Flavor Anomaly

6. Meet Ian again

The atmosphere inside was already quite crowded. Ben and Daniel walked in and looked around. Of course they are looking for a figure that they really want to meet since entering. Jeslins.

Ben's eyes can instantly find where Jeslin is. The girl was arranging a table, where there were a few stacks of new novels still wrapped in plastic. There are also several novels belonging to other writers who are indeed stars on this show.

Ben patted the shoulder of Daniel who was standing next to him, as he was still busy looking for the whereabouts of the older brother.

"What?" daniel asked looking lazy to respond to Ben.

"That!" jolt Ben by pulling Daniel's shirt collar. He finally found out where the brother was. Daniel smiled, patted Ben on the chest, and brought him closer to Jeslin. Ben just shakes his head, hops.

"The red chrysanthemum flowers put it in the corner there, yeah, Lex!" point Jeslin to the corner where he wants the item to be placed.

"Ready, Non."

Daniel patted his brother on the shoulder slowly, when Jeslin turned his head and was surprised to see the two young men in front of him. "Loh, you? What else is there?" asked Jeslin astonished.

Daniel then pulled the body of the brother and hugged him briefly. Sometimes the two of them often do this when they meet. No clumsy and strange taste. Since childhood, they have always been close to each other.

"Congratulations, my beautiful sister. Finally launching the book again," Daniel said with a smile, without answering Jeslin's question.

"Just a word? Where's kadonya? Flowers for example? Tuh, look! He could get a red rose, too" the sister said, pointing to one of the other writers who got a gift from her acquaintance.

Daniel scratched his head while acting funny. "Eum, yeah later. I'll buy it later. Not just one flower or a bouquet of flowers. I'll buy the same shops, all of you" said Daniel arrogantly.

"Basic! Defiant - the owner of the company," said Jeslin then smiled cynically, and turned his eyes to Ben who had been silently watching. "Hi" Jeslin said to him. It looks a little more friendly than before.

Ben who did not expect to get the speech was a bit flutter, and tried to pull both corners of his lips wide. "Hi, Jes," said Ben nervously.

"You too, don't bring anything here?" asked Jeslin to investigate.

Ben looked puzzled and ended up scratching his non-itchy head. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that Daniel wanted to bring me here. If I had known, I would have brought something. But by the way, congratulations. If I buy this novel, can I get a signature from the author too?" ben asked as he picked up a novel belonging to Jeslin that was still sealed at a nearby table. Jeslin just smiled, and it made Ben's heart beat faster.

As the show begins, Ben and Daniel are still there to support Jeslin. Even the two youths were the most frenzied supporters among the others as Jeslin gave a word of greeting. A little embarrassing but fortunately the two young men were fairly visible, especially with a tuxedo like a big boss boss of the company. Well, even though they are actually the boss of the company, but no one will think when they see the behavior of Ben and Daniel that looks funny on this show. They still argue. Trivial things can even be a long debate both. Such as the location of flowers that are less symmetrical or the arrangement of the stage is less elegant. The problem is, sometimes the audience is smarter if commenting.

Until the show was over, they were still in that place. A big round of applause closed the event.

"Aren't you at the office?" jeslin asked stared intensely at the two men who were now in line. For the closing event there will be a book purchase session plus the author's signature. Ben who really bought Jeslin's novel now grasped the thick book tightly and stood in front of the table, where the author sat with a pen.

Daniel just stood on the other side, out of line. Because she had no intention of buying her sister's novel. Not because he didn't want to support Jeslin in his career, but Daniel had other ways to support his only brother. This time, Daniel only observes the behavior of Ben, who looks different from Ben who he usually knows since school first. Daniel believes that Ben is indeed interested in his brother judging from the attitude of his best friend who is always gentle when dealing with Jeslin.

"Oh, I ... Coincidentally it is again quiet. Most of the afternoon there will be a meeting," explained Ben while staring at the clock on his wrist.

"Daniel?"

"Eh, if I were ..," said Daniel, who had not yet found the answer to Jeslin's question. He glanced at Ben who had just stared at Jeslin who was right in front of him. "Ah, brother forgot? Am I the owner of the company?" asked Daniel in a proud tone.

"You sure? No meeting? Usually you're busy, "Jeslin said, glancing at his sister cynically.

"Ah, who said. Uh but what time is it, huh?" daniel asked while glancing at the Lange & Soehne production watch, which was priced at a price not much different from the aeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica Grande Sonnerie, which is billions of rupiah. It took a year for this watch to be produced and made of gold. In addition, the watch also has a perpetual calendar with moonphase, and a sennorie grande melody with a minute repeater.

"God! I'm late!" daniel squeals and glares at Ben and Jeslin. "I forgot to have a meeting this afternoon, brother! Good thing you remember!" daniel said he hurried to get out of there. "Ben, come!" take Daniel with you and pull the young man's hand.

"Eh, wait! Jes ... Please sign it first," Ben's pinta still shows a cute face. But Jeslin just looked at Ben with a sigh. He immediately inked the ink with a special scribble of himself, then gave the novel to Ben. "Thank you, Jeslin. After this I'll read the novel."

"Come on! Hurry along!" force Daniel to make Ben's body shift a little.

"Yes! Patience!" nagging Ben and immediately changed his facial expression to be annoyed at his best friend.

                               ****

"Jes, for the script you did yesterday?" ask Verrel, the administrative department at the company. He is not in charge of managing the script, but what he wants is an important thing that will increase the income of the company.

"Come on, Rail. Completed the revision stage. How cover? Reyhan did, right?" ask Jeslin.

"Not knowing me, Jes. I will ask Reyhan. Buruan ya, send the file to Rossa. This deadline," Verrel's pinta forced.

"OKAY. I sent the file."

Today's work is so hard. Even Jeslin's chamomile tea was just a mouthful he had enjoyed since morning. Several times he pressed his temple, with both eyeballs staring at the computer screen in front.

"Jes, lunch first yuk," asked Ellie, who was constantly staring at the clock on her wrist.

"Hm? Was noon? Duh, my work is not done yet. In a moment. You go first," reject Jeslin who looks chaotic with a pile of deadlines that must be completed by the end of this month. The end of the month is only a matter of days.

"Seriously, don't you want to eat first? Stay first, go on later."

"Yes, Ell. You go first. Damn responsibility, just get one more script."

"Hm, yeah. Don't be late, yeah."

"okay." Without looking at Ellie, Jeslin continued his work that was a little longer, for the script that was in front of him.

15 Minutes later, the script was finally finished. Jeslin stretched his tense muscles. Stretched his hands up and beside his body. He looked around who was already quiet. The editor's room contained only 5 people, and they were all having lunch in the cafeteria. There is only Bu Wati, an office girl who will clean the room at rest, in the morning, and when she comes home from work.

"Not eating, is it?" asked Bu Wati while sweeping around.

"It's going down, Mom. It was still a gig" Jeslin said. "Have you eaten?"

"Then, Nope."

"Well, I ate first, yeah. Don't be tired."

"Yes, No." Ms. Wati looked at Jeslin who started leaving the room.

The office atmosphere looks beautiful. It is indeed lunchtime and most people are certainly going to the cafeteria or eating place that is around. This hour of rest is widely used for eating, and even some can take the time to close their eyes for a moment. Two hours is at least enough to use as well as possible.

Jeslin only carries a wallet and a mobile phone. The bag he left on his desk. He thought, this time lunch he wanted to spend in the lower canteen only. Jeslin got off the elevator. Up in the lower lobby, he immediately turned left, where the office canteen was located.

But not until he got to the entrance, his steps came to a halt. Inside was someone very familiar to him. A man who has taken away his chastity. Ian.

Ian looked up to look for someone. He even asked a Jeslin co-worker something. Seeing that, Jeslin immediately hid himself. He turned around and tried to dodge so that Ian would not see him.

He accidentally hit someone in front of him, causing him to fall. Jeslin groaned in pain holding his elbow that hit the floor.

A hand reached out to Jeslin, followed by an apology. Jeslin stared at the figure in front of him, and it turned out that he was someone he knew.

"Loh, you?" ask the girl while welcoming the hand.

"Yes, i. You ... Work here?" asked Ben who occasionally looked around. He really did not know that Jeslin was working in this place.

"Yes. What are you doing here?"

"Eum, it's the same thing Mr. Richard did. Just finished."

" Oh that's it." Jeslin looked back. Apparently the incident sparked the attention of Ian who was inside. Ian finally found out Jeslin's whereabouts now. "Eum, you got a car, right?"

"Yes, why?"

The girl occasionally looked back, Ian who was about to chase her seemed to undo the intention because he knew that Jeslij was not alone. He was annoyed at not having managed to meet Jeslin and ended up with his distinctive sharp gaze. "Just look at you, Jes!" he muttered while staring at the departure of Jeslin and Ben.

"Jes? Slow down" Ben said but still followed in his footsteps.

As soon as he reached the basement parking lot, Jeslin stopped. His breath was wheezing while watching around. He had to make sure Ian didn't chase him to that spot. Ben noticed the strange-looking Jeslin. He knew the girl was acting unnatural.

"What's wrong?"

"What's up?"

"Why you?"

"I? It's not okay. Yes, eum if you want to go back, please. I was just kidding. I'm in the office again, yeah." But when Jeslin turned around, Ben held his hand. The two looked at each other, and were silent for a moment.

"Say you want lunch? Come onl. You haven't eaten, have you?" ask Ben.

"Not yet, but ...."

"That's my car" pointed Ben to a red minicooper at the end of the parking lot. This time it was Ben who pulled Jeslin's hand towards his car. Although Ben seems not to know about what happened, but actually Ben is a little suspicious, if Jeslin deliberately avoids someone who was in the cafeteria. His attitude is suspicious, and Ben wants to take Jeslin away from the unpleasant situation.

They arrived at a cafe. It's not too far from Jeslin's office. But the girl had not come to the cafe in her lifetime, even though she often passed the road every day.

"We eat here. You like seafood, right? It's one of my favorite places to eat" Ben explained as he removed his seatbelt.

Jeslin slowly followed Ben's movements while watching around.

"Quiet down. That guy won't follow us here. I'm also parking in a place that's closed off from the highway."

Jeslin looked at Ben. He did not expect that the sentence would come out from the mouth of the young man beside him. Eventually Jeslin complies and follows Ben out of the car. They get an empty table with a position deliberately located in the cafe. The cafe is mostly made of glass. So that each other can see, and also can see the atmosphere outside the cafe that does look beautiful. Some roses and chrysanthemums decorate almost the entire courtyard of the place.

"What did you eat?" ben asked as he looked at Jeslin who was still flipping open the menu book in front of him.

"Eum, black pepper squid equals white rice."

"Drink, brother?" ask waiters who hold pens as well as books in hand to record customer orders.

"Lemon tea, Mas."

"That's all?" ben asked still watching Jeslin sitting in front of him.

"Yes. Uh, eum ... Plus can you?" ask the girl with a plain look.

Ben laughed and nodded.

"The same chrysanthemum shrimp, yes, Mas. Thank ye. Uh, fruit salad too, plus vanilla ice cream, yeah."

Ben continued to widen his smile, seeing Jeslin who turned out to have a large meal. This is exactly the same as Daniel said the other day.

"My brother likes to eat. One meal he can order a lot of menus. Unless he's sick and he's in a bad mood, then, he's on a hunger strike."

While waiting for food to come, the two people just kept quiet while paying attention to the atmosphere around.

"That was ...." Jeslin hesitated to continue his sentence. He who initially deliberately hid it, it was known by Ben.

"If you don't want to tell a story, that's okay. So you avoided that guy?" ask Ben to guess at random. Ben had no idea who Jeslin was avoiding.

"dm ... Aye." Yeah."

"Yes already. If you need help, I'm ready to help. Anything." anything."

"Thank you."

"Together."

The food came, and they ate the food together. Ben finally agreed with all Daniel said to him about his brother. Jeslin is indeed closed, it doesn't look the slightest bit that the girl is interested in Ben. But it's not a problem. Especially from the words of Daniel, if Jeslin is always cold to all men. It makes it interesting for Ben.

The young man was still curious at what Jeslin had experienced the first time they met. Then the reason he was at the obstetrician. Now a man who was being avoided by her. Ben pulls all the timelines and assumes that Jeslin is fighting with his girlfriend and is worried about being two-bodied. But ... Daniel said that Jeslin had never dated at all. Maybe this time, Daniel was wrong, and he didn't know that his brother had started to know love.

"What do you have to do with Richard? Business?" jeslin suddenly asked.

"Eum, no really. I was told to take a parcel from Papa for Mr. Richard. So Mr. Richard is my Papa's business partner."

"Oh that. You take care of the company with your parents too?"

"Yes, Jes. Actually forced to be more exact."

"forced?"

"Yes. Biases. Because the only child, so it's like I'm in charge of the company. Mana Papa said, if he dies who wants to take care of the company again. It makes me feel bad."

"Well, you're the kind of kid Mama is, yeah. Spoiled. Still like to mess around with that."

"It's not. But I don't really like business. I'd rather take care of a taekwondo sanggar. Business is not my passion."

"So the hangar is yours too, or your father's?"

"Have a family more precisely."

"Well, great."

"What's so great?"

"Yes you guys."

"Aren't I?"

"You? Yeah ..maybe."

"Cock maybe?"

"Because I don't know what your greatness is. A taekwondo? Eum, I think some people can. So it's not a specific skill."

"Yes anyway. At least it's me, the guy who managed to take you to lunch." Ben is out of his mind, and manages to find a sentence that makes Jeslin acknowledge him.

Jeslin was silent for a moment, his forehead wrinkled the sign of being thoughtful.

"Daniel is not included, yes. Aye, right?"

"dm ... Yes, yes." Jeslin had just noticed. If all this time he had never had lunch together with any man, even his own office friend. He usually had lunch with men, just Daniel.

"And I'll make sure it's just me, the guy you're always having lunch with. Eum, or dinner ... It can be arranged."

"If I don't want to?"

"Just believe me, I can."