Until now, Petra only knew the name of the prince as Ken. Nothing less and nothing more. Steven never gave Ken's full name to Petra. And, Petra was too embarrassed to ask about it.
Prince Ken, at that time, looked at Petra with a face full of sweat and confusion. Prince Ken, was standing at the door of their house in Finelan.
Ken was tall and white, too white for the Finelan population who were mostly farmers. Ken, who was exhausted because he kept failing to find directions for the return road to the bus station Ken, got lost until finally arrived at the Finelan district farmer's housing.
Ken then saw the little girl as her helper goddess, Petra. Ken smiled at Petra at that.
"Hi, little girl ... can you help brother?" said Ken to Petra politely. Ken's sweat was running down, making his white shirt wet so that it sticks to his body.
"Yes...?" said Petra too confused to see a strange figure in front of him. Petra's left-hand holds a book of fairy tales entitled The Snow Prince and the Vegetable Girl.
Still not gone from Petra's head about the delusions resulting from reading the book of tales. About the Snow Prince who got lost from his entourage to the palace due to the ferocity of forest robbers who had no mercy killed all the prince's guards. Snow Prince then fled until he passed out in front of a vegetable farmer's house on the mountain slope quite far from the scene. The Snow Prince dressed all in white, covered in blood, lay helplessly until the vegetable farmer girl found him the next day.
"Where are the directions to the nearest bus station?" Ken asked again, snapping little Petra out of his imagination.
"That ... straight from here until the third T-junction then turn left. Fifty meters there is a bus stop that goes to the terminal." Petra explained haltingly.
"That means you have to take the bus again ... eh if you can borrow the money to get on the bus? Ken said carefully, obviously, Ken felt bad about asking strangers for money.
"Just a second," said Petra, the next second disappeared from behind the entrance to the house.
Not long after that Petra returned with some money to Ken, the stranger.
"Thank you. You're very kind. I promised to replace it when I got home. Now, in exchange, please ask for your home phone number so we can meet again." said Ken happily. Ken did not think that he would meet the goddess of help, Petra.
From that day on, both Petra and Ken saw each other frequently. Ken felt compelled to return the favor for Petra's kindness. Meanwhile, Petra was very happy to see her Snow Prince often.
They became close. Like a brother and sister relationship. Until one day the little brother, Petra, felt that an older brother who was not his real brother was just a man. And, Petra could feel that she liked her brother, her Snow Prince, Ken with fluttering feelings every time they met.
However, the distance between Finelan and Upenina is far from making the love story that has just begun to take root does not go as Petra hopes. Coupled with Ken who started boarding school. Until in the end, they never met again. Until the day of admission for new students at Metropol High School, Petra meets Stev as her senior in Social class, Ken's best friend.
-
"Looks like you can't follow the course schedule next week, right?" asked Lyon, busy with the laptop in front of him. Lyon sat with his back to Petra who was doing homework.
Friday is Petra's agenda to accompany Lyon to swim. The location is adjacent to the golf club building. And like yesterday, then drizzle in the rainy season made Lyon lazy to just move his feet towards the edge of the pool. Lyon even busied himself with his laptop. Ignoring the coach's call to warm up.
"Hmmm ... yes. That's right. Next week our class is holding a workshop to Upenina." Petra replied lazily.
"You don't look so excited?" annoyed Lyon without looking away from the monitor screen.
"Upenina ... what city?" said Petra reluctantly. For Petra, just hearing Upenina's words reminded her of Ken. A love story that ends before it even begins. Withered before bloom. Broken before sharpening.
"That's all ... full of hills and hills and man-made hills. All in white. There is a special tax for those who paint their houses other than white." Lyon explained. This time Lyon seriously looked at Petra who looked not at all enthusiastic about Lyon's explanation of the districts in Mestonia's sovereign territory.
"Boring isn't it. It's all determined," commented Petra who was stunned with books and pens behind Lyon.
"Right. Like myself. Everything is boring except games." I'm Lyon but very curious about Petra's reaction that seemed to have its own story with Upenina.
However, Lyon was too reluctant to find out about that.
"That's right. So that's the reason why you dragged me into this ridiculous game, right?" argued Petra was still writing.
"Maybe," Lyon replied slightly offended.
"Then ... wouldn't it be better if you chose one of your ex-hotel girls than this despicable me? That would be less boring, right?" said Petra suddenly stopping writing, this time Petra looked at Lyon
meaningfully. More precisely annoyed.
"They? Are you crazy? How many times have I said that it was all a diversion. The subject of my experiment was their cell phone only. Well ... their fault is taking what I did too seriously." joked Lyon, provoked by Petra's words and then felt annoyed by himself.
Of course, Lyon was annoyed that what Petra said was true. And the fact that he dragged Petra, a foreign girl from a different world from Lyon, was an unexpected mistake. But as a result, it ended for a long time, making Lyon's head dizzy. But to say what Lyon told Petra the truth is tantamount to suicide.
Lyon doesn't know anything about Petra, except that his surname is the mysterious Valeri.
"Is that right? Doesn't that mean that you are the fool?" said Petra, hissing softly. Deliberately slowing down the word 'stupid' so Lyon can't hear it.
"Whatever you say. One thing is certain, I already paid you. And your only duty is to obey what I command. Understand?" whispered Lyon glowering at Petra.
"Of course. But, I still do not accept the way you said that introduced me to your parents yesterday. That terrible incident is not one of my obligations, as long as you know. I will sue you." replied Petra in a whisper too.
"If that's the case, I'll keep your mouth shut by buying the rental house for you. What else do you want?" said Lyon who knows since when he has sat in front of Petra.
Lyon glared at Petra, observing Petra's expression after hearing what Lyon just said. And for some reason, there was a small part of Lyon's heart that was happy to see how Petra's face looked at him with a gaze.
-TBC-