Short trip outside.

" Wow fried egg plant! " Leon can't help but exclaimed after seeing the food on the table.

In front of him, are freshly cooked rice, sliced fried eggplant and 'tinapa'(smoked fish). A typical Filipino meal.

Egg plant was Leon's all time favorite vegetable. Whether it's boiled, grilled, omelette or plain fried eggplant, Leon want them all.

" Yes, I saw someone selling it this morning and I bought some along with these smoke fish here. It was your favorite aren't you, Leon? "

" Hmmmm..... I like this fried eggplant more, mom. But... where's the sauce? "

" Oh that, I made some sauteed thick fish sauce earlier. Wait here, I'll go and get it. " Christina stood up and went to the kitchen. She returned a minute later carrying a small bowl of sauteed thick fish sauce and put it in front of Leon.

" Here Leon, just don't eat too much of this because it's a little salty. "

" Mn. Thank you, mom. " Leon happily replied and began eating his food.

Using his fork, Leon dipped a piece of sliced fried eggplant in the bowl of sauteed thick fish sauce before putting it inside his mouth.

' Really great! ' Leon thought after tasting the food inside his mouth. He really did enjoy that oily, a bit salty, sour and the unique flavor of the egg plant that was dipped with the sauteed thick fish sauce. It makes a perfect combination that suits his taste really well.

Leon once again used his fork to pick up another piece of fried eggplant. He repeated the process and dipped it in the sauce before putting it in his mouth. But this time, he combined it with rice.

'Nice, just nice.' he thought as he continue eating his food. He ignored the smoked fish on the side and just focused with the fried eggplants.

Christina was watching her son eating, when she saw that Leon isn't touching the smoked fish on the table, she asked, " Do you not like the smoked fish, Leon? "

" Hmm? " Leon swallowed the food inside his mouth before he answered, " It's not like I don't like them, mom. It's just that, I like this sliced fried eggplant more. Maybe I'll eat the smoked fish later for dinner. "

Christina nodded her head. She didn't expect her son to be so fond of vegetables because children tend to avoid eating them. She decided to prepare more vegetable dish in their future meals.

After he's done eating, Leon felt a bit drowsy so he took a quick bath before entering his 'Bat Cave' and sleep there.

Children around 3 to 6 years old needs 10-12 hours of sleep everyday. That is probably the reason why Leon easily felt tired and drowsy every afternoon.

Leon woke up at 3:00 pm feeling rejuvenated. He then went to the bathroom to wash his face before going to the kitchen to look for his mother.

There he saw Christina, sitting on one of the chairs in the dining room. She's reading her pocket book.

Leon sat in front of his mother. " Mom. Can I go and play outside? "

Hearing his words, Christina put down the book on her hand as she looked at Leon seriously. " Why do you want to go outside? Can't you just play here inside our house? "

It's not like she didn't want to allow Leon to play outside but because he's still too young. She's afraid that something bad might happen to him outside.

" But mom, I want to go outside. I want to look around the place. I promise I won't go too far, mom. "

Christina fell silent after that. If possible, she really didn't want to let Leon play outside as it's risky. At least not before he grow up a little bit more?

But this is also the first time that her son, Leon asked something to her. Christina didn't want to disappoint him if it's something she can do. His studies are also good so she can't use that as an excuse either.

" Fine. But I have to go with you and, no playing with animals. Is that clear? " Having no choice, she can only agree.

Leon became happy when he heard his mother agree to let him go outside. But hearing that she wanted to go with him, his excitement lessened. It's not because he didn't want to be with his mother. It's just that, Leon wanted to test his storage ring outside and he can't do that with his mother around.

Well, that was still a lot better than staying here at home.

" Thank you mom, I'll go get some things first in my room. "

...

Thirty minutes later..

Christina is now sitting on a waiting shed as she watched Leon a few meters away from her playing on the grasslands. At least, that's what she thought.

Leon is sitting cross-legged on the grass. He's currently staring at the dead grasshopper on his palm.

" Dead again. So living things will die after a minute inside the storage ring? " Leon murmured to himself.

After coming here with his mother, Leon captured different varieties of insects like ants, grasshoppers, dragonflies and other insects that are quite easy to capture. He then tried putting them inside his storage ring but they all died after a minute. Without exemption.

Leon believed that it wasn't because of the lack of oxygen since almost all insects can survive in a place without oxygen for hours. That means that their deaths wasn't caused by suffocation but something else. As for what it was exactly, Leon still need a lot more experiments to find out.

Leon looked at the a twig of grass he also put inside his storage ring earlier. It's already been there for more than ten minutes now but there's still no visible changes that happened to it. It remained fresh, exactly the same as how it was before he put it there.

This discovery made Leon think that perhaps, plants can be preserved inside his storage ring for quite a long time but not insects. As for how long it will last, Leon still need to do more test to find out as well.

Leon continue putting things inside his storage rings. From stone, soil, leaves, dried wood, he tried putting samples of them all without encountering any problem.

It was only after Leon walked towards a big rock on the side did he finally encountered one.

This rock was huge, more than a foot taller than leon. Anyone can tell that this rock was heavy just by looking at its size.

Leon touched it and tried putting this huge rock inside his storage ring but nothing happened. The huge rock didn't even budge. This made Leon surprised as it's his first time encountering this problem.

' Is it because of its size? No. I also put big things inside this storage ring before like my bed, cabinets and other things bigger than this rock. It all worked without a problem. ' Leon thought to himself.

He keeps on trying to figure out what's wrong but the only reason he can think of was the weight. Perhaps there's a limit on how much weight of an object he can put inside his storage ring.

In Leon's estimate, the limit weight of the things he can put inside his storage ring was around 10x of the weight he can lift up. With his current body strength, 3 to 5 kilos would be his limit meaning that he can put things that has 30 to 50 kilos inside his storage ring. This huge rock in front of him is a big NO for now.

" Leon. It's getting dark already, lLee have to go back now."

Leon suddenly heard his mother's voice calling him so he turned around and started walking towards her. This trip outside, although short, was still worth it.

Christina first used the towel she's carrying to wipe off the sweat on Leon's body before the two of them went home.

===

In Carla's side.

As usual, Pauline only arrived in their house at around 5:30 pm because there's too many things to do in their canteen.

After she went inside their house, Pauline saw her Aunt (Carla's grandma) reading newspaper in their dining room.

" Aunt May, where's Carla? " asked Pauline, taking her jacket off, revealing her seductive and beautiful body figure. Even the loose T-shirt she's wearing can't hide it at all.

" Carla is inside your room waiting for you. She told me earlier that she wanted to give you something. " Aunt May replied, still reading her newspaper.

" Want to give me something? What could that possibly be? Did she told you what it was, Aunt May? "

" She didn't, so I dont know. Just go and see her. "

Pauline nodded before heading towards her room.

There, she saw Carla sleeping on her bed peacefully. She look like an angel. Her small arms embracing the pillow.

A smile appeared on Pauline's face, seeing her daughter like that. Pauline can't help but asked herself how the child whom she wished she never had before, became the most important person in her life now. She can't even imagine herself living without Carla in her life.

Pauline silently went beside Carla, giving her a kiss on her forehead.

Feeling the soft sensation on her forehead, Carla opened her eyes and saw her mother smiling at her.

" Mommy! You are back. " Carla cheered as she quickly got up and hugged her mother.

" Mn. Did you miss mommy, Carla? " Pauline also hugged her daughter back.

" Yes mommy. I miss mommy a lot! "

Only after hugging her daughter for awhile did Pauline finally let go of Carla. " Your grandma told that you wanted to give me something. Is that true Carla? "

" Give mommy something? " Carla repeated confusedly. She just woke up so her mind isn't that active yet. " Aah! I almost forgot, mommy. That's right, that's right! Where is it.... where is it.. "

Carla began searching around her before picking up the white folder on her left side and gave it to Pauline.

" Here mommy. This is for you. "

O.-.0