The Failed Rejection
Chapter 2

Noah’s pov

Noah was nervous about this dinner. He hadn’t talked to Penelope in almost a year. Not since that night. He had never been nervous, not around a woman anyway. Noah has always been confident. However, with Penelope it was different, she was his mate. Penelope was endgame.

He spent all day going back and forth whether she would want flowers. Would she want him to pull the chair out when they reached to table to sit down. Dating these days was a night mare. Especially with a girl like Penelope. She was so confident. Noah loved that about her. Finally he decided to call Liliana, and she nixed the flowers.

Noah was already out, he had just attended her graduation and in a little boutique was a cute little necklace. He thought was perfect for Pen. It had the little diploma scroll on it, and the graduation cap. When he asked the price, it was only twenty dollars. Noah thought it was perfect, too much and then she would think he was trying to buy her back. He quickly bought it, and the sales associate wrapped it up.

Noah had a lot of regrets and the night he spent with a random she-wolf to vent his anger about the mate bond was number one. Hooking up with a different random she-wolf the day that he met his mate was number two.

He picked up Penelope from her apartment and drove to the restaurant. Her sister Lili told him that she loved seafood so he picked a reasonably priced seafood place. Noah didn’t want her to think he was trying to buy her back.

“How did you know I like seafood?” She asked. “Wait-“ she stopped him before he could say “my sister. Yeah I don’t get why she’s helping you. She’s going through her own mate issues right now.” Noah got out of the car and went to go open the door for her but she had already gotten out.

“Well in her words, she first called me an a*s. But then she said we needed to talk this out so she gave me some of your favorite things.” Penelope didn’t respond, so they walked into the restaurant and to the hostess podium.

“Reservation?”

“Yes, Logan for two.” The couple sat down and ordered. Noah ordered a lobster while Penelope ordered shrimp fettuccine.

“So have you decided where you are going to medical school?” Penelope who was taking a drink of water shook her head.

“I got accepted to a couple of places, but I haven’t decided yet.”

“You need to soon, where did you get accepted?”

“I got accepted here at Northwestern, university of Michigan, and Perelman.”

“Wow those are amazing schools, definitely a congratulations are in order for your acceptance.” Those three school were in the top fifteen medics schools in the US. Just getting acceptance was a hurtle in of itself. Penelope blushed,

“Lili threw me a party after I got my acceptance to Perelman.” Noah laughed,

“So I’m guessing that’s your dream school?”

“No it’s not necessarily that, I thought I didn’t get in, and it was the highest on the list that I applied to. So for me it just seemed like a failure when I didn’t get accepted. I had moped around about it for weeks, then when I got the letter, Lili decided we had to have a party.” Noah was jealous of her relationship with Liliana, while Noah had a brother the two of them were never close.

“Well I can definitely relate to that. I didn’t think I got into Columbia. When I got my letter I thought I was going to have a heart attack.” The food just came, he thanked the waiter and looked back to Penelope.

“You went to Columbia?”

“Yes. It was an experience.”

“What is it like?” Noah started to navigate cutting open his lobster as he decided to answer.

“Hard, and frustrating.”

“Frustrating, how?”

“Well I’m assuming you already do a lot of work at the pack infirmary?”

“Yes, I’ve been doing stitches for years.”

“Well the first year of medical school is just labs and workshops and lectures. It’s so boring for people like us who have been in the thick of it already.”

They ate and talked happily about what was to come for her first year of medical school. Then they moved to other topics like her family as well as his. Noah was dropping her off at her apartment when he remembered he had a reason for this date.

“Penelope, remember when I told you I had something specific I had to tell you?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?” Penelope unlocked the door and gestured him in the house. He sat down on the couch,

“I realized that I did a lot of things wrong with our relationship. The main thing was forcing you to accept the mate bond. I did a lot of soul searching and decided to give you some time and not interfere with your life at the moment.” Penelope was blown away, he had never been so unselfish.

“I also decided that during this time I want to do something I have always done, I’ve signed up for Doctors Without Borders. They are shipping me out in a couple of weeks.” Penelope was blindsided,

“How long will you be gone?” She asked.

“A little over a year. Eighteen months.” Penelope was quite for a moment, and Noah decided to give the gift for her he had in his pocket.

“Here, I got this for you. I thought about getting you flowers.” Noah laughed. “I actually spent over an hour debating whether I should get you flowers or not. I was walking by the boutique and this caught my eye.” He handed her the necklace box. She opened it and he saw real joy on her face. Noah had gotten her several over the top gifts before and she would just plaster on a fake smile. But this, this smile was worth everything.

“Thank you, I love it!” Penelope took it out of the box and tried to put it on, but failed. Noah leaned forward.

“Here let me.” He took the necklace from her, and had some trouble of his own getting it clasped. Finally, after several tries he managed to get it secured. When he slightly pulled back, Penelope leaned back in and kissed him. The sparks where their lips touched were amazing! Noah brought his hand to her face, and was amazed by the sparks.

Noah finally pulled away, but Penelope followed him.

“Wait Penelope. This isn’t what I came here for.” Penelope gave him a smile and stood up.

“I know.” She held out her hand. “That makes it all the more special.” Noah stood up, took her hand and followed her to the bedroom.