161 Newfound purpose
Penny stood frozen on the stage with wide eyes. Around fifty sign–ups for a fan club were considered little, but for her, that amount was huge! But this crowd? It was almost like the general assembly in school.
Just what type of promotion Lily did do to make all these people sign up for her fan club?!
“Penny…!” Lily whispered from the side of the stage. “Speak”
Lily pointed at the microphone, signaling to Penny there was a mic for a reason.
What would Penny say?! This was akin to the school presidential election!
Penny glossed her eyes over the crowd, gulping, having this mild fright crawling into her heart. If others loved attention, Penny was the opposite. All she wanted was a peaceful school life – she didn’t even plan to enter school this year and pass it by taking a heavy amount of exams.
This was not in her plans!
“Go, Penny-!”
Her eyes inevitably shifted to the person’s vantage point. There, Hugo was standing with his team. He and his teammates were wearing headbands with her face glued to the strings attached to it. They were also holding up a banner with her name and their signatures on it.
‘Oh, my god…‘
As this sight of the school varsity team scared her, she coincidentally caught Atlas. He was standing not far away. With his stature, he stood out among the people around him. He was holding a stick with a flag on it, waving it mildly with a dead expression. The design of the flag was Penny’s face!
‘First Brother…! she mentally wept, feeling sorry for her first brother.
Lastly, she caught Slater’s figure just right next to Atlas. Slater was wearing a shirt with Penny’s name on it. Along with him were James and Slater’s other former bullies. The three of them were wearing pink shirts with Penny’s wide face printed on it.
Her brothers weren’t the only people popular people in there. There were also quite a few people who had earned quite the reputation – good and bad – including some from the star section. The sight, the crowd, and everything were overwhelming. Moreover, why was there a group of students recording all of this?!
But regardless of the brief inner turmoil, seeing her brothers, who would willingly wear that tacky shirt, hold that ridiculous flag, and wear that headband, filled her heart with appreciation. Knowing her friends also spent day and night preparing for this day touched her heart more than the overwhelming result of their efforts and hard work.
“Uh.” Penny cleared her throat, making the mic produce this sharp sound from the echo. She glanced at the side of the stage, seeing her classmates give her a thumbs up.
She nodded and faced the crowd with a fierce expression. “Well, ahem. Thank you for coming.”
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161 Newfound purpose
Her voice was nervous and shaky, evident she wasn’t used to this. “I… I am Penelope, but you can call me Penny”
Penny paused again and studied everyone’s still reaction. “To be honest, I didn’t know many people would sign up since I thought my friends were just joking. But seeing that everyone made time and gathered here, I am deeply and sincerely grateful.”
“I hope this club and everyone in it will focus on doing good causes; helping each other for the good and, of course… becoming a great advocate of creating a peaceful and friendly environment for everyone.” She pressed her lips together, unsure if what she said was even enough. However, she didn’t care anymore as she smiled brightly. “Let’s all be kind to each other”
For a moment, the crowded gym was in silence. But when Penny smiled with a slight tilt of her head, applause and cheers erupted in the gym.
“So cute-! Penny, we love you-!” The girls, who worked hard in the recruitment, waved the banners to show support.
The basketball team whistled and cheered in unison as if they raising their morale for their game. Some other students started chanting Penny’s name, while others just applauded and, once in a while, cheered gleefully.
The crowd was so hyper and appreciative Penny couldn’t help but smile.
‘In my previous life, no one would waste a second of their time on me,‘ she thought. But in this life… I don’t even want to be friends with anyone.”
And yet, she gained loyal and great friends.
Surely, people were strange.
When all she wanted was attention and some love, no one gave it to her. But now that she wanted nothing from everyone, they were giving her all the wanted and unwanted support. Either way, it wasn’t at all bad.
If anything, it was slowly giving her another clear purpose: to influence and spread kindness. It was teaching her the real meaning of acceptance.
Surely, despite the entire lifetime she ‘wasted‘ just to learn the reality of life, there was still a lot to learn in this lifetime.
I really like this life!”
Meanwhile, in the conference room of Global Prime Logistics Headquarters, Haines handed the box of tissue to Charles. Charles quickly pulled it close, taking a few tissues to wipe his eyes and blow his nose. 1
On the projector screen was Penny’s fan club’s first assembly. They were watching it via the live broadcast from the fan club site through Atlas’s account. Fortunately, his eldest was kind enough to lend him his account to this fan club site. Hence, Charles and Haines were able to watch this proud moment of Penny.
10:00
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161 Newfound purpose
However, it wasn’t just Charles who was able to watch this. Everyone in the CEO’s office was also in the conference room, as they were told there was an important meeting with their boss. Who would have thought the important meeting was a fan club assembly?
Now, they were watching their boss bawl his eyes out.
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