We present a new method for resolving some of the most frequently occurring penetration configurations in cloth simulation, with a history-free discrete collision detection (DCD). To be adapted to a wide range of applications, this method is also orientation-free as no inside/outside surface setting is assumed. Our method relies on a heuristic paradigm “small region is illegal” to identify penetrating (illegal) regions whenever possible. First, intersection contours are constructed and classified, followed by a global analysis of the collision configurations. Then for those surfaces having identifiable illegal regions, we use dynamic repulsive normal (DRN) to compute proper displacements to relocate incorrectly configured vertices to be intersection-free. For those configurations that do not clearly define legal/illegal regions, displacements are designed to push one mesh to the boundary of the other. The proposed method can also be used in the context of time-dependent simulation of complex deformable surfaces, making it an competitive alternative to the popular CCD-based approach.