Mentari in the Night Sky

The Past: First Tone

“They really show off the happiness they feel.”

Of happiness?

Is it true that showing affection in public can be called happiness?

For me the intimacy they show seems made up or only I think like that because deep down I am jealous. To me, anyone who feels happiness will indirectly show it to the world. Happiness to one is a bomb to another. The happiness they feel indirectly becomes sadness for others and one's sadness can also be happiness for others. When someone is sad, they will directly show their feelings either by crying or moody. Directly expressed sorrow and indirectly expressed happiness are the same as a double-edged sword. No one knows for sure which side will kill another and now the happiness I see in front of my eyes is the same as a sadness that is deliberately shown for others to see.

I used to think that being born as part of the Allison family was enough to make me a woman who has manners, grace, and intelligence. All of those things made me sure I would get everything I wanted but I was wrong. I will never be able to get the hearts of others with the arrogance I have. The arrogance I was born with made me slowly become a dependent on others because I was sure they would never reject me. I could clearly see the difference I had with that woman. He has the independence I have never had, the independence to stand alone without the help of others.

“Did he tell you?” stephanie asked after finishing the task she copied from me.

“Ya,” replied.

“You okay?”

“You mean?”

“Everyone knows how much you like Ken. Even those who used to not have one school when Elementary to Junior High with us also know. You can't hide any secrets.”

I paused for a moment before finally taking the PR book out of Stephanie's hands. I put the PR book on the table and closed the novel that I had been reading. I put my feet out of the classroom into the bathroom. Some people stared at me as soon as they saw me out of the classroom. I think some of them think that I'm hurt and jealous to see Ken making out with other women. But right now I am really sleepy and want to wash my face to revive myself who is now drifting somewhere.

“Where are you going? Teacher is coming in soon!!!” stephanie yelled as soon as I saw me walking out of class.

“Bathroom,” my answer is short.

A soft piano playing is enough to wake me up from drowsiness. The piano game I hear now is even better than the music teacher's game. Without me noticing my footsteps were following where the tone was coming from, trying to figure out who the owner of this tone was. Someone was playing the piano in the music room. Looking at the current lesson time, it must be the upperclassman who was playing it.

As I was listening to the tone, a pair of eyes suddenly looked at me. The eyes of the owner of the tone I was listening to. I don't know what got into me, for the first time in my life I stared at a stranger for a long time. Her blue eyes made me want to keep looking at her as if there was a story she wanted to tell. Just this time I found someone who looked me in the eye for a long time but did not give me a smile. Or maybe because I didn't smile at him?

His eyes continued to stare out of the room, making the other students look in the direction he was heading and immediately making me run away. It's so embarrassing. I hope it's not the class that William or Arthur were in, if it is, then he'll know I'm sneaking around during class time.

Breathe in before entering the class. The math teacher came in and told me to sit down as soon as I entered. It seemed like I entered right after the teacher also entered the classroom, otherwise it was possible that the fierce and perfectionist teacher would seem to be telling me to sit down immediately. You could say the math teacher is the only teacher in this school who does not look at which family we were born from. He considers all his students to be foolish human beings who still need knowledge from him to face the cruelty of the outside world. I honestly agree with him.

The piano tones I heard earlier were completely settled in my brain and mind. I kept hearing those notes and kept me from focusing on what I was doing. I didn't even note down the teacher's explanation in the book and just pretended to be focused. Just this time there was a tone that I could immediately capture into my brain. All this time, no one would settle in my brain for a short time, it took me a day to listen to a song until the notes settled in my brain.

“Do you know upperclassmen who are good at playing the piano?” I asked Stephanie and Caroline as soon as the math teacher left the classroom.

Unlike Ken who was my childhood friend even in the womb, Stephanie Caroline Elizabeth and Caroline Stephanie Elizabeth were my best friends since we were in kindergarten. They are both twin brothers. Their parents are too lazy to think of names so they have the same 3 words in their names and their parents just flip them over. I guess only they use his mother's last name. Most children here use their father's last name but they both use their mother's name. I asked them the reason and they didn't know for sure. As stated by the prenuptial agreement of their parents.

They were both in the top 2 most beautiful girls in the school and I couldn't oppose them because they were both really beautiful. I myself do not know what my rank is because my two brothers threatened that anyone who put me in the ranking would end up in jail. I didn't know that until Stephanie and Caroline told me. They said that my two brothers were really my sisters who loved me. I wanted to say how annoying my two brothers were at home to them.

“Kak Alvin?” caroline replied as she placed the glass on the table and focused on looking at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I was so uncomfortable with his gaze.

“Why did you ask? This is your first time asking about anyone other than Ken.”

The sound of the pencil sharpening suddenly stopped. Stephanie stared intently at me. He even shifted the chair he was sitting in to get closer to me. I forgot about the other important things, how gossipy they are. They also have the nickname gossip queen. All the gossip at this school, there's nothing they don't know and therefore I often ask them about Ken. They always give a satisfactory answer. But, once curiosity meets the two, they will turn 180 degrees just to satisfy their curiosity.

“Are you hungry?” I try to distract them.

“Quick tell.”

“…”

I don't want to have to tell you what I'm going through. Otherwise, they will continue to guess and tomorrow morning I will hear a no-no gossip about me that they made just to take revenge on me for making them curious.

“Zeta!!! Why are you in the music room during math class hours?!!” yelling at someone I know so well made the whole class surprised and immediately saw me full of question marks.

Sometimes I'm grateful to have a sister who cares for me so much but I hate how much they care to the point of embarrassing me like this. I hate Arthur who always yells and scolds me in public when I stray a little or make a mistake. But I hated William more, who told Arthur everything about me. To be honest, I hated the two of them who were always watching me and exchanging information about me with each other.

Should I complain?

Or should I be grateful?

I don't know the answer myself.

“So?”

I exhaled my breath hard. I don't know where the three of them put their ears. Only William put on a trusting face and did not want to know more, the rest looked at me with a face of disbelief. They all said I was very easy to read but now they doubt what I said. Really sucks.

“I want to wash my face and suddenly the piano sounds. I followed that line and kept me unconscious listening to it until the other upperclassmen caught me,” I said to the other umpteenth.

I went back to biting the hamburger in my hand, trying to ignore the three of them. Just as I was about to bite for the third time, William took the hamburger out of my hand and threw it into the trash. I can only laugh bitterly at his current attitude. Arthur thrust his hamburger at me, I haven't had time to bite him again William took it.

“It's mine. Don't you dare throw it away.”

William gave the hamburger back to Arthur and made me look at him with a hearty look. William still put on his distinctive flat face. He always lived a healthy life and it was bad for the pleasure of my tongue. He always watches everything I eat, I never eat junk food more than two mouthfuls. Each time I would do a third bribe William would prevent me by throwing the food I was eating either into the trash or into Arthur's stomach.

“You really are a protective sister,” said Caroline origin make Stephanie immediately elbow him.

“Ah... I mean,” continued Caroline flutter.

“Why are you staring at Alvin like that?” cut William out of caring for Caroline's words.

“Like that? What does it mean?” I don't understand at all the meaning of the question.

“You looked at him with the same gaze as you stared at Ken.”

I fell silent and the three others choked upon hearing William's words. I don't know if I'm looking at him with the same gaze I was looking at Ken. I looked at her because her eyes were so beautiful and made me want to dive into what kind of story she had been through.

I just felt his eyes hypnotize my entire body, making me unable to let go of a second not to look at him. Like a child getting his dream toy, he would stay with the toy all day and not miss a single second. I was just like a child when I looked into a man's eyes that I didn't even know his full name. She was like something I had dreamed of for a long time, like when I wanted a really cute doll.

“You're that easy to fall in love with?” arthur asked in shock.

I threw the hamburger wrap at him, he easily parried it.

“I don't love him, don't like him. I just love his piano play,” I replied annoyed.

“He's my best friend from Japan. I just don't want you embarrassing yourself when you meet him,” William said as he pulled Arthur's collar and walked away from me.

“So?” stephanie asked to make sure no one was near us when William and Arthur left.

“She just doesn't want to be ashamed of having a sister like me,” I replied back in annoyance.

“Not that. Are you staring at Brother Alvin with the same gaze as you were staring at Ken?” stephanie asked again.

“How do I know? I myself don't know how I looked at Ken,” I replied.

“I'll tell you one thing,” Caroline said in a mysterious pretentious tone.

“…”

“Sister Alvin is highly rated by women. She beat Ken to the female rated category.”

“Hah?” my reply was not excited.

“Listen to me first. The difference between Kak Alvin and Ken is Kak Alvin is not interested in women.”

“You mean he's gay?!” stephanie asked loudly to make one or two children look at us.

“No, he's not gay. She is only interested in the piano, even rumors circulating say if she will marry the piano in the future.”

“Not if not interested women then interested men?” stephanie was confused.

“Not like that. Why are you so stupid?” caroline answered while gently hitting Stephanie on the forehead.

What kind of gossip did I just hear?

Just this time I heard some senseless gossip from Caroline. I saw the clock that showed the break was over. I pulled Caroline and Stephanie's arms around talking about Alvin. Now they're even debating why Caroline hasn't told Stephanie any gossip about Alvin. For a long time my hearing could be lost if I continued with them.

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