Chapter Text
Penelope Featherington was always a shy girl. Being the youngest of three daughters was never easy, especially since she was an unwanted child. There was not that big of an age gap between her and her oldest sister; it was only six years, and the second one was four years. Her mother didn’t want a third child, but her father insisted since he wanted a boy. Once they found out it would be a girl, her mother tried to terminate the pregnancy, but it was already too late to do so. So, before even being born, she was already a disappointment to everyone in the house.
Growing up, Penelope had to learn how to have fun with herself. Her sisters always pretended she didn’t exist, and her mother gave her the bare minimum to survive. His father had a drinking problem, so he was rarely home, and when he was there, he was always screaming at her that he was supposed to be his heir. So, she found solace in books and in writing down her thoughts.
The school was not better. She didn’t have any friends because of her shy nature. Her grades were excellent, so kids always made fun of her. And when she got to middle school, they started picking on her about her body since she was more prominent than other girls. It got so bad she had to close all her social media accounts at thirteen. She tried almost every diet she could find on the internet to lose weight, but every time she managed to do it, she bounced back to her previous weight in no time. When she started High school, she was a bit overweight, but nothing that could prevent her from doing her physical activities, but still the bullying continued, and this time was worse now that she started to notice boys in a different light.
When she graduated at eighteen, she got top marks. She managed to get a full scholarship for journalism from London University. Her parents and sisters didn’t even bother to say goodbye to her when she left for the airport. Since her scholarship only included tuition and a shared room in their residency, she had to work part-time in a local cafeteria to be able to afford anything else she needed.
Penelope tried to befriend her roommate, but when the girl noticed Penelope was not one to go to parties and get drunk on the weekends, she lost interest and started to ignore her. Her classmates were okay, but she would not call them her friends; they only got together to do some assignments about it.
It was not until she turned twenty years old and started her third and last year at university that she got the courage to join a book club and try to meet new people. When she got there, she realised it was a feminist book club. There is where she met Eloise Bridgerton. They were discussing The Second Sex, and when Penelope managed to say her point of view, someone else interrupted her, saying that it was just her first day and she couldn’t possibly know what they were talking about. Eloise shut the girl up and told Penelope to continue. After the meeting was over, the two girls went for a coffee.
“So, Pen…can I call you Pen?” Eloise asked
“Uh, sure” Penelope smiled
“So Pen, how come I haven’t seen you before?”
Penelope blushed, “I guess I didn’t find time to join any club.”
“Oh, are you doing a double major?”
“No, it’s just that finding time with school and work is not easy sometimes.”
“Ah, I see.” Eloise took a sip of her coffee. “How old are you?”
“Twenty”
“Me too!” Eloise said enthusiastically, “So this is your last year, right?”
Penelope smiled, “Yes.”
They started talking about their careers and how the last two years had been for them. Penelope was intrigued by Eloise, and she wasn’t afraid to say what popped into her head. She was going to be one good lawyer.
“So, you have any siblings?” Eloise asked
“Two older sisters, and you?”
Eloise chuckled, “I have seven siblings.”
“Seven?!” Penelope asked, shocked
“Yeah, four brothers and three sisters; I’m the fifth one” She shrugged, “It’s kind of chaotic when we are all together, but it’s good chaos, you know?”
“What do you mean?” Penelope asked, confused; the only chaos she ever knew was from her household, and it was always negative
Eloise looked at her funny, “Well, we tease each other, but it’s all fun and games; you have sisters, you should know.”
Penelope blushed even more, “Uh, sorry, no.”
Eloise frowned, “You don’t get along with your sisters?”
Penelope shook her head, saying no, “They are older than me, so…”
“Well, how much older?”
“The oldest is six years older than me, the second one four.”
Eloise stared at Penelope for a few seconds, her jaw slightly open. Then, she started to laugh aloud, making a few people in the café turn to look at her. Penelope wanted to hide from their stares. Eloise wiped a tear from her eyes as she calmed down.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…you are joking, right?”
Penelope's face must have told Eloise that she was, in fact, serious about what she had just said, which made the young girl frown again.
“That age difference is nothing; my oldest brother is fifteen years older than me.”
Penelope’s eyes winded, “Fifteen?!”
She chuckled, “Yeah, and with the youngest ones, he is nineteen”
Penelope was flabbergasted, “But—How, I mean, why?”
“Well, the easy answer is that my parents married young, but the truth is that once they had their fourth kid, they decided to stop. But then, eight years later, surprise, surprise, they had me,” Eloise laughed. My parents, bless their souls, thought I would feel lonely if I didn’t have a sibling close to my age to play with, so two years later, my sister was born.”
Eloise took a bite from her sandwich and started to laugh, “For the second time, they said they were done having kids, but again, surprise, surprise, twins!”
“Twins?!”
Eloise nodded enthusiastically, “And when I tell you they are worse than Thing 1 and Thing 2 from that movie The Cat with the Hat, I’m not even joking.”
“Wow, your parents had their hands full after birth.”
Eloise looked down and lost her smile, which made Penelope concerned that she might have said something wrong. She was about to apologise for whatever she might have said.
Eloise looked up again, “My dad died before the twins were born.”
Penelope’s heart dropped, “Oh, I’m so sorry, Eloise.”
Eloise half-smiled. “It’s okay. It’s been a while. I barely remember him. I was five when it happened.”
Penelope hesitates, “May I ask…uhm.”
“Bee sting”, Eloise beat her, “He didn’t know he was allergic.”
Penelope nodded. They both fell silent, and she could tell Eloise was getting sad. So, she decided to move the conversation away from her father.
“So, who’s your favourite sibling?”
Eloise looked at her and smiled fondly. Evidently, she was grateful that she had changed the subject.
“That’s easy, Benedict.”
Penelope chuckled, “You said you were the fifth one. Who are the the first four?”
“Well, first, there’s Anthony, the oldest and head of the household.” Eloise rolled her eyes, amused. Then it’s Benedict, my favourite, Colin and Princess Daphne.”
Penelope turned her head and arched an eyebrow, “And you are Eloise—wait, are you—?”
“Yes, we are named alphabetically,” Eloise said, amused, “My parents had a weird sense of humour.”
Penelope laughed, “Okay, then who is F, G and H?”
“That would be Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth.”
“So it’s safe to say who of the twins was the oldest.”
Eloise laughed, “Yes! For six minutes, Greg likes to remain Hyacinth every chance he gets.”
“Are any of them already married?” Penelope asked curiously
Eloise grunted and rolled her eyes. “Yes, three of them. Because my family likes to torture each other, we had a Bridgerton wedding for three years straight. My mom was ecstatic!”
“You mean they married one after the other?”
“They swear they didn’t plan it”, Eloise huffed, “But my family is highly competitive, so I have my suspicion” She leaned against the table, “Anthony was the first one, not surprised there, but then, Daphne got together with Simon, who is Anthony’s best friend” Eloise laughed when Penelope’s jaw dropped, “He was livid! But there was nothing he could do, so they got married the year after Anthony’s wedding.”
Eloise finished her coffee and sighed, “Now that I think about it, maybe Ben did it on purpose” She laughed, “After all the chaos that those two weddings caused, he proposed to his girlfriend and married the next year.”
They talked a little bit more about Eloise's family. How those married siblings already have two children each, and the oldest of the grandkids is five years old. It didn’t go unnoticed to Penelope that Eloise barely mentioned her third older brother. Whenever she wanted to ask her something about him, she avoided the question and moved on to another sibling. She only said that he travels a lot for work, and that’s about it. She decided not to push it, maybe because of his work; he was barely home, and she had nothing to say about him.
In the following months, both girls became very close friends. Eloise was shocked when Penelope told her she had no social media, so they texted constantly. Penelope was happy that Eloise also didn’t like to go out to parties, so she was continually in her small apartment. She learned pretty fast that Eloise's family was extremely wealthy, so for her to have her apartment close to the University was not weird at all.
When winter break was near, Eloise asked Penelope to spend the holidays with her in her family state. It took a lot of work for Eloise to get Penelope to open up, but once she did and told her about her family, her friend was livid. The redhead was hesitant to accept Eloise's invitation, but after convincing and assuring her that her mother was more than happy to receive her in their home, she gave in and said yes.
Aubry Hall was enormous. When Penelope saw it, she was intimidated. Apparently, that property has been in their family for generations. When Eloise told her she had her room on the guest wing, she was a bit taken aback, but since she didn’t want to sound like a skittish cat, she smiled and thanked her. Eloise reassured her that her room was near where she would stay.
That day, she met Anthony, his pregnant wife Kate, and their children Edmund and Miles. Both kids were fascinated with her hair. She also met Benedict and his wife Sophie, with their children Charles and Alexander. Lastly, she met Francesca and the twins, who, in her opinion, were a force of nature. They were only sixteen and ready to take on the world.
Two days later, she met Daphne, her husband Simon, and their children Amelia and Belinda. When Penelope saw the couple, she almost bowed because they looked gracious, like royalty.
Eloise was right; they were chaotic, but it was a good one. They were competitive and teased each other, but she could see the love everyone had for one other. Violet was the sweetest woman she had ever met. She always wished she had a mother like her. She noticed that no one mentioned the missing third son amongst everyone, and she didn’t want to ask Eloise about it.
But on the night of the 23rd, everything changed, and it all started with a voice—a deep, low, but boyish voice coming from the door of the living room, where everyone was gathered to play charade.
“It’s good to see that nothing has changed” The voice said
“Colin!” Hyacinth and Gregory shouted, running towards the door
Since Penelope was sitting on the carpet floor, she didn’t see the man who just walked into the room. But she did catch Eloise's gaze towards him being a frown but still getting up to greet him. Everyone else seems as excited as the twins. They were all around the third son when she got up, so she couldn’t see him.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming, sweetheart?” Said Violet with affection
“And ruined the surprise?” Chuckled Colin
“Well, it was a nice surprise, welcome back brother!” Said, Benedict
As they all started to back away from him, Eloise still stood there with her arms crossed. Colin had his back towards Penelope. He was tall, even taller than the other brothers, with the now famous chestnut hair that all the siblings had. He looked strong. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt, and his biceps stretched the material. He was facing Eloise.
“Aren’t you going to greet your favourite brother?” He said, opening his arms
Eloise rolled her eyes and walked towards him, “Hello, Colin.”
Throughout all the time she has known Eloise, she can tell when she has a fake or real smile that is not real. Her friend hugs her brother and steps away from him quickly. That’s when he turned around, and Penelope’s world shifted.
He was gorgeous. He had a remarkable shade of shining blue eyes, a sharp jaw, a three-clock beard, and a smile that could get him out of trouble. When his eyes landed on her, she noticed a shift in them. She couldn’t decipher that change, and his boyish smile transformed into a dangerous smirk.
“Well, hello there,” Colin said
She opened her mouth to say something when Eloise stood by her side and glared at her brother.
“This is Penelope, my best friend,” she told Colin, emphasising me. Then she turned to look at her and said, “This is my brother, Colin.”
Penelope smiled shyly, “Nice to meet you.”
Colin came closer and took her hand, kissing her knuckles, “Likewise.”
Penelope blushed and wanted to disappear. She heard some chuckles and sighs from the family, but Eloise was not having it. She took Penelope’s hand, which Colin held, and took her to the furthest couch in the living room.
“Always the charmer,” Benedict said, laughing towards Colin.
Colin winked at his brother and took a sit beside his mother. She gave him a drink, and he kissed her cheek as a thank you. His eyes landed on her again, and she turned her gaze towards Francesca, who was talking with Eloise.
They resumed the game, and she could feel Colin’s gaze narrowing toward her. She tried to avoid him, but how he looked at her gave her chills. He might be the most handsome man she had ever seen, but he was ten years older than her, not to mention Eloise's brother.
Since it was getting late, Violet told the twins it was time for bed. They didn’t sound happy about this, but they listened to their mother anyway. Kate left two hours earlier since her pregnancy always made her tired. Eventually, Penelope told Eloise she wanted to rest, so she said goodnight to the people remaining and left for her room. When she was about to open her room, Eloise called for her.
“It’s something wrong, El?” Penelope asked her friend
She looked nervous, “I just—uhm.”
“El?”
“You know you can tell me anything, right?” Eloise asked her
Penelope was taken aback, “Uhm, sure, but I don’t—“
“And when I say anything is anything.”
“What’s this about, El?”
“Just promise me that whatever happens, you will come to me if you ever need to talk to someone; even if you feel you can’t tell anybody something, you tell me.”
Penelope started feeling slightly uncomfortable, “Okay, I promise.”
Eloise gave her half a smile, “Good, well, goodnight, see you in the morning.”
Her friend hugged her and left her standing there, extremely confused by her behaviour. She tried to put it aside and began her night routine. When she was done and had her cosy Christmas pyjamas, which Violet had given her the first day she arrived so she could wear them on the 24th and 25th, she realised she had forgotten to fill her Wattle bottle. With a sigh, she grabbed it and proceeded to the kitchen on the first floor.
It was deserted when she entered the kitchen, which was not a surprise since it was way past one in the morning. Penelope filled her bottle, and when she was about to leave, she noticed some boxes on the middle counter that she hadn’t seen before. When she got closer and opened one, she saw some eclairs; the second had pastries, and the third had doughnuts. Her eyes returned to the first box, and she hesitated to take one. She had been working hard to keep her diet for this coming holiday this last week, and she didn’t want to break her effort just hours away from the festivities. She lost five kilograms, which wasn’t a lot in her view, but it was something.
Her hand harboured above the eclairs; she bit her lower lips, struggling with the inner demons that told her to do it. Maybe she could have half of one, if only…
“You should take one,” said a deep voice, making her jump away from the goods
When she turned to see who it was, she saw Colin leaning on the wall with his hands in his pants pockets and with a white shirt. He had a mischievous smile on his handsome face.
“Oh, I was—I mean, the—the thing—“
Colin chuckled, “You are cute.”
Penelope blushed deeply, “What?”
Colin approached her, and she had to bend her neck to look at him, “You should take one; they are delicious.”
Penelope shook her head, “I shouldn’t”, she whispered.
Colin frowned, “Why not? Are you allergic?”
“No”
“Oh, so it’s the gluten thing?”
“The what?” Penelope asked confused
“Are you one of those people who claim you can’t eat wheat, hence, gluten?”
“Oh, no, it’s not that.”
“So I don’t see why you shouldn’t eat one.”
Penelope looked elsewhere except his eyes and thought about any excuse she could give him, “They are not mine.”
Colin took a step closer to her, “Well, you are right about that,” he extended his arm, rounding Penelope without taking his eyes off her and took an eclair, “Good thing I brought them, and I’m more than happy to share one with you.”
He was too close, and he had her against the marble counter. She could smell his aftershave and cologne; it was intoxicating.
“It’s alright, it’s late…anyway” She managed to say
He tilted his head slightly, took the eclair, and gently split it in half, never leaving her eyes. “Open your mouth,” he said.
Penelope felt a shiver run down her spine at his order; something told her that she needed to comply. She slowly opened her mouth, and Colin parted his lips, staring at her movement. He then drew half of the sweet to her mouth.
“Bite it”
She does, and the sugar and sweetness invade her tongue. He had put a generous amount inside her mouth so she could feel some filling spilling on the corner of her mouth as she chewed slowly.
“Good girl” He whispered.
With extreme difficulty, she swallows. She stopped breathing when Colin took his thumb, cleaned the filling off her mouth, and brought his thumb to his mouth, licking it clean. She was about to say something so she could leave, but he repeated the action with what remained half of the Eclair. She shook her head; she didn’t want to eat anymore. His eyes darkened at her denial; it made her want to run away from him. He approached her face until he was close enough to her ear.
“You are going to be a good girl and finish your half”, He stated
She was trembling now, “But…I don’t want more.”
Penelope saw how his jaw clenched and moved away so he could see her eyes again; his face was so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her cheek. She could feel how he studied her closely; his eyes dropped to her lips for a few seconds, and she thought she heard a low growl coming from him, but it was so low she could have imagined it. His eyes were so dark and with something dangerous, but in the blink of an eye, he smiled sweetly at her and took a step back, letting her exhale a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“Okay then, I will save your half for later,” He chirped.
His change of demeanour sent her spiralling, so she nodded, agreeing with what he had said. He smiled, satisfied. She found the willpower to move her feet and started to walk away from the kitchen.
“Penelope”, He called her, and she frizzed
She could feel him walking towards her again. She wanted to run, flee, lock her room door, and hide beneath the sheets. Penelope could feel his heat on her back. He rounded his arm, and he was holding her water bottle.
“You forgot this”, he whispered close to her face.
She took it from him, and without saying a word, she moved her feet and almost sprinted to her room. She ended up locking her door and getting to bed, keeping an eye on the door and looking for any sound coming from outside. She was confused and scared; she didn’t understand what had just happened; one moment, he was like a lion ready to attack his prey, and then he changed out of nowhere to this charming man with a smug smirk. Was that behaviour normal in the family? She doubts it. Eloise’s brothers, including Gregory, have been respectful and sweet since she arrived, even if he likes to prank everyone. She could still feel the sweetness of the eclair he fed her, and the thought alone made her want to stick her finger and throw it up. She hasn’t done that since she left her parent’s house. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe to calm herself; maybe he just played a prank on her. Didn’t Eloise tell her that his brothers are well known for their harsh pranks amongst the family? She rolled on the bed and tried to go to sleep.