Les Laches

Initial Step

Paseo del Prado, the road that separates Central Havana and Old Havana, is crowded with pedestrians. Among the throng of jostling humans, Meda tightly grasped Tian's hand and directed her second step toward the places she wanted to go. Tian himself obediently followed wherever Meda's feet stepped. Occasionally, the young man stopped at a quiet corner to check in case Tian was squeezed by the crowd.

In fact, Meda and Tian were in Old Havana along with four other people. Only 10 minutes after the group set foot in the region that is the original core of the city of Havana, Safira had pulled Afgar away from the entourage. Hera and Alvin who had just returned the previous night were no less excited when sliding into a clothing store with half a run. Meda, who was left behind with Tian, decided to take the girl in the opposite direction from the two couples.

When the two entered a white building that seemed quite quiet when viewed from the outside, then Tian recognized the place the young man was headed to. If Tian's guess was correct, the place was a gallery. The place was filled with paintings dominated by futurism. The entire object in the painting on the wall depicts all the activities that can be found on the streets of Havana. From there, Tian could guess the character of the painter of the works. A figure that takes the theme of busyness in the streets is certainly a person who is wild-spirited, full of courtesy, and does not slay on a certain package.

Tian's guess didn't miss too far. A woman who came out of one of the rooms in the building approached some visitors who were enjoying her work before greeting her and Meda. The woman with pixie-cut hair observed the unfamiliar appearance of her two guests before opening the conversation.

"Which one of you enjoys the arts?" ask her with a slightly stiff English.

It seems that not many tourists will stay too long in the place and talk to him when they realize that the building they enter is not a souvenir shop.

"That would be me," Tian replied as he shrugged his hand.

"Nice to meet you. Call me Lorena, or Lo, or Rena. Well, whatever suit your taste."

Tian introduces himself and Meda before Lo releases her hand.

Lo, who looks almost half a century old, has a face shape that is far from a friendly impression. However, contrary to this, the woman had a very melodious and gentle voice. Tian would not even be surprised if this woman said that her real profession was a singer and she only made painting as a hobby to fill her free time.

"So, which painting enchant you the most?"

The wide skirt Lo wore followed the movement of her body as the woman swung her hands into the painting ranks on the north wall of the gallery. Contrasting with that feminine-looking skirt, Lo's oversized shirt top looks to submerge her thin body and obliterate the physical signs that allow others to recognize her gender.

"Well, it's not the painting actually. It's how you paint it that catch my attention." Tian replied as he cast his gaze towards the painting that Lo had previously pointed at.

"Hmm, interesting. Tell me what exactly 'catch your attention'?" tanya Lo, quoting the sentence that Tian used.

Tian smiled before explaining that he was a fan of futurism and constructivism. He recognized that one of the objects of Lo's painting featured a wide variety of street musicians combined with a background in red, blue, and white, the colors of the Cuban national flag. It is clear that in the eyes of the woman, the street art in Havana is something that makes Cuba a "Cuba".

"Are you a painter?" asked Lo as Tian closed his explanation.

"No. I just learned to paint in my school days. But, never try to pursue it any further."

Lo flicked his finger. "That's why you comment about how I paint it, not about the painting itself."

The woman then turned her attention to Meda who had only been a loyal listener since the three exchanged greetings. He looked up slightly because his height was only about 150 centimeters far below the tall young man.

"Hey, Mister Boyfriend. How about you? What's your 'thing'?" ask Lo.

"He's not my boyfriend," Tian's correction quickly made Meda frown.

"Yeah, I'm not. Yet," said Meda. On his lips was a thin grin aimed at Tian. "And I'm managing some businesses at a corporation in Indonesia."

While chuckling, the middle-aged woman again led the two young men around the gallery.

"So, you're still not sure how I feel about you?" meda asked when the two were back on the main road.

It had been the fourth day since he had expressed his feelings for Tian and the girl still had not given a new response other than a word of thanks and a vague answer that he also harbored special feelings for Meda. It was not that Meda had never asked Tian for decisiveness, but that the girl answered the question with a remark she could not possibly refute.

"I'm sure of how I feel about you today, Meda. The same goes for tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on. But, what about you? I'm sorry if I had to say this, but the brutality of your change of attitude is the certainty that I believe in most more than your feelings are to me. I don't want to spend all day loving you just to be heartbroken the next day."

Upon hearing that, Meda had no confidence to say anything that could make Tian change his stance. Not that he doubted his own feelings. However, he realized that what the girl said was true. Her volatile feelings, so far, have always ended up hurting the girl later on.

Therefore, he tried to convince the girl with concrete actions while suppressing the negative thoughts in his head while thinking about the difference in social status between himself and Tian. Luckily, the time he spent with Tian was enough to make him confident that his status and social caste were the last things the girl would care about.

Tian did not explicitly accept her feelings, but the girl slowly began to tell a lot about herself to Meda. The first story that comes out of his lips is about the origin of his mother. Bella, who gave birth to her 18 years ago, is descended from a Japanese man who married a Sundanese girl. Being an orphan when he was Tian's age, made the woman grow up to be an intelligent and independent figure.

Her facial beauty and skill bring to life Damian, the youngest son of a conglomerate family he knew on campus, desperately trying to get his attention. Initially, Bella thought that the man would give up eventually. However, Damian's persistence makes Bella melt. The first big mistake he made in his life.

Her behavior worsens when Bella becomes pregnant with Joan, their third daughter. She nearly miscarried after seeing a plumber come out of the gate of her house when she came home from work. Damian beats up Bella, who he accuses of teasing other men behind him.

Bella would have been dying if the then eight-year-old Tian had not run to the highway and confronted a car belonging to a French businessman who happened to be passing by. Tian was not lucky enough because the car he tried to stop was not braking at the right time. Tian's body was thrown to the edge of the pavement and blood came out of his head which was hit by the street paving.

One of the passengers from the car he hit jumped out and tried to take him to the hospital. However, when the eagle's eyes caught a man rushing to close the fence of his house after seeing the drooping body in his arms, his instinct told him that something was wrong. He moved the girl to the back seat of the passenger. Cut the protest from the French businessman who became his client with an order to call the emergency number and immediately slide towards the white-painted hollow fence that fortunately was not locked.

When he entered the front yard of the three-story house, Damian had just come out carrying a fence padlock. The two were engaged in a fight, even almost jotos when the cry of a little girl who came from inside the house building invaded the hearing of both, as well as people who tried to break up the fight.

The stranger quickly evades Damian's reach while trying to enter the house. However, not yet had his feet stepped on the veranda of the house, a figure of a toddler aged approximately 2 years appeared in front of him with a body and clothes full of blood. The female toddler with chubby cheeks was still crying very tight when the foreign man grabbed her body. The usually patient man threw an angry look at Damian who was now being held by a mob gathered in his front yard.

"Mama! Mama!" ronta the toddler girl when the man who carried her was looking for wounds that made her bleed.

His face grew pale as he did not find a single wound on the toddler's body. His brain connected the newly discovered fact with the words that had been said by the toddler he was carrying. The foreign male's eyes finally saw the direction the toddler was pointing at. Accompanied by Damian's deafening roar, his feet stepped into the house, following the reddish footprints on the marble floor. His eyes widened when he found a woman with a bloodied body lying in the middle of the living room.

While trying to check the figure's heartbeat, he realized that the woman was pregnant and that the blood on her body was coming from the lower part of the woman's body. Panicked, he ran outside the house and asked for help to move the body of the woman he found. Luckily the ambulance contacted by his client arrived on time. Similarly, the patrol car that came a few minutes after the medical team prepared to move the patient to the hospital.

"Without!" call the French businessman to the hero who saved the victims of violence at Damian's residence. "Get over here right now and start talking about our business! Stop wasting my time!"

The French man was upset that the person who was supposed to handle the open park development project for his company had not paid any attention to him for the past 1 hour. He thought, the young architect would look at his rampage. However, the words that slid from Adler's lips, to him, were more shocking than the lightning in broad daylight.

"Open your damned eyes, dude. There's two bodies dying right here!" maki Adler ran into the back of the ambulance.

"Said Papa," Tian said as he closed the story, "this scar is a trophy. A tribute because I saved Mama from the hell my father made."

Tian showed a scar behind his right ear. A stitch of approximately 3 centimeters long adorns the fairly hidden part. In fact, according to Tian, Afgar, his childhood friend was not even aware that Tian had the scar. There is a speck of unimportant superior feeling that Meda feels when she knows the latter fact. However, beyond all that, his heart was sliced as he listened to Tian's childhood story.

Now, every time he repeats the story in his head, Meda feels like the most jerk in the world. He justifies the hatred he harbors with his past traumas. Though, Tian went through hell which was probably more torturous than him and did not try to blame anyone. Not even his real father.

Tian is an example of a figure who grew up well thanks to his dark past, while Meda on the other hand is a figure who grew up carrying a great grudge, waiting for the right time to avenge all the bad treatment he and his parents had received.

"Capek. Break a little, huh?" pinta Tian was sitting on an empty bench on the edge of the sidewalk.

"What are your goals?" Meda threw a random question as the two drowned in the residence for quite a long time.

Despite the astonishment, Tian found no reason not to answer the young man's question.

"Curator" replied Tian.

"Why?"

"Because of Papa." A smile slowly expanded on his sultry lips. "When I saw Papa's landscape sketch, I was amazed. But I always felt that there was less. So, once upon a time, I took Papa's sketch and I was warned. Mama was furious, but Papa said I had a talent for art. At first I thought I had talent for painting, but it turned out that my high school talent didn't develop."

"At that time, again Papa became oasis and pointed to me if in addition to being created, art can also be judged. And here I am, dreaming of being a curator." Tian ended his explanation while chuckling.

"I never had any goals." The turn of Meda who told the story. "All I know is, I just have to succeed. And here I am, working as General Manager in a multinational company that is arguably bona fide."

"And your ideals?" Tian pursued an answer that seemed to be being covered up by the young man.

"It doesn't matter. To me those ideals were just part of my childhood."

Tian was already close to voicing his opinion, when Meda threw her the next question. More random question than ever.

"The next month you play at my house, huh? There's a family dinner every birthday."

"Who's the birthday?" Tian tried to cover up his shock at Meda's invitation.

"I."