THE END OF OUR STORY
The Meaning of Your Stare
While surfing on social media while lying down waiting for drowsiness to come, Aurora saw a notification of incoming messages. He switched apps and immediately jumped up sitting cross-legged on his bed, stiffening. There is a new message from the cloud.
“Okay, why send a message? Aduuuuhhhh .. what is this?” Aurora's eyeball moved to the left right, unable to hide her anxiety.
Aurora slowly flips HP, pushes a button on the side, enters a keyword, and selects the latest message from the Cloud.
Clouds: Good night Aurora, what time are you going to college tomorrow? I want to meet other friends from Indonesia.
“Oooooh .. geez Aurora, is ge-er really you? It's just that way you already blingsatan.” Aurora laughed at herself.
Aurora touched her HP screen and started typing.
Aurora: Good night, Brother Cloud. Tomorrow starts at 10, brother.
Aurora answered only briefly. It didn't take long, a reply message was received.
Cloud: OK. Could you please tell me to friend2, we met in the Social Room at 9. Thank you Aurora…
Aurora smile. Just read the sentence ‘thank you to Aurora’, her heart is flowery.
Aurora: Okay, Brother. Same2.. I told friend2.
After sending an answer, Aurora immediately wrote a message in the group room containing Saras, Singgih, Iqbal, Luke, and herself.
--
Aurora slept very well last night, even she had a good dream. In his dream, the Clouds and Auroras were on a bridge, with a small river below and a few swans swimming slowly. They did not stand but each was still on the saddle of the bicycle next to each other. Aurora gives bread crumbs to geese. The Clouds occasionally tease Aurora by wiggling Aurora's bike to let Aurora go a little and then hold on to the Clouds hand.
Aurora doesn't know what her dream means. People say that dreams often mean the opposite. However, Aurora this time did not want to believe what people said. To be honest, he didn't want to wake up to enjoy his dream. Finished getting dressed and getting ready to leave for college, Aurora still felt happiness from her dream tickling her bowels and creeping until her lips were drawn to a smile, spitting out faint dimples on both cheeks.
Saras does not realize there is anything different about Aurora. He only saw Aurora today more bright and cheerful. According to him, it is only natural because they are all equally excited to start the second week in this city. Today the five of them set off together, walked to the station leisurely, and continued their journey to the campus by tram. Very bright day.
Upon arrival at the lecture hall, Singgih and Lukas head for the coffee maker, while the others head straight for the 'Social Room'. This room is a kind of small hall that has a partition so that it can be expanded, containing several long tables and chairs, a sofa following a large television, a bar table, and a football table. Both students and lecturers can use this room to eat or relax.
Just now they were sitting in a chair close to the window, seen Clouds coming into the room, followed by Singgih and Luke behind him, each holding a cup of drink. The clouds waved their hands slowly and smiled broadly towards Aurora and Saras. Arriving in front of Saras, Clouds said,”Hallo, see you again.”
Shifting his gaze to Iqbal, Cloud introduced himself by extending his hand. “Hai .. introduce, I'm Cloud. Again Ph.D. here, second year. It used to be the master from here too, three years ago.”
Iqbal replied to Awan's hand and replied,”Oh, hi. I'm Iqbal, from Jakarta.”
Singgih and Luke follow Iqbal introducing themselves to the Clouds.
For almost 45 minutes they use to talk about things. From serious starts such as lectures, assignments, and lecturers, to relaxing ones such as eating well and cheap where and having to go on tours anywhere.
Although more silent, Aurora felt an injection for her happiness that had been slightly snatched away. The clouds sit in a diagonal position from her and Aurora can easily notice the Clouds without having to fear anyone has caught her. The clouds were the center of attention, and all eyes looked at him. Aurora started college today very happily, her energy multiplied by many times.
--
Parting with his new friends, Awan chose the library as a place to hide himself. Entering the library room, Awan saw Hani who was busy sorting books in front of her desk.
“Goedemorgen, Mbak Hani,” Admonish Cloud.
“Eih, goedemorgen, China. Alles goed (all okay)?” hani replied in a happy-sounding tone.
The clouds immediately responded to Hani. “Goed. I think it's happy again, Ma'am.”
Hani laughed then said, “Iya dong, Wan. Every day we should be happy, let's live a long life. Happy hearts he said medicine, Wan.”
The clouds laughed with Hani. “Yes, too, Ma'am. Long life recipe.” The cloud continued while bowing its body. “Dankuwel (thank you very much) Ma'am Hani for the recipe.” The clouds stepped away from Hani while still smiling and waving her hand.
Sitting in his usual place, Cloud put the backpack on the table, unzipped the bag, but stopped halfway. The image of Aurora with the long-handed batik shirt she wore earlier, appeared unexcused at the head of the Clouds. He was smiling too. “You are beautiful today, Aurora. Uh no, you're beautiful every day.”
The clouds have not continued to unzip his bag, he has instead fallen in a daydream. He was so happy. His eyes clearly caught Aurora's gaze continuously directed at him. “Yes, everyone is also looking at me. Can dong, seneng.” The clouds entertain themselves.
While talking at length earlier, Cloud actually tried to explore more in the sense of Aurora's gaze. The clouds caught a happy light in Aurora's eyes. However, he did not dare to hope for anything. It was possible that Aurora sparkled to hear what she could enjoy during her stay in this city, not because she was staring at the Clouds.
Last night, before sending a message to Aurora, the Clouds made an important decision for her life.
In the past, he did not dare to approach Aurora because he remembered his family. Now, he emboldened himself by trying to accept in his mind that his family was fine. Realizing that his feelings for Aurora never completely disappeared, he intended to get Aurora out of the corner of his heart and not just keep it.
