FLOWER WARS

Chapters 11. Among the White People.

Jacob repeatedly checks the wall clock in the living room that has been transformed into a dance hall. For an hour he waited for the arrival of the Flower, but the girl did not reveal her nostrils.

The young man was agitated. He continued to look towards the entrance, hoping that the girl would appear from there. Nil. Jacob let out a disappointed breath.

"Jacob, you're so nervous. Wat is er aan de hand, Zoon (What's up, son)?" A woman in a red dress with sequins around her neck approached Jacob. "Waiting someone?" he asked while looking at the door.

"Ja, Mamma." Jacob nodded.

"Ah, Laura, right? Just now he's coming." Therese, the mother, pointed towards the door where there were three people who had just appeared. Laura and her parents, Anneke and Albert De Jong, walked over to the mother and child.

"How are you?" Therese greeted the couple and their daughter kindly.

While Jacob put on a sour face as Laura stood beside him. The girl gave him a sweet smile.

"Do you like my dress?" laura asked as she turned around showing the whole long blue dress with lace on the bottom. The dress wrapped her slender body perfectly.

"Hmmm," Jacob replied indifferently. He did not look away from the door.

"You don't like it?" asked Laura while frowning.

"Why should I like it?" Jacob asked back. He's getting upset. Between being annoyed with the flowers that did not come, and Laura who was very annoying in her eyes.

Laura's lips pouted. He didn't like Jacob ignoring him like that. Both of their parents have agreed to match the two. So Jacob had to be nice to her.

"Why is he here?" laura asked as she pointed to a capable girl who had just emerged from the back door, carrying a tray filled with glasses of wine. "Did he work for your family?"

"Flower" Jacob said in surprise. His friend was offering guests drinks. There was a guest who tried to tease him, making Jacob ride black.

"Hey!" jacob exclaimed at a middle-aged white man who was intending to touch the Flower's arm. "Stoor hem niet (Don't bother him)!" he yelled at the man, whom he knew as his father's friend.

"Ah, Jacob, is he your Nyai?" asked the man, narrowing his eyes at the young man.

"Nee, ze is mijn vriendin (No, he's my friend)" Jacob replied, positioning himself between Bunga and the man.

The man throbbed while raising both hands, then passed from before Jacob and Bunga. Jacob twisted his body and looked at the girl before him with a frown.

"Why don't you wear the clothes I bought you? Why are you carrying trays and glasses?" ask Jacob.

"I don't know." Flowers spread her shoulders. "So when I came, a woman dragged me into the kitchen and told me to put on these clothes and deliver drinks for the guests."

Jacob clucked. He told Bunga to put a tray on the table and pulled the girl into the kitchen.

"Who told my friend to be a waiter?" jacob asked the servants who were there. "Jij (you)?" point it at a middle-aged woman with a mixture of white and indigenous faces.

"Ah, is he your friend, Jonge Meester (Young Master)? I think he's Mbok Konah's replacement." The woman chimed.

"Please!" snapped Jacob growled. "Where are the Flower clothes?"

Jacob had Flower change clothes in the next room. The woman apologized many times for her mistake.

After Bunga came out in a dress wrapped in her slender body, Jacob took the girl back to the middle of the party. Of course the presence of Flowers in elegant western a la clothes, made some eyes look at him full of probing. Some women whispered to each other.

"The party is boring" whispered Flower to Jacob.

"I asked you to come."

"Don't you see how the people in this room see me?"

"They're amazed at you. You're so pretty."

Sizzling flowers. "Onzin (Omong empty)!"

Jacob laughed at the swearing of the Flower. Finally he can enjoy the party a little because the presence of Flowers gives a cheerful atmosphere for him.

"Jacob, wie is dit (who is this)?" Therese, the mother, approached. The woman squinted her eyes at the Flower. Behind her, Laura and her parents followed.

"Flower, Mamma. My friend," Jacob replied proudly.

"Owh, this girl ...." Therese pulled the corner of her lips. The girl who often gets her son involved in harms. Just this time he came face to face with the native girl. He thought, how dare a lowly person like himself set foot in his residence.

"Ah, Jacob, you don't want to take Laura dancing?" therese bargain. The woman ignored the flowers.

"No." Jacob shook his head. "I'll take Flowers around the house."

The smile on Therese's face disappeared. Replacing with a gloomy look when he met the sight of Flowers. So did Laura who looked upset looking at Jacob's back and the Flower that disappeared behind the main door.

"Mevrouw Janssen, don't tell me Jacob is in love with the native girl" said Albert De Jong.

"Ney, nei, nei. Onmogelijk (No, no, no. Not likely). They're just friends."

"Why did you allow Jacob to be friends with the natives?" He asked Anekke De Jong.

"Me and Ambroos never allowed it." Therese turned her gaze to the husband who had been busy chatting with the Dutch East Indies officials, so that he was not aware of the presence of native friend Jacob. "But Jacob is a little stubborn."

"It would be a shame if the Janssen family had an indigenous son-in-law" Albert said.

"Don!" sergeant Therese. "Laura will be the daughter-in-law of the Janssen family." The woman looked gently at Laura.

The hazel-eyed girl commented on the triumphant smile.

***