When he woke up in the morning, Raj's mind immediately returned to the dispute from the night before, and he felt a knot of worry tightening in his chest. He feared that Penny would still be upset and want to continue the fight, and the thought left him feeling quite disturbed and anxious about facing her.
But his concerns proved unnecessary. When he was in the kitchen making breakfast, Penny emerged from the bedroom, full of energy and wearing a genuine smile, looking nothing at all like someone who had cried herself to sleep just hours earlier.
"Honey, are you okay?" Raj asked with concern, studying her face carefully for any signs of lingering distress.
"Of course I'm fine," Penny replied with a bright smile. "It's not the first time I've failed an audition. If I couldn't even handle this little setback, I would have quit this business a long time ago."
Hearing her say this with such confidence, Raj felt the tension in his shoulders ease and he breathed a little sigh of relief.
"That's good to hear. Come and eat," he said, gesturing toward the table with a warm smile.
"Thanks." Penny nodded and sat down at the dining table. After a moment, she looked up at him thoughtfully. "Honey, if one day I decide I don't want to be an actor anymore, what do you think would be the right job for me?"
"Do you really want my honest opinion, or are you digging a trap for me to jump into?" Raj asked warily, his eyes narrowing slightly with suspicion. He vividly remembered the lesson from last night—how easily he'd said the wrong thing and upset her.
"I really want your honest opinion," Penny assured him with a nod. "You're so much smarter than me, so I'm sure you can give me some good advice."
"Alright then." Raj paused to gather his thoughts, then nodded. "With your youthful beauty, your natural charisma, and your gift for connecting with people, I think sales would actually be really suitable for you."
"Sales?! You want me to be a salesperson?" Penny said in shock, her eyes widening. "Do you think that's all I'm capable of doing?"
She was clearly thinking of the kind of salespeople she'd seen in department stores and supermarkets—the ones with a microphone pinned to their waist, demonstrating products while trying to attract customers. That kind of work was exhausting and didn't pay well at all.
"No, no, I don't mean it like that," Raj quickly explained, holding up his hands. "There are many different levels of sales work. Supermarket promoters are salespeople, sure, but so are real estate consultants, pharmaceutical reps, and stockbrokers. The top salespeople in those fields make just as much money as top celebrities do, if not more.
I think you should leverage your natural strengths. You're beautiful, personable, and incredibly friendly. If you went into sales, customers would trust you instinctively. That's a rare and valuable quality."
"Okay, I can see what you mean," Penny said, nodding slowly as she processed this. "One last question." She looked directly into his eyes. "If I insist on continuing my acting career, but year after year there are no results, will you always support me no matter what?"
Raj fell silent for a long moment, weighing his words carefully. Finally, he shook his head slowly. "If you've been working hard and giving it your all, but you're still not getting anywhere after years of trying, then it would only prove that you're not suited for this line of work—through no fault of your own.
If I continued to support you indefinitely in that situation, then I would be deceiving you and enabling you to waste your youth and energy on something that will never work out. In that case, I wouldn't be helping you—I'd be hurting you instead."
He knew that Penny probably wanted to hear something like "I will firmly support you in pursuing your dreams no matter what happens." Saying those words would make her happy, and in turn she would make him happy. It would be so easy.
But those weren't his sincere feelings. If he deceived her with false encouragement like that, it would weigh on his conscience and make him feel deeply immoral. So he decided to tell her the truth, even knowing that Penny might get angry or even break up with him because of it. He was willing to accept those consequences rather than lie to her.
"Honey, you're a good man," Penny said softly, standing up and coming over to embrace him with genuine gratitude in her eyes.
She knew from experience that many men wouldn't hesitate to tell her any lies she wanted to hear if it meant winning her favor or keeping her happy. Only Raj had the courage and integrity to tell her the truth, even when that truth was difficult to hear. And somehow, that honesty made her feel more cared for and secure than any pretty lie ever could.
In the next two days, the relationship between Raj and Penny not only did not become estranged, but grew closer and more comfortable.
At the same time, the paper "Using the Density of Celestial Objects in the Kuiper Belt to Limit Its Elemental Composition and Formation History," which Raj had collaborated on with Dr. Gablehauser, was officially completed and uploaded to the preprint server for the academic community to browse and comment upon.
The paper quickly attracted significant attention within the academic circle.
Humanity's research on the Kuiper belt had begun in the 1970s, but even now, decades later, the Kuiper belt still concealed numerous secrets from human understanding. Its origin, its evolutionary history, its precise elemental composition, its relationship with the broader solar system—all of these remained mysteries waiting to be unraveled.
The paper co-authored by Raj and Gablehauser employed the density measurements of celestial bodies in the Kuiper belt to infer its elemental composition and reconstruct its formation history, immediately elevating humanity's understanding of this distant region to a new level.
Therefore, after the release of this paper, it received unanimous praise from experts in the field.
Many prominent figures in astrophysics lauded Raj, this promising young researcher, for being intellectually sharp, refreshingly creative, and bold enough to challenge conventional thinking. This recognition elevated Raj's status within the academic community considerably. When walking around campus, he frequently found colleagues and students approaching him to offer congratulations and strike up conversations.
Even Howard discovered that many female students were praising Raj as the sexiest man in the physics department in private conversations, and had even affectionately nicknamed him "Milk Chocolate."
"Raj, you're now a celebrity on campus. I've heard that numerous girls admire you," Howard said with undisguised envy in his voice. "Should I help you compile a list of interested candidates?"
"Howard, you don't need to waste your time on such things," Raj replied, waving his hand dismissively with a smile.
Knowing that he had become an object of admiration certainly made him feel somewhat elated, but he had no intention of taking advantage of the situation to pursue casual encounters.
For one thing, he was still primarily focused on his career. He had already gained so much favorable attention simply by publishing two influential papers. This clearly demonstrated that advancing his professional reputation was genuinely effective in attracting romantic interest.
In the future, there would be more papers, more prestigious publications, greater career success awaiting him—and naturally, more opportunities with women. That being the case, there was no need to rush into anything now.
Secondly, he currently had Penny in his life. Although Penny didn't possess an advanced degree, she was undeniably beautiful, and she brought considerable life experience to their relationship. She was proving to be an excellent companion.
With her by his side, Raj felt genuinely content. There was simply no time or desire to pursue other women indiscriminately. Moreover, Raj firmly believed that only those who approached love with respect and sincerity could ultimately find lasting love. Those who played games with emotions would inevitably find themselves played by those very emotions.
His mission this time was to help Rajesh find a genuine life partner, so he needed to exercise caution and thoughtfulness when it came to matters of the heart.
"How can this possibly be a waste of time? If you don't want them, you could pass them along to me," Howard said with rising excitement. "These girls admire you and trust your judgment. With your help in making introductions and vouching for me, my success rate would increase by at least twenty percent."
"Howard, please don't joke about this," Raj said, his expression growing more serious as he frowned.
Although he had helped Howard update his wardrobe and improve his appearance, changing one's exterior was far easier than transforming one's interior. Howard still retained that somewhat desperate, slightly creepy demeanor that put women off.
"I'm a goddamn engineer, and I never joke about numbers or sex," Howard replied with complete seriousness.
Seeing him so stubbornly insistent, Raj couldn't help but shake his head with a wry, slightly exasperated smile.
When would Howard finally understand that women were attracted, not pursued through sheer persistence?
The entire concept of "chasing" women was fundamentally flawed. If a woman was genuinely interested in you, you could develop a meaningful relationship without any desperate pursuit. Conversely, if a woman had no romantic interest in you, even if you followed her to the ends of the earth, you still wouldn't be able to change her feelings.
The popular notion that relentless devotion—being a "dog licker," as some crudely put it—would eventually win someone over was nothing more than delusional wishful thinking.
Howard simply smiled at Raj's reaction, seemingly oblivious to the lesson his friend was trying to convey.
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