Rudy was on his way to the convenience store where Rebecca worked. When they were eating dinner earlier, Rebecca had asked him to come with her as she was the only one in the store, and she was scared.
Of course, Rudy immediately agreed without thinking, but he had to go to the vampire world, which was as important as Rebecca for him. So he told Rebecca that he would come later after a few hours.
When he was waiting for the portal to open, he received a message from Rebecca which said that someone had come to fill in for the shift, so he no longer had to come. However, Rudy had planned to go anyway.
One thing after another, Rudy finally got time to visit Rebecca, even though it was nearly 5 AM at night, or morning as one would call it.
SIGH!
Rudy let out an annoyed and frustrated sigh after remembering what had happened a few days ago.
As Rusher had promised, he gathered the entire family– except Ria's husband– and told them everything about Maria and his blunders in the syndicate.
Rudy didn't know any details, but when he called Rusher the next day to confirm if he had lived by his promise or chickened out at the last minute, he didn't answer the call. Naturally, his next step was to call Maria, but she didn't pick up either.
Rudy was worried, so he called Lilim immediately, and much to his surprise, the phone was answered by none other than Maria. After talking with her for a while, Maria only asked him one thing:
"Did you know about it?" she had asked.
Rudy's heart sank after hearing that. That was the last thing he wanted to hear from her. The only reason Rudy had pressured Rusher to reveal everything was because he didn't want to get into a mess when the secret was leaked.
However, regardless of what he did, he was asked that question. Of course, he answered to her honestly without hiding anything.
After that, there was a minute-long silence, and neither of them spoke a word. And then, Maria asked him not to contact her or anyone from the underworld until the VVIP tournament.
She asked him to meet him at the colosseum on the night of the VVIP tournament. And she also made him promise not to use his powers to teleport there or 'watch' her in the meantime.
Rudy had no choice but to agree to Maria's terms, and he wasn't worried as Maria's voice didn't sound angry but rather a little disappointed.
However, after the call ended, Lilim had secretly sent him a text saying [Everything is alright. Don't worry. Lady Maria just needs some time to process and accept everything.]
"The VVIP tournament is in two days. Let's hope I can manage that."
Rudy landed near the convenience store and casually walked in. The store had no guards inside or outside– as always– and that worried Rudy as if something happened, no one would be there to protect the staff.
The nearest police station was not anywhere near to be called 'near'. But the store at least had cameras and such for obvious reasons. And it wasn't as though Eleanor didn't want to appoint the guards; it's just that no one was interested in such a job.
In people's eyes, the jobs such as watchman, security guards, delivery people, waiters at hotels and restaurants, drivers, Pune, and janitors, were inferior, and only illiterate and unemployed people did– which wasn't always the case.
However, those people were never treated with respect in any regard, and such jobs were never the first choice of most people. But they didn't know that the world wouldn't run without them. And on the night shift, finding someone for such a job was even harder.
After entering the store, Rudy scanned the area to find Rebecca as she wasn't at the cashier as her usual job.
'There she is.'
Rudy found Rebecca fixing the shelves and making space to add more stuff to the shelf. He quietly walked to her and stood behind her, hoping that she would notice him or get surprised.
However, that didn't happen. Rebecca was so lost in counting and adding things to the shelves that she had no sense of her surroundings. Due to that, Rudy was a little angry.
'What if someone else came and did something? She is so defenseless! And where is the 'someone' she messaged me about? There is no one else in the store to cover the shift. Was she lying to me?'
Since Rudy was staring at Rebecca for a while, his 'see-through' ability had begun doing its work. His gaze automatically fell on her butt.
He immediately blinked a couple of times to reset his vision and inwardly uttered, 'Tonight is not a safe night to perv on mom. I am left horny after Rias sucked my blood.'
Even after three minutes had passed, Rudy was still unnoticed by Rebecca. Annoyed, he hugged Rebecca from behind without saying anything.
"...!" Rebecca's eyes widened in shock. She elbowed Rudy on the stomach with her left hand and elbowed him on the face with her right. Then, she turned around and kicked Rudy in his precious place– or she would have done that if she hadn't noticed that it was Rudy.
"Wha– Rudy?!" Rebecca grabbed Rudy and asked, "Oh my Lord! What are you doing here?! Are you okay?!"
"Yeah… I am okay…" he said while touching his stomach and face. Of course, he was acting, but it was realistic.
"I am so sorry!"
"I am glad you didn't go with that kick…." he muttered. Even he wasn't sure if his balls would have been safe after the kick.
"Why would you suddenly grab me from behind like that?!" She yelled with a flushed face to hide her embarrassment.
"I… slipped when I was walking," he responded while averting his gaze to the side.
He used the same excuse Rebecca had used when she kissed him for the first time after he returned from the vampire world.
