Les Laches

Vacation

"Where did you say you were going on vacation?" ask a girl with hair all over her back. He who had been busy struggling with his report, now looked quickly at the four young people who were sitting behind him.

The four people were his closest friends ever since he became a freshman at University Y. Two women and two men. Pairs each. Hera with Alvin. Sapphires with Afgar. Meanwhile, himself, Tian jomlo.

"Cuba." Hera repeated the name of their destination city which made Tian distract him from the reports of the activities before him.

"Don't say males again." Alvin interrupted before Tian threw a protest that had already emanated from his facial expression.

Tian rolled his eyeballs. "Why not go to Bali?"

His question was immediately greeted with a compact groan from his four friends.

"We've been there FOUR times, Ti." Afgar emphasized the word four with a rumored expression.

"Bali is not enough to be enjoyed with just four visits." Tian was still insistent.

"Why haven't we done anything in Bali yet? Every time we go to the party, play in Kuta the same Sanur ever, 'test the guts' in Trunyan already, playing prewed-prewed-an fad in Lempuyang also already. Bosen't, anyway?" Safira asked the consent of his three other friends.

"The hell we haven't been to Blooms as Gemitir." Alvin added while playing his Instagram featuring a new destination that was a hit in Bali.

"I don't want to go there just to see the flowers." Hera glanced at judes towards her lover.

"OKAY. We're going to Cuba." Alvin ended his scrolling session without being asked twice and immediately switched to an online ticketing app on his phone.

"If you're a little males, I'll take Safira to your house to pack." Afgar looked at Tian earnestly.

***

"Ti!" A voice coming from outside Tian's room breaks his concentration trying to complete an "all-headshot" mission in the FPS game he is playing.

"Titine!" The voice called out louder. This time accompanied by a knock—which resembles gedoran—t be impatient at the door of his room.

"Yes, Ma." Tian started to randomly tap the phone screen before finally giving up and forcibly closing the app.

The girl then opened the door of her room.

"Are you ready?" Bella did not wait until Tian answered. His head had already looked into the room of his eldest daughter's room.

As her eyes caught a lump of clothes stacked loosely on two sides of an open suitcase, the 43-year-old woman just a few days ago could not help but cluck in annoyance.

"Surely the case can be closed if you're natanya like this?"

Tian almost bounced around as Bella pushed the door to give him more space to break into his room. Deftly, the woman's hand pulled the phone out from behind her checkered longdress and snapped a few pictures. Tian's eyes were rounded.

With one step wide, he jumped next to Bella and tried to snatch her mother's cell phone. He could already guess what his mother would do with the picture on her phone without asking.

"You what?" Bella raised the right arm that she used to hold her phone.

"The photo is deleted, Ma? Please!" Tian started using his sulking stance. "Tian is done here, Ma."

"From this magrib, Mama reminded you, Ti. Now look what time it is?" Bella pointed to the clock on the wall of the room that had shown at 11 p.m. "Not until half an hour later, you must have fallen asleep."

"This machine is not up to half an hour, Ma."

Tian continued to persuade as he began to tidy up the contents of his suitcase with one hand. The other hand clasped tightly onto Bella's left hand, trying to prevent her mother from going further than just photographing the contents of her suitcase along with several pieces of underwear in the top pile. It was clear that the scene was most prominent in the picture Bella had taken.

"Five hours ago I thought so too." Bella started to struggle with her cell phone.

Tian, who had only looked up a few seconds after Bella sent the pictorial message, could not stop the shrill shriek that slid from her lips.

"Ma! It's so hard." Tian grumbled softly.

"You know you don't like to tell me twice." After saying so, Bella sauntered away from her daughter's room with an amused smile adorning her face.

Bella often leaves her country for weeks to help Adler. Her husband works as an architect who often takes landscape projects abroad, while he is tasked to become a negotiator because he mastered quite a lot of foreign languages. Not to mention his knowledge of the science of designing a fairly capable build. This makes him rarely have time to spend with his children. Therefore, working on Tian was one of the entertainment he was most looking forward to as he was enjoying his long holiday. Because despite being the first child, Tian's behavior was much more adorable when teased than his three younger siblings.

Tian, who was the victim of his mother's pity, is now receiving a call from Afgar. It was to the young man that Bella sent the embarrassing portrait of hers. Tian could only endure the screams of his heart while answering a phone that would not stop ringing until Tian picked it up.

"Hi, Gar."

Tian tried to say hello as normally as possible. It was as if his mother had not sent any "strange" images to the young man. It was as if the young man was just calling to talk about anything important other than the picture. However, Tian was not good at pretending.

"Ughhh!" tian screeched as he could no longer contain his embarrassment.

Afgar laughed across the phone.

"Gar! Please delete the photo now. Mama really-not understand that make me embarrassed in front of you is not cute anymore."

"Not wrong, Ti. It's really cute. Green polkadot has ribbon. Your taste has not changed since then, you know?" Afgar laughed more and more at Tian's moans as he described the details of the portrait he received a few minutes ago.

"Remove, Gar! Now!" decreed Tian.

"Don't, don't!" shouts Tian the next few seconds.

Afgar frowned. "Why?"

"I can't believe my mother, let alone you. Tomorrow I'll delete the picture myself." Tian answered quickly.

"Should I ingetin?" Afgar still teases Tian.

"Wake me up an hour before our plane takes off" Tian replied in a serious manner, ignoring Afgar's attempts to tease him.

"Would you take care of it?"

"That's why you and Sapphira had to come here an hour before take-off." Tian cengennesan's.

"Umpetin keep your secret weapon. Don't let me document my own HP." Afgar hurriedly hung up the phone before Tian's shrill voice made his ears deaf.

***

"What a shower?"

Safira who saw Tian had already come out of the bathroom after 5 minutes, raised her eyebrows in astonishment. For a Sapphira, bathing is not just cleaning themselves, but a ritual to add charm, especially for a woman.

Therefore, from the top of the head to the tip of the hair, no part has ever escaped his attention in a process that according to his version should be able to spend almost half an hour. Call it when shampooing, ranging from wearing shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, tonic, to vitamins will always be done by Safira without being missed. Then, taking care of her skin is not enough just with bath soap alone, but must be preceded by covering every inch of her body. The stages that pass after bathing are even more complicated, Sapphira must distinguish the lotion that will be used for her body, hands, feet, neck, soles of feet, elbows, and even armpits.

He believes that Tian not only missed all the important stages, but also did not have a collection of bodycare that made him think of doing the treatment as complex as Safira did.

Safira confirmed her conjecture when she remembered that she had not seen a single item resembling a make-up bag as she stuffed all of Tian's luggage in one suitcase. Safira himself finished tidying up the entire Tian Innate in less than 10 minutes. For him who was used to traveling with an innate three times more than Tian, the task of packing was a thing he could complete perfectly without taking much time. Even with that much luggage, Sapphira was able to cram the whole thing into one large suitcase, although she could not force her "beauty chest" to cram among her other luggage.

Talking about the innate who is now sitting sweetly on the back of the van he rented, Safira finally remembered something he had not told Tian.

"Ti. There's one more man coming with us to Cuba." Safira opened the conversation.

Tian who had just finished wearing his knit dress turned his head over his shoulder.

"Who, Fir?"

"Later to know yourself with him. He's the son of my grandfather's confidant" Safira explained.

"Surely a guy, huh?" guess Tian.

"Clearly dong, Ti. Time we all again q-time we need someone to take care of you. And there's no way that guy's a girl. The more down the percentage you make dapet gebetan if the bule-bule there think your orientation is not straight," said Safira while coolly playing mobile phone while lying in the middle of a king-size bed belonging to Tian. "Or if you like a little 'mateng', your bodyguard can also be removed. It's only been 7 years different with you."

Tian rolled his eyeballs. Rather than being called "bodyguard", she felt more accompanied by a babysitter. However, Tian was reluctant to voice his opinion. From the beginning he did not plan to let the date of his four friends was disturbed by his presence. Therefore, he had made his own itinerary upon arrival in Cuba, so he found a reason to separate from his entourage.

Previously, Tian thought that he could walk alone in a foreign country. It will be a little difficult to remember Afgar, who is like his own brother, is very protective of him. However, Safira solves his problem by inviting one more person to "keep him".

Tian actually did not mind the fact that he was single. It was just that, somehow at first, the four friends had agreed to look for a sixth "member" who could simultaneously become Tian's partner. Tian the most anti ribet—even though not interested—t try to stop the efforts of his friends. According to him, if his friends want to bother looking for the right man for him, why Tian should feel disadvantaged. After all, if he is uncomfortable, he can at any time end the relationship.

Tian had just intended to get up from behind his dressing table when he saw Sapphira looking at him with eyes preoccupied. The next few seconds, the girl got up and grabbed the red lipstick that was at the end of Tian's makeup collection. Well, less precise actually mention one sprinkle powder, a pack of three-colored eyeshadow, one mascara stem, and two lipstick bars that eat only five percent of the place on the dressing table as a collection.

"Inget yes, Ti. You should have one blush in your bag. The beauty saver that must all girls have because it is very powerful to make the face look bright and fresh. But, since you don't have a blush, I'm forced to wear lipstick for an alternative." Safira started blabbing while applying red lipstick that was poked with her middle finger on some parts of Tian's cheek. "Thankfully your skin is white. So, all colors are 'safe' to you. If not, I have to bring my make-up box up here."

Tian frowned, a little skeptical about how he would look with that "foreign" thing applied to his face. Every now and then, her eyes steal a glance at the perfect make-up that always adorns her best friend's face, wondering if she too would be as beautiful as Safira if she wore similar makeup. As if he could read the contents of Tian's head, Safira returned to lecture.

"The types of make-up with skincare are different for each girl. If for you, because your skin is normal in the direction of oily, the choice of using powder as your sow is already true, really, but you also have to have a compact powder to touch up in case your makeup wears off. Well, but since you never wear ribet make-up, this is enough." Safira closed her explanation while pulling a piece of tissue from the box on the Tian dressing table and cleaning the remaining lipstick on her fingertips. "Dueh the difference using blush on the same as not."

Tian hurriedly stared at the reflection of his face on the glass. His eyes were round in disbelief. He looked at Sapphira with an expression that made his friend grin wide.

"If I wear red lipstick too? It's gonna be prettier, Fir?" Tian asked solemnly.

Safira cringed in horror.

"You'll even look like a TMII clown if you make it. Balance dong, Ti. Yin and yang. You only need one bold color in one type of your make-up and this time blush you have become a bold statement."

It took Tian 5 minutes to summarize all of Sapphira's utterances into the word "DON'T!".

"okay." Tian surrendered. He glanced at the mirror once more before smiling sweetly and running to grab his phone from the study table.

Together with Sapphira, he brought his suitcase down to the living room. Bella and Adler were already sitting there with Afgar and two people who were strangers to Tian.

"Inget yes, Ti. Until there you must tell Mama and Papa," Bella said to Tian as her daughter's entourage said goodbye.

"Surely, Ma" Tian said, kissing his mother's hands and cheeks.

Adler gently rubbed the top of Tian's head as the daughter kissed his hand.

"I put my children in the hands of Mr. Ivan." Adler turned to Safira's hired driver while shaking his hand tightly.

The man who was only in his 30s smiled soothingly.