"Hello boss." Billy greeted Gabby when he ran into her. Without waiting for the girl's answer, Billy walked away.
Michael closed his eyes, sat on the floor and leaned his back against the wall. The boy slowly bent his legs and buried his face on his knees. His body shook violently, like a puppy that had lost its home.
Gabby watched from a distance then walked up to him cautiously. She squatted in front of Michael and patted the man on the back.
"Michael what's wrong with you?" Gabby's voice trembled, "If you have a problem, you can share it with me."
Hearing Gabby's voice made Michael lower his head even more. His body shook again, "I'm fine. Just leave me alone."
Gabby exhaled, sat down next to the man and then took Michael's hand. She stroked Michael's hand with her thumb, hoping to comfort her friend.
Ten or maybe twenty minutes later Michael finally looked up. His face was wet with tears, his eyes were red like rabbits. The boy let out a heavy breath and then dared to look at the girl next to him.
Michael's eyes felt heavy from crying too long, plus Gabby's warm hands made him want to sleep. He saw Gabby's eyes closed, seemingly overslept from earlier.
Even though Gabby didn't do anything, Michael felt comfortable. Nobody could make him feel like this before. The young boy blinked his eyes, still not taking his gaze off Gabby.
Suddenly, Gabby's head fell on Michael's shoulders. The boy smiled a little then tugged gently on Gabby's hand. Michael slowly put Gabby's head on his lap.
Michael slowly lowered his head, watching Gabby's sleeping face. Her mouth was slightly open which made Michael push her chin gently to close her mouth. However, her mouth opened again not long after that. The boy then tried to hold back a laugh.
Michael shuffled Gabby's head slowly, trying not to wake her up. He quickly straightened his leg so as to not feel numb. After the man felt the two of them were in a comfortable position, Michael let out a relieved sigh.
From time to time, the laughter of several students could be heard from afar. But the school's backyard remained quiet, very quiet, as if they were in their own world.
-
It didn't take long for Gabby to wake up, eyes wide in shock as she realized that her head was at Michael's lap. The girl studied Michael's sleeping face, her head bent slightly toward him. Gabby refrained from counting Michael's lashes.
'He looks like an angel when he sleeps.' Gabby muttered to herself.
The girl then blinked a few times then sat down slowly. It didn't take long before she heard a deep voice behind her, "Clean your face first in the toilet."
Gabby turned quickly to find Michael rubbing his eyes. The girl stroked her nape, "Ah, my neck hurts."
Michael opened his eyes, seeing Gabby in his sight. He then raised his hand and stroked the back of the girl's neck, "I'm sorry."
Gabby let him rub her neck and then shook her head. She glanced at him, "Michael, are you okay?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you. You made me feel better." Michael's hand continued to rub the girl's nape.
"What?" Gabby hit the boy's leg lightly, "But why do you look sad today?"
Michael's hand paused then lowered his hand. He looked at his lap then shook his head, "Nothing. I'm fine, really."
Seeing the change in Michael's expression made Gabby sit next to him and then opened her arms wide. Gabby hugged him tightly, "Don't be sad." She said as she stroked Michael's back, "I'll protect you."
Gabby moved her body a little and then put Michael's chin on her shoulder. The girl turned her head a little and then whispered in Michael's ear, "Nothing can hurt you. I am here."
Michael's heart skipped a beat when he heard Gabby's words. He inhaled her soothing scent that reminded him of spring, calming his mind. Michael continued to sniff her perfume while closing his eyes.
Gabby kept hugging Michael tightly, making the boy smile. Michael then hugged Gabby tightly back. After a while, Michael let go of his arms slowly.
"Thank you." Michael whispered.
"Hmm, I'm a good future wife, right?" Gabby teased, poking Michael's cheek.
Michael chuckled and nodded his head.
-
Since that incident, Billy and his friends did not dare to approach Michael. If they accidentally bumped into Michael, they preferred to turn around and choose another path.
But Gabby still held a grudge towards the Black Snakes gang. One day, Gabby saw Billy walking down the school corridor. She quickly went up to him and kicked the boy's leg.
Since Michael's parents' arrival in Bandung, Agnes had always been looking for opportunities to meet them. But Michael's parents always left early and came home late.
This caused them to find it difficult to meet. Not long after, Agnes was told by Adam that Michael's parents had returned to America.
-
When Michael came home from school, he saw a credit card on the dining table. Just looking at it made the man know that his parents had returned to America.
'Leaving without saying goodbye, huh?' Michael thought.
"Young master," Adam's voice came from behind him, "That's madam's credit card. Your parents leave a message that they have important business so they must immediately return to America."
"Oh." Michael replied briefly.
Adam watched Michael's back then continued, "And they reminded the young master to practice piano even more diligently. Next time they will come back and see the young master's progress."
"Okay." Michael took the credit card and went up to his room.
Every time Mark and Brenda left Michael, the boy would look gloomy. Even though Michael was not close to his parents, for some reason he always felt alone whenever his parents left him.
When Michael arrived in the room, he stepped towards the window. Suddenly, Gabby's cheerful voice sounded from behind him, "Michael! Let's study together!"
Michael turned around and without realizing, a smile crossed his face when he saw Gabby.
-
"Ouch, I can go crazy." Gabby whined in the backyard.
Today, their class had a math exam with the logarithmic chapter. Unlike Michael who liked numbers and formulas, Gabby really hated math. Sometimes during maths, the girl would look up at the classroom's ceiling.
Since Gabby didn't like math, she couldn't even do standard multiplication. Once, the girl was called by the teacher to the front of the class to do math problems. Instead of trying to get it right, Gabby chose to draw a sad face on the board.
"That's why you have to study better." Michael scolded her.
Michael was helping Gabby memorize formulas on the fly over lunch, "Here you eat." The boy gave Gabby fried chicken.
"My husband is very kind!" Gabby teased, nudging Michael's arm.
Gabby spent the entire breaktime teasing Michael and not studying. When they had to go back to the girl's class, she patted her forehead, "Hey, how come I'm not studying!" Then she gently pushed Michael's shoulder, "You weren't teaching me and only gave me food!"
"What? You're the one who didn't want to study." Michael said.
Arriving in class, Gabby could feel the tense aura of her classmates. Some of her friends' faces were filled with anxiety and worry, as if today was their last day on earth.
"Oh really, I can go crazy." Gabby muttered as she watched her math teacher enter the classroom.
The female teacher put her book on the table, adjusted her glasses and then folded her hands in front of her chest, "Are you ready?"
As the class didn't give her any answer, the teacher continued, "The test is different this time. I will call you one by one to come forward and work on the problems on the board."
There were several voices of students protesting but the teacher ignored them. The teacher's eyes circled the classroom then stopped at Gabby. With difficulty, the girl swallowed her saliva.
"You there. Come forward." The teacher pointed at Gabby.
Gabby pretended not to understand what the teacher meant and nudged Michael, "You are being called!"
"Gabby!" The teacher put her hand on the table, "I call you! Now come over here and do the problems on the board."
Not daring to fight the teacher, Gabby finally dragged her feet to the front of the class. With a racing heart, Gabby wrote the questions her teacher had read.
When she finished writing the problem, Gabby felt that her head was going to split. The girl pretended to think hard. As her teacher called to another classmate, Gabby looked back.
Gabby pointed to the problem she had written and looked at Michael. Not long after that, the boy held up the paper with the answer. Gabby narrowed her eyes trying to see but it was in vain.
'Your writing is too small!' Gabby muttered to herself.
Feeling hopeless, Gabby snorted exasperatedly then turned back to the whiteboard. She thought for a moment then wrote ten question marks on the board. The girl put her marker on the teacher's desk, "I'm done ma'am."
Michael's eyes widened in shock when he saw what Gabby had written on the board.