7 Days With Althara

Sketch my face

The next day I was even more agitated at the thought of Althara.

“Lo why the hell?” Riani asked who saw me constantly daydreaming behind my desk.

“Lo still thinks of Althara?”

His guess is always accurate.

“Yesterday I went to Dufan?”

Rini furrowed both her eyebrows.

“To Dufan? Why?”

“Lari mornin me there so be healthy” annoyed me to question Riani that I do not need to answer actually.

“Oh morning run, style really you run in the morning use to dufan all”

I turned my face away seeing this obnoxious innocence of Riani.

“Yes I played there Ri, you know what Dufan place!”

“Yes I mean who are you there? Is there an event ? Or just a fad?”

“Gue nemenin Althara”

“What ??!! Althara?”

Riani looked so happy to hear her.

“Finally you will improve again with him Al. Kok me seneng gini ya dengerya”

I narrowed my forehead to see him who was so enthusiastic about seeing me and Althara together.

“Apaan sih lo ! I was also forced to come with him”

“But actually you can nolak Al, but you even choose to recite him di”

His eyes are so blinded to me.

What Riani said was true, in fact I could also reject Althara's invitation, but I instead chose to obey him.

“Gue also did not realize yesterday he was Ri's birthday, I know instead of Rey semalem”

“Semalem you met Rey too?”

“Not just met. Semalem came home from Dufan Sama Althara, his Malem Rey invited me to make a party, ga know what party is, and it turns out a surprise birthday party taun Althara. From there I just inget if it's a repeat of him”

“Hahaha cool lo, same afternoon Althara malem same Rey”

I looked Riani in the eye. Maybe he could even make my problem a joke of him.

“Hehe sorry sorry. You may forget your birthday taun Althara”

“Ya has been almost 6 years I did not want him to repeat taun”

Riani laughed listening to my chatter.

“Yes have eaten there first, lemes so the body lo”

“Iya ntar I still have a lot of work”

Then Riani went back to the kitchen to work.

My phone rings on the table.

Mamma.

“Hallo ma”

“Hallo darling”

“Why ma?”

“How are you doing Al?”

“I'm good ma”

“When to go home?”

“Late this month like I still have a lot of work ma, the earliest month I go home”

“You're busy, baby?”

“Iya ma, mama will know by herself every end of the month I do a lot of work”

“Honey, mom is very worried about you. You work too hard son, papa here again find a place for you to make a cafe so you can manage yourself”

Mama was still trying to persuade me to stop working and go back to being quiet in Bandung.

“Iya already, if you still do not want”

I quietly took my breath.

“Yauda you have to take care of yourself there ya”

“Iya ma, Alhena can take care of herself kok”

“Iya already as soon as you go home yes Mama same Papa already misses very much you love”

“Iya ma, Alhena also misses you guys”

“Bye darling”

“Bye ma”

I know Mama and Papa are so worried about me. They still think I am frustrated to stay in Bandung because I was left by Althara. And if only Mama knew, the person I had worked hard to forget and tried to avoid his memories in Bandung, he was here.

I went to eat outside the restaurant. I sat alone in one of the fast food places without Riani. Because he had already rested.

“Hay Cute” a man surprised me by jumping sitting in front of me.

“Rey!” Surprised me.

“Hehe sorry Al”

“What are you doing here?” Ask me to look around and make sure that Althara doesn't come with Rey.

“I nyari you earlier to Resto, but his word you again eat, so I find you here”

“Then what do you want?” Ask me gently.

“Nothing just want to see you eat aja”

I shook my head at his funny behavior.

I haven't told Rey everything about who Althara is. All this time Rey knew about my past that had hurt me, but Rey never knew who the man who had hurt me that deep. I don't know how Rey would react when one day she finds out that the man is Althara, her own close friend, can she accept that fact ? I'm afraid Rey would hate me or Althara if she knew the truth. But, one day it's going to be unraveling, anyway, and I have to be ready for it.

“Oh yes,saturday I want to invite you to watch”

“Rey, you will know my work at the end of the month is very much. I can't have time for maen”

“Please watch ko al, ga lama. Just watching that end of Rutu”

“Rey”

“Al, just want to watch doang, I haven't watched for a long time. That was a show we didn't watch. I promise I'll just watch 'yeah?”

I remember when at the cinema yesterday she received a call from Althara to come help her prepare her painting exhibition, and our show was canceled because of Althara.

I let out my breath.

“Iya okay, but inget! Just watch, I don't want to be invited to hang out or around again”

“Sama meal. I might not take you out but I don't eat”

“Ngga Rey, eat you long I don't want”

“Oke okay okay,watch aja”

He smiled and gave up.

I went back to eating my food and let Rey keep watching me eat by myself.

Night in my room. I heard a notification coming into my phone.

Instagram Notif by Rey. He uploaded another photo of me on his Instagram feed. The photo he took at the bookstore last month, Rey drove me to the bookstore and he took his camera asking permission to take a lot of photos of me when shopping for books,I let her do what she wants as long as she doesn't bother me focusing on finding a novel.

One of the posts was a photo of me glancing at the camera unintentionally and without the slightest expression. But my face is so aesthetic like a model, and helped by the background of bookshelves lined around me.

I recall when Althara also took many pictures of me secretly wherever it was. Even in the bookstore she often takes pictures with her camera. He used to say that I was prettier if I wasn't camera conscious. I smiled remembering her.

I see the caption that Rey wrote in my photo, the writing is ‘Become true’. Make everyone comment on that caption with his slacking. Almost all of Rey's followers thought that if I was her boyfriend, they asked Rey to immediately publicize her relationship with the woman she always showed off.

I saw some photos of Rey on her Instagram feed and I saw a picture of her during her lecture in Germany with her friends. There was Althara there, smiling among other friends staring at the camera. I clicked on Althara's face in the photo and it turns out that there was a name that appeared there, Rey tagged her to her Instagram.

Althara has Instagram.

I'll see Althara's Instagram profile soon. Display Picture is just a landscape painting. His followers are also only a few thousand, not more than Rey who has so many followers. And his post only contains 3 pieces.

I saw one by one his photos that had been uploaded. The first photo is a beautiful night galaxy painting, with stars in the sky and meteors falling inside its paintings. The second photo is a painting of city lights with many high-rise buildings at night and the lights that shine look so real. The painting reminds me of Cafe Milky Way, our favorite place. And I saw the last post. I was surprised to see a sketch painting of half a woman's face. It was a sketch of a painting that Althara had done in her room, she painted my smiling face radiantly with the collar of the uniform I was wearing, although it's half a face but I know exactly it's a painting of my face that Althara once made in her room. The painting was finished in his creation even though only wearing tweezers and colorless, but the painting now looks so real.

I saw when the upload was uploaded.

21 May 2017.

He uploaded the painting 3 years after he left me.