. And they would spend each night, every night in each other's arms.

On the other side of the door her thoughts were consumed by something slightly different. Date. She was most definitely very very late. So late she was confused as to how she even missed it in the first place. By her calculations her monthly friend should've been here by the time of their wedding, or even before that. She was never late. Does that mean…? Or was it just stress? And she just threw those words about annulment… What the heck was she thinking? What if he truly gave that a thought now… This scared her way too much. As she fell asleep, she could not stop thinking how could she be so reckless in such a moment of her life…

He stood there in the ball room. So close and yet so far. She went to give a speech. They both knew what it meant. As she was saying those words, she looked at him. He turned around. Was he…? He left her, he left her during the most scary moment of her whole life. He left.

It seemed everybody in the room were quite shocked, but not mad really. More so impressed. She watched everybody closely, as her secret was finally revealed. But all that time her eyes were looking for one specific person, who wasn't in that room anymore.

As she ran to the garden, she saw him standing right there. Similar garden. Similar spot. Where he said the most important words of her life 'I love you. I am in love with you, Penelope.'

This time the mood was completely different.

"I do want an annulment." He said, still standing his back to her. Tears ran down her eyes, as she watched him leave.

"NOOOOO"

He was still not yet asleep on that damn sofa, as he heard the loud scream coming from their bedroom.

"NOOOOO"

Was she screaming?

Not giving any thought, he got up and ran out to her. Doors wide open. He rans to the bed. He's scared. Petrified even. What happened?

Suddenly she sat up on the bed. Tears running down her cheeks like heavy rain.

"PENELOPE?" He asked worried, as he got closer to the bed and sat up near her, not touching her yet.

She was breathing heavily, trying to stop her tears with her hands.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He asked, still not daring to touch her.

She wiped away her tears finally, took the last deep breath as she said.

"That's okay. Just a bad dream." She said, still trying to gather herself.

His hands instantly reached for her face, wiping some of the last tears on her pink cheeks.

"Sorry for waking you, you can go back to sleep." She said looking down on the bed. All that time her eyes didn't look up at him even once, as all he could look at were her face.

He did not respond at all. He simply got up from the bed and walked back to the door.

He was indeed leaving. She was watching her nightmare becoming reality in slow motion and she could not do anything about it. She forgot how to breath. It felt like her heart had stopped right there and then. She wanted to scream. Wanted to ask, beg for him to stay. But she was frozen. Frozen in that hurt, silently watching him leave the room, expecting for him to close that door once and for all.

And he did close it. He walked to the door and closed it. Before him. Staying.

Now she was confused. Is he…?

He turned around and she watching him take off his shirt swiftly. He walked to the other side of the bed and leaving the rest of his clothes, he got in bed completely naked.

He got in bed with her.

She still couldn't remember how to breathe.

Not saying a word, he pulled her in his arms, hugging her as tight, as he could.

And in that moment, she took the first breath of freshly renewing air.

"I am here. And I am not going anywhere." He said in her hair and left a kiss there.

"I am going to the ball tomorrow with my wife."

Another kiss in her hair.

Another deep breath of hers.

"I want to support you because I am proud of you, Pen."

Another kiss, a hug becoming even more close if that was even possible at that point.

"They way you messed with everyone for years, not anyone figuring out it was indeed you… for all that time."

His hand caressing her shoulder in a calming way.

"That is indeed impressive, Pen."

Another kiss in her hair.

Another deep breath. She was starting to remembering how to function.

And suddenly he slightly let go of her and looked right at her puffy face, raising her chin with his hand.

"But don't you dare ever." He looked really confident. His voice rising just slightly. "ever speaking to me about annulment."

A pause hand in the air for a moment.

"We are a family now. Nothing will change it. WE won't let it."

A small smile of hope appeared on her face, as he left a tender kiss on her lips.

"And I can promise you to sleep in the same bed as you, till death do us part."

And with that they fall asleep.

Feeling finally content and alive. In each other's arms full of love and hope for bright future.