Les Laches
Couples
A golden light began to break through through the gap of the curtains covering the window on the left side of the Tian room space. Tian moved uneasily on his queen-size bed. However, not because disturbed by the rays that fell on his face, but because not a second his eyes can be closed for the night in one of the rooms in the villa Safira. His brain kept turning back the question that the girl had thrown at him last night.
Did something happen at the playground?
THERE ARE.
However, Inner Tian could not bear the consequences it would cause if such an answer slid from his lips.
He tries to convince himself that the cause of Sapphira's quarrel with Afgar may not be the statement delivered by Elmira, his close friend at High School. However, the guilt lodged in his chest for deciding not to share the story with Sapphira clearly showed that it was actually the answer his best friend was looking for.
There was nothing more Tian could do about the matter. The answer he had given to Sapphira last night was impossible to retract. The only thing he could do right now was to continue pretending that what he said last night was a fact he himself believed in.
Tian could no longer continue to remain silent in his room. Doing nothing made it hard to get those thoughts out of his head. Finally, he decided to get out of his room and walk towards the kitchen. He intends to busy himself with the activity of preparing breakfast to clear his mind.
Upon entering the large room on the north side of Safira's villa building, Tian was slightly surprised to see the figure of Alvin sleeping on one of the dining table chairs. The young man's face was face-down on the dining table with his two arms piled up together as a pedestal to put his forehead. Tian almost tried to wake the young man up if he didn't remember how hard Alvin had fallen asleep. The young man suffered from insomnia that was acute enough to make it difficult to sleep at night and sleepy when everyone around him was busy.
Remembering the word insomnia makes the brain automatically associate Alvin with Meda who also suffered from sleep disorders. Tian let out a long sigh as he remembered the young man did not answer his message yesterday. Tian tried to think that the young man might have fallen asleep while waiting for the phone from him and started checking the contents of the fridge in the kitchen. The first thing he did after moving all the ingredients he needed onto the counter, which he did with great difficulty due to his one broken hand, was to cook water to brew coffee, which he did, then bake a few slices of bread on teflon.
Tian tried to move in a minimal voice so as not to wake Alvin who was no more than five meters from where he was standing. However, it seems that his efforts failed, if not for Alvin's own body that protested because of his sleeping position is far from comfortable. The young man raised his head in a swift motion and stared intently at Tian standing up. Immediately after recognizing the figure he was glaring at, the young man again placed his head on the table. Tian himself again exhaled the breath he had accidentally held back.
“Coffee, Vin?” bargain Tian on Alvin who believes he will not go back to sleep anytime soon after waking up.
“Air white aja, please!” alvin without raising his head.
Tian approached him with a full glass of water after lifting the last piece of his bread from teflon. When his hands are busy choosing some onion and white cloves –which fortunately has been separated from the skin– to make fried rice seasoning, Alvin got up from his chair and plucked two slices of toast from a plate at the counter. Tian did not say anything as the young man threw a wide grin at him and sat back down. This time in one of the high chairs near the counter.
“What cooking is today, Ti?” alvin asked as if he was sitting in a warteg with a different food menu every day.
“Fried rice equal eggs ceplok.” Tian answered briefly.
“With one hand is that?" Alvin said amazed.
Instead of answering, Tian pointed towards the toast and coffee served in a glass teapot on the counter. Alvin looked at Tian as if the girl had just taken out a pigeon from her right hand that was being crushed.
"Can I request, no?” asked the young man after overcoming his shock.
Tian raised next to his brows. “Depends. What do you want to request?”
Alvin began to pass on the list of foods that flashed through his head. “Lobster roast, tuna pancake, beef steak ..”
“You call the chef from your home here,” sergeant Tian before starting to heat the pan.
Tian then grumbled that Alvin should be satisfied with whatever food was on the table today. While a little bragging about his cooking ability which may not be inferior to the chefs at “istan” Alvin, the girl finished her cooking quickly. Alvin responded to all of Tian's babbling with a small laugh, but his eyes were emitting sadness. Tian who saw all of that immediately bit his tongue. He just remembered that the young man did not like the fact that he was born in a family of seven children.
The wealth of the great Alvin family, which bears the surname Petra behind it, is comparable to the wealth of the Adler family, Tian's father, if he does not give up his family name and inheritance rights for his wife and daughters. So, for now, arguably from the five friends, Alvin is the one who actually best deserves the title of son of the sultan.
Even so, not many can suspect that even though Alvin was born with all the luxuries and needs that are always met, he has a family that is not harmonious. The Alvin family is a surreal version of a portrait of wealthy families in a drama that looks glamorous and happy in public, but cold and full of selfishness behind the scenes.
That's why Alvin hates all the background stories his family shows to the public. He hates those who judge him lucky just because of a small part of that fact. And Tian as a friend, who knows more than those brainwashing victims, should not use that fact even with the intention of joking.
“There is equal sausage cheese in the refrigerator. Want me to make pizza?”
Tian gulped awkwardly before saying the only sentence he felt deserved to be an apology for his attitude. Alvin pursed his lips before nodding weakly.
“Do not pedes-pedes.” Alvin spoke with a still-glazing look.
Tian.
“His many cheese.”
This time, Tian raised his head. The look on Alvin's face again exuded an aura of antics as usual. Making Tian a little wonder if Alvin was really sad or just rile it up.
"OK, but you're the one who ngulen," said Tian finally.
“Morning.” Safira entered the kitchen after all the dishes for breakfast were served on the dining table.
The girl's face looks fresh and radiant thanks to the moisturizer she applied immediately after coming out of the bathroom as well as the burgundy-colored lipstick that adorns her full lips.
Hera followed behind him a few minutes later. The difference is, the girl looks messy with ponytail hair that is tied carelessly so that some children hair regardless of the braid. Alvin smiled broadly at the face of his lover. Wider than the smile he showed after successfully teasing Tian with his sad pretend acting just a moment ago.
Tian could not blame Alvin. With that appearance, Hera's beauty was still unmatched by the other two girls in the room.
The four young men ate in silence until Alvin decided to play music aloud from his phone. As the silence melted between them, the conversation finally began.
“We'll be home later in the afternoon, yes?” Safira opened the chat.
“You're better than Afgar?” Tian was the first to reply.
Sapphira shook her head, but the look on her face excitedly made Tian guess what other good news would be happier for Sapphira compared to Afgar.
“I just became more enlightened after contemplating all the quarrels between me and Afgar all night. I was thinking maybe the problem came from the habits of Afgar and I who rarely Q-time both. Not that I blame you guys, yes, but indeed all this time we spend too much time playing with the five.” Safira stuffed a spoonful of rice into her mouth before continuing.
“So, I have some plans to improve the quality of my relationship with Afgar. First of all,” Safira reach for her phone, “I've called her to apologize.”
The girl then showed her phone screen displaying Afgar's contact ID along with an old record of the call reaching almost an hour.
“Apologies for what?” alvin asked while shrinking the volume of music on his phone.
Tian who realized the meaning of Safira's eye glance immediately understood that his name was dragged into a quarrel between the girl and Afgar. However, instead of feeling angry, Tian instead felt guilty. Somehow, he felt that he did have a share as the cause of the problems between his two friends.
After the conversation ended, the morning atmosphere at the dinner table calmed down again.
***
The time showed at 22:41 when Tian arrived at his house. He hastily pulled out his phone from his sling bag to check for messages from Meda coming in as long as his phone was on airplane mode. The young man had indeed started replying to Tian's message when the girl told him that she was going home soon.
Tian had just finished cleaning his body when he heard his phone ring. Merely, the ring immediately came to a halt as Tian stepped closer. On his phone screen, Tian saw two missed call notifications from Meda. In a hurry, the girl replaced the towel she was wearing with a set of blue white stripes patterned pajamas before pressing the call button on the Meda contact.
“I think you're asleep,” Meda said after replying to greetings from Tian.
“I just finished cleaning,” reply Tian. “Why not sleeping?”
“Again watch the ball Daddy.”
“Udah hours 11 lho.” Tian reminded as he glanced at the clock on his wall which instead showed the time at 11 more than 15 minutes.
There was a rustling sound on the other end of the phone behind a brief conversation between Meda and the other figure next to her. After a few minutes, the door closed.
“Thanks for the warning. Because of this father,” dumel Meda.
Tian chuckled.
“Why?” ask Meda confused.
“Newly this time I heard you moan.”
“Serious?” ask Meda not to believe it.
He is not a person who likes to nag, but that does not mean he does not do it occasionally. On the other hand, Tian thought for a moment before affirming his judgment that Meda had indeed never complained in front of Tian.
“Ya. Sleeping gih,” told Tian when again his eyes glanced at the wall clock unconsciously.
There was a sound of Meda saying yes while yawning across the phone.
“Lusa has started to go to college, yes?” meda asked again as Tian planned to bid farewell to end the phone call.
“Iya. Hunting bed!” tian's orders once again.
“If you have entered college, can we meet any day?”
Meda still does not want to end the talks. When his brain realized that the conversation was about to end, all sorts of questions popped into his head.
“When if you and I are not busy,” reply Tian quickly, as if in a standby position to answer other questions from Meda.
“If I want to eat your cooking?”
Tian snorted his laughter. “You can come home early in the morning for breakfast every day.”
“If I want us to date?”
Tian chokes in his attempt to control the breath he is taking before preparing to answer Meda's unexpected question. Slowly, but surely, Tian could feel his face warm up.
“Later,” replied Tian finally.
“When? Tell me a definite answer, Tian,” demands Meda.
“I like you too. That's a definite answer.”
“Then we start dating now?”
Tian did not answer.
“OK?” demand Meda again.
“Just go to bed, Med,” said Tian who still refused to answer.
“Fine. You don't have to answer, but you also can't avoid me claiming to be your girlfriend.”
“Indeed you want to show off to whom?” tian asked with an amused laugh hearing the young man's gnaw.
“My parents, your parents, your college friends, Afgar.”
Both of them fell silent after the last name appeared. Tian himself secretly smiled bitterly. As hard as he tried to explain to Meda, the young man still drew a line between himself and Afgar.
“It's just our first day of dating. From now on, do not give your number carelessly to other men!” Meda reaffirmed the new status of the relationship between the two before greeting to end the phone call.
That entire night, Tian could barely sleep. His heart was a little troubled when again the name Afgar was mentioned in front of him. After the incident at the playground, his feelings for Afgar could not be explained. For sure he always felt anxious and unsettled when he heard the name of his best friend since childhood. However, all that anxiety only fills a small part of his time, while the rest of the time he spends remembering new facts about his relationship with Meda.
Tian did not feel angry at all even though Meda “ forced her” to accept her feelings. He was instead pleased and relieved that the young man was so determined to formalize his relationship with Tian. He was almost sure that he looked like a madman because he repeatedly laughed to himself when he remembered the message given by Meda, the young man who is now his lover, before hanging up his phone.
The next day, Tian woke up late and almost missed dawn thanks to being awake all night. The sound of a knock, the blow to be exact, that Joan did on the door of her room became the third and last alarm that awakened her from a beautiful dream that she could not remember even after being fully awake.
