"Why are you here? It's 5 AM in the morning. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"I woke up early, so I thought I would check up on you. And I also wanted to buy some stuff," Rudy replied calmly to act normal.
"You shouldn't get out of the house so late at night. It's dangerous!"
"What about you? You also lied to me."
"No, I didn't. What are you talking about?" she asked with a confused look on her face.
"You did. You are the only one–"
"Rebecca, is everything alright?" a female voice asked from the other side, and it got closer. Seemingly, the person was coming their way. "I heard some noise. What's going… on…?"
The girl stopped speaking when she saw Rudy.
"You are…" Rudy immediately recognized the girl and asked, "What are you doing here, Janet?"
"No, what are 'you' doing here at this time?" Janet asked, pointing her finger at him.
"I didn't want to admit it, but…" Rudy sighed and said with a serious look on his face, "I came to rob this place."
"...."
Rebecca pinched Rudy's cheek and smacked him gently on the back before helping him get up from the floor.
After seeing the playful interaction between Rudy and Rebecca, Janet raised her brows as many thoughts crossed her mind.
"So…" Janet chuckled awkwardly and asked, "Did you call him here?"
"No… yes, I mean, I did, but then you came, so I asked him to not come."
Rudy sneakily took out his phone and snapped a few pictures of Janet in a staff uniform.
"Why did you take my photo!" Janet hissed.
"Our school doesn't allow part-time jobs, and I just caught you doing the night shift. I got proof on my phone, so I can show it to the teachers."
"Don't you dare!" Janet rushed to Rudy to snatch his phone and delete the pictures, but Rudy made a run around the shelf, and Janet couldn't catch up to him.
"Delete the pictures, now!" she shouted and turned to Rebecca, "Please tell him to delete the pictures, or I will be in serious trouble at school. I recently got into trouble after fighting with Andrew."
'Andrew?' Rudy raised his brows with a curious look on his face and asked, "What did you do?"
If Janet told him why she had snapped at Andrew, then her feelings for him would be revealed, so she chose to lie.
"Nothing."
"Well, Andrew is a dick, so I don't see a problem," Rudy shrugged. "And don't worry. I was just lying about showing the pictures to the teachers. I won't do such a thing."
He reassured her with his gentle smile, which was her favorite.
"I-It's not like I c-care!" She said with a flushed face.
"Anyway, back to my question." Rudy placed his phone back in his pocket and asked, "Why are you here?"
"Well… my mom is sick, and she told me your mom will be the only one working. And… There was this new cute dress I wanted to buy, so I asked my mom if I could cover her shift and use that money to buy me a dress. She was reluctant but agreed in the end."
"You really love those girly things, huh?"
"Duh! I am a girl!"
"Yeah, right. You are too boyish to be a girl," Rudy teased her with a scoff.
"What did you say?!" She shouted and began chasing after Rudy again.
Rebecca furrowed her brows angrily and muttered, "He said he came here for me, but he is talking with her."
Rebecca's jealousy was something else.
"Rudy! Stop running around in the store!" Rebecca shouted at him. "And you too, Janet! You are an employee right now, and you can't do such things! What if a customer saw this?!"
"Sorry…" Janet meekly apologized.
"Come on, mom. I understand that running inside the store is a no-no, but no one is here. And obviously, she has enough brains to know to not run when someone was here. And hey, it was my fault. So if you are going to scold someone, it should be me," he said calmly.
Rebecca squinted her eyes with a dead glare and said, "I already scolded you, and you had no effect."
"That's because I am used to it." Rudy turned to Janet and said, "I have been going through this for the eighteen years of my life. Can you imagine how much I have suffered?"
"My mom also yells at me all the time. And it's completely natural for parents to yell at their kids. But if someone else yells at you, such as your boss, teacher, manager, or maybe even a stranger, you would be frightened, right?" Janet asked curiously.
"I was trying to play the pity card, but you used the logic card," he muttered. "Mom, when will your shift end?"
He asked Rebecca.
"Not anytime soon. I might even be a little late today, so in case you are planning to stay here, I wouldn't recommend that."
"You know…"Rudy cleared his throat and said, "You don't really need to work here anymore. Why don't you quit?"
"I can quit anytime I want, but there is a high shortage of employees for the night shift. And this place belongs to my friend, so I am just helping her out." She shrugged and added, "And I like to work. And I get paid. And… I don't have any issue with working."
'I already knew her answer, but it was worth a try.'
"Okay," Rudy nodded. "But promise me that you would quit when there are more employees."
"...sure."
Rudy was staring at Rebecca with an alluring gaze, so Janet nudged him and asked, "You didn't answer my question. Why are you here?"
"Hmm? I already replied that I am here to rob this place."
"Then I better call the cops, right?"
"I am here to buy stuff…" he sighed.
Rudy had no other choice but to buy stuff, so he decided to buy some snacks for the vampire gang. He wanted them to try more human world food.
After buying and paying for the stuff, he bid goodbye to Rebecca and left the store. However, after stepping out of the store, he was called out by Janet for some reason.
