Maria and Ambrose stared silently at the grinning man with the blank faces.

"This guy is nut. Let's go, Rosie"

"Yeah…Let's go."

Aston laughed and swiftly block their path. 

"But it's true. You guys already see that me and the father you known use the same lighter."

Maria scoffed, her annoyance evident. She tightened her grip on the baseball bat, ready to defend her sister if needed.

"Everybody who knows our father can know that! You think we are as stupid as Homer Simpson?"

"No need to drag poor Homer to this tho…"

"Are you on my side or his side,Ambrose Stanley?!"

"Look, I know it's hard to believe but it's the truth.I am your father."

Aston yawned and leaned back against the graffiti-covered wall nonchalantly.Maria and Rosie exchanged puzzled glances, their expressions a mix of disbelief and uncertainty.Rosie finally blurted out, her voice calm despite the skepticism she was feeling.

"I personally want to believe you but you looked nothing like our father and your timing is too..."

Rosie move her hands in bewildering fashion, trying to make sense of the situation.

"..Bad to call this coincidence."

Maria rolled her eyes and finished Rosie's sentence.Her eyes darting between her sister and Aston with curiosity.Aston held up his hands in a mock surrender.

"Okay,okay. I admit it. The timings of your mother disappearance and message to Rosie on MySpace is too good to be true."

"Huh-ah, at least you're self aware.."

Aston rubbed his temples as Maria kept making snide remarks. He could sense the tension rising between him and the sisters. They were at an impasse, and his usual charm wasn't cutting through their skepticism this time.

"Look, Maria."

Aston began, his voice serious despite the casual grin still on his face.

"I understand this is a lot to take in. I wouldn't believe it either if I were in your shoes."

Maria scoffed again, her patience wearing thin second by second.

"Then why should we believe you?"

"I get it. You have no reason to believe me. But think about it for a second—if I was lying, why would I go to all this trouble? I could be anywhere, doing anything, but I'm here, trying to get you to believe me."

"You talk like pedophile don't exist."

"let's just ignore that I heard that comparison BUT I assure you, I'm not a pervert or anything."

"Don't take personally. She was just saying it how it is, old man."

Rosie grinned and high-fived Maria, who is clearly enjoying the shock on the man face.

"Touché, touché.But seriously, why would I go through all this trouble if I wasn't telling the truth?"

Maria rolled her eyes, still skeptical.

"Maybe you're just bored and looking for some excitement in your dull existence."

Aston feigned offense, placing a hand over his heart.

"My existence is anything but dull, thank you very much."

As Rosie quietly watched the banter between Maria and Aston, she secretly studied the older man. Despite his carefree demeanor and the smirk on his face, Rosie couldn't see any malicious intent. She noticed the way he stood casually against the wall, his posture relaxed yet attentive.

Rosie leaned in close to Maria, her voice lowered to a whisper for only her sister to hear.

"I don't know about you, but I don't get any dangerous vibes from him. He seems genuine."

Maria raised an eyebrow, her face scowling in disbelief.

"He's not exactly giving off friendly neighborhood dad vibes either."

Rosie shrugged, her gaze flickering back to Aston who is now dumbfounded as the sister ignoring and keeping whispering back and forth 

Maria cast a sidelong glance at Aston, her expression still guarded, then turned her attention to her sister.

"Like I said, I can't explain it but I just feel that way, not based on anything concrete. Maybe he's just weird?"

Maria paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing as she exchanged glances with Rosie. Her grip on the baseball bat loosened a tinge.

"I just don't trust him. How can we be sure he's who he says he is?"

"Come on, sis"

Rosie glanced back at Aston, who was casually leaning against the wall, his gaze darting between them.

"I know that you're the cautious one, always looking out for us, but sometimes you can be a bit too quick to judge. Maybe give him the benefit of the doubt. What if he's telling the truth? What if he can help us find Mom?"

Maria felt a pang of doubt as her sister's words echoed in her ears. She had always been careful, protective of herself and Rosie, but maybe she was being too harsh on this stranger?

Maria finally sighed, lowering the bat slightly. She turned back to Aston, who is not so secretly listening to the conversation between her and her sister.

"Ok, Let's say we entertain this wild idea of you're our father from another universe for a moment. Why and how are you here?How did you contact Rosie? And most importantly, why you know us?"

Aston sensed that finally Maria let her guard down a bit and he had a brief window of opportunity to explain himself.

"I know that Aston from your world screwed up and left you guys twelve years ago.And I,of course whose from other world,don't have anything to do with that so will you lower your bat please,Maria?"

Maria scoffed and reluctantly lowered the baseball bat as Rosie patted her shoulder.

"In my world,I don't even have kids.I'm just your regular retired lead singer from local band-"

"Woahhh! You were in band?! Like the "Oasis" or "Backstreet boys"?!-"

"We're going off the direction, sis"

Ambrose rubbed her head which Maria smacked and glared at her older sister.Maria on the other hand,glanced at the grinning man,her expression a mix of amusement and suspicion.

"That's kinda unexpected but you do have a bit of that "Damon albarn" aura about you, I guess…"

"Well,I prefer to be "Morrissey" but that guy is trash.Anyway thank you,Maria."

Aston chuckled and nodded at Maria before continued his story.

"I recently stumbled upon Rosie's post of your mother being missing on MySpace, and I felt so familiar with everyone even though I had never seen her in my life. So I asked Rosie some questions and turned out her father has not only the same name but many familiar habits with me. And then I requested her to meet me here and the rest is history." 

"…Wait a minute. So you and Rosie have never spoken before this but she answered every questions and agreed to meet you in this shady place at 10 PM?!"

Maria glared at the whistling girl who was looking at everywhere except her face.

"Wowww…there's a graffiti of penis on the wall..Interesting.."

Maria facepalmed while Aston was wheezing at the sisters' interaction.

"Well,I have to give this one to Maria though. You shouldn't meet with strangers just because they asked you,Rosie."

"Oh sorry.I didn't have a father to teach me about those kinds of stuffs in my life,Dad."

"Oooohooo , Nice one,Rosie!"

Maria and Rosie high fived each other as Aston shook his head with a sigh and muttered.

"Well…At least the heat is off from Rosie now.."

Rosie cleared her throat to speak to Aston as Maria coughed to cover her laughter.

"But how can you and us can meet if we are from different timeline or universes or whatever? That's what I really want to know."

Aston thought for a moment, rubbing his chin in a contemplative manner. 

"That's a good question. Honestly, I'm not even sure how it's possible myself. I just got a feeling so just walks to here and boom, you two are here too. Maybe it's fate, or luck, or some kind of cosmic coincidence, but it's not like I had a choice in the matter."

Maria rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh at Aston's response. Rosie, on the other hand, scratched her head in confusion.

Aston chuckled awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

"I know, it sounds completely insane. Trust me, I feel like I'm in some kind of B-rated scifi movie myself. But truth is stranger than fiction, ain't it?"

"Oh, of course. You just follow your gut feeling and boom. Because that is the most sane and logical thing you can come up."

Maria's voice dripping with sarcasm as Rosie nodded and chimed in.

"Yeah, you sound like an ad for a sci-fi show on The WB. 'Beyond the Fringe', anyone?"

"Wow, you two should be a comedian. I mean it. That was very good."

Aston scoffed as the two sisters smirk at him in amusement.

"Anyway, I know this is a lot to take in, and I understand your skepticism. You probably think I'm nuts."

"Gee, how could you tell?"

Maria crossed her arms and scowled as Ambrose nudged at her side.

"Fine.Let's get down to the business then."

"Finally,we are getting somewhere."

Aston said as he pushed himself off the wall and took a step closer to the sister.

"My theory is that since parallel universes exist, she might have been transported to another one. The one different from both yours and mine."

"Yeah, that's the first thing that came into my mind, too. But the problem is where to start looking? We're talking about an entire universe—infinite possibilities, infinite locations..."

Maria raised her eyebrow as she also chimed into the conversation.

"That's a bold theory. But how do you suppose she got transported there in the first place? And how would she get back?"

"You got me there, kiddo. That's the million dollar question, isn't it? How did she get transported to this other world and how can we get her back. That's what we have to figure out first before we can even think about rescuing her. If she even needs rescuing, that is-"

"Of course she does! Don't be ridiculous. 

Maria's scowled deepened as she snapped at Aston.

"That's our mother we are talking about here. Abandoned and gone vacation to another dimension? That's some Doctor Who bullshits and I don't buy it."

She pull her baseball bat , holding it close to her as if it was a security blanket, which in some ways it kind of was.

Aston chuckled and raised his hands in a playfully defensive gesture.

"Hey, I'm just saying. For all we know, she might be having the time of her life in that other world, living it up. Maybe she's on a beach somewhere, sipping margaritas, having the her dream vacation."

As soon Aston's words left his mouth, Maria's grip on the bat tightened and she started to lunge forward. But before she could swing, Rosie quickly grabbed Maria's arm, pulling her back.

"Whoa, whoa there! Hold up, Maria!"

Maria struggled against Rosie's grip, looking like a cartoon character with smoke coming out of her ears.

"Let me at him! You saw what he said!"

Rosie tightened her grip, holding Maria firmly.

"Calm down, Maria. He's just joking."

Maria shot a glare at Aston, who was trying to hold back a laugh at the scene unfolding before him.

"This isn't funny for me!"

"Well, it is for me so now shut up, sis." 

Now Maria sulked in the corner, her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, kicking her feet on the poor peddles. Aston turned to Ambrose, his expression serious as he spoke.

"We need to figure out a plan of action here. We can't just sit around and hope your mother will suddenly show up."

The light brunette girl nodded, a determined look in her eyes.

"I agree. So what do we do? We can't just blindly wander around."

Aston glanced at his watch, noticing the late hour.

"You know, it's pretty late already. Maybe we should call it a night and discuss about it tomorrow "

"Yeah, you're right. It's not like we have leads anyway. Plus, my eyes are starting to droop. Maria?"

Rosie yawned and called to the older girl.Maria stood up from her sulking spot and walk to them, her annoyance visible on her face.

"What do you want?"

"We are going home, sis and we will find the clues first and get some sleep."

Maria reluctantly joined the group, her arms still crossed.

"Fine. Finally you remembered that we have the school tomorrow morning.."

Aston rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Yeah, I guess we're gonna call it quits for now. Don't want to keep you two up all night with my nonsense."

Maria nodded and stretched her arms. The first time she agreed with the older man in the last two hours of meeting. She was about to grab Rosie and go back home before she suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute. If we're going home, what about you? Won't you just be transported back to your universe too?"

Aston's face paled slightly as the reality of the situation dawned on him.

"Oh, damn. I hadn't thought about that yet."

"YOU HAVENT?!"