Chapter 5: A Sucker For Love

Percy had lied to his 'sister.' He didn't think of her the same way he did his own sister. He only said that in order to get her to cooperate and get his Penny back.

He doubted this confused woman would be able to survive without his help. Without extensive coaching Roman—who was obnoxiously in love with his sister—would definitely notice something was up. He couldn't allow that to happen before he got the real one back.

Based on everything he had read about multiverse theory, it was most likely that his sister had ended up in the parallel world that this Penelope came from. He sincerely hoped that was the case because it meant that there was an alternate version of him there.

From the way she talked and acted, it seemed as if his doppelgänger was very similar to him in both the way they dressed and their interests. The other Percy was an astrophysics student as well.

If that was truly the case, he had no doubt that his counterpart would be working tirelessly to get his real sister back as well once he figured out what was going on.

He had been hailed as a science prodigy since he was young with an IQ of 161. Between the two of them, there had to be a way to switch their sisters back.

Percy loved Penny—his Penny, that is—deeply. She had never understood his hobbies but had always listened intently and asked relevant questions about his research and experiments.

She was the one who coached him on how to navigate the social world as well, saying that there was a time and a place to talk about the things he loved. He hadn't believed her at first but heeding her advice had led to a much smoother school life and eventually getting himself a girlfriend, even though the relationship was short-lived.

They were as close as two siblings with such a large age gap could be. Percy absolutely had to get her back.

He knew Roman would feel the same way if he was aware of the situation. Nobody could replace Penny for either of them.

Percy really owed him one for saving his dad, especially now that he knew that the lack of that connection resulted in his death in a parallel world. The other Penelope's life seemed hard but that wasn't his problem.

He wouldn't allow this fake to ruin his sister's happy marriage in the time it took him to make the switch. He was already running through countless calculations and ideas about who to talk to in the multiverse forums he frequented that could be useful as he approached his brother-in-law.

"Well?" Roman asked nervously, looking like an absolute wreck despite his professional attire and fussy haircut. "What did she say? The two of you were in there for an awfully long time."

Percy smiled in as relaxed a manner as he could pull off. "Babbling a bunch of nonsense from the anesthesia high. I listened to her until she fell asleep. I'm willing to bet she'll be completely back to normal once she wakes up.

"This sort of thing happens all the time. Haven't you seen the viral video about that man who wakes up after oral surgery and starts hitting on his wife as if he'd never seen her before? Go home and get some rest; I know you haven't slept a wink since she was brought into the ER last night."

Roman sighed wearily. "Do you really think that's it? She seemed so certain…she wasn't acting delirious at all."

"If you're that nervous and she still doesn't remember you by tomorrow, get her scheduled for an MRI," Percy suggested. "But I really don't think it will be necessary."

Even if he did do an MRI, there wouldn't be any abnormalities with her brain. She wasn't suffering from amnesia; her memories were simply different because she was a different person.

He had to admit he was curious how this happened and why. Was it a soul switch rather than a body switch? The woman he talked to said she fell down the stairs. That wouldn't require an appendix removal…unless she fell because of the appendix pain.

Perplexing. Percy had never read anything about parallel people switching worlds so he wasn't sure what factors were at play here. All he knew was that this Penelope Logan was not his sister Penelope Cross.

He clapped a hand on Roman's shoulder, feeling sorry for him because of how exhausted he looked. Even with Percy's low EQ, it had been obvious for as long as he could remember that Roman had been in love with Penny.

He didn't deserve this. None of them did. The other one needed to go back to where she came from so life could get back to normal!

"Relax, Roman. Everything will be fine in the morning. Knock yourself out with a sleeping pill if you must. Sleep is the human version of turning a device off and back on again to reset it," Percy reassured him. "Just be glad the surgery went well. I know you said it was on the verge of rupturing so they had to remove it immediately."

"Yeah," Roman said listlessly.

Man. That guy really was such a sucker for love. He was glad he had never been obsessed with a woman like that.

There were so many more important things to worry about than other people. The only exceptions in his case were his family members because he had grown up with them. Other people primarily served as a distraction from his research.

If—no, when—he managed to get Penny home, he would have solid evidence of the multiverse theory. He could write a book and become a huge name in the world of theoretical physics. Although it wouldn't be theoretical anymore once it could be proven.

Technicalities. Percy needed to get home and get in touch with all the multiverse book authors he could ASAP.