Moon In Hugs

Chapter 271

In one of the hospitals in Bandung.

Aditya and Frita finally meet Grandpa Darma. He is in good condition now. He could even laugh with his grandchildren.

“Already, you guys go there first. Grandpa wants to talk to Aditya,” he said in a hoarse voice.

The boys also left.

“Aditya,” Grandpa Darma said without further pleasantries. “I seem to know and know your uncle that.”

“Oh, yes? Where, Cake?” ask Aditya.

“The story is long. Yesterday one part of the story came here, making a fuss here,” explained Grandpa Darma

Pandu arrived at his grandfather's room after buying some snacks and drinks for Frita.

Frita asked Pandu, “What's the big deal here yesterday, Pa?”

Pandu could not explain and just stared intently at Grandpa Darma. So, the old man also answered Frita's question, “He's my enemy in the past. I don't know what happened that time. We finally made peace. Yesterday he came here, and I don't want to stop him when I talk about the past.”

Grandpa Darma was silent. I looked at Aditya for quite a while.

“Well, your Uncle Salim, also our acquaintance at that time,” he continued while either smiling or maybe it was an expression of sadness.

Aditya looked astonished. He never knew his own uncle's past. Really don't know at all. Just know Uncle Salim never married and that's it. He was treated since childhood by her. That's all he knows.

“What happened?” ask Aditya.

“Your uncle used to work with me. But not directly. There was one of my uncles who owned a tobacco business in Semarang. Well, he worked with my uncle, who was,” explained Grandpa Darma.

“You can know how, Cake?”

“That was after my uncle sent him to Jakarta, to help me take care of what became my own business.”

Grandpa Darma then explains his bleak past. He used to be involved in dirty business for a few years, with Uncle Salim.

“That time your Uncle Salim wasn't Salim. We call him Salman. He's twenty years younger than me, but I like him a lot and we're close friends,” explained Grandpa Darma.

Aditya seemed to not understand. Grandpa Darma just sounded like a person who was storytelling alias what he said did not feel real in his eyes.

Frita interrupts, “Grandfather sure he is Uncle Salim? Salman is Uncle Salim?”

“Oh, yes! Absolutely sure. We talked a lot at the party yesterday. But he doesn't know who I am, and I still remember. He used to be a hot-tempered young man. Now I can see he's a very patient man.”

Grandpa Darma looked at Aditya again, but now more carefully, and caught something unpleasant on the young man's face.

“Take it easy. We never killed anyone, Dit. We are just a bunch of swindlers. That also lasted not long. Your uncle went back to his village, and never saw me again after we worked together five years,” explained Grandpa Darma.

Grandpa Darma said he had also come to Sumber Kencana Village. A picturesque village with a small lake and a former Dutch-era sarong factory complex abandoned.

“I went there to pick up your uncle, but he decided to work halal. I can't ban it,” said the grandfather. Then he told the beautiful places in the village.

Aditya could not refuse the description of the places in his village, because Grandpa Darma was right.

“So, Grandpa has been there?” ask Frita.

“Yes. That's why I kind of felt like there was a miracle when I realized who Uncle Salim was, Dit,” Grandpa Darma said. “I'm very old, but not senile. Yes, although my memory is sometimes slow. After a long chat with your uncle at the party, I started to remember that we knew.”

That's where Grandpa Darma explains Aditya's true past. He was never born to Uncle Salim. Uncle Salim's brother was even barren and could never have children.

Aditya is said to be a baby given by an unidentified person. A woman who ran away from the city, to give birth to a baby out of wedlock. Uncle Salim's family picked him up and took care of him.

Aditya looked in shock. Frita doesn't know what to say. Grandpa Darma should know and give a little pause so that Aditya can think.

“I really don't understand,” muttered Aditya. “I never knew any of this.”

“Well, you can ask my other friend, Dit. A friend I never called a friend. We used to be hostile.” said Grandpa Darma.

Then came someone who was about the age of Uncle Salim. He mentioned the name of Rudi Darmawan when he introduced himself. Rudi yesterday deliberately offended Grandpa Darma's past, thus making the old man angry.

Rudi who is the same age as Uncle Salim also asked to be called Uncle also by Aditya and Frita.

“I also know your uncle, Dit,” said Uncle Rudi. “The salim is a good person. That's why he's not at home. Only five years did it for the boss. Alias uncle of Darma's grandfather.”

Grandpa Darma could only shake his head, regretting his past mischief, building a group of con artists.

Now Grandpa Darma and Uncle Rudi are at peace.

But of course the arrival of Uncle Rudi was so sudden not without reason.

Aditya was invited out to the room by Uncle Rudi, on the grounds of accompanying smoking.

“There's something I want to say, Dit,” he said.

Aditya felt a bad feeling. “Why, Uncle?”

“Please, this is something Grandpa Darma shouldn't know. I'll just tell you this.”

Uncle Rudi whispered something. Aditya looked surprised.

“Youth don't know themselves that? The rich pretentious, even though it's his parents' money?” tanya Aditya was furious considering the look of Reza Bastomi who was somehow mentioned by Uncle Rudi in his whisper.

“Yes. You know they're all my nieces? Setiawan Budi my biological brother. He's the one who used to be Grandpa Darma's nemesis. Maybe until today,” said Uncle Rudi.

Setiawan Budi is an old, sixty-year-old, black business owner in Jakarta and Bandung. That said Uncle Rudi, he also controls some rotten politicians in Jakarta.

“Reza Bastomi, Rama Subandi, Rako, and his friends. They're all my nieces. I just came here to give you some info. So that you will not stop being vigilant, Dit,” said Uncle Rudi.

“But, why? Isn't that your big family?”

“I don't like them. Anyway I owe a debt of gratitude to Salman aka your Uncle Salim,” explained Uncle Rudi.

“If Uncle Rudi asked me carefully, I might already be able to loosen my belt. You see some time ago I had to kill a vile killer in green,” Aditya said slowly.

“Oh, yes?”

“Can he be Reza's man?”

“Can be,” says Uncle Rudi.

They stopped for a moment to light a cigarette.

“I don't think they'll stop here. The Green Devil is an old man, a member of my family. You still have to be careful, Dit,” said Uncle Rudi who immediately pretended to laugh, as Pandu walked closer towards them.

Aditya thought, maybe a completely quiet life he could never get.

All these. All these issues. I don't know when it will end.

Seriate....