Rudy and Rebecca 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 Rebecca’s wish, but he had promised her, so he didn’t want to comment anything on that. Not only that, but he didn’t like the idea of Rebecca trying to become Elena.
He thought for a while and decided to address his issue with Rebecca.
“You know, you don’t have to do this,” he said calmly.
“What do you mean?” Rebecca asked while sipping coffee.
“You don’t have to act like Elena or try to be her.”
Rebecca placed 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 replace Elena; no one can. And no one can replace 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 become someone else. And I don’t want you to regret anything in your life.”
“…” Rebecca 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?” Rebecca 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.” Rebecca 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 plants. 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 to come here alone. And even if they were, I don’t think anyone would dare to come here. So it’s my first time coming here,” Rebecca informed.
She leaned on Rudy and placed her hand on his lap 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 plan. But I wanted to leave everything up to you so…”
Rebecca 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.”
Rebecca closed her eyes and muttered, “When I grow up, I want to become like you.”
“Like me? Why would you want to become 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 relationship 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 Rebecca’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…” Rebecca 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 become 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 a complete… bad person?”
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Rudy was going to cuss, but he stopped himself from swearing in front of Rebecca.
“Listen, Rebecca.” Rudy grabbed Rebecca’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 explain 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.”
Rebecca 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.”
