The Girl Next Door's

Suspicious 'Tea' Party

A bright Sunday morning. After observing Doctor Stephen's house these past few days, Deril realizes that Mika never came out at all. Sometimes, Deril sees a car going into the garage, but it's not Doctor Stephen's car that he usually carries.

Previously, Deril had never felt too interested in his next-door neighbor. He just wanted to be close to Mika in a good sense. However, after getting a message for help but being ignored when it came, Deril became even more curious.

Deril often heard about Mika from her school friends. Of all the information she heard, Mika never went to school. They knew about Mika because the girl had an unusually beautiful face. No one ever talked to him.

"Hhhh, if the CCTV camera is not that much!" deril grumbled in a low voice. Actually, he was eager to break in and steal the CCTV footage that was inside Doctor Stephen's house. Too bad, even though he managed to get in though, he did not know the plan of Doctor Stephen's house.

"Son, help me get the trash out!"

The call made Deril jump in shock. He quickly stood up from the living room sofa and approached Serena who was in the kitchen. His mother was putting clean dishes back into the wooden shelf that Alex had just installed. Little by little, the kitchen seemed to be getting full.

"There," Serena raised her head towards the moss-green recycled plastic bag. "That's organic trash, yeah! Don't put it wrong!" the message.

Deril grabbed the bag silently, then moved out of the house, towards the garbage dump at the end of the road, near a large highway, a kilometer from his house. Deril didn't come back as soon as he got there. His attention was on the hordes of mothers who swarmed the vegetable carts.

It was six in the morning. Deril does not usually wake up early at the end of the week, but it is different from today. His mind's been screwed up since causing trouble at Doctor Stephen's house. His sleep never calmed down. Deril always looked down when he had to pass Doctor Stephen's house.

He is not a kid who likes to find trouble. Deril is more silent to avoid the existence of meaningless problems that can make himself unpleasant to others.

Unfortunately, he has a problem with a specialist who has the most alluring girl Deril has ever seen. Their hobbies are the same. Deril could not forget the memory of Mika's figure dizzy her hair upwards and being pierced with a paintbrush. Too bad, the chance to get closer to Mika disappeared just like that due to her careless actions the other day.

The shrill laughter from the hordes of mothers who were mutually unpretentious, made Deril wake up from his daydream. Deril reached into the bag of his training pants, and found there was a piece of money in the fraction of twenty thousand rupiah from the left pocket.

Deril stepped closer to the vegetable cart. Out of nowhere, Deril thought of extracting information from those mothers.

'If it is true that their purpose is only to buy vegetables, they certainly do not need so long in front of the vegetable cart, ' Deril thought. 'That is, they gather to talk about one thing and another.'

One of the mothers realizes Deril's presence. Where maybe Deril who has a bule figure, just ignored by the mothers. Coincidentally, the mother remembered Deril who was present at the arisan event the other day.

"Look, look, who's coming!" Bu Fabi looked enthusiastic, making all eyes on Deril.

"Eeeeeeh, the bule boy is taking a morning walk, huh?" timpal Bu the Great.

"here, Son! Want shopping?" tawar Bu Ayu's.

Deril glanced towards the vegetable cart. He had never shopped for groceries before. In fact, Deril did not know the name of the vegetable on the wagon, except for the carrot.

"Cheap it, Dik," Kang Sayur followed.

"You buy carrots, sir," Deril replied.

'Ya elaaaah, why am I shopping? The plan is, right, find information about Mika, her inner self.

"What day, brother?" Vegetable Kang is ready to put his wares carrot into a plastic bag.

"Three seeds."

"Tumben-tumbenan, you know, there is a boy who wants to shop for his mother," Bu Ayu opened her voice.

"My son, mah, won't! Boro-boro buy vegetables, told to go down for lunch only, a lot of reasons!" sahut Bu Agung's.

"Yes, really! My son Bayu is too! I love to stay in the room!" continued Ms. Fabi.

Deril glanced at a mother who was only smiling. The mother was stripping locally with her hair neatly tied. There were dimples that were visible every time he smiled.

'The mother must have been stuck just to be accepted into her social environment, ' Deril thought.

"Eh, yes, Son Deril neighbor with Neng Mika, right, yes?" ask Ms. Fabi.

"Yes, Mom."

"Definitely seneng, yes, have such pretty neighbors?"

"Hehehe," Deril grinned.

"There are not many girls in this village," said Bu Agung. "They chose to go. Either school in the city, or off the island. In fact, our girls are pretty."

"If they knew there was such a handsome light as Nak Deril here, they would want to hurry back," Bu Ayu's praise was answered with a nod of agreement by the other mothers.

"By the way, do you know Mika?" Deril ventured to raise his voice.

"Know, dong! Beautiful girls are so, certainly be the target of mothers who have children."

"What is it like?" ask Deril.

"A pretty shy child" replied the Great Ma'am.

"When I was a kid it was so jolly. I like to run here and there" replied Ms. Febi. "But since returning from abroad, he's been shy."

Deril had caught the behavior of the mothers in front of him who briefly threw meaningful gazes at each other. As if there's something Deril can't know.

"Mother Mika," Deril decided to tear down the barrier wall, "he said disappeared, huh?"

Silent.

No one dared to answer Deril's question. Deril pretended to flip through the vegetables on the wagon to break the silence.

"Yes. Mika's mother disappeared." The answer came from conscious mothers who were silent.

The other mothers threw panicked looks. As Bayu said, surely bad news like this will be buried deeply by the host. Arrivals like the Deril family should not know anything that could degrade this village.

"Until now I haven't met?" ask Deril.

"Duuuh, the old news is so, you do not need to know," said Bu Agung. "Bu Intan too, use everything answered, hahahahaha!" he laughed awkwardly.

"But, it seems like Nak Deril is very curious about the news. Maybe he wants to know about the family of the girl he likes?" Ms. Intan replied.

"Yes, I want to know!" Deril hurriedly chimed in, afraid that the other mothers were closing the conversation again.

"Mom Xiao Ying did not know it was lucky. Had a rich and good husband, even run away from his son," Bu Intan began.

"But the news is not certain, right!" Bu Ayu was still trying to cover up. "As long as we know, Ms. Xiao Ying is very kind, even though she is a stranger. But he's still learning to blend in with us."

"Instead, until now he didn't come home. He left his son, who was five years old. You yourself have seen other men who came and fought with Bu Xiao Ying. It must be his affair that was invited to run away."

"Ouch, ouch! Ma'am This girl mostly watches soap operas, hahahahaha!" Ms. Febi was nervous herself.

"If I were Doctor Stephen's wife, I wouldn't be so stupid! Moreover, having a child as beautiful as Mika. I can certainly be a good mother to them," Bu Intan's eyes flashed, making Deril realize that in fact Bu Intan harbored feelings for Doctor Stephen. It's worth it she was fiery when she vilified Mika's mother.

"Is it possible that Mika's attitude changed after her mother went missing?" Deril still holds the belief that Mika's mother is 'lost', instead of running away with an affair.

"It doesn't seem like it is because of that" Bu Ayu replied. "Before Mika's mother disappeared, Mika was abroad. Mika finished her elementary school abroad."

"Well, it's a rich kid. Do not want to go to school in this village," continued Bu Agung.

"If it's not wrong, he's been abroad for seven years, huh?" ma'am Ayu asked Bu Fabi next to her.

"Eight years, ma'am," corrects Ms. Fabi. "So he came back here. Now, anyway, it's been almost two years here, huh?"

"Yes, almost two years. But his son rarely came out. So shy. Exactly like the princess that her father had pinned."

"Maybe Doctor Stephen doesn't want Mika to leave like her mother," Ms. Intan ruined the atmosphere, making everyone shut up again.

"Again, mothers! It's still so good to go to this hour!" the greeting came from an old woman who came closer with her matic motorbike.

"At first, Miss Sonya!"

"Eh, Miss Sonya!"

"Mrs Sonya's going to Doctor Stephen's?"

The arrival of a woman named Sonya makes other mothers breathe a sigh of relief.

"Yes. Doctor Stephen asked to clean his house. But the tumben once asked for a sudden. Early in the morning" replied Sonya.

"Maybe there's another party, huh?" ask the Great Ma'am.

"Can be. I go first, yeah!" Miss Sonya hastily pampered.

"What party?" ask Deril. He did not remember any party he saw next to his house.

"Oooh, a little party. Doctor Stephen likes to make tea parties for Neng Mika. If you hear Doctor Stephen playing the piano, it means there's a party tomorrow."

"Mika must be very happy, yes, made a party so. It's like a noble's son."

Deril's eyebrows are wrinkled. The thing she remembered, Mika's expression looked pale when Doctor Stephen played the piano. It wasn't like she was happy to welcome the party that these mothers were saying.

After all, Deril heard Doctor Stephen playing the piano for over a week. What tea parties go on until you have to wait a week or so to clean up?

***