Rudy dashed after Reina with various thoughts in his mind.
What would he do by chasing Reina?
The damage was already done, and neither Rudy nor Reina was at fault here. Or maybe Rudy was at fault here.
If he had stopped Reina when he had time, Reina wouldn't have said all those embarrassing things to herself and hadn't daydreamed about kissing Rudy.
It was normal for Reina to act like that since anyone would be embarrassed if the same had happened to them.
Furthermore, Rudy also saw her kissing his phone, the photo which was taken allegedly without his permission.
More than one of Reina's embarrassing moments was seen by Rudy. And what was more awkward was that Reina was seen doing that to her crush, in front of her crush.
There was nothing more embarrassing than that.
Meanwhile, Rudy actually felt good after hearing and seeing Reina. He was happy that Reina thought all that about him.
However, he was still unsure on whether to go along with it or stop Reina's feelings before it was too late.
Rudy didn't know Reina that well yet. They had only met once, and that too for a few hours. But that few hours were more than years for Reina.
Compared to Rudy, who only focused on doing his job that day, Reina felt something different. And after Rudy comforted her and gave her his shoulder to cry on, she felt naturally attracted towards Rudy as a friend.
After Rudy left, Reina thought of him, and she couldn't stop thinking about it.
The next morning, she heard the news about the destruction of the abandoned tunnel, and about a high school boy— Rudy, who was found unconscious near it.
At that moment, Reina felt a sharp sting in her heart, because she realized how devastated she felt after hearing that. Not only that, when she went to visit Rudy, she found him hugging Kaguya— the newbie nurse.
She mistook Kaguya for Rudy's girlfriend, and that's when her feelings for him increased. And within a week, she was smitten by it.
She wanted to call Rudy again to help her out with her work, but of course, she only wanted to see and meet Rudy.
However, Reina had no way to contact Rudy as only she gave her contact information to Rudy, but Rudy didn't give him any of his contact information.
So all she could do was patiently wait for Rudy to call her, which never happened. Until today, where she saw Rudy in the waterpark.
After spending her entire day with him, Reina was now sure that she was in love with Rudy. And her actions in her office a while ago were solid proof of that.
But what about Rudy? Did he feel the same?
Rudy thought of Reina as a friend, and he sympathized with her condition. He found a similarity between them and that was the reason why he liked Reina.
However, Rudy didn't want to mistake his feelings of sympathy with love. Otherwise, that would have hurt both Reina and Rudy, but it would have been fine as long as they both were happy.
After entering the locker room, Reina closed the door behind her and stood with her back leaned on the door.
"Reina…" Rudy gently knocked on the door and uttered in a calm voice: "Open the door."
"No!" Reina yelled with a flushed face. "I want to die!"
"Come on. It's not that embarrassing..."
"Maybe it's not for you, but it's super embarrassing for me. I feel so ashamed and I don't think I will ever be able to show my face to you or look into your eyes," Reina retorted.
"I have seen worse things, which are more embarrassing. And believe me, it gets normal if you don't think about it," Rudy stated.
"I don't believe you. How is something like that possible?" Reina asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Will you open the door if I say it?"
After a brief silence, Reina answered, "Yes."
A few seconds later, Rudy opened his mouth and said, "Normally, one would be embarrassed to get naked in front of others' right?"
"Obviously."
"It gets embarrassing to the point that you wouldn't want to get naked in front of your family. I mean, no one does that, but still, it's embarrassing."
"..."
"And even if one finally gets a girlfriend or a boyfriend, it would be embarrassing to get naked in front of them for the first time. Then, it would be a little less embarrassing the second time. But it would come to the point where you would no longer feel embarrassed, "Rudy stated.
"In fact, you wouldn't feel anything at all," he added.
"..."
Reina didn't say anything in response, So Rudy knocked on the door again and uttered, "Do you get what I am trying to say?"
"Yes…" Reina muttered in a low voice.
"And compared to something like that, your situation is nothing."
"But anyone would be creeped out if they saw something like that, right? I am sure you felt gross when you saw me kissing your lips on my phone's screen," Reina retorted in a disdainful tone, as though she was truly afraid of being hated by Rudy.
"What?" Rudy scoffed softly and said, "And to be honest, I don't feel creeped out or grossed. Rather, that made me a little happy. It was my first time seeing a girl do that. And I can't fathom the reason why."
"... you are not lying?" Reina asked.
"I am not."
"You wouldn't make fun of me for doing that? Or tease me? Or try to 'blackmail' me?"
The word 'blackmail' triggered Rudy as it showed how mentally weak Reina was. She would give in to anything if she was pressured or forced with no other options.
Rudy was truly glad that he was able to save Reina.
"Okay, now as you promised. Open the door," Rudy said in a calm voice.
"I won't open!"
"But you promised."
"I still don't have enough courage to face you. Give me some time."
"But it's already closing time. Shouldn't the manager make sure everything is alright at the closing time?"
"I won't open."
SIGH!
Rudy sighed and used telekinesis to unlock the door.
Reina was surprised, but she tried to close the door again. However, it was too late.
Rudy walked into the locker room and closed the door behind him. Then, he looked at Reina with an alluring gaze and said, "Did you truly think you could run away from me?"
Reina backed her steps while facing Rudy, but she hit the locker and stopped.
"What… are you trying to do….?" she asked while stuttering.
"Since you broke the promise and lied to me, you are a bad girl.." Rudy licked his lips and uttered, "And a bad girl needs punishment."