Mentari in the Night Sky

The Past: You Love Her

"What are you going to say to Dad?"

"Have you ever blamed Brother Arthur for something that happened in someone else's life?" my reply doesn't match the question Arthur asked.

"..."

"Are we really just a variable that God sends in someone's misfortune or are we the misfortune that God sends us?"

"Zeta, I'm tired."

Arthur immediately closed his eyes after saying that. Today was a long day, I was very tired and wanted to close my eyes. I can't imagine what I'll say once I get home. Father and William must have been waiting for us with thousands of questions they wanted to ask.

Several times Uncle Stephan tried to see me and Arthur from the rear-view mirror. Uncle also knew how exhausting it was today for us. Although uncle was only a bodyguard in charge of protecting us, uncle always made sure our condition physically and mentally remained good. Today's incident definitely made Uncle will be more careful by starting to check every place I will go to whether it will make me re-experience anxiety or not.

Two cars also followed behind us as soon as I saw the rearview mirror outside. I always wondered to myself why so many bodyguards were protecting me when only a few bodyguards were assigned to protect father and William. I'm not even as important as father whose decision will affect many aspects and I'm also not as valuable as William who will inherit the entire Allison Group.

I had thought that the bodyguard who worked for my father and William was the bodyguard with the best skills among the other bodyguards but then I realized that Uncle Stephan was the best bodyguard in the family Allison and uncle escort me. Then, why should the security and escort I get be as much and as good as this?

"Why didn't Uncle say anything to Dad about my meeting with Natasha?" I try to break the silence.

"Miss once asked me to promise to protect Miss from pain, if I say what happened that day, wouldn't Miss feel pain?"

"What'sthis? Is Uncle now on Zeta's side?" reply to me while smiling.

"..."

"Alright, Zeta won't ask anything more" I said after waiting 30 seconds for uncle to answer the last question I gave, which only ended in silence. I turned my gaze outside the car window while stretching my hands.

My hand hit the medium-sized box that Felix had given me earlier in my lap. I immediately forgot about this box as soon as I got into the car because my focus was diverted to Arthur. I slowly opened this cream-colored box and found a photo album inside. I took the photo album and put the empty box on my lap next to where I was sitting, making Arthur open his eyes for a moment in surprise something touched his hand before finally closing his eyes again as soon as I got busy with something in my hand. I opened slowly this album, there is a dry flower decoration on the lower right side of the album, it seems like every page of this album is also decorated by other dried flowers.

'Her', the words written on the first page of this album. I just found out if Natasha can make a pretty aesthetic writing like this, considering the writing is quite unreadable. The writing on the front page of this album is not too much decoration, more impressed simple, something that actually quite describes him. Enough with the first page, I turned back to the next page and found a photo, a photo that I did not even know existed in this world. A word 'yours' is written below this photo whose courtyard is currently decorated by dried red roses, in contrast to the previous page which has a dry blue rose decoration.

The photo I now see is of me talking to Stephanie and Caroline with Ken looking at me from behind. This photo focuses more on Ken's face looking at me. This is the first time I've seen this photo, it's impossible for someone to take a picture of me without me knowing because it's certain that my bodyguards will make anyone who takes a picture of me without permission gain valuable lessons.

I turned back to the next page and once again found the photo where Ken was looking at me without me noticing. I kept turning page after page on this album and I kept getting pictures of Ken looking at me with a look I'd never seen. The look I once wanted was present in my life and the look I currently did not want was in my life. The photos that are in this album are not photos that have been very long, I can still see if these photos were taken these past few weeks. I remember some of the events in this photo taken in the classroom, the field, the canteen, and the parking lot. If this is a photo that has only been taken in the last few weeks, how can Ken look at me with such a gaze when he has decided to be with Natasha?

I again realized one thing if these photos are not photos taken with a good camera or mobile camera. These photos are like a screen capture taken from a video seeing some photos have very poor quality. Apparently, Natasha collected these photos from the school's CCTV footage. Not just anyone can get CCTV footage just to make an album like this. I think Felix helped him because the disciplinary chairman had access to some school facilities such as CCTV and the keys to the entire school room.

Several times I breathed heavily while looking at the photos on this album, making Uncle Stephan keep looking back, making sure I was okay. I only gave a sweet smile that seemed forced every time I caught my uncle trying to see my condition from the front view mirror or when the traffic light turned red, uncle must have turned his face towards me. I kept flipping through the pages of this album until I realized that every word written below or above the photo on this album formed a sentence.

'Yours', 'Observe', 'Unaware', 'Lie', 'Overlook', 'Voice', 'Eyes', 'Hurt', 'Entire', 'Regret'.

I immediately closed the album as soon as I realized the sentence was composed of the initial letter of each word under the photo. I took the box I had placed next to where I was sitting and put the album in my hand into it. Without me noticing that I was putting the album upside down, the cover that should have been on top was now on the bottom. I hate all the coincidences that happened today. I really hate the writing I am currently reading on the back of this album.

'You look at it with a gaze you have never given any woman, have you really never loved her?'

'Does his presence make you unaware of the feelings you have?'

'Is this moment of his absence making you aware of the feelings you have?'

'Zeta, do you really not have any feelings for Ken?'

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