"At school, I can't be alone with Rize for obvious reasons, and I can't meet her outside of school. So the only way to spend time alone with her is at school when she punishes me!"
[Are you seriously planning something like that?]
"I am thinking of it."
[I doubt that would work, but okay. You do you.]
"Thanks for the well wishes."
Alice grinned and hung up the call.
SIGH!
Rudy finished the rest of the homework and took a nice nap until it was afternoon. He felt refreshed and energetic as his mind had become free and lighter.
"Rudy, can you come here?" Lucy called Rudy.
He went downstairs in a hurry, only to find Lucy waiting for him in the living room. She had a calm yet nervous look on her face as though she was anxious about whatever she wanted to say or do to Rudy.
At the same time, Rebecca walked out of her room with lazy steps and half-open eyes. Seemingly, she was still sleepy but woke up for something.
She rubbed her eyes and walked into the kitchen to grab a water bottle from the refrigerator and began drinking from it without using a glass.
"What's wrong?" Rudy asked Lucy with a confused look on his face.
Lucy looked into Rudy's eyes and bit her lower lip from the side before asking, "Will you go out with me?"
SPAT!
"..."
Rudy and Lucy turned to Rebecca, who had spat the water she was drinking.
COUGH! COUGH!
She stared at Lucy with a baffled look on her face without saying anything.
"You were saying something?" Rudy asked Lucy.
"Yeah." Lucy nodded and said, "I want you to go out with me."
"Where do you want to go?"
"To the next city. I just got a call from the vet, and they told me that I can come to get my cat."
"Oh? A cat?" Rudy raised his brow with a knowing look on his face and asked, "What's its name?"
"Her name is Freya."
"That's a nice name."
"If you two are planning to go out, make sure to return before the evening," Rebecca said to them.
"Of course."
Rebecca then returned to her room after saying, "And don't forget to lock the doors."
Rudy turned to Lucy and said, "I will get my phone from my room. You should also do something if you want; like pee, or you know."
"Just go."
A minute later, Rudy returned and saw Lucy already waiting for him outside. He locked the door and looked up at the sky with a confused look on his face.
"What's wrong? Do you think it's going to rain soon?" Lucy asked curiously.
"I don't think so."
"But the weather forecast said it will rain today after around 7 PM, so as long as we return before that, we will be okay."
"I told you it's not going to rain."
Rudy glanced around and asked, "So how are we going? We will have to walk outside the town to get on a bus. There are no buses here around this time."
"Let's walk then," Lucy shrugged. "I also wanted to see this town, so it would be the best opportunity."
Rudy and Lucy walked and walked. He initially planned to take the shortest route, but after seeing the cheerful look on Lucy's face, he changed his mind and decided to take a long route to show her around.
'I forgot when was the last time I had seen her smiling. Whenever she came to visit me in the hospital, she wore sunglasses to hide her tears. I feel happy to be able to walk and talk with her like this.'
Lucy caught Rudy staring and smiling at her and made some distance between them.
"Is everything okay?" she asked with a judging look on her face.
"Yeah. We are almost at the—" Rudy suddenly stopped and glanced at the sky again.
Lucy raised her brow in confusion and asked, "Are you sure everything is okay? You have been looking at the sky, again and again, every ten seconds."
"Yeah…" Rudy increased his walking pace, so Lucy had to walk faster too.
'I don't want to say it's just my imagination, but I feel like we are being watched. Am I being too cautious? Even after using my see-through ability, I cannot see anyone, and I don't sense anything either.'
After walking for a while, they reached the pick-up point and waited for the bus to arrive.
"When will the bus arrive?" Lucy asked impatiently.
"Maybe in five minutes." Rudy glanced at Lucy from the corner of his eye and asked, "You seem to be in a hurry to meet Freya again."
"Of course. I love my cat."
'Lucy also had a cat in my past life. But she didn't adopt it until two months after moving to my house. But in this timeline, she already has a cat, and even her name is the same. I have compared many things from this timeline to my past life, and most of the things have matched, including the events that have and are about to happen.
The only anomaly is Lucy and Joe. First, mom remarried earlier than she did in my past life. And now the cat. Of course, some things are bound to change since it's a parallel world. But why only this? The apocalypse obviously is the main reason and the difference between this world and the other.'
Lucy suddenly nudged her elbow to Rudy and pointed her gaze at the bus that was arriving in their direction.
"Is this the bus? Is it going to the next city?!"
"Yes."
The bus stopped at the pick-up point, and they both got in with several others who were waiting for the bus to arrive.
However, much to their shock, the bus was packed, and only one seat was empty, which was soon taken by the old lady.
Lucy puffed her cheeks and glared softly at Rudy with teary eyes.
"What?"
"I was tired after walking the entire town, and now I have to stand on the bus too?"
"Maybe someone will get up on the next stop, and we will get a seat."
"But there are many others who are also waiting for that opportunity."
"Don't worry. Your brother will surely get you a seat soon."
"Step." Lucy squinted her eyes at Rudy and said, "You are my stepbrother."
Battle for the seat!
