Rudy and the girls went to the restaurant and ordered a few of Reba''s favorite dishes.


    "Umm…" Rudy handed the bag to Elena and said, "I have cast a time spell on this cave, and it will automatically erge after twenty minutes. Hold onto this for me. In case I… you know…."


    He smiled wryly.


    Elena smiled back and quietly muttered, "Even if this is the best cake in the world, I don''t think it will taste good without you."


    "..." Rudy didn''t say anything in return and simply smiled.


    Lilim pulled Rudy''s finger and said, "Daddy, Ice cream."


    "Yes, yes. I know. But if we buy ice cream now and wait for the food, it will melt. We will buy it when we get the food."


    Lilim puffed her cheeks a little and mumbled, "Okay."


    Rudy conjured an ice cream cup in his hand and gave it to Lilim.


    "Here. You can eat it now."


    "Thank you."


    Rudy nced at Jessica and saw her desperately waiting for her cup too.


    SIGH!


    Rudy handed her a cup and said, "Don''t me me if you can''t eat caketer."


    Much to Rudy''s surprise, Elena also moved her hand forward and said, "Where is mine?"


    Rudy conjured another cup and gave it to Elena.


    TING!


    Rudy''s ears twitched after hearing a familiar chime.


    ''What the hell happened now?'' Rudy wondered.


    TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING! TING!


    "...!"


    ''What''s with all those ''Tings''?! One ''Ting'' scares me, and I just heard so many. What caused them? I highly doubt giving ice cream to the girls triggered something, so there must be something else going on.''


    Rudy nced around to see if he could spot something unusual that could exin the strange happening.


    ''Perhaps, this is the countdown for my return to the 2008 timeline? If that''s the case, then I would rather want a calm approach. Nothing good happens when someone takes aggressive action.''


    "What''s wrong? Is everything alright?" Elena asked with a concerned look on her face.


    "Yes. Just… havingst thoughts."


    Elena felt heavy in her chest as she knew Rudy could disappear at any moment. She was ready for it but couldn''t bring herself to prepare for the moment.


    Elena hugged Rudy by his arm and said, "Let me be with you till the end."


    Once the food was ready and the girls were done eating ice cream, Rudy teleported all of them to the house.


    He ''duplicated'' the bag of food for Elena''s grandparents and ced the rest on the kitchen counter.


    "Reba! I am home with the girls!" Rudy announced his presence.


    He was expecting Reba to be in the living room, but she wasn''t. He noticed the door of her room was locked, so he knocked two times and opened it, only to see Reba covered in a nket on the bed.


    "..." Rudy stood there for a while, thinking about what he should do. "I will ask you something, and you will reply, so let''s just get to the main question without wasting each other''s time. Are you sulking?"


    "No."


    "Then why are you all curled up in the bed with a nket?"


    Reba pointed her finger at her open wardrobe and said, "Since you teleported clothes earlier, I was checking them out. And then you suddenly came."


    "And…? Are they not to your liking?"


    "I am naked! Get out of my room!"


    "Oh…" Rudy closed the door and muttered, "I am d I didn''t use my see-through ability."


    Rudy went to the living room and said, "Reba will be ready in a few minutes."


    "What''s she doing? I heard her yelling something, but it was muffled," Elena wondered.


    "She was trying out her clothes for tomorrow."


    "I see."


    Rudy looked at Lilim and Jessica, who seemed awfully eager to eat the cake.


    "More ice cream?" Lilim asked and looked at Rudy with puppy eyes.


    "No. No more ice cream until we finish eating."


    "You girls, go wash your hands and set up the table. Rudy and I will be right back," Elena said to them and stood beside Rudy.


    Rudy teleported to Elena''s house and delivered the food to her grandparents.


    "This is bing a chore, isn''t it?" Elena asked Rudy. "You know, you don''t have to do it. I can take care of my grandparents on my own."


    "I am doing this for myself." Rudy shrugged his shoulders and continued, "If I don''t do it, then you wille here, make food, serve food, and then return to my house. Thus, we will spend less time together— which I don''t want."


    "But… well…" Elena smiled wryly and muttered, "You won''t be around anymore."


    Rudy rubbed Elena''s back and said, "If I am still here tomorrow, we will have a proper wedding."


    "Can I ask what made you think you are returning to your timeline?" Elena asked curiously.


    "There is this… chiming sound. I don''t know how to exin or express it, but it''s sharp and unique. I am not sure if it rings in my head or if only my ear catches that sound. But whenever I hear that chime, something gets triggered.


    When I touched the wallet and looked inside, I heard that sound, and I was here. So if I listened to it again, it might be my call to return. Regardless, I am still here, but the chiming sound hasn''t stopped.


    I hear it at least once every ten minutes." Rudy showed his hand to Elena and said, "But I am afraid that I triggered something else of which I am not aware of. However, I do feel uneasy for some reason."


    "So it''s not certain that you will return, right?"


    "Kind of… yes. But it can happen soon."


    After returning to the house, the girls and Rudy ate food together.


    Reba kept ncing at Rudy, seemingly waiting for her surprise as the clock was ticking and her special day was going to end in a few hours.


    ''I disabled the time spell as I am here. I just hope that the cake tastes the same.''


    As soon as they were done eating, Rudy asked Reba to close her eyes so he could surprise her.


    ====


    Mass release tomorrow!