Les Laches

59.

Tian disembarked from the city transport which took him to his campus which was in the Tamansari Street area. He stepped foot with a slightly pounding heart because he had only traveled several times by public transport. Previously, he was spoiled by the existence of Afgar who with his car was always ready to drive wherever he wanted to go. It's just that the last few times, Tian has indeed decided to really try to be independent. For example, this morning, he insisted on running away when Afgar nearly dragged him into his car.

Tian walks towards the building where his class is located, but Afgar, who has already arrived, blocks his steps when he reaches the gate of the university. The young man threw an annoyed look towards Tian with his arms folded in front of his chest as if Tian was a freshman who had just committed an offense on his first day following PKKMB activities. Tian could only grin wryly while thrusting both of his arms towards the young man.

“Where is my bag?” tian said he questioned the presence of a tote bag containing his work uniform that Afgar had taken prisoner when he refused to go into Afgar's car.

“In the car,” Afgar replied still keki.

“Eh, let's takein!” tell Tian to wander around looking for where his new university parking lot is.

“After college,” replies Afgar while wrapping his arm around Tian's neck and pulling the girl back on her feet.

“Only do you know whose class is finished first?” tian asked as he tried to escape from Afgar's arm. 

Tian did that not without reason. When Afgar performed his act, the attention of the other students who were on the road to their respective goals was diverted not only to Afgar, but also to him. Tian hated being the center of attention wherever he was. He didn't even expect to make a close friendship with anyone this time. However, his limited energy was not enough to make him able to escape from Afgar. 

Afgar actually knew that Tian was not comfortable getting treatment from him, but he continued his actions to make some pairs of eyes that are now watching it know that he has a special affinity with Tian. He felt that way was effective enough to warn anyone who wanted to get close to him or Tian. Afgar did so because he could see the meaning of some of the meaningful views addressed to both himself and Tian since both of them set foot in the university courtyard. Therefore, Afgar did not plan to release Tian until at least the two arrived at the Tian building.

“Know dong. You run at 11.30, I'm at 10.45,” Afgar replied casually.

“If you go back first, the bag is anterin to class. Watch out if you don't!” threatening Tian while pointing at Afgar's face which finally let go of his pitingan as the two arrived at the corridor towards Tian's classroom.

“I'm on campus until you're back,” Afgar reply.

“Ngapain are you waiting for me to come back?” tanya Tian with her eyebrows raised.

“Who is waiting for you too. Really being a person!” chirp Afgar while blinking her lips.

“Well that was, he said he wanted to go to campus until I returned,” tukas Tian no less fierce.

“Yes, but the goal is not to wait for girls. I want to nod at the perpus,” Afgar replied while trying to observe the expression shown by Tian when he heard the word "girl person" come out of his lips.

“Ngapain you in perpus?” tian asked without responding to the appellation Afgar had given him, leaving Afgar a little disappointed.

Afgar wondered, did even after Afgar had influenced him so many times Tian still think his relationship with Meda was not over? Or all his silence was just a sign that he was reluctant to discuss the problem further and only consider Afgar's curse as the last wind?

“Hush! Which actually called it. Later if your script is problematic continue not to pass, your brother got your papa,” Tian said while making hand gestures like slicing his neck.

Afgar just shrugged his shoulders cuefully and stepped away leaving Tian alone.

***

"Tian, huh?" A voice that mentioned her name, made the girl turn her gaze towards the figure standing beside her chair.

Tian observed every feature of the face of the girl who called him it—by instilling a memory that he could use to recognize his figure when meeting him on another occasion—before nodding and returning the smile offered by him.

"I'm Thea" he said as he extended his hand to be held by Tian. "How long in Bandung?"

"About a month," Tian replied without any intention of explaining more than what the shoulder-haired girl had asked.

"Gee. Means you don't know much about the cool hangout spots in Bandung, huh?"

"That's it." Tian responded with a short answer again.

Things have changed since the day her family fell apart and Meda left her to go through all those tough days alone. Tian was no longer easy to open up to strangers. He was well aware of it even though it had only been a few months since he had lived the nightmare of his life. Therefore, he wanted to keep the distance as safe as possible so as not to need to bond with people who are very likely to stay away from him for one and many things.

"If you ever want to hangout together, you can call me" Thea said as she pulled out her phone. "Can I have your number?"

Tian who once would have immediately agreed to it without a second thought, but now he was determined to get involved in other matters besides raising money to connect and graduate college as quickly as possible. Hence, he decided to reject Thea's request with subtle, but firmness.

"sorry. I don't really like hanging out. Besides, I have to work part-time from day to night" Tian said as he moved his last item from the table into a bag.

Thea's lips pursed. Not because of anger, but disappointment. His face that had flowered suddenly became clear. Tian's sturdy defense slightly collapsed and was replaced with a feeling of pity looking at all of that.

"But, you can call me if there's any information about the class and anything I need to know about our campus. I'm not too familiar with the system here yet, you see," Tian said, handing over his phone and gesturing to Thea to enter the digits of his private number.

Thea welcomed the request with pleasure. As soon as Tian finished storing the number and bidding farewell to Thea, he stepped outside of the classroom.