"So...what are you going to do now?" Aleksis asked.

Rune smiled at Aleksis' question. He shrugged and answered. "I will come to the blind date. The children have been punished for what they did. I am sorry to see them being punished without getting anything out of it. Besides ... they do this out of love for me."

"Oh ... when and where is the date?" Aleksis asked attentively.

"Tomorrow at 8 pm in a cafe in East Village," said Rune. "The kids have already made the reservation and such."

"What's the girl like?" asked Aleksis again. "Do you want us to come with you? Sometimes Alaric and I go out on dates too, you know. And, it seems like we haven't had a drink in the East Village in a while."

"What? You want to come too?" Rune asked in puzzlement. "Wouldn't that be too excessive? I'm just going to meet up with her briefly and have dinner with the girl just as a courtesy. It's not like a real date on my part. So, you really don't need to spy on me."

"No, we are not spying on you. It's just that, it's such a coincidence that Alaric and I haven't gone on date night outside for a long time," Aleksis said, glancing at her husband.

Alaric didn't react at all when his wife turned to him. He and Aleksis did go out occasionally to fulfill his wife's wishes. Alaric, if it was up to him, would prefer not to leave the house and met many people outside.

"You don't have to come..." said Rune hastily. "She would feel awkward. If you did that, I would feel like I was a child being dropped off by his parents for a playdate. I'm an a.d.u.l.t, I'm over 40 years old. I can do this alone without a chaperone, okay?"

He rolled his eyes when he knew Aleksis was making an excuse to come and watch him on the blind date.

Aleksis frowned. "Why not? We are not going to mess up your date with Rose. Alaric and I will pretend that we don't know you. Just think of us as two of those cafe visitors."

Rune widened his eyes at Aleksis' words, "Geez ... don't try to follow me and pretend you guys just happen to eat at the same place. "

Aleksis immediately sighed. Rune easily read through her. Her younger brother was really clever.

"Alright .. you win. But please let us know the progress, okay? I am dying to know how your first blind date will work out. By the way, what is she like? Do you have her pictures?" she asked Rune again.

Rune nodded. He handed over the tablet in his hand to Aleksis. His sister examined some of the photos on the screen and frowned.

"She looks beautiful in these pictures, but I can not be sure. Looks like the photos have been doctored too much with Photoshop," Aleksis commented. It is true; the girl's face in the photo was just too smooth and perfect.

Yikes! Sadly, that was how girls today were, he thought. With the advancement of photography and editing technology, it was very easy to retouch images. A girl's face could look so perfect by using all those apps.

Aleksis could guess that the girl's real face might not be too similar to her photo, just like what happened on most occasions.

"Hopefully the original is not too bad, huh ..." Aleksis commented as she handed back the tablet to her brother.

Rune did not take her words seriously. Aleksis spoke in a joking manner. Rune knew, for his sister, physical appearance was not important. What was more important to her was character, personality, and principles.

The proof was that, in the past, Aleksis fell in love and married her husband, Alaric, even though he claimed to be an ugly man whose face was disfigured from a fight. Still, Aleksis accepted him wholeheartedly, and now they had been married for 26 years, happily.

They continued drinking wine while chatting about their families and everyone's updates. The atmosphere of that night was warm and happy. After they were satisfied with the catch-up, Nicolae and his family and Lauriel returned to Nic's home.

***

Rune read the chat log between his profile and Rose on the dating site account made by his nephews and niece.

Ahh, from the way she talked, Rose seemed very cheerful and attractive. It looked like that girl had a pleasant personality too. No wonder the children were impressed and wanted to set her up with their favorite uncle.

Rune's profile also talked to many other beautiful girls, but his communication with them was not as intense as his communication with Rose. They talked about their similar taste for foods, then their hobbies. Apparently, they both enjoyed reading and traveling.

'Ahh ... this Rose seems to know very well how to present herself as a perfect woman,' thought Rune.

The girl always had something to talk about and she gave out the impression of being friendly, adventurous, and very smart. This was perfect. Well.. too perfect.

In his heart, Rune wondered what Rose would really be like in real life if she managed to display a perfect online persona like this.

Maybe that girl read books on psychology and relationsh.i.p.s to know exactly how to communicate and answered all the questions with the right answers.?Rune decided to find out for himself.

Inwardly, he didn't expect too much. For one, most of the women he met were not as smart as him, and that very often turned him off.

It was also one of the reasons why he was never romantically attracted to any woman. He was a sapios.e.x.u.a.l who was turned on by someone's intelligence. He was not sure that this blind date would make a significant difference.

***

Rune was dressed neatly in a brown leather jacket and overcoat and a scarf that covered his neck. He purposely bought regular clothes from the marketplace to wear to his blind date.

Even though he liked going on adventurous, did his research, and didn't really pay attention to appearance, still Rune's collection of clothes and items were among the high-end products that were so expensive and he couldn't possibly afford with his 'teacher salary'.

He must not raise Rose's suspicion when they met up for a date. He also took off his expensive watch and left his hands plain without accessories.

Ahh ... when he saw his simple appearance, Rune was suddenly reminded of London's experience when he was still courting L, his now-wife. His brother used to pretend to be poor in front of L for months.

London bought cheap clothes from the marketplace to wear whenever he met L and then lived with her. However, L was clever. She became suspicious because London only had three sets of clothes, and that was all.

Inwardly, Rune laughed at his brother's ridiculous love story. London and L fell in love when both of them were very young. They ended up having a lot of problems because of their selfish and childish attitude.

Fortunately, now the two were already much more m.a.t.u.r.e and they could live well together. In fact, now both of them were welcoming their second child.

This new child would undoubtedly get the best life since her presence was planned, and her parents really wanted her. They couldn't wait to see their new baby!

After he was ready with his neat appearance, Rune immediately left for the East Village. He was driven by the Linden family car, but he purposely did not get off in front of the cafe where he would meet Rose.

He chose to be dropped off a block from the cafe and then walked there.?Rune was worried that if he got out of the very luxurious car in front of the meeting place, Rose would saw him. It would be useless to disguise himself as a 'teacher' like what the kids wrote in his profile.

It was a very cold late autumn night. Luckily, Rune was wearing a jacket, an overcoat, and a scarf so he didn't feel too cold as he walked from the next block in the cold night air.