Rebecca was walking hastily on the street near her house. She was repeatedly looking at the watch on her wrist.
"I hope everything is alright," she muttered with an anxious look on her face.
"Why is his phone switched off? Sometimes it says unreachable…"
Rebecca got off her night shift later than usual, and it was around 8 AM in the morning. The food stalls and stores were opening at that time, so Rebecca thought she should buy something for breakfast for Rudy as they have been eating cereals with milk for the past week; sometimes, eggs too.
So Rebecca decided to call Rudy to not go to school and wait for her to come home. But much to her surprise, his phone was unreachable. When she tried again, it was switched off.
Sure, it wasn't a strange thing to happen, since they lived in a town where there were regular power outages and problems with cell networks. But Rebecca couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness.
Most of the time, whenever Rebecca called Rudy— even in the middle of the night— to remind him of locking all the doors properly before sleeping, he would still answer the phone. And even if he didn't, the call still went through, reassuring her that he was sleeping.
Of course, there was also a chance that Rudy's phone simply ran out of battery and switched off, but She was aware of Rudy's habit to charge his phone overnight— which Rebecca hated.
She was worried that the phone may explode because of excessive charging, and she also had to worry about the electricity bill.
Besides, it was already 8 AM, and Rudy was always awake at that time to get ready to go to school.
Left with anxiousness, Rebecca had no other choice but to go home as soon as possible and check on Rudy.
After walking for a few minutes, Rebecca finally reached her home. She unlocked the door, threw her purse on the living room couch, and dashed upstairs to check on Rudy.
She noticed the door of his room was wide open, so she rushed in without knocking— although it wasn't as though she ever considered knocking.
The stiffened expression on her face softened up as she sighed in relief after seeing Rudy sleeping on his bed.
She walked to the bed to wake him up as he was already late for school, but she noticed Rudy wasn't wearing anything on the top. And his body was covered by the blanket.
'Is he sleeping naked again?' Rebecca asked herself and slowly moved her hand to the blanket.
She slowly pulled the blanket to his chest and tossed it on the side, only to see him wearing pants.
"..." For some reason, she looked a bit disappointed after seeing that.
'Now is not the time for that!' Rebecca shook Rudy and said, "Hey, Rudy! Wake up! You are late for school!"
Rebecca noticed Rudy's body was wet, so she placed her hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever, or something even more serious. But his body temperature was normal.
Rebecca sniffed Rudy's body and immediately covered her mouth as she felt nauseous.
'Why does he smell so bad?!'
Rebecca shook Rudy again and said, "Wake up!"
"..." Rudy slowly opened his eyes, but his vision was still blurry.
He rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up on the bed as his vision got a little clear. But his head suddenly ached, so he grunted in pain and held his head in his hand.
"Are you okay?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah, just a minor headache," Rudy said in a calm voice. "I was studying till late night, so that's probably why."
SIGH!
Rebecca looked at Rudy with a warm, motherly gaze and said, "Don't stress yourself. You know, I don't have anyone in this world except you. If something happens to you, I will have no reason to live."
"You say weird things sometimes, mom. It's just a headache. And don't worry…" Rudy grinned at Rebecca and said, "No matter what happens, your son is never going to let you be alone."
"...!"
"I promise you, I will always be there for you," Rudy asserted with a gentle smile on his face.
'I will always be there for you, I promise.' Rebecca's eyes widened after seeing that as she recalled a distant memory.
"Liar…" Rebecca muttered under her breath and walked out of the room after saying, "You should take a bath. You stink!"
"..." Rudy was left speechless, not by Rebecca's comment, but by what she said before that:
'Liar.'
"What does she mean by that?" Rudy wondered with a confused look on his face.
He then sniffed himself and muttered with a disgusted look on his face: "Why do I stink like that?"
"Wait…" Rudy raised his brows with a puzzled look on his face and glanced around the room. "How did I get here?"
"I brought you here," Angelica appeared in front of Rudy from his closet.
"First, tell me what you were doing in my closet?"
"Nothing." Angelica shrugged her shoulders and said, "I was strolling around the house and heard Rebecca's voice, so I came to check."
"How did you bring me here? I was at… Alice's house, right? And then I passed out…? I don't remember."
"Yes. And I carried you here."
"Carried me…? As in… all the way from Alice's house to my house?" Rudy asked with a baffled look on his face.
"Yes," Angelica nodded in response.
"How?"
"I carried you in my arms, just like a princess…"
"I don't believe you. No matter how you look at it, I am heavier than you. And even if you did manage to carry me, there is no way you carried me all the way… wait…"
After a brief pause, Rudy opened his mouth and said, "Thanks."
Rudy had no reason to not believe Angelica, and he knew that she would never lie to him.
After that, Rudy and Angelica went to the bathroom and took a bath.
