In the evening, after studying the quantum navigation system with Howard and Leslie, Raj drove to Penny's apartment building.
He wanted to try one last time to win Penny back.
Although Penny still had a lot of maturing to do before she could become a good marriage partner in his mind, she was his first serious girlfriend after all, so the relationship held special meaning for him.
Parking downstairs and climbing up to the fourth floor in one breath, Raj paused on the landing to compose himself, took a deep breath, and then knocked on Penny's door.
He knocked several times, waiting between each series of raps, but no one answered the door. Raj couldn't help frowning, wondering where she might be.
At that moment, the door across the hall opened instead.
"Hi, Raj~" Leonard called out.
Raj turned around and saw Leonard and Sheldon standing in their doorway.
Moreover, Sheldon had a peculiar expression on his face—a barely suppressed smirk with the words "gloating" written all over it.
Seeing his demeanor, Raj became even more convinced that Sheldon was the one behind his breakup with Penny. He forced himself to calm down and waved casually to Leonard. "Hi, Leonard."
"Penny went to a dance club with her friends, and she won't be back until late tonight. Would you like to come over and wait?" Leonard explained, gesturing toward their apartment.
"Wait a minute, this apartment is mine, and I won't let him in," Sheldon objected immediately, stepping slightly in front of Leonard.
"This apartment also has half of my space," Leonard immediately retorted, his voice firm.
"Okay, it's one-on-one now! According to the roommate agreement, Article 7, Section 3, if there is a tie in decision-making..." Sheldon began reciting at length from memory.
"Leonard, I'll just wait here in the hallway," Raj interrupted him, waving his hand dismissively at Leonard.
To be honest, he didn't want to stay under the same roof with Sheldon right now. That man was a troublemaker—whoever got close to him ended up caught in some drama or conflict.
"Okay, if you're sure," Leonard nodded, then stepped out into the hallway and walked up to Raj. "Then I'll stay out here with you."
"Thank you. I appreciate it," Raj smiled genuinely.
Sheldon, still standing in the doorway, looked affronted at being interrupted mid-recitation. His face flushed, and the corners of his mouth twitched with irritation.
"...That means according to subsection D, I have the final say in all tie-breaking decisions. So I don't allow him to come in, which means he just can't come in. Period." After he finished rattling off the entire clause in one breath, he finally let out a satisfied sigh, as if he'd won some important victory.
Raj glanced at him with barely concealed exasperation but chose to ignore him entirely.
"Raj, congratulations! I heard that you discovered a habitable planet. That's incredible!" Leonard said enthusiastically, his face lit up with genuine admiration.
Earlier today, major media outlets around the world had reported this groundbreaking news, which had caused quite a sensation in the scientific community and beyond. And as its discoverer, Raj had naturally become famous practically overnight, his name suddenly known to millions.
"Thank you, Leonard. That means a lot," Raj nodded, though he tried to appear modest.
"That's just his luck, nothing more," Sheldon interjected from the doorway, his voice dripping with disdain.
Sheldon couldn't accept that Raj had become famous before him. A habitable planet—such a major scientific breakthrough—and it wasn't discovered by him, the clearly superior intellect. Raj had simply gotten lucky, stumbled upon something by chance. His own time would come soon enough, and then he would show the world what a true genius could accomplish.
"I heard from Howard that some magazines interviewed you today?" Leonard asked again with an encouraging smile, deliberately turning his back slightly to Sheldon.
"Yes, President Seibert personally arranged several interviews for me. He said it would help raise the university's profile and attract more financial support from donors and grant organizations," Raj explained, nodding.
"The current media is really useless—they'll give an exclusive interview to just anyone these days," Sheldon said disdainfully, his voice carrying clearly down the hall.
He firmly believed that his own research was far more valuable and groundbreaking, and that the media should all be lining up to interview him instead. But instead they had rushed to interview Raj just because he'd found an interesting rock floating in space by sheer chance. It was completely unreasonable and showed how little the general public understood real science.
Seeing that Sheldon kept making snide, sarcastic remarks, Raj felt his anger rising.
He pulled a tissue from his pocket and made an exaggerated spitting sound.
"Hah tooh!"
When Sheldon saw this—the threat of contamination by Raj's saliva—his face suddenly transformed with alarm. He practically leaped backward into the apartment and slammed the door firmly shut, the sound echoing in the hallway.
"Cut!" Raj smiled contemptuously, satisfied with Sheldon's predictable germaphobic reaction.
"Raj, what exactly happened between you and Penny?" Leonard then asked, his tone shifting to one of genuine concern. "I know it's probably personal, but you seem really upset."
Raj sighed heavily and proceeded to tell Leonard the whole story—about Sheldon's interference, the planted doubts, the escalating arguments.
"What?! He actually did such a thing?" Leonard exclaimed in genuine surprise, his eyes widening. "I mean, I know Sheldon can be vindictive, but this is..."
He really hadn't expected Sheldon to be so calculating and cruel—first breaking up Leonard himself and Mickey, and now deliberately sabotaging Raj and Penny's relationship as some kind of twisted revenge.
"I'm so sorry, Raj. I feel like I'm the one who hurt you," Leonard said, his voice heavy with guilt. "This is my fault."
Raj had offended Sheldon specifically because he didn't follow Leonard's advice about apologizing and compromising with Sheldon and maintaining their group's status quo, and now he'd paid the price by losing Penny.
"It's not your fault, Leonard. Really," Raj waved his hands dismissively. "There was already a rift forming between me and Penny. There are significant differences between us—in our living habits, our perception of important things, our expectations for the future. We were bound to clash eventually. Sheldon just accelerated the inevitable and brought everything to a head sooner."
"Still, regardless of that, I want to say I'm sorry," Leonard said with complete sincerity, meeting Raj's eyes. "I really didn't expect him to retaliate against you like this, to be so manipulative and cruel. I apologize to you on his behalf, even though I know that doesn't fix anything."
"No, Leonard, Sheldon is already an adult. If he really wants to apologize, he will come to me himself. If he doesn't intend to apologize at all, what's the use of you apologizing for him?" Raj waved his hands dismissively.
Hearing what he said, Leonard was ashamed and speechless, his face flushing with embarrassment.
Just then, the sound of footsteps and muffled laughter echoed from the stairwell below.
Raj and Leonard looked toward the stairs at the same time, their conversation halting abruptly.
They saw Penny ascending the stairs with the support of a handsome guy. She was leaning heavily against him, practically draped across his shoulders, with a bright, slightly unfocused smile on her flushed face. Her hair was disheveled, and she giggled at something he whispered in her ear.
When Raj saw this scene, he immediately stood there in a daze, his body going rigid.
Leonard shifted uncomfortably beside him, clearly at a loss when he witnessed the awkward situation unfolding before them.
Before either of them could react, the pair had already reached the fourth floor landing, only a few feet away.
Penny's eyes focused on the two figures waiting by her door. Her expression froze instantly, the smile sliding off her face, and her footsteps faltered.
"You... why are you here?" She looked at Raj with obvious embarrassment, her voice suddenly much more sober.
"Penny, let's go inside," the handsome guy said, oblivious to the tension in the air. He urged her forward with a hand on the small of her back.
Raj stood silent for a moment, his jaw tight. Then he took a deep breath, visibly composing himself before speaking with forced calm. "It's okay. I was worried that you were still angry, so I came to see you. Seeing you like this now, I feel relieved that you're... doing fine."
"Don't get me wrong! He's just a friend of mine, and we were just drinking together. That's all." Penny quickly explained, pulling away slightly from the man beside her.
She was angry that Raj had dismissed her work as a waiter as unimportant, and also frustrated that he hadn't come to apologize or even check on her for the past two days. So tonight, feeling hurt and neglected, she'd gone out drinking with friends. As a result, she'd accidentally had too much to drink, and this friend—this handsome guy she barely knew—had offered to see her safely home. If she was being honest with herself, she'd also hoped it might help her feel better about the potential breakup, to remind herself that other men found her attractive and desirable.
She swore to herself that she didn't want anything serious to happen with this guy. He was just a distraction, someone to make her feel beautiful and appreciated for a while, to soothe her wounded pride. She would have asked him to leave before things got too serious or went too far.
"Well, I believe you," Raj said with a slight nod, his voice steady despite the pain visible in his eyes.
Although Penny had a colorful romantic history before they met, Raj knew she was genuinely dedicated and faithful when she committed to someone. In the show, she had never cheated while she was with Leonard during their on-and-off relationship. On the contrary, Leonard had been the one who was half-hearted, secretly flirting with Sheldon's beautiful assistant Alex and going on dates with marine biologist Mandy Zhou behind Penny's back.
Penny breathed a visible sigh of relief after hearing Raj say he believed her, her shoulders relaxing slightly.
To tell the truth, she was genuinely reluctant to lose a boyfriend who was as handsome, intelligent, gentle, and considerate as Raj. When she was with him, she felt cherished and spoiled like a princess in a fairy tale. He remembered little things about her, brought her favorite flowers, and actually listened when she talked about her day.
Perhaps because of their different cultural backgrounds, none of the American boyfriends she'd dated before had ever treated her with such attentive care and devotion. Therefore, although they had only been dating for less than two months, she had already become deeply attached to this feeling of being genuinely pampered and valued. She didn't want to break up with Raj, not really.
So seeing Raj standing here outside her door, having come over despite their fight, she felt a rush of surprise and hope. Maybe they could work this out after all.
"However," Raj continued, his voice quieter now, "I don't think we're suitable to be together anymore. I'm sorry." He shook his head slowly, then turned and began walking toward the stairs.
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