After the unfortunate incident, Aldy and Maureen decided to continue their delayed date. For cellphones and clothes, Maureen was satisfied. All that was left was to spend time together.
Aldy has already got cinema tickets for the film Maureen wants to watch, The Fault in Our Stars. A film Even though the premiere has passed, Maureen still wants to watch it.
Actually, Aldy didn't like the genre of the film they were going to watch, but because Maureen had asked him to do it, he had no desire to refuse at all. After all, if the film feels boring, Aldy can sleep until it ends.
"Two hours to go. Do you want to eat first?"
Maureen nodded and immediately hugged one of Aldy's arms.
Yep.
Maureen continues to cling to Aldy, which makes anyone who sees it will not think that these two enchanting creatures are a pair of brother and sister. But neither Aldy nor Maureen cared about it at all. After all, it's up to people to think anyway. No one feels affected.
After walking through several parts of the mall, Aldy turned his head. However, just as he wanted to ask Maureen where to eat, Aldy could already guess what answer Maureen would give.
The words "Up to you."
And that answer is not what Aldy wants to hear right now.
They had passed several places to eat inside the mall, but none of them caught Aldy's attention at all. Aldy actually knew the place to eat that he wanted to go to, but it was on the side of the road right across from the mall.
"If I asked you to eat there, would you like it?"
"It's okay, wherever you want to go, I will follow you after all," Maureen replied, still hugging Aldy's hand.
They walked out of the mall, climbed the pedestrian bridge to cross the highway. Until finally, they arrived at a food stall that served meatballs, ribs, and chicken noodles. What Aldy is after is the chicken noodle. For some reason, the taste of the chicken noodles suited Aldy's tongue, and he first tasted it when he was absent with Marsel when they were still in the first grade of Caius Ballad High School.
At that time, they were in a fight with another school in that location. And because the police suddenly arrived, Aldy and Marsel ran away from the police. They can manage to escape by buying chicken noodles at this place, as well as disguising themselves as a regular customer.
"Do you want chicken noodles or rib meatballs?"
Maureen sat right next to Aldy. "Up to you."
Ally smiled wryly. He should have known what answer Maureen would give him every time he asked that question.
"Two chicken noodles," Aldy said to the person who took their order. Although this food stall is relatively small, they also have employees who record customer orders. Aldy turned back to Maureen. "What about the drink?"
"Up to y--"
"Two iced tea," said Aldy quickly, cutting off Maureen's answer.
The employee who took their order nodded and walked straight to the kitchen. Or towards the sales cart.
Well, it makes no difference.
Their order came. Based on hunger and longing for the chicken noodles he ate in a tense state due to running away from the police during a massive fight, Aldy immediately ate it without hesitation.
"Aldy."
Aldy swallowed the chicken noodle in his mouth and then turned around. "Hmm?"
"That girl earlier was your friend?"
"Who?" Aldy asked back, but he immediately remembered the incident when he beat the person who recorded Maureen changing clothes. "Oh, Rania? I don't think so. I happen to know her. Why?"
"So she's not your friend? But why does she look at you like that?"
"What do you mean?"
Maureen shook her head in response to Aldy's question and chose to continue eating.
Maureen realized two things. First, that the woman named Rania, who helped them earlier, had an interest in Aldy. Maureen could tell thanks to her intuition as a woman too. The way Rania looked at Aldy was unmistakable. Rania must feel attracted to Aldy.
And the second thing Maureen realized was, Aldy was really insensitive to anything like that.
No one knows if Aldy has ever dated before, but from the way Aldy treats Maureen very sweetly, Maureen feels that Aldy is a very experienced person in this regard. Aldy knows how to treat a woman very well.
That signifies one thing.
Aldy is just a man who is insensitive to women's feelings for him.
But what makes Maureen feel uneasy is, does Aldy have the same feelings towards Rania?
Wait.
So what if Aldy also has the same feelings as Rania?
Maureen couldn't possibly forbid her brother to have a feeling towards a girl.
But why did Maureen feel uneasy about it?
Maureen also does not understand the feelings she is currently feeling.
"Why don't you eat it? Feeling full already?" asked Aldy, who had just finished his meal.
As if she had just woken up from her daydream, Maureen resumed her half-finished meal.
Aldy stood up and shifted to sit across from Maureen's desk, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and sandwiching one between his upper and lower lips.
With a lighter, he burned the tip of the nicotine stick and took a deep breath, blowing the pleasure smoke into the air, and put the lighter and pack of cigarettes on the table in front of him.
Maureen, who saw that, already knew beforehand that her brother did have a smoking habit. Actually, if possible, Maureen wants Aldy to get rid of his bad habit. However, she did not want to forbid him.
"Hey, hand over your cigarette, you bastard!" asked someone who came from nowhere. He immediately sat next to Aldy. Although Aldy had not given it to him, he immediately took Aldy's cigarette and lighter, which was on the table.
Aldy is still silent about the behavior of people who do not have such manners. And shortly after, about three more strangers sat at the same table as Aldy and Maureen.
They all wear sleeveless jeans jackets that show off the tattoos on their arms. In addition, four people took Aldy's cigarettes without permission.
Even without asking their identities, Aldy could already guess who these four people were.
Likely, they were thugs who controlled the area around here.
One of them sat right next to Maureen, who was still trying to finish her chicken noodle. "Hey, beautiful! What are you eating?"
Aldy was still silent. He exhaled the smoke from his breath. The person sitting next to Aldy put his elbow on Aldy's shoulder in an annoying manner. "Yo, little bastard, who is this beauty chick? Is this your girl? It's fine if we borrow her for a bit, right?"
Aldy was still silent.
What Aldy had in mind was, if one of them touched a strand of Maureen's hair, then he would make the four of them only have a single hair left on their bodies.
The person sitting next to Maureen raised her hand as if to hug Maureen from the side.
Stabbb!~ …
Even though Aldy was sitting across from Maureen, his hands were still able to reach the person. With a quick movement, Aldy grabbed the hand of the person who wanted to embrace Maureen, put it on the table and took the fork in Maureen's hand, and stuck it in the back of the person's hand.
"Aaaaaaakh! My hands!"
"Reen, close your eyes and ears." Said Aldy that was immediately abided by Maureen.
Aldy pulled out the fork and stabbed the person sitting next to him in the neck, the person who took Aldy's cigarette without his consent. Aldy deliberately didn't aim for his veins. But it seems that in the future, that person will find it difficult to speak.
Two people down, and two others stood up.
Each of them pulled a penknife from under the jeans they were wearing.
"Stay where you are, motherfucker! Or I'll kill your girl!" shouted one person who had now taken Maureen hostage. Another person who was also holding a penknife had already taken steps to attack Aldy.
Bamm!~ …
The table that was not far from the place of the chaos was knocked over by someone. "You're all noisy, you useless trash!"
All eyes were on the person who shouted. And when the two remaining thugs saw who was banging the table and shouting, cold sweat seemed to flow from their respective foreheads.
"B-b-b… Boss." said the thug who held Maureen hostage.
Boss?
Maureen, who had opened her eyes when she was being held hostage earlier, also looked at the person they called the 'boss'.
The man with fairly tall and bulky stature, with a fairly dark and intimidating aura, walked closer to them.
He stopped right in front of Aldy. Because of his height, Aldy had to look up to look back at him.
Everyone in the diner saw Aldy and the person who seemed to be the boss of the thugs looking at each other, their throats running dry.
The aura emitted by Aldy and the thug boss was too terrifying to behold.
Maureen's eyes had just filled with tears. The girl was scared. Not because of a penknife stuck to her neck, but because she saw Aldy, her brother, who seemed to be facing that scary person.
Aldy didn't show the slightest expression of fear, even though that person's body was one and a half times bigger than his.
But what happened next made everyone gasp.
It was as if their lower jaw was about to fall out of its joint.
Really had no idea what they were seeing.
A sight that was completely unimaginable before.
Slappp!~ …
A slap sounded. A slap that made people couldn't believe what was happening.
Because the slap came from Aldy's right palm which slapped the face of the person who seemed to be the boss of the thugs.
Yes.
Aldy slapped the thug boss's face while continuing to stare at him coldly.