Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

Chapter 359 Date with Maria

　　Now that everything was taken care of, Rudy and Maria left the bank.

　　She nodded without looking at him.

　　"That's good. What type of account did you open?"

　　"Top tier VIP account that has an all-inclusive package including unlimited transactions, credit card rebates, unlimited debits, and much more. As far as I know, it's a perfect type of account for gamblers. Then again, I have zero knowledge about this stuff. I just did what the account told me."

　　"What a coincidence; I have no idea either."

　　Money and Rudy had a bad relationship in his past life. They could never be together no matter how hard he tried. And just when he had finally landed a job, his legend as a Lord began.

　　"Now, it's time to get your new phone!" Maria held Rudy's hand tightly and took her to the nearby ipple store.

　　"You look awfully familiar with this area. Have you been here before?" Rudy asked calmly.

　　"Uhh… yes…"

　　Maria had arrived there sooner than the promised time, so to pass some time, she wandered around the area and took note of all the stores and the nearby location.

　　She made a date plan.

　　After entering the store, she went straight to the counter with Rudy and said, "I want your latest device."

　　The staff placed a phone on the platform and said, "This is the latest innovation in this world, and it's filled with revolutionary features like never before. It's called uPhone 3G, and as the name suggests, it has 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation uPhone, which you can use to download your files faster. You can watch the yourtube videos without buffering. Surfing on the web would be like rubbing a knife on butter.

　　Not only that, it wasn't only one function of this device, it has many more features such as built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services. For example, the camera is by far the best any mobile phone has ever had. Our screen is made of high quality—"

　　"I get it. I will buy it," Rudy interjected with a sigh.

　　'Brands and their way of marketing. Only if I had such skills… wait, I do have it. I don't consider myself a womanizer, but I have managed to make many girls fall for me with my smooth talks. I don't know if I should call it a skill, nor do I know if that's a good thing or bad.'

　　"Our last generation uPhone started at $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB bundle. However, its successor, our next generation uPhone starts at $199 only for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB.

　　Even with more storage and much more advanced features and functions, it costs much less. Our first priority is customer satisfaction, which keeps us motivated to bring more revolutionary devices."

　　He said with a proud face.

　　'Back in 2013, before I got into an accident, Elise gifted me an uPhone 5s. And it was only $199 for 16 GB. It had a touch ID and a faster chip. Even the uPhone launched alongside it— the uPhone 5c started at only $99 for 16GB.

　　Well, whatever. No point in thinking about the past. I don't know what happened to this brand, but it must have reached the success it was trying to achieve.'

　　Rudy had brought money with him as he knew Maria would take him to buy a new phone. But just as Rudy was about to pay in cash, Maria paid for it using her new account card.

　　"Hey! I am paying for that."

　　"No, you are not."

　　"I am. And it's my phone. So let me pay for it."

　　"I am your sugar mama, so I am paying for it!"

　　"You are not my—"

　　Rudy stopped when he saw Maria glaring at him with a frowned face and puffed cheeks.

　　"Again… that just makes you look cute instead of scary."

　　Rudy gave up and let Maria pay for the phone.

　　They left the store and went to the nearby restaurant to eat as Maria was feeling hungry.

　　"Why don't you open the new phone while our food arrives?" Maria suggested.

　　"I was just going to do that." Rudy took out the box of the phone from his bag and placed it on the table. He carefully unboxed it and took the phone in his hand.

　　Even though we saw it in the store and even held it, it still feels different when we unbox ours.

　　Rudy turned on the phone and checked if everything was alright.

　　"Yeah. It works wonders."

　　Maria moved her hand to her purse and took out something that was wrapped in paper and plastic.

　　"Here."

　　"What's this?" Rudy opened it while asking, "Some kind of new drug."

　　"Of course not! It's a sim card."

　　"Oh."

　　"It's a private number, so no one will be able to track you. And it's already activated, so you just need to insert the sim in the phone," she stated.

　　"Wow. You were well prepared for everything, huh?" Rudy inserted the sim and restarted the phone.

　　"Thank you, really," he said with a gentle smile on his face.

　　Maria's face flushed a little, but she managed to compose herself.

　　"Yeah. The networks are on."

　　"Give me your phone. I will add my private number that only my family members have."

　　"So I am getting a special treatment, huh?" he teased with a grin on his face.

　　"Well… we are friends, aren't we…?"

　　"Of course. Why else would I let you do me such favors?"

　　"Here. I am the first name on your contact list," she said with a happy smile.

　　Their food arrived, and they began to eat.

　　Rudy later added Rebecca, Alice, Reina, Rize, Eric, and Joe's number to his contact list and texted them to let them know he got a new number.

　　===

　　Thanks, @Jason_Blanchette_1856, for the gift!