Rudy and Reba left the house and went to the cafe he had gone to with Elena on their first date. They sat at the exact table and ordered the same thing Elena had ordered.


    Rudy wasn''t sure if he should go alone with Reba''s wish, but he had promised her, so he didn''t want toment anything on that. Not only that, but he didn''t like the idea of Reba trying to be Elena.


    He thought for a while and decided to address his issue with Reba.


    "You know, you don''t have to do this," he said calmly.


    "What do you mean?" Reba asked while sipping coffee.


    "You don''t have to act like Elena or try to be her."


    Reba ced the cup on the table and looked into Rudy''s eyes.


    "Why do you think I am doing this?"


    "You know better. But I want you to know that you cannot rece Elena; no one can. And no one can rece you. You all are better your own way, and I don''t see why you would even want to change yourself to… well, it doesn''t matter.


    Let''s enjoy this special day however you want. But in the future, you might regret spending this day trying to be someone else. And I don''t want you to regret anything in your life."


    "..." Reba puckered her lips and looked at the menu to order the things she wanted rather than what Elena had ordered.


    After the cafe, they did the same thing Rudy had done with Elena, but in a little different way.


    "What now?" Reba asked.


    "After that, we went to the mountain hills and watched horror movies until it was already night. And before you ask— yes, we have already watched the movie at home, so there is no point of doing that."


    "But I want to go to the mountains."


    "And do what?"


    "I don''t know." Reba shrugged. "Maybe we will go hiking?"


    "Let''s go then. But we will return before evening."


    Thus, they decided to go to the mountain hills in the woods.


    "Be careful and don''t touch any trees or nts. There are many insects and small animals here."


    "Hmm."


    After reaching the spot, they sat down, leaning on the tree, and enjoyed the amazing view.


    "Kids are not allowed toe here alone. And even if they were, I don''t think anyone would dare toe here. So it''s my first timeing here," Reba informed.


    She leaned on Rudy and ced her hand on hisp before lying down.


    "Did you enjoy today?" Rudy asked.


    "I did."


    "We can do other things too."


    "Such as?"


    "We can go to another city. I would take you shopping, but we already did that yesterday. We can go to the beach, but it won''t be enough fun with two people; the same with water parks.


    Come to think of it, we have already done all the things in the past year that there are no new things to do." He chuckled softly and muttered, "I wish I… I had made a n. But I wanted to leave everything up to you so…"


    Reba looked into Rudy''s eyes and asked, "You can fly, right?"


    "Yes."


    "Then I want you to give me a ride home."


    "Sure thing."


    "But for now… let''s enjoy the view. Why is it cold here even though it''s noon?"


    "Because of trees."


    Reba closed her eyes and muttered, "When I grow up, I want to be like you."


    "Like me? Why would you want to be like me?" Rudy asked with a curious and confused look on his face.


    "You are so kind and gentle. You are taking care of Jessica and me even though we have no direct rtionship with each other. You have done so much for us, so when I grow up, I want to do the same things for others," she said in a low voice.


    Rudy patted Reba''s head and said, "That is a very admirable and noble life goal, but what you said about me is not true. I am not kind or gentle. I am doing this for myself."


    "You are lying. I can tell."


    "Do you remember what I told you a year ago?"


    "Yes…" Reba sat up and said, "I remember it clearly. And I''m afraid I still have to disagree with your words."


    "Why is that? I said the dark and bitter truth about what it''s like to be an adult."


    "You said I shouldn''t have an idol or a role model whom I can look up to. But would you say the same thing if I told you that my role model is you?" she asked with a judging look on her face.


    Rudy shook his head and let out a short sigh.


    "It''s good to have a role model, but you don''t have to chase after them or try to be like that. You don''t know what''s the real personality of your role model. What if one day you were to find out that the person you admire so much turned out to be aplete… bad person?"


    Rudy was going to cuss, but he stopped himself from swearing in front of Reba.


    "Listen, Reba." Rudy grabbed Reba''s hands and looked into her eyes. "No one in this world is perfect, and nobody''s a saint. So how can you admire someone you know nothing about?


    It''s like saying you will score at the top when you haven''t even studied anything. This might be difficult for you to understand, so I will exin it in simple words."


    After a brief pause, Rudy uttered, "Don''t trust someone even if you know them and always keep your guard up. And don''t admire someone unless you have researched well on them and know every single thing about them."


    Reba looked at her hands that were being held by Rudy and said, "I want to have you as my role model, so why don''t you start letting me know more about yourself? If you truly want me to believe in your words, I should know you well, right?"


    "Wow. I did not expect that." Rudy smiled at her and said, "I am impressed."


    "So, will you tell me?"


    "Unfortunately, I can''t reveal more of myself to you. You are the only person I can''t… reveal myself to. But I can tell you that I also have a role model."


    "You do…?" she asked with a surprised face.


    "Yes, and that person is… my mother."