"Your grandfather just wants you to rest, don't get angry at him," Andos patted his back, a genuine smile on his face, which truthfully looked odd on his usually quite scary face, "For God's sake, it's two in the morning, Hendra. You may go there after you rest, that's what your grandfather wanted to say."
Calmed by Andos' more appreciated words, Hendra complied.
He forced himself to walk back to his bedroom in the main house. Letting go of the chance to meet the one he wanted to embrace as long as the earth rotated on its axis. He was like the salt water who would never let go of the floating rock in this universe. Hendra wanted to be the sea who always embraced the rock and made it habitable for humans. That was what he thought when he studied their wedding invitation Aruna designed. It ended up to be a wedding concept they wanted, the Blue Oceans party.
No one knew why he was that enraged when Damar crashed their wedding and drunkenly shouted, "When I have a chance to marry the one with the rosy hue, I would never let her be frozen cold in the deep blue sea. I will be her warmth!"
Seriously?!
For Hendra, he was the sea to the earth. The water to every creature. The blue that made earth a beautiful little dot if viewed from space.
Hendra could be a romantic poet in his own way. Not many people would understand that, because he himself couldn't convey every word he felt. The blue eyed one was a man hurt by the past who then fell madly in love with a bright tiny girl named Aruna.
That was how he saw their relationship at that time.
.
"I become more curious as to where you were lately," the man who gave him a lot of advice before his divorce trial, asked him, making Hendra halt on the stairs leading to his bedroom on the second floor.
He turned back and gave Andos a smile, "My wife gave me a chance, she wants us to live together."
Without saying anything else, Andos smirked, so smug on his stern face. Then, he left. Leaving out the thing he actually wanted to say to Hendra. It might be better Hendra didn't know that Andos was tasked by his grandfather to gather information about his whereabouts lately.
He wanted to support Hendra and Aruna, wishing that they would make peace and get through this together. For once, he would let the elder chief who trusted him to be in the dark and fester in his curiosity.
***
Once he got to his bedroom, Hendra called his wife's phone. Sadly, it went unanswered.
He called his bodyguard, Hery, then. Over the phone, Hery said that his wife and her family were still waiting in front of Aliana's delivery room. With that knowledge, Hendra finally fell asleep on his bed.
Hours later, he woke up feeling quite warm. It was late morning, too late for his liking. He hurried to the bathroom and took a shower, fixing himself with a clean suit and got out. He drove his car in a rush, impatient to finally meet Aruna who already messaged him hours ago.
[Aliana's baby has been born. So cute. Don't you want to meet him?]
She also sent a picture of the baby, sleeping in the hospital crib. So tiny and definitely cute.
Hendra wanted to be there right that instant.
Even Nana could stop him from leaving before, when he was rushing out of the main house's door. She was pretty upset, saying, "Yesterday you suddenly left. Now, you are running out. Where are you going?"
Hendra merely paid her a glance before walking away.
"Hen …" she called, trying to catch up with his long stride, "I already rescheduled the meeting you canceled yesterday for now."
He was opening his car's door then, "Reschedule it for tomorrow or ask Surya to cover me. I can't promise I'll go to the office today."
And he slammed the door shut. Bringing his car to life, he drove away, leaving Nana who stared at his speeding car.
How was their past, actually?
.
.
No one actually knew why Nana had such a strong drive to be back in Hendra's life. Except those who knew of their past.
Hadyan, she called him. He was the boy who clinged on Nana and made her the most precious girl in his little world. She was his best friend, as well as his only girlfriend back then.
Have you ever seen a little lonely kid who could not make friends?
That was Hendra. To solve that, his grandfather brought Nana who always clenched on her doll to be his friend.
.
On the day Hendra didn't want a toy anymore, Wiryo became so worried. That time, Hendra was only a curious kid who suffered enough that he asked both his mommy and grandfather to buy him a dad. He couldn't understand why he didn't have a dad, even deemed it normal to ask them to buy one. That made his mother fall into a deeper depression. She lost her will to life, gradually changed into a woman who breathed but not living, void of all expressions.
After that, Hendra never asked for anything. That was why his grandfather then brought Nana in to be his friend and cheer on the lonely sad little boy. Obviously, that made her to be more precious in Hendra's eyes.
Once Hendra took a liking to someone, he would do anything to keep them safe and spoil them.
For anyone who was tangled with Hendra's life, that would be hard to forget. Tania, for example, was allowed to buy anything she could possibly want. Or Aruna, the one he loved endlessly. Nana, too, had been treated like that.
When they were a kid, Hendra never let Nana go away from him. Unallowed to go back to the yellow house, he would trick or ask for the driver who came to pick Nana up to let her stay in the main house with him. Just like now.
They attended the same school, then grew together. They grew closer when Hendra received treatment from a team of psychiatrists once they entered junior high. Nana also helped him to socialize in a new foreign place. She was twelve while Hendra was ten, however, they were studying in the same class.
Their first year went on smoothly with no problem whatsoever. Hendra was clinging to Nana to make friends. In turn, Nana was like a princess from some fairy tales, treated in that special way by him.
In their second year, the signs of entering a teenage year started to show. Hendra wished for her to never change. While Nana, born beautiful and were already being treated like a princess by him, wondered and became curious to the opposite sex, not limited to Hendra alone.
In their third year, Nana became more curious about other boys and finally dated one of them. Hendra felt left out, ignored. He couldn't accept that. They fought several times and drifted apart. Until one day, Nana cried and ran to him. She said her boyfriend had hurt her. She was crying and even refused to eat for days. It got worse to the point that Nana forgot who she was talking to. She forgot about what kind of person Hendra was.
And Hendra, a boy suffering PTSD and being forced to grow under his grandfather's heavy and manic control, could not accept knowing that someone had treated his precious person like that. He lashed out.