THE BARA OF THE PAST

Expanding the Reception Room

The world is too narrow, or indeed there are self-informed humans who deliberately look for gaps to facilitate action.

At the Cafe where Devano used to be alone, he meets Ela. His mother told him how Ela treated him during the kabul ijab event. Ela looked closely at her mother. Ela also showed a picture of Baskoro to her mother.

"Hi, Dev, don't expect to see you here." The owner of the skinny body greeted Devano with a big smile.

"Hi, Ela, are you here too?"

"I deliberately looked for a place where you were" Ela replied with a smile that made Devano chuckle. Zara gave a quick glance, then again absorbed the milkshake in front of her. 

"Know this is my friend and my customer, Zara. Zara this is Ela, she .. emm her ...." Devano scratched his non-itchy hair. 

"I'm your friend too, right? Please deh!" 

"Yes, he's my friend, my brother's friend." Devano looked at Ela with an inexplicable look. It was still strange to call Liodra a younger brother.

"Hai Zara, good to see you with Devano. He's a good friend, the best brother, you're not going to be disappointed with his service. Oops, I mean, Devano says you're one of his customers. Must be car related. His after-sales service is good at him!" 

Zara only smiled faintly as she welcomed Ela's hand. The three of them were silent for a moment. For a moment the atmosphere became awkward. 

"Okay, I'm Dev first, Zara. I happen to be leaving already." Ela immediately ended the conversation seeing the cold Zara gelagat.

"Wait, Ela, I have something to ask you for a second. Zara, you don't want me to stay a while?" Zara sniffed her shoulders, a sign that she was letting Devano go.

Ela follows Devano who invites her to walk towards the corner of the garden. They are now standing face to face. Ela looked at Devano who was suddenly nervous. Like he wanted to say but hesitated. 

"Ela, can I have a photo of you showing me?" Finally came out that request. As if in disbelief, Ela tilted her head to the left while thinking.

"Baskoro's Photo." 

Devano was agitated as he said that name. Ela smiled, her thin lips raised. Apparently it's an important thing that makes Devano curious.

Ela has a high posture. While standing face to face like that, Ela's height almost matched Devano's. Speaking up close, Ela could see that Devano was indeed very handsome. Look at her charming eyes. Realizing their distance was too close, Devano took a step back.

"Sorry, Dev. The photo seems to have been deleted. You know, after your incident ... after that incident I was always haunted by nightmares. I seem to be the cause of your marriage cancellation." 

"You know that's not true, Ela. Me and Mom are so grateful that you showed me the photo at the right time. Ela, please, can I have a photo of that?"

"I see first, hopefully I can still recover. Where should I send that photo if I find it?" ela asked while looking at Devano. 

"I'll take my card soon."

"Dev, you recorded your number on my phone. I'm afraid I'll be lost if I keep your card" Ela said, handing over her phone.

Devano receives it and enters the number on Ela's phone. The girl was busy admiring the perfect sculpture on Devano's face. White skin is clean, the nose is sharp, and the lips on it are overgrown with thin mustaches. Devano is even more handsome than the Korean oppa. 

"This I've saved. Please Ela, send me that picture if you've met. I need it so much."

"okay, Dev. Dont Worry, I will definitely help you." Devano was about to pass when Ela called back to him. "Dev, Zara is so pretty, yeah." 

Devano just smiled as he continued his steps.

Ela was upset. There should be no more barriers between him and Devano. He looked at Zara from a distance. The girl looks ordinary. Her face without makeup polish, in contrast to the fashionable Liodra, Zara is like a girl who lacks passion for life.

 "Alright, getting rid of Zara must not be as difficult as getting rid of Liodra. Devano, we will be the perfect and wealthy couple," he sizzled slowly while leaving the cafe that was being stopped by the breeze of the afternoon. 

***

Liodra was finishing his drawing sketch when the door was knocked from the outside.

"Liodra, are you ready? Soon Ryo's family is coming for dinner."

Liodra. So excited was he to forget that his mother had planned a meeting with the Ryo family. All this time the center of his world was only glued to Devano. Liodra is a girl who always focuses on goals, she ignores things that could potentially keep her from dreaming.

Sometimes I miss that one. Already planned but constrained, which accidentally appeared on the doorstep. It seems like this second one is about to happen in his life.

Ryo in his memory is like an om-om who is busy chasing a college chicken. Ryo's appearance is more formal, with a mustache and thick sideburns, Ryo is more suitable to be a mafia in a gangster film, rather than a young businessman.   

One wound was still gaping in the abyss of his heart, where could he possibly knit a new story? But his life is also too dear if spent lamenting fate, so why not have some fun? One mischievous thought came to his mind. 

"Yes, I'll be out! I'm gonna take a shower!" he screamed from inside the room. The dewanti who heard the screams became relieved. Liodra wants out of the room, this is exciting news.

Hernowo only glanced at his semi-principled wife after descending from Liodra's room. He saw his wife so eagerly arranging a menu to entertain family guests Joni Adiwinata. 

Actually Hernowo disagreed because he thought this was too rushed. Liodra needs some time alone to wrap his heart wound. However, it is not Dewanti by name if not stubborn. His conversation with Dewanti three days ago was still recorded in his brain. 

"There's nothing later. Yesterday I was wrong for being soft and obeying too much. Now Liodra must learn to listen to the old man. He should be able to hold his ego." 

"This mom is weird, love is ego. That love makes people willing to do anything, including defying parents."

Dewanti glared at her husband. Since when did Hernowo dare to blatantly insinuate her? Aware of being mispronounced, Hernowo simply smiled as he left his wife before there was a tragedy of flying saucers. Recalling the incident, Hernowo smiled again.

"Why aren't smiles so obvious? Instead of changing neat clothes, soon Mr. Joni's family came. Pah, the mother had repeatedly apologized to Mr. Joni. We're still lucky that Mr. Joni came here after the day."

"Sir Joni wants to come it must be because Ryo asked, not because mama has apologized. But sorry, my mom is not wrong. Liodra has the right to decide who he will marry. If it fails, it is his destiny. Do not let after Liodra wants to leave the room, want to arrange his life again, Mama forced him again. Already, let him go."

"Oh, papa, this is hard to tell. Never mind, mending papa change!" 

"Papa's cool like this is still being told to change clothes." Hernowo tidied a short-sleeved batik shirt with a kawung motif. according to him this is not too official clothing because they only ate dinner at home. 

Dewanti nearly ambushed her husband when she saw Bi Darsi enter the living room.

"Sorry Madam, there's a guest." 

"Well, Dad, they've come. Come spiel!" Dewanti pulled Hernowo's hand that looked lazy. Just now that Bi Darsi was about to say something, Dewanti's body had already disappeared behind the door.

"Sorry we came without telling you first." Eva bowed her body, after seeing Dewanti standing like a lioness when she saw him.

One good thing he was grateful for the failure of his son's marriage was that Devano did not have to have in-laws like Dewanti.

The woman in front looked like she was looking good, but kept the anger behind her. 

"Oh, Dik Ridwan, let's go in, please sit down." Hernowo invited his guests to sit down.

Ridwan and Eva immediately sat down in the guest chair. Dewanti looked at the two with a dislike look.

"What business is it? It's all over. Somehow I felt from the beginning that we were not suitable to be besan. Now it's proven, right?" said Dewanti ketus while folding his hands in front of the chest.

"Sorry, our arrival here just wanted to make a thousand sorry, because of an incident we never expected before." Ridwan started the conversation.

"There's no need to apologize. That's how it's supposed to be. I thought that water could not mix with oil. Turns out I was wrong. Oil also if different types should not be mixed. Olive oil does not mix with eucalyptus oil. Their destiny must be separated, for there can be no inbreeding."

"Jeng Dewanti, how is Liodra?" Devano is very worried about Liodra."

Eva moved her body. He no longer cared about Dewanti's spicy mouth. 

"Liodra is very good news, Miss Eva. Soon the future husband and his family will come." Dewanti gave the sweetest smile of her life.  Eva could not hide her surprise. 

"Not to be surprised. I know better a decent man to be with my son." 

"Ma ..." Hernowo almost stopped his wife's outrageous remarks, but Dewanti cut her words, "well, I think that's enough. We are waiting for the candidate. Well ... That they've come. That's our candidate, Miss Eva." Dewanti got up from the chair with a big smile to see his iron candidate coming.  

Joni Adiiwinata gets off a shiny luxury car. Eva and Ridwan know themselves, they leave immediately.

When they were about to go out they met Joni Adiwinata and his wife. Behind him, Ryo Gibran follows his parents. Ryo looked handsome in a black suit. The three of them walked forward regardless of Eva and Ridwan.

Liodra who came down from the second floor witnessed the sight that made his heart back in pain. Everything between him and Devano is over. The affection has fallen, but it shouldn't be this way.     

In the end, Liodra understood that hope is not always directly proportional to reality. The only way to recover from the loss and disappointment is to expand the reception room.