บท 4: I Have Your Back
Penelope had heard Percy go on about this theory before. A theoretical physicist he admired was a huge proponent of the multiverse and had published quite a bit about it.
She was skeptical though. The only reason she never shut him down when he went on about it before was because she didn't want to get into a debate with him. He shut up a lot faster if you didn't argue with him.
"Elaborate," she requested.
Percy was so excited he was practically bouncing in his seat. "It's simple, really. Some multiverse theorists believe that every choice people make creates an alternate timeline. These parallel worlds are related to ours but with a few key differences.
"In your case, it seems like the world branched off somehow related to that dig in Athens. Some events in both our timelines remained the same while others changed because of the results of that dig, like how we moved to Brentwood and you met Roman. He lived across the street from us there."
Penelope wasn't sure she bought this but the enthusiasm shining in her brother's yellow eyes was hard to ignore. When he got this fired up about something, it was hard not to get swept along.
"Say you're right. How did I get here? And what happened to the other me?"
Percy shrugged. "I don't know. You did both undergo accidents or surgery around the same time. Maybe you switched places. Or maybe both of you died and started a chain reaction switching up all of the Penelope Logans in the multiverse. Who knows?"
"…you seem awfully calm about this considering your real sister is gone."
He shrugged again, nonchalant as possible. "You're both my sister. What difference does it make to me if your memories are slightly different? You still love me, don't you?"
"Of course I do! What sort of stupid question is that?" Penelope demanded.
"See? There isn't a problem. Except when it comes to Roman. I'm not sure he'd be able to handle my theory. He really loves you."
Percy paused for a moment before looking at her more seriously than before. "You have to pretend that you're his Penny. It'll destroy him if you don't."
Hold on just a minute. Even if she did want to do that, how would that work when she didn't know a thing about him? He would never buy it if he was as in love with his Penelope as her brother claimed.
"I can't do that; it's cheating! His real wife might still be out there somewhere!" she protested.
"Think of yourself as a placeholder if you must. If this switch is temporary and you mess up her marriage for her, I'm sure she won't appreciate it," Percy said lightly.
He had a point. If this really was a short-term switch and Penelope acted strangely or rejected Roman, his real wife would have to deal with the fallout later.
She also didn't know anything about this world or her life. It might be within her best interest to stick this out for a little while to get her bearings. She couldn't believe she was actually considering this but…
"What would I have to do to make it believable?" she asked hesitantly.
Percy smiled. "Leave that to me. I know where she—I mean you—keep your journals. Since you are the same person, I assume you have the same habits. My Penny writes at least half a page every day. I also have access to all of our home videos from growing up.
"You're recovering from surgery; you'll have at least a few weeks off of work where you'll be home all day. Brush up on all of my sister's memories and you should be able to get by for a while."
Could Penelope really do that though? She had never been much of an actress. But it was true that she did have a habit of writing in her journal every day that she developed in high school. If their habits really were similar, it might be possible as long as she didn't do anything weird.
"You're going to have to tell me about how I act around Roman," she said seriously. "I don't know if journals will give me everything I need to know."
"I have your back," Percy said confidently. "You've totally got this, Penny!"
Did she? Because this was the craziest thing she had ever considered doing. If there was a graph measuring how insane all the crazy things she had ever done actually was, the distance between her previous most crazy thing and this one was exponential.
Penelope frowned. "What am I supposed to do before I read everything?"
"Avoid interaction as much as possible. Claim you're tired. Pretend to sleep. Act sick or in pain and Roman shouldn't ask too many questions. He absolutely dotes on you. I'll give you a brief rundown of everything before he comes back in and you can leave the explanations about your 'temporary amnesia' to me."
Percy then launched into a short description of his sister's life. Roman was four years older than her and they had always been close because there weren't many kids in their neighborhood, though they didn't start dating until after Penelope graduated high school.
They got married four years ago when she finished college and she had been working as a graphic designer at an advertising agency ever since. They had no children and no pets.
Roman's family owned the hospital Penelope was currently a patient in and after getting a bachelor's in public health and an MBA he became the director. Originally people questioned his appointment because of his age but he was brilliant and fixed a lot of internal problems so they eventually stopped grumbling.
She was overwhelmed by the information and decided it would be best to go back to sleep and avoid further confrontation with her fake husband.
"Tell him I fell asleep and that he should go home, okay?" she requested of Percy.
Her brother shot her a playful wink and a thumbs up before telling her to sleep well and that he would be back tomorrow to give her more information when he wasn't in class at Caltech.
Penelope closed her eyes and desperately wished that this was all just a dream and that she would wake up on her hard twin mattress back home in the morning.
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