Chapter Text
Like every other Valentine’s Day, Penelope didn’t expect to receive anything, neither a single flower, chocolate orange, nor a sherbet lemon even. She sat on her assigned seat, a couple of rows behind Eloise, and watched gifts pile up on her friend’s desk.
Well, even though she didn’t get anything from anyone else, her best friend always shared the things she got with her anyway. It wasn’t as if Penelope was missing out on anything.
Later, after class, Penelope was, per usual, invited to spend the rest of the day with Eloise and her sisters. They were the eldest in the house then, so Penelope took it upon herself to prepare them something to snack on as they whiled away the afternoon. She arranged plates of sandwiches and bowls of parfaits in a tray along with a tin of biscuits for them all to share.
But before Penelope could take the tray in hand and head out, she was surprised by the girl’s youngest older brother.
Colin smiled at her, the apples of his cheeks pink. “Hi, Pen,” he greeted, his hands behind his back secreting something. She needed to ask him a few times what he was up to before he finally relented.
“I was going to get you the real thing but I’m allergic,” he explained somewhat. Then, he presented what he was hiding to her.
It was a crocheted rose.