Happy times always made people forget the passing of time. By the time they had finished treating the injured Pokémon, night had fallen and the city lights had come on. After welcoming Liu Qing home, his mother, Mili, had gone to sort out the Pokémon he had brought back. As soon as she reached a stopping point, she hurried to the Pokémon Day Care and kept looking him over, as though comparing him with the image in her memory. Her eyes reddened as she told him how much she had missed him. Listening to her, Liu Qing felt wrapped in his mother's love, his heart filled with warmth.
Although it was evening in Kanto, it was morning in the Unova Region. So, despite the flight of more than ten hours home, once Liu Qing had pushed past his earlier drowsiness, he no longer felt sleepy at all. Instead, he was brimming with energy. After dinner, he shook off the two third wheels, Liu Yuan and Lusana, and took Cynthia for a walk around Saffron City, each telling the other how much they had missed them. By the time they returned, Mili, Liu Qing, and the others had already retired to their rooms. The two of them tiptoed back to their separate rooms, afraid of making even the slightest sound.
After showering, Liu Qing lay on his bed, eagerly waiting for Cynthia to come. But he waited and waited, and even after an hour, she still had not appeared. Burning with desire, he began to wonder whether she had understood the meaningful look he had given her before they returned to their rooms. After thinking it over, he decided that if Cynthia would not come to him, he could just go to her. He went straight to her room and knocked