FORBIDDEN TO FALL IN LOVE

35. Not Understand

"It's romantic for you."

Valeda and Daniel turned at the same time towards the source of the voice. Valeda's eyes were perfectly rounded when he saw a man as tall as Daniel standing not far from them.

"The ladder?" exclaim Valeda.

"Love?" answer the man.

Valeda laughed at the man's answer, which was clearly not his name. Daniel who did not understand, just silently watched. "How are you, Ga?" Valeda stood up from his seat. "Why are you here?"

"I just arrived in Indonesia" replied Rangga. "Mama asked me to pick you up, so I came here. It turns out there is you. How are you, Love?" The man stretched his hand.

Valeda welcomed Rangga's warm embrace while laughing. He did not realize that there was a pair of eyes behind him that were watching.

"Well, I'm good," replied Valeda as he took off his embrace. "It's great to see you, Rangga! How long has it been, huh, we didn't meet?"

"Hmm, about five years," replied Rangga. "Sorry, yes, while abroad, I rarely contact you. There are a lot of activities and I want to focus on my studies."

"It's okay. It's not a problem for me" replied Valeda. "So, how was your college? Smoothly?"

Rangga. "In accordance with my expectations. Everything went well."

"Now you live in Indonesia again?" ask Valeda.

Rangga smiled widely. "Yes. I will stay in Indonesia. Papa gave me six months to play around before taking over his post at the office."

"Are you serious? Isn't it too early to take over the company now?" ask Valeda.

Rangga only answered by shrugging his shoulders. "What about you? What have you been doing while I'm not around?"

"Not much. I work as usual. Then..." Valeda glanced back, where Daniel also stood. But, he just kept quiet without showing any expression. "A... I have a girlfriend" Valeda said slowly.

"Daughter?" Rangga repeated it, as if he did not believe Valeda's words.

"He's Daniel. My girlfriend," Valeda introduced.

Daniel went forward and stretched out his hand. "I'm Daniel."

Rangga greeted him without hesitation. "Come," he answered. "It's new news to me, hearing that Valeda has a boyfriend. Valeda is very difficult to get close to others. You must be an amazing person because you can conquer the heart of a Valeda."

"Thank you for the compliment. If I may know, what is your relationship with Valeda?" ask Daniel.

Valeda could only dumbfoundedly look at Daniel who blatantly asked in front of Rangga. 'Daniel's getting chatty, huh?' inner Valeda.

"I'm Valeda's cousin, even though we don't have blood relations" Rangga replied casually, looking less offended at being asked about personal matters by strangers. "My stepfather, Oom Suherman's cousin, married my mother when I was six."

"We've been close since elementary school, because of one school" Valeda added. "Rangga said, I have a hard time getting along with strangers. So, Rangga helped me to interact."

Daniel did not respond, just staring fixedly at Rangga. Valeda could neither interpret nor capture what Daniel meant to do.

"Rangga, have you eaten?" Valeda open the sound. He felt bad because the two men in front of him were just silent. "My mom picked six professional chefs to serve this dinner."

"I tasted a little. Aunt Emely is very smart to choose people," replied Rangga. "Tomorrow I plan to greet your parents officially. It doesn't feel good that I'm back but I don't go straight to them."

"What time?" Valeda asked.

"I'll take them to dinner. Do you have time?" Rangga asked back.

Valeda looked at Daniel. Daniel, who felt asked with a glance at Valeda's eyes, answered quickly. "You can use your time as you please. Promise tomorrow, we cancel."

"If you have activities, I do not force you to join dinner" Rangga hurriedly said.

"No. Our promise is not so important. Valeda must have wanted to have a long chat with Rangga, ", Daniel replied.

"Haha! You say like that, as if I belong to Valeda," teased Rangga with a laugh.

"Alright, alright," Rangga stopped his laughter. "Tomorrow I'll make a reservation for our dinner."

"Not to get me involved" Daniel refused. "I don't want to ruin your dinner and Valeda's parents."

"But I want to get to know you further" said Rangga.

"I have a different world than you. If you want to get to know me, you better lower your degree a little" Daniel refused.

"You get a humble man, Love," said Rangga, smiling.

Valeda knew that Rangga praised Daniel. However, Daniel did not seem to respond so much. Daniel did not react as he did when talking to his aunts or his father. Daniel was quieter.

"A... I'm lucky to have a boyfriend like Daniel. He is indeed a person who does not like to boast about himself," replied Valeda.

"Then, tomorrow night I'll call you about our dinner" Rangga ended their conversation. "Daniel, if you change your mind, come with Valeda. You can ask me anything about Valeda. I almost know everything."

Daniel returned Rangga's smile. "No need to bother. If I want to know something about Valeda, I can ask him directly. He's my girlfriend" he replied.

Rangga scratched his head that was not itchy. "okay... Alright... Then I'll say good."

"Be careful on the road, Rangga," Valeda waved a small.

"Bye, Love!" Rangga reply waving. Then he nodded briefly at Daniel. Daniel responded by nodding once.

Daniel sat back on the sofa when Rangga was quite far away. He threw a glance in the opposite direction to Valeda.

Valeda sat down next to Daniel. He did not speak for how long, only looking at the back of Daniel's head. Daniel's black hair was buffeted by the night breeze, making him move slightly. Valeda can smell the shampoo Daniel wore this afternoon.

"When do you want to turn your back on me like that?" ask Valeda.

"I'm breathing the air of the night" Daniel said.

Valeda walked down Daniel's back with his fingers. Daniel's body wasn't as big as his first brother's, but Valeda could feel the muscles perfectly wrapped around his bones. "What's wrong? Why do you seem to be unkind?" Valeda did not understand Daniel's attitude.

Daniel looked. "Do you not understand?" ask Daniel.

Valeda shakes his head. "I really don't understand. I'm not very smart about things like this. Rangga himself told you, right, that I'm bad at interacting."

Daniel snorted loudly. "Yes. You're really bad at judging other people's feelings. That's why it's hard to get sympathy from men."

"Why is he vilifying me?" valeda Protest. "I'm asking you nicely, and that's how you answer?"

"Yes. The way I answer is like this" Daniel said.

Valeda's eyebrows are wrinkled. He pulled his hand from Daniel's back. "Daniel, you're starting to wander!" great-grandson Valeda is upset. "What's my fault until you're so tired? You can talk to me!"

"none. You're not wrong" Daniel stood up from his seat. "You can go home with Kris, right? Be careful on the road." Daniel immediately took a step without waiting for Valeda's answer.

Valeda gaped in disbelief to see Daniel walk quickly leaving her alone on the show. There was a cold sensation that Valeda felt as soon as Daniel disappeared from his sight.

"What's? Wh why? What's up?" ask Valeda to herself.

Shortly after Daniel's departure, Kris appeared and approached Valeda. "Miss, do you want to go home now?" kris asked in front of Valeda.

"Ah... I have to say goodbye to Mom and Dad first." Valeda stands.

Kris puts a suit on Valeda. "So Daniel left in a hurry. He asked me to make sure Miss wears this so she doesn't get the flu."

Valeda received a suit from Kris's hand. 'Even if he looks angry, but he's still worried about me?' thought Valeda, still not understanding.

Unknowingly, Valeda took a quick step towards Daniel disappearing earlier. In his heart, he wished he could still see Daniel.

***