diff --git a/src/danog/MadelineProto/EventHandler.php b/src/danog/MadelineProto/EventHandler.php
index a8c206a2..ac66d245 100644
--- a/src/danog/MadelineProto/EventHandler.php
+++ b/src/danog/MadelineProto/EventHandler.php
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ abstract class EventHandler extends InternalDoc
      * Whether the event handler was started.
      */
     private bool $startedInternal = false;
+    /**
+     * API instance.
+     */
+    protected MTProto $API;
     /**
      * Internal constructor.
      *
diff --git a/src/danog/MadelineProto/Settings/Database/DatabaseAbstract.php b/src/danog/MadelineProto/Settings/Database/DatabaseAbstract.php
index 03854ac3..4d0c2437 100644
--- a/src/danog/MadelineProto/Settings/Database/DatabaseAbstract.php
+++ b/src/danog/MadelineProto/Settings/Database/DatabaseAbstract.php
@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@ abstract class DatabaseAbstract extends SettingsDatabaseAbstract
             'cache_ttl'
         ]) as $object => $array) {
             if (isset($settings[$array])) {
-                if ($array === 'cache_ttl' && \is_string($settings[$array])) {
-                    $settings[$array] = \strtotime($settings[$array]);
-                }
                 $this->{$object}($settings[$array]);
             }
         }
@@ -60,13 +57,15 @@ abstract class DatabaseAbstract extends SettingsDatabaseAbstract
     /**
      * Set for how long to keep records in memory after last read, for cached backends.
      *
-     * @param int $cacheTtl For how long to keep records in memory after last read, for cached backends.
+     * The cache TTL identifier can be a string like '+5 minutes'.
+     *
+     * @param int|string $cacheTtl For how long to keep records in memory after last read, for cached backends.
      *
      * @return self
      */
-    public function setCacheTtl(int $cacheTtl): self
+    public function setCacheTtl($cacheTtl): self
     {
-        $this->cacheTtl = $cacheTtl;
+        $this->cacheTtl = \is_int($cacheTtl) ? $cacheTtl : \strtotime($cacheTtl) - \time();
 
         return $this;
     }