Lucy came out of the bathroom, fully dressed while drying her hair with a towel. She walked into the living room, where Rudy was doing something on his phone, lying comfortably on the couch.
"Did she leave?" Lucy asked, standing behind the couch, directly in front of Rudy's face.
"Yes."
"I heard her yelling about something. What were you two talking about?"
"Nothing, as usual. What about you? You know it's not good manners to eavesdrop on people, especially when you are in the bathroom," he chuckled softly.
"It's kind of hard to not pay attention to the words when someone is literally yelling them."
"Relax, I am just joking."
"Yeah, I know. I have lived long enough with you to understand your sarcasm."
"Same for me."
Since Lucy had just gotten out of the bath, the smell of her shampoo and body soap was strong, even more so to Rudy since he had the ability to smell everything from far away.
Lucy caught Rudy staring at her, so she squinted her eyes and asked, "Why are you staring at me? Never seen a girl dry her hand before?"
"I don't know how to say this, but… we both use the same shampoo and body soap, yet you smell so much better. Why?"
Lucy raised her brow and gave a weird look at Rudy.
"That's creepy, not going to lie. Are you saying that you are smelling your step-sister after she comes out of the bathroom?"
"It's kind of hard to not smell someone when they are literally standing next to you and sprinkling water from their hair as they wipe them."
"I hope you are being sarcastic again, because I was."
"Who knows?"
"Anyway, are you free tonight? Though, it's already night."
"No, I got some things to do. Why do you ask? Do you need my help with your math again?"
"No." Lucy shook her head and said, "My friend helped me with that. We watched a video on the internet, and the person in the video explained and cleared my doubts pretty well."
"Then?"
"It's biology."
"..."
"I am not sure if you are good at it, but we have almost similar syllabi, so I was hoping you would know it."
"We actually don't have the same syllabus. My school follows the government board while yours follows private— which in my opinion, is better since they actually care about what they are teaching to students."
"So… is this your indirect way of saying you can't help me?"
'I am sure she can watch the video for that too, but let's not say that. After all, the event is coming. And this one is the real one.'
In his past life, Lucy had asked Rudy for help with her biology, and Rudy had helped her. But in this life, she asked him to help with her mathematics homework, which was different from what happened in his past life.
Since the event was related to the subject of biology, Rudy was confused as to what type of progression would occur when Lucy asked for Rudy's help in mathematics. Regardless, Rudy was going to help her but ended up falling asleep.
However, now the true event was scheduled, and Rudy was somewhat relieved as it was the same as what happened in his past life. He didn't like when there were anomalies between the two universes since he would have to find the reason why the anomaly had occurred.
He still didn't and couldn't find the answers to some of the recent anomalies, such as why Rebecca, Alice, and his birthday were on the same date when they were in different months in his past life.
"Sure, I can help. I can't help you today, so maybe tomorrow?"
"No, let's make it this Saturday. You can teach me till late at night without worries of waking up early the next day."
"Okay, do as you deem fit."
"Good, thank you. But you better not fall asleep like the other night," she said with a judging look on her face.
"If that happens, you can always wake me up."
"I tried the last time, but you didn't wake up!"
"Maybe try a little more aggressive methods next time?"
"Like?"
"I am sure you already know the answer to that."
"Well… don't get angry if I try them, then."
Rudy got up and said, "I am leaving. Take care of yourself. And don't fall asleep with wet hair, or you will catch a cold."
Lucy watched Rudy leave the house through the front door.
SIGH!
"He keeps treating me like a kid," she muttered with puffed cheeks. "Stupid Rudy."
'Why do I feel like I am forgetting something?' she wondered.
After a few seconds, her eyes widened when she remembered.
"Right! I forgot to feed Freya!"
Lucy rushed to the kitchen, only to see Rudy had already fed Freya.
"At least someone is making progress." Lucy picked up Freya in her arms and said, "Why are you getting close to him, but I can't? Don't get too close to Rudy. He is mine."
Rudy landed in front of Alice's house and called her on the phone. He was talking to her via text, asking her if she had changed or made up her mind to go to the auction with him.
'She seemed reluctant till the end. I don't want to force her to come since she wouldn't enjoy it. But Let's ask her for the last time.'
Alice picked up the call with, [Yes, I am coming. Give me two minutes.]
"Okay."
Alice opened the window of her room and signaled Rudy, so he teleported to her room.
"What were you doing?" he asked.
"I wished good night to dad and locked the door."
"I see."
"We will be back by the morning, right?" she asked with an anxious look on her face.
"We can return whenever you want. If you feel like going home, tell me. I will drop you off."
"Right… I was worried for nothing."
"Let's go meet the gang now!"
