Indah and I went to each of our own homes safe and sound, and the rest of the day ended uneventfully. Then the next morning came, marking the start of the culture festival's day 2. However, the only plan I had for school was to help tidy things up at the end of the festival. Another thing I had to do would be to check on Shakira.
When I said that to Indah on our way home, she said, "Y'know, I won't tell you not to go, but I think it's a bad Idea."
"Why?" I asked.
I had a hunch that it would probably be related to the cultural notion of the relationship between me as a boy and Shakira as a girl, but it was best to ask. Perhaps there was another reason.
"You did see the video, right?" She asked. I silenced myself and glanced away from her as a sign of guilt. Indah picked that up as a yes and continued, "Her parents may have some ideas and chase you away."
Turned out that what she thought lined up with my hunch. So I said to her, "That may be the case if I'm going alone. So I'm inviting you to come with me."
"I already planned to come over to her place again anyway. With Sasa. But I doubt it'll provide you any help by coming with us."
"Worrying about it won't get me anywhere. I can just go to school if they don't let me in."
"I'd die on the spot out of shame if I were you."
"You're not me."
"I don't want to be you either."
And so it went. We planned to go to Shakira's place in the afternoon, so I decided to spend my Sunday morning as I usually would.
I went towards the dining room to get my normal Sunday breakfast with my parents, and mom would ask me various questions to cheer up the breakfast, as usual.
She asked how the school festival went by yesterday, whether there was a problem or not, and whether I hugged a girl or not. Normal questions.
… One moment, please.
"Come again?" I asked, still in disbelief whether she shot me that last question for real or not.
"Someone told me they saw you hugging a girl in a secluded part of the school."
Upon hearing such an otherworldly prompt, my father, who was listening quietly while enjoying his breakfast, raised his head with haste. He was in disbelief more than I was and shot a chilling glare at me, rendering me paralyzed.
In a panic, I said to my mom as my palpitation got heavier, "I swear to god, that didn't happen at all."
Hearing my answer didn't erase the teasing smile she put on a while ago. To my answer, my mom only responded with "Hmmm~ I see~"
I started racking my brain, thinking of whoever might say such false information to her. It was such an unfortunate thing that I couldn't come up with an answer. My mom wasn't part of the school board and hardly ever interacted with anyone from my school. Thus, I concluded that the best way to get the answer would be to ask her directly.
"Who told you that?"
"Informant's anonymity is secured." Mom said as she put her index finger in front of her lips.
"But that's a hoax. It didn't happen." I rebutted.
My mother's grin widened even more, and she said, "Uril, why are you so agitated by that? I wonder if you did it~"
Of course, she already knew why I panicked, yet she kept on teasing me.
And then, following up with the conversation, my father said his peace of mind. "I know that you're of that age, Uril, but stay focused on your study. Romance comes later in life. Remember, success comes to the patient."
"Yeah, Dad, I know. Thanks." I said to him. He rarely opened his mouth, but when he did, he would always put some zen in it.
"You're no fun, dear." My mom said with a childish frown as her teasing ended.
For real, though. How did they end up together, anyway? I had heard of their story when I was a child, but it still baffled me how such a couple could exist. Not that I mind. I mean, how am I supposed to exist if they didn't get together?
I proceeded to finish my breakfast in a gist, and once I was done, I left the dining room and returned to my room to get ready.
****
On a bench protected by the shade of a mango tree that was yet to bear fruit, I kept on staring at my wristwatch as the clock was nearing 10:50 A.M.
The park I was sitting in was located at the end of the road that leads to Shakira's house. Indah, Sasa, and I had agreed to meet here at 11 before visiting her, and I was the first to arrive.
Despite the culture of coming late being a common thing in Jakarta, I was able to uphold my punctuality. There was a backstory for that. One time, when I was a middle schooler, my friends from my elementary school wanted to hold a yearly gathering. So we decided the time and place for it, and on D-day, I went. I arrived right at the designated time, yet I saw no one. I waited there for 30 minutes, and no one said anything whether they were coming or not. Thus, I concluded that the plan was canceled, so I went back home dejected. Later that day, I learned that they all gathered 1 hour after the planned time.
Such an event frustrated me so much. Since then, I swore to never come late. Not only that it would honor and respect the other person you have a plan with, but it would also keep things in order if people stick with their goals. Coming late would also add some level of uncertainty, which would be something non-ideal.
Later on, as I got in touch with the World Wide Web, I learned some people had a similar event occur to them and it turned them into another person who would always come up late. However, in my view, such a change was an illogical thing to happen.
Well, not that I was always punctual, but if I were to be late, I'd try to inform the other party and try to make up for it. At the very least, I'd apologize.
As such, if I were to find Indah or Sasa were any later than 10 minutes from the agreed schedule, I'd refrain from making further plans with them. However, such a thought could be dismissed, as I saw Indah and Sasa get off from the incoming angkot.
Both of them could spot me at ease and approached me. While brushing off the sweat on her forehead, Indah said, "Sheesh. It was a bad idea to meet up at noon. I'm melting."
"It's not Jakarta if it's not hot." I remarked.
"Jakarta also has floods."
"Okay, except for the rainy season. But it'd be harder to meet up if it were raining."
"Sorry to make you wait, Uril." Sasa chimed in.
"Nah, no problem. I was only here for a few minutes." I said as I looked at my wristwatch, and the clock pointed at 10:56.
I stood up from the park bench and grabbed a goodie bag on my side. "Shall we go, then?"
Instead of answering, Indah and Sasa stared at my goodie bag, like it was an unidentified object. "What's that?"
"I bought some fruits as a gift." I said as I lifted the bag so that they could see what was inside.
Indah and Sasa chuckled as soon as they knew the contents. "You're trying to impress her parents or what?"
"It's just a polite gesture."
The three of us started walking down the street toward Shakira's house. On both sides, there were single-floor or two-floored houses with seemingly random designs lined up. These were the typical housing in Jakarta. Quite different from my area where the houses were pretty much similar.
"Can't see you as the polite type of guy, Uril." Indah commented as her bright lips formed an upside-down arc.
I found it funny that she found it funny for a person to be nice. "How do you see me, exactly? And I'm not the only one with a gift here."
"These are snacks." Sasa said with an expression similar to Indah's as she showed the bag in her hand.
"Same as I."
"Fruits are healthier."
Both Indah and Sasa laughed after hearing what I said, despite me not trying to be comic. Perhaps I had the talent to be one.
"Really, Uril? You sound like an old man."
"How do you even correlate fruits with old man..." I said with a stupefied face.
Before long, Indah stopped walking in front of a house with a blue, 1.5-meter-high wall on the left side. The width of the house itself was somewhere around 5 meters, and on the direct other side of the wall, there were small pots of various plants on the ground. Since the wall wasn't high enough to block my viewpoint, I could immediately see a door and windows on its left. Right below the window, on the porch, was a small cupboard and two porch seats.
"Here we are." Indah said as she reached for the gate's lock.
Since there was no doorbell to be found, she banged the lock with the gate's metallic frame, trying to inform the people inside the house of our presence.
Following her rough handling of the gate, Indah shouted, "Shakiraaaa!!"
Not a minute had passed after Indah shouted at the home that one of the people inside peeked outside through the door. The lady, with time as her make-up, scanned the faces of her guests. Upon spotting Indah, her face shone brightly in a flick of a power outlet and went outside to open the gate.
"Welcome back, Indah!"
"Good afternoon, ma'am." Indah reciprocated her smile and took the aged hand of the lady and kissed it. Sasa and I followed suit.
The lady stared at me for a while, as if I was a stranger.
Wait. I really was a stranger to her. A friend of a friend doesn't always mean a friend.
"And you are?"
"I'm Uril, ma'am. Nice to meet you." I answered. It was baffling that Sasa didn't get asked.
"He's my friend, ma'am." Indah added a small bit of info for her to accept me.
This situation would be the perfect opportunity to give a better impression of my presence, so I handed over my goodie bag to her. "Um, if you don't mind, I brought some things..."
She sure was surprised by my gesture, but it didn't hold her back to give me a polite smile. "Oh, poor youngster. No need to trouble yourself with this."
"No, not at all, ma'am."
We walked a couple of steps from the gate toward the door. I was still unsure of the identity of the lady, but I hesitated to ask her myself. I whispered in Indah's ear, "Who is she?"
"Shakira's mom."
"Please, come in." The lady said as she gestured her hand toward the door.
Indah and Sasa went in as they bowed, and I followed from behind. However, before I could migrate to the other side, Shakira's mom pressed her hand against my body, not letting me get in.
As I stepped away from the door, she stretched out her hand toward the seat on the porch and said, "Wait over there."