It took an hour, maybe two, before Blu was fully used to the choice. He was shocked that he had to make such an important decision, but worse was that he didn't know which was the right one.

"Why do I have such a difficult choice in so little time! If I had a week... Well at least a few days, but no, I have to make the decision of a lifetime in a dozen minutes! Linda is family to me... The only family...but Jewel, I have a feeling I'm not indifferent to her... If I choose Jewel it's for our species, if I choose her, what kind of friend am I, Linda took care of so many years and now I have to abandon her... I don't know...I need to get some sleep" Blu thought intensely as he stared out the snowy window. A moment later he closed his eyes, wrapped Jewel's wing around him, then fell asleep.

A few hours later

It was a cloudy morning in Minnesota. The beginning of the day was particularly gloomy and sad that day. The wind whistled through the doorway, singing a sad tune. The first to rise was Jewel, who, like last night, had slept fitfully. She noticed Blu's wing on her, looked up at him even though his eyes were closed, and giggled.

"Awww sweetie" whispered Jewel, then kissed the side of his beak. She opened the cage on her own, then flew out of it. After closing it carefully, she headed upstairs to the kitchen where Linda was already in it. The woman's hair was terribly dishevelled. She sat down at the table and slurped her coffee.

"Good morning Jewel," the woman said sleepily. Jewel chuckled at the reply.

"I hope YOU slept well... Exactly where is Blu?" the woman asked. Jewel looked towards the stairs.

"Ah yes... She needs to sleep longer..." sighed the woman, took a big gulp of her caffeinated drink, then headed for the bathroom.

"Well... Now I'll make breakfast," Jewel thought, then began to lay out the ingredients from where Blu was taking them. Half an hour later Blu got up. The first thing he noticed was that Jewel wasn't next to him, but he didn't worry about that, he knew he was getting up quite late.

"I still don't know... I don't know what will happen..." thought Blu. He opened the cage and stepped out to see if Jewel was somewhere in the library hidden behind a shelf.

"Jewel?" cried Blu looking around, but she wasn't there.

"Hm... It must be in the kitchen" decided Blu, then retreated from the library to head upstairs to the kitchen. Already on the stairs he could smell the aromatic scent of toasted bread.

"Mmm someone's making toast here" licked at Blu's beak. When he went upstairs, he was surprised to see Jewel at the table.

"Jewel? What are you..." wanted to say Blu, but interrupted when he saw Jewel making breakfast.

"Wow!" reacted Blu seeing the female preparing toast.

"Hi Blu! You've made me food so many times that I wanted to return the favor," said Jewel.

"Here, sit down, eat!"

Blu looked at the toast, it was slightly burnt but he didn't care. A moment later he tasted the toast.

"Mmmm, for a first time it's not bad, really!" praised Blu Jewel.

"Thank you," giggled Jewel. At this time Linda came out of the bathroom.

"Good morning Blu" she greeted gazing into his eyes. He knew it was a signal, reminding him of his decision. The woman walked down the stairs. Blu mused staring at the spot where he had last seen Linde.

"Are you okay?" asked Jewel thoughtfully.

"Yeah, she's fine... I just haven't fully woken up yet" explained Blu laughing briefly.

"You slept badly"

"No... But I usually get up much later"

"Mhm" sighed Jewel not tormenting Blu any longer.

"Well... Then maybe we can read the witches..."

"The Witcher?" finished Blu.

"Yeah, I liked that book," replied Jewel.

"Alright, go to the living room, I'll come and get it" said Blu, then went down the stairs. At the desk he noticed Linde moving a pencil on the desk.

"Have you chosen yet?" asked Linda when she noticed Blu. The man merely shrugged his wings and marched on to pick up another volume of The Witcher

"I keep wondering..." sighed Blu as he climbed up the shelf to find the book. Once he had succeeded, he stepped off the furniture and was about to head upstairs when Linda stopped him.

"I won't be offended if you want to go to Brazil, but please decide carefully," Linda asked. Blu nodded with a slow motion of his head then headed into the living room to join Jewel who was already waiting for him.

"I'm I've got a book" said Blu as he jumped onto the sofa and sat down next to Jewel.

"Is this the next part?"

"Yes..." sighed Blu opening the book to the first page.

Just like that, time slowly passed, the clock tapped every second, the floor below was filled with customers chatting amongst themselves, Linda went every few minutes to get something to drink, and Blu and Jewel explored the adventures of Geralt of Rivia. Blu was impressed by how Jewel was interested in the book, he had the impression that she herself was more interested than he was. At one point they stopped reading to rest. Interrupting dozens of pages and reading them could give you a headache.

"Jewel, I'd like to ask a question."

"Hm?"

"Would you like to... I don't know... Hm... Go back to Brazil?" asked Blu taking the oxygen with difficulty.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well..." began Blu's sentence looking at his watch that hung on the wall. It indicated 2.30 p.m.

"Just out of curiosity" finished Blu's sentence.

"Well... Going back to my real home would be nice, but I guess it wouldn't be the same without you..." replied Jewel to which Blu just nodded with a motion of his head lowering it down.

"So, shall we continue reading?" suggested Jewel.

"Yeah... Sure" sighed Blu opening the book to the page they had finished on.

Meanwhile, Linda had a moment's break as she had just served a queue of customers. She went back to her leisurely task she had been doing all day: rolling her pencil across her desk and watching it roll towards her.

"What if Blu doesn't want to stay? I'll be so lonely without him... Just the thought of it is overwhelming!" wondered Linda as she waited for Tulia, who was due to arrive any minute. Visibility was severely limited as there were clouds hanging over the sky and there was fog. It was terribly dark that day. Every person who passed by the library seemed to the woman to be Tulio. She took in her hands a picture in a frame depicting her and Blu, there was a caption above it:" Best friends forever".

"Something makes me feel that he won't want to stay with me" Linda sighed, a drop of a tear rolled out of her eye. She was reminded of all the situations, both the good and the bad, but in retrospect even the bad ones became good and even funny at times. When she remembered different moments, she would laugh sometimes, only to have another tear fly out of her eye again. And she could go on like that for the rest of the afternoon, when suddenly Tulio entered the building with a cage.

Thank you for reading the chapter! See you later!