Mahendra was driving Surya's car. His gentle smile was painted on his bright face as his wife's finger fumbled with the music button, raising up the volume as it played a song which commemorated their memories.
Just The Way You Are, Bruno Mars, was everything Aruna had in Hendra's eyes. "You're not going to sing me again?" She teased him.
Hendra tapped his hands in between directing the car they were riding in, "I am self conscious. Singing a song for you doesn't make you feel touched, but you'll laugh," he realized.
"I like–"
"To laugh at me? Yes, you are," he turned back to his wife.
"I like all of them," Aruna stated.
"All of them? What do you mean?" He who used the left brain actually understood what she meant. Yet, he lacked the confidence. Sometimes, he was still the man who became the main character of a tale called 'A Man Who Fell in Love Alone'.
"Everything. I like everything about a man named Hendra. Except–"
"'Except' is not a part of everything," he cut in, glancing at Aruna who smiled as she looked at the city streets, "If there is exception, that is 'some' instead of 'everything'," people who never or rarely communicate with Hendra would surely thought this man was selfish, arrogant, and just want to win over everything. Well, sometimes such thoughts were inevitable.
However, for those who could strike a conversation with Hendra, they would know that defending his arguments was his hobby. That was how he put their words together. A little annoying, that was for sure. Because it was often they could understand how their opposite felt when talking with them.
"Okay, I like some of you. If you can open up to me a little more ... about the things you hide. I will love you completely," Aruna's sentence ignited the man beside him to string the right words.
"I never hide anything from you. You've often seen me without clothes on. All of my being is yours," Hendra was proud to be able to chime in on Aruna's sentence.
"Then what is this?" and the girl held a rectangular piece of paper with a bitter expression on her face.
Hendra snatched the paper, scrutinizing it, "Where did you get it from?" he said then, placing it on the dashboard. It was his company's third anniversary invitation.
Aruna turned her face to the left, hiding her disappointment, "Dea took off Mr. Surya's suit jacket, and it fell from its pocket."
"Do you want to come? I'd like it if you do," Hendra did not open it. He merely observed the invitation's cover.
"You want me to bless you?" she posed the question, perplexed at his audacity.
"Oh, I have no other choice. Being a president director is my destiny," Mahendra replied.
"So she will accompany you in the front, while I will be hiding as your mistress?"
Hendra tried to understand the meaning behind Aruna's words. Abruptly, he swerved the car, directing it to the left and pulling over to stop there for a while.
"Who wants to make you a mistress? You are my only wife," Hendra's voice trembled slightly. The expression that now marked Aruna's face was the one he was terrified of. It was similar to a puzzle consisting of a series of codes that were difficult to solve.
"What about Nana, then? That secretary of yourse can't possibly be a mistress. Your union will be approved by the entirety of the Wenceslas Group, won't it?" Aruna no longer looked out to the window on her left. Instead, she was looking down on her intertwined fingers.
It felt like a torture.
"All this time, I was never allowed to know about the world you work in, only hidden in the main house, and now hidden in your mansion. Don't I have a proper capacity as your companion out there?" She opened the invitation and read it carefully.
Hendra tried to reach out to Aruna's hair to calm her down, soothing her burned and hurting heart. Then again, she avoided him, signaling that she didn't want to be touched.
"It's my fault, I've been unresponsive because I'm too busy," Hendra made a statement, hoping to be understood.
"It's an invitation, not a simple omission," Aruna looked away again.
"I'll take care of this, believe me … my engagement with Nana will never happen," it seemed Hendra had yet to manage melting his wife's frozen heart.
The car was running again. The driver snatched the invitation again. Now squeezing it behind the way he held the steering wheel and occasionally peeking at his wife's face, which was consistently silent.
"I'm going straight to my grandfather. Sorry, if I come home a bit late. Today I have a scheduled dinner with my family. I'll make sure the engagement won't happen," Hendra got out of the car, talking while following his wife who was walking fast ahead of him.
They entered the mansion. But Aruna didn't want to look at him, she just kept walking and opened the bedroom door. Hendra followed her steps. Alas, before he could enter, she closed the door on his face.
The blue eyed man knockd and tried to move the door handle. Too bad, it was totally locked.
_She's Angry_
His grumble showed the sensitivity of this blue-eyed man. There was a sigh that could be heard from Mahendra's mouth as he knocked on the door with a light rhythm, trying to placate her.
"Babe … open the door. Don't you want to say goodbye to me?" Hendra was still trying.
Aruna's anger was rare. But once she raged in silence, she was very capable of breaking some heart.
"Babe … I'm leaving... Okay?"
No answer.
"Herry will come to take care of you. Don't wait for me, and sleep well."
Unbeknown to him, she was curling up behind the door, crying. Aruna made the wrong interpretation. She thought she was not worthy to be Mahendra's companion. Hence, she was hidden and had no need to learn about anything.
"I love you … you are the most important, I will fix this," his rhythmic knocking on the door disappeared. Seemed that Hendra had left.
Leaving Aruna who walked over to the dressing table and sat in front of the mirror. She wiped her tears away, then opened the nightstand drawers. Taking out lipstick, foundation, powder and other make-up equipment, she tried to put on a make up. A rare case for her.
It seemed that doing new things was really not an easy feat. Watching yet another tutorial over and over again, she removed her current makeup and tried once more. Too bad the result was just the same. It didn't make her look more beautiful than her normal appearance. Giving up, she threw her eyebrow pencil over the stack of make-up kits carelessly.
She was silent for a long while before she grabbed her phone, looking at the photos of Hendra and herself. Photos of the nights they spent together. Her lit up touchscreen depicted a blue-eyed man and herself, wrapped in a thick white duvet with Lily flower pattern.
Hendra hid his face in her neck, showing one bright blue eye glancing at the camera, while Aruna herself showed an amused smile due to her husband's behavior.
_I can't be like this anymore_
And she was removing her messy make-up.
_Interning at Hendra's office. Ah, that's right_
Aruna covered the lipstick and the scattering make up kits. The brown-eyed young woman slowly placed them back to their respective places. She shouldn't make that to be her target of anger, even cursing the innocent inanimate objects.
_I have to stand out in that place, I'll grab Hendra's attention. Watch me!_
Aruna built her own confidence.
_But I can't put on a decent make up! Ugh!_
Aruna had finished cleaning the dressing table. Didn't know what happened, but her whole body seemed to moved on its own accords, heading to the wardrobe and opening it wide
_The clothes are too ordinary!_
She scolded herself. Then she remembered her wardrobe in the closet of Wenceslas's main house.
_That's how my clothes suppose to be when I intern at the Wenceslas Group_
Unbeknown to her, some of her clothes were already lost, taken away by Nana.
Exhausted, she sat on the bed, thinking about what needed to be done as soon as possible.
_Remember! You are Mahendra's wife! You are a Lady! The Young Lady!_
Again, firing up herself.
_The Young Lady of the Wenceslas. What can you do so that your husband is not taken by another woman?_
This self-questioning practice suddenly tickled her own stomach. Aruna laughed to herself, forgetting her anger. Now that she had opened a new perspective, she had to change her mission.
.
.