Cocooned

MYSTERIOUS MAN

"Baby, It's Cold Outside by Michael Buble" I said on Val's back. My hands twitched in a bag of pants, rebelling out to embrace her.

"Huh?" Valerie twisted her heels, her forehead wrinkled with a question.

I forced a smile, but my knees were trembling. Something I just felt for a girl I knew a long time ago. "That's the soundtrack playing in my brain right now."

Val's face standing next to mine glimmered, then his smile grew. Seeing that, I think my heart just missed its beat. "What are you doing here, Ter? Did you get the bouquet?"

"If you want that bridal bouquet, I don't mind going on stage and asking her straight to Linda." Again my heart skipped its beat when the nose dye-reviewed ranum lips laughed.

"The girls must be looking for you, Ter."

"Then, bad news for them. I want to be here, staring ...." Stare what? I spread my eyes around before answering, but there was nothing to see here except-, "looking at that handsome valet officer, with you."

Now he's laughing out loud. My grin spread out, extending from the left ear to the right ear. It was nice to make Val laugh.

"When have you been so funny?" val asked, his glowing face made me believe he must be a stray angel.

Drizzle down with a gentle breeze. It's not my habit, but my reflex is to take off the suit and attach it to Val's unclosed shoulder, protecting her from the cold. Val's gentle gaze made me misbehave. I can't look at him right now, Val must be able to see clearly my whole feeling right now, and it's scary. My head looked up, focused on counting the flying larons around the chandelier.

Though I intend to express my feelings to Val now, before I return to Jakarta. But it felt like my courage evaporated when I was around him. I haven't thought, what if Val turns me down? What if he still wanted the mysterious man? I don't want to act rashly and just want everything to go right. I don't want to act silly anymore and hurt her feelings. Jaya's voice saying cowardly echoes in the brain.

The gentle touch to the hair made me turn to Val and wonder, what is he doing? Fix my tangled hair?

"You look depressed" he said without looking at me.

And you look super pretty, my inner self. I caught my fingers busy fixing my tangled hair and grasping it. Unlike usual, Val pulls his hand and hides it in a suit pocket. Instead of him looking up, maybe Val followed in my footsteps counting the larons up there.

I can feel his anxiety, I don't know what Val's afraid of. Was my touch just passing electricity to his spine, like his touch to me? I felt like pulling that slender shoulder and facing his face to me so that I could gauge if his current feelings were the same as mine?

Suddenly Val straightened up, his gaze going down along with his hands coming out of his suit pocket. He quickly looked up and asked, "You?"

"Him?" many wonder.

"He!" Valerie thrust out the golden bow tie she took from inside the suit pocket.

I chuckle. "Ah, silly tie, isn't it? Out of the 1001 colors in the world, I don't understand why you made a gold tie. In his silly case, I decided to throw that thing away, but I forgot."

Was there something wrong with my sentence? Have I been insulting him? Because Val's eyes are now glazed. "Val, what's wrong with you?" manyworry.

Not to mention he replied, a white Mercedez Benz S-Class stopped in front of us. As I admired the luxurious car, Val had already rushed into it and darted away without a word, leaving me with a myriad of questions.

I was still standing on the lobby terrace until the invited guests disbanded. The hustle and bustle of high heels lapping the marble floor was just an indistinct hum in my hearing. I felt alone and drowned.

*****

The next morning, I left on my first flight from Malang to Jakarta. Staring at the orange tinge accompanying the sunrise this morning from the top of the plane, I concluded bitterly that there was no way for me to be with Valerie. I was still calling Val from the reception hall until just before my plane took off, but still the chat app gave me an ash tick.

Nor did I find him anywhere after the reception. She said she had gone to Dubai to meet her husband who works there. That's surprising, I mean why didn't you tell me he was leaving yesterday? Maybe I'll take the time to urge him to talk.

Now my head feels like it's about to break. Other than not sleeping all night, my head was filled with a puzzle I could not solve, an abandoned puzzle.

I replayed everything that happened while I was in Malang. Everything was. Since first meeting Valerie at the airport, then meeting Jaya and Susan. I just remembered that I forgot to shake hands with Linda and her boyfriend's usurper— who is now her husband.

I took a deep breath, my chest felt like it was being carried by a heavy burden when I turned everything about Valerie. How her tiny hands form in her hands, the way she looks at me, and how Valerie always lets me win in a debate, when she's smarter than me. Valerie's silent attitude makes her a wise person with more listening.

I also just realized, while there, I never asked about him personally - how is his family, what is his favorite food now, his favorite book he has read (?). Does he prefer sunrise or sunset? Or maybe he would prefer the rush of rain in front of the Wood Hand Church?

I rubbed my face rough. What's the point of thinking about that now?

Landing at Soetta Airport, I headed straight for the office. There's no time to daydream Val, it's the past. I refuse to wallow in things beyond my power, things I cannot change.

Thankfully, even with a great headache, today's meeting went well. The project sheet has been stamped For Construction, which means that development can be done next year. It's quite entertaining, at least my annual bonus is liquid.

But my pleasure didn't last long. In the dim of the office lights, my phone glowed before its ringing broke the silence. "Val?"

'Ter, I'm sorry for leaving in a hurry yesterday. I'm sorry yes.'

I closed my eyes, his close voice in the ears making my chest like it was squeezed. My jaw tightened, resisting the urge to be there now, right now. How I wanted to look Val in the eye and enjoy his smile again.

The thought made my eyes water. "Have I made a mistake, Val? Tell me where, I'll fix it."

I could feel some hesitation before he said, 'There is nothing wrong with you. You're a good man, Ter, and maybe .. the perfect lover.'

Perfectly? If I'm perfect, Linda won't cheat. If I was perfect, Val couldn't have stayed away from me yesterday. My mind refutes the compliment Val just made. "If it's about that ugly tie, I've already told brother that the gold tie makes me look like a cheap guy, to the point that you're leaving me."

Val chuckled, a subtle sound of sobbing was also heard from across there. 'Not that, Ter. You remember, your brother set me up with someone, right? When I picked up the clothes for the parbridesmaid, a letter was tucked in my clothes. It was written that the mysterious man would come to the same party. He'll wear a gold tie.'

I almost toppled over from the swivel chair when I heard Val's explanation just now.

So ... Am I the mysterious man? The man who made Val transform from a ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly? And more importantly, Val (maybe) is my soul mate.