Girl In The Winter's
Chapter 6
"Neng Ayu, where haven't you been here in a long time?" a man with a very thick Sundanese accent came out of the kitchen and greeted him, a thin man in a short-sleeved batik shirt as an employee uniform there.
"Regular, Mang, busy college." Ayumi smiled as she sat in the corner seat so she could see the street view of the bustling China's town.
"Who is this, Neng? Meuni handsome rich Korean artist, neng girlfriend Ayu yah?" The man's words successfully made everyone who was there suddenly stricken with a cough, they smiled seductively Ayumi who was now flushed red.
"Not Mang, this is Ayu's friend, his name is Erik from Korea." After hearing the Korean name, the man bowed his body and said with the only Korean vocabulary he knew.
"Annyeonghaseo," still with a thick sundanese accent, Erik smiled at the strangely friendly man and stood up to return his greeting.
"What do you want to eat?" Ayumi asked after Erik sat down before her.
"I've never tried Indonesian food, any advice?"
Ayumi thought for a while while looking at the menu book before finally dropping the choice on chicken satay for Erik.
"Mang Dadang, meatballs yes Mang as usual mang satay chicken one serving." Ayumi shouted ordering food.
"Ready! Dapid, Neng, ah Eneng mah forget it, if here Mang Dadang tea so Dapid." parkataan the man immediately made the whole restaurant laugh.
"David, Mang Dadang is not Dapid." One of the female visitors who Ayumi knew came from Bengkulu corrected the man's pronunciation.
"Yes it was Neng Sonya, Dafid," and finally everyone gave up on teaching the man to say his own name.
I don't know how long they've been there and either because Erik loves Indonesian food so much or because he's really hungry, the man has finished off the chicken satay, sop iga and siomay who made Ayumi gap in disbelief then secretly he saw the contents of his wallet counting the money he had then grimaced after knowing the amount of money, and then secretly he saw the contents of his wallet counting the money he had, the next few days it seems like he should fast.
A waiter at the restaurant came to them with a bill that made Ayumi exhale with relief because the amount was still safe for her wallet.
"It." Erik gave me his credit card.
"No, I brought you here so I'll treat you." Ayumi took out a few dollars from her purse but her hand was held back by the man who was now looking at her with a sharp eye.
"Don't hurt my pride as a man by paying for lunch, do you understand?" erik said in a cold voice that made Ayumi freeze and nodded his head obediently. They walked out of the restaurant and back to the skytrain terminal.
"Is our holiday adventure over?" Erik asked as he walked beside Ayumi.
"Not yet, we're going to the last destination." Ayumi smiled after seeing the carriage their destination had come.
Without saying much Erik followed Ayumi, the atmosphere inside the train was quite quiet maybe because it was still working hours and school so they could relax until finally the train stopped at the Waterfront terminal.
"Where did you actually kidnap me?" Erik asked as he followed Ayumi who continued walking towards the bus stop.
"I'll take you to my favorite place" Ayumi said with a smile as her destination bus had arrived, "Let's hurry!" Ayumi pulls Erik's hand up the bus towards Seymour street and sits on the back bench.
"Didn't you like taking pictures, I guarantee you'll like it." Ayumi smiled excitedly but Erik just shrugged leisurely then leaned back comfortably while closing his eyes. A few minutes later, Ayumi wakes up Erik, who has fallen asleep.
"Wake up we've arrived." While gnashing his eyes he tried to recognize the place now, they got off the bus and continued on foot.
"Oh my God, where are you taking me?" Erik looks desperate because it seems like their journey has no end.
"You've come all the way to bring me here just for coffee?" Erik said in a cold voice that could make anyone scared but Ayumi instead smiled innocently while continuing to walk towards the queue in front of the cashier.
"Yes we're going to buy coffee, but this isn't the destination." Ayumi gave a small laugh when she saw Etik rolling his eyeballs.
"And this time I paid, you bought me a meal, so this time I paid, fair it?" Erik looked at Ayumi who was staring at him for a while before he finally shrugged his shoulders and focused on reading the menu listed on the cafe wall. A little while later they had resumed their journey with one glass of amerikano in their hands and finally Ayumi stood between the skyscrapers, her head looking up to see the end of the tower in front of her.
"We're here, come on!" Ayumi walked followed by Erik who again rolled his eyeballs.
"So this is your goal? Vancouver Tower Look Out?"
"Yes, we can't miss the sunset today the weather is very nice," they entered the elevator which led straight to the top of the tower. Ayumi eagerly stood on the edge of the glass-encircled spire and looked down upon Vancouver from 130 meters high, they walked around the 360-degree building until finally stopping in front of the glass that shows a view of the Pacific sea.
"You'll see a beautiful sunset up here." Ayumi looked out into the distance where she could see the Olympic Peninsula city of Seattle.
Erik saw Ayumi who was standing not far from him looking seriously into the distance, wearing jeans, boots, red jacket and earphones that had replaced his headset, his black hair framing his pure white face, her eyes are always glowing, Ayumi is an attractive girl and Erik does not deny that, even all day I don't know how many times he saw men looking at the beautiful girl who was not even aware of the attention she was receiving.
Red tides began to grace the skies of the northern coast of Canada Place, giving a stunning golden color not to lose the moment Erik took out his camera and photographed the girl set against the backdrop of the sunset between the splendor of Vancouver city and the Pacific sea.
"What are you listening to?" Erik opened next to Ayumi's earphone and put it in his ear, saw the man frowning making Ayumi smile and then gave her iponen. Erik looked through the list of songs inside the tiny object, then picked out one song that made Ayumi look at him with a smile, the two again enjoyed the view accompanied by acoustic guitar quotes and a melodious voice belonging to Adam lavine accompanied the silence of the two of them in the orange light of the sky that afternoon.
The sky was dark when they decided to go home on the bus, Erik went back to sleep while Ayumi enjoyed the sparkling night view of the city accompanied by songs that pampered her ears, although his shoulders feel heavy because they have to withstand the weight of the head of the man next to him who fell asleep because he was tired. Ayumi woke Erik up when she reached the stop near her apartment, "You don't need to drive me," Ayumi said as she looked at Erik who was walking beside her while stretching out both of her hands.
"My apartment is not far from here" Erik said casually.
"really? I've never seen you."
"I rarely go out."
"Well, I should have guessed it." Ayumi nodded her head understandingly.
"Erik." They were now standing in front of the simple apartment building where Ayumi had been living all this time, "Regarding my story earlier, please forget it," Ayumi looked at Erik who was also looking at her, "I don't know why I told you all that, so please just forget it ok?"
Erik was silent for a moment and then finally nodded in agreement to the request of the girl who was now smiling sweetly.
"Well, I've arrived, thanks for a nice day off, see you." Ayumi smiled as she turned to step into the door of the building when Erik called her, she turned back and raised her eyebrows to look at Erik who was still standing towered before her.
"Ayumi, you're not selfish believe you're a good girl with a big heart." Ayumi was silent for a while digesting the speech of the man who was now staring at her with a soft look of eyes, as if her ice mask had melted for a while.
"Never blame yourself, you're just a little girl who misses the figure of a mother and that's not selfish at all." Erik stepped closer to Ayumi who was still silently sculpting.
"You deserve to be happy, as you say you live only once, so be happy not to blame yourself too much because you're not wrong at all," Erik smiled and Ayumi could see the sincerity within the look of his eyes that were staring warmly.
Slowly Ayumi smiled and nodded, her heart warm to the words of Erik who understood her so much. Erik cleared his throat and Ayumi could see his ice mask was again perfectly plugged in.
"Come in it's night." Erik gave the order while walking backwards, "I'm leaving now, see you." He then turned around and began to walk away from Ayumi who was still silently watching the figure of the man under the cover of street lights and autumn night wind.
*****
