'Who's a prankster? ' someone asked.
Briel was silent for a moment.
'Who's this? You haven't spoken since earlier, I thought you were mute,' said Briel.
'Hey!' the person shrieked.
Briel sighed. She already knew who she was talking to on the phone. She suddenly remembered that voice.
'It's me Erland! ' said the person.
Yes, he is Erland.
'How did Erland know my number?' Briel thought.
'Hello?' Erland spoke again.
'So, why? You're still bothering me! ' annoyed Briel.
'Oh my Gosh! Is your burden so great? ' annoyed Erland.
'Of course! Since getting to know you, then getting harsh treatment from you, even my hands got burned because of you, it's a burden in my life! ' annoyed Briel.
'What is this, Erland? What does all this mean? Did you molest Briel? Did you commit domestic violence? ' someone shouted from inside the phone.
Briel's body stiffened. What happened? thought Briel.
*** On the other hand, in Erland's office to be exact.
Erland quickly turned off the phone. He squeezed his phone tightly. He didn't expect that Briel would say all that just like that and all of that was heard by the person who was now beside him.
"Since when did you become such a rude man? How dare you molest a woman!" someone was furious.
"How can I be rude? This is a misunderstanding! Don't listen to her!" said Erland, denied.
Yes, that person is Erland's mother. Erland's mother came to the office to deliver lunch for Erland. Erland's mother also told Erland to contact Briel. Erland's mother told Erland to ask if Briel had lunch? This morning Briel didn't have breakfast and it was Erland's mother who gave Briel's contact to Erland. She also told Erland to speak by turning on the speaker on the phone.
"Then why is she talking like that?" asked Erland's mother.
"I don't know, obviously I've never been rude to her. Maybe she wants to play us against each other so that our relationship goes bad," Erland said.
"Don't be crazy, how did she know that Mommy was here?" said Erland's mother.
'Hum... What mom said is true. There was no way she would know Mommy was here. But, how could she speak like that? Her hand was injured because she dropped her hand into the hot soup,' thought Erland.
"If you don't want to confess, people at home might know what happened. Mommy will come home and ask them," said Erland's mother.
"Gosh, Mom. There is no domestic violence, I just accidentally grabbed her hand while on the dinner table, and her hand fell into the hot soup!" shouted Erland.
Erland's mother, who was just about to open the door and then turned around looked back at Erland.
"Why are you grabbed her hand?" asked Erland's mother.
"Yeah, that's fine. We just had a small fight, just a misunderstanding," said Erland.
"Then settle your problem with her, don't let the problem drag on. That's not good," Erland's mother said.
"Hmm..." Erland sat on his chair, he didn't say anything else.
"Tonight, you will have dinner at home right?" asked Erland's mother.
Erland frowned. Too lazy to have dinner with Briel, he thought.
"I'm busy," Erland said.
"Your mom came from Bandung on purpose, can't you postpone your work first? You already know that Mommy rarely comes here. Why don't you want to spend time with Mommy?" said Erland's mother.
"No, it's not like that. I'm busy, Moms," Erland said.
"Then it's useless for Mommy to come. This afternoon, Mommy will return to Bandung. I don't know what I did wrong in the past, so I have a child who doesn't respect his mother," said Erland's mother, showing a sad expression on her face.
'Gosh, too dramatized. I just can't have dinner at home, Mommy's always like that,' thought Erland.
"I'll try to finish my work faster, so I can have dinner at home," Erland said.
"Okay, Mommy is waiting at home," said Erland's mother and left Erland's working room.
Erland rose from his seat. He kicked his work chair. He clenched his fists which he had placed on his desk.
"That crazy woman, how dare she say all that in front of my mother. I will make her regret that she keeps getting into trouble with me!" growled Erland.
Erland smirked, suddenly an idea came to his mind.
'We'll see after I give you the warning, are you still going to cause trouble with me? ' thought Erland was annoyed.
*** Afternoon, on the other hand.
Briel arrived in front of Gerald's house. Yes, she came for the sake of taking the value. She pressed the bell near the railing, and soon a middle-aged woman came out from inside Gerald's residence.
"Good afternoon," said Briel as the woman opened the gate.
"Good afternoon too, who are you looking for?" she asked.
"I am a student of Mr. Gerald, is he home yet? I have an appointment with him," said Briel.
"Oh, is your name Gabriela?" she asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Briel, confused.
"Mr. Gerald is waiting for you, Miss. Please come in," the woman said.
"Oh okay." Briel followed the woman into Gerald's house.
"Mr. Gerald's working room is upstairs, the second door, on the right. I'll get you a drink first," the woman said and left Briel just like that.
Briel became doubtful, should she just go upstairs just like that? It was very awkward because it was the first time that Briel had come to her teacher's house.
Briel looked upstairs and seemed to have no choice.
'It's fine, just go. After all, just to get my grades. There's someone else here, he can't do anything to me,' thought Briel.
For some reason, Briel thought bad things about Gerald.
Arriving at the door described by the woman earlier, Briel knocked on the door.
"Gabriela!" said Gerald. Briel turned and saw Gerald approaching her.
"Why are you here?" asked Gerald.
Briel frowned.
"Wasn't it you who asked me to come here to took my grades?" asked Briel, confused.
"Oh, still want your grades, huh?" sneered Gerald.
Briel sighed.
"Of course, that's why I came here," said Briel.
"Hmm... So don't be late next time," said Gerald.
"I also don't want to be late, sir. But, what can I do if something unexpected happens on the road?" said Briel.
"Hmm... What happened this morning?" asked Gerald as he picked up Briel's painting.
"It's okay, just a minor accident," said Briel.
Gerald saw Briel. He was a little shocked to hear that Briel had an accident.
"Are you hurt?" asked Gerald.
"No, I'm fine. Just a small accident, ha-ha-ha..." Briel was surprised that Gerald believed what she said.
Gerald approached Briel, he gave the painting in his hand to Briel.
"Hem... It's good if you're not hurt," said Gerald with a smile.
Briel was silent, for the first time Briel saw Gerald smile. Smiling like that, made Gerald look unlike the Gerald that Briel knew when he was teaching painting.
"Why are you silent? Don't you want to see your grades?" asked Gerald.
"Hmm..."
Briel averted her gaze. Briel's heart was beating fast, she just realized one thing, that Gerald was so handsome even though he was currently wearing casual clothes. What's more, Gerald's hair flowing freely is not like when he was teaching painting, which looked neat using hair gel. It made Gerald look even cuter and less scary in Briel's eyes.
"Thank you, sir. I'll excuse myself," said Briel and hurried away from Gerald.
"Um, Briel!" said Gerald, making Briel stop in her tracks. Gerald called her Briel. It was unusual.
"Yes?" said Briel.
"Sorry if I've been too hard on you. Honestly, I just don't like undisciplined people, but that doesn't mean I hate you. On the contrary, I like you," said Gerald with a smile.
Briel was flabbergasted. Her face reddened at what Gerald said. Saying nothing else, Briel hurried away, leaving Gerald.
'My chest is shaking. He's too honest, I don't know what to do?' Briel thought uneasily in the middle of her stride.
Meanwhile, Gerald, who saw Briel's expression, became confused. He doesn't know what happened to Briel.
Briel entered her car, and she sighed slowly. Gerald's words kept ringing in her ears.
'Huh, what did he say? He said it all so effortlessly, whereas so far no one has dared to say likes me,' murmured Briel, still in shock.
Briel's mobile phone rings, Erland's contact is seen calling her.
'Why?' asked Briel.
'Hmm... Where are you?' Erland asked.
'Wherever I am, it's none of your business,' said Briel, nonchalant.
'I ask nicely, why are you angry? Did you do something unreasonable? ' said Erland.
'What do you mean? ' asked Briel, not understanding.
'Yeah, maybe cheating on me,' said Erland.
Briel ends the call.
'What did he say? Why does he think I'm cheating on him? ' mumbled Briel.
A message came into Briel's mobile phone. The message was from Erland.
'Go home now, or I'll tell your parents that you secretly went to a man's house!'
Briel was flabbergasted, she looked around her.
'Is he following me?' Briel thought in shock and hurriedly started the car engine. After that, she left the Gerald residence area.