It was getting late; Diga, who had just come home from school at half past six in the afternoon, went straight to his room because he was lazy to meet his brother.
"Come on. Diga, eat first," called the mother from downstairs, inviting Diga to have dinner together.
There was no answer from upstairs but only silence. Her mother, who was easily worried about the health of her last child, immediately went upstairs to check on Diga's health.
The sound of the bedroom door was heard, along with the mother calling her child's name.
"Come on, let's eat," said the mother as she opened the blanket that covered all of Diga's body.
"Not hungry, ma'am," answered Diga.
Mother immediately grabbed Diga's right hand, forcing her son to come downstairs because he had not shared the table with his father and brother in a long time.
Diga has been forced to wake up from his sleep, trying to muster the strength and strong ears to hear the taunts from his brother.
When Diga arrived at the dining table, it turned out that no one had scooped food just because they were waiting for him.
"It's been a while; I'm already hungry," said Pratama while playing with his cell phone.
Diga could only be silent hearing his words; he thought he had just arrived and was greeted with unpleasant words.
"Want chicken or fish?" asked mother as she took a spoon to give side dishes to Diga's plate.
"Haha. It's just big enough to eat it still," said Pratama.
Diga increasingly doesn't want to eat dinner, but he is willing to hurt his ears and heart because he respects his parents.
"Thank you, ma'am," said Diga when his mother put the chicken on her plate.
The sound of clinking spoons alternately entered each other's mouths, accompanied by annoyance in Diga's heart because he saw his brother's behavior.
"Yesterday, I trained soldiers to shoot the right way. Oh yes, I got greetings from Mr. Gatot; he said he had not seen each other for a long time, "said Pratama.
"Oh yes? Yes, Pak Gatot is the commander of the Bandung unit. Ah! I also haven't seen him for a long time," said the father.
The conversation between them felt very connected, very different from Diga, who didn't know anything about weapons, marching lines, or the like.
"This is Diga yesterday also finished camp, you know. It's cool that he can lie down in the mud," the mother said to make Diga speak.
"Halah, that's just how small it is," said Primary, accompanied by a mocking laugh.
Diga learned a lot from his brother, who always mocked him that reducing others does not make us big but makes us low in front of others.
After dinner, my mother asked Diga to bring a bowl of beef soup complete with stir-fried stir fry, fried chicken, and chili sauce to Kai's house.
"Here, you give it to Kai's house, okay? I haven't sent food to her house in a long time," said the mother, handing her two plastic bags filled with food.
* * *
"Assalamualaikum," said Diga in front of Kai's fence.
For a few minutes, there was no answer, so Diga had to be a little presumptuous to open Kai's door.
"Why didn't you come here to tell me," said Kai, who was surprised to see Diga's presence at his door when he was busy mopping the house.
"I'm very diligent," teased Diga.
After waiting for Kai to finish mopping, the food was finally in Kai's hands.
"It's from mother. Where are the people in your house? How come it's quiet," said Diga while looking inside.
"Go. My mother works in the complex next door when Raya says she works in groups. But until late at night, I haven't come home yet," Kai explained.
A few minutes later, when Kai had just said that he heard the door of his house open, Kai thought it was his mother but Raya with her pink sweater and jeans attached to her body.
"Where have you been? Why do group work even change clothes? Don't remember what time it is?" asked Kai curtly.
Raya did not heed his brother's words but went straight into his room.
"You see, right, Ga? What's his attitude like?" Kai said, annoyed.
* * *
"This is the filling form for each class for the event early next month," said Rio at the student council meeting held Monday afternoon.
Nanang, who was assigned to distribute the form paper then, was excited because he would meet other first-year students and spread charm.
"Great. You can be more flexible; you can spread the charm of your classmates," mocked Rama, who was sitting next to Nanang.
Nanang was silent and immediately stood up from his seat because the meeting was over. When he came out of the school hall, he saw Kai and Sherina sitting under a tree.
"Hi," Nanang said in a soft voice.
For a few seconds, they were both stunned by the sudden arrival of Nanang; a handsome man reprimanded them!
"Hello," said Sherina.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, this is Sis; I'm waiting for Mrs. Asni to ask for an autograph yesterday," explained Kai in a soft tone because in his heart, there was already a feeling of pleasure to see Nanang greet him.
"Oh, okay. First, yes," said Nanang.
Not long after Nanang left, the two of them, Mrs. Asni, walked into the corridor.
"Mom, I asked for her signature for your assignment," said Sherina, handing over the paper they both had made.
"Interesting. Of the several papers that other children have made, yours is the most interesting. What do you know about bullying at school?" asked Mrs. Asni.
"Some of the papers and news and journals that we read, ma'am, the percentage of bullying in schools is higher than on the streets. Some of them committed suicide just because their schoolmates ridiculed them, and some of them dropped out of school because they didn't want to socialize anymore after being ridiculed by their friends," explained Kai.
Mrs. Asni is a trendy Indonesian teacher with heavy assignments but not for Kai and Sherina; they enjoy every selection she gives because it allows them to read more deeply about the topic they will raise.
"Later, when you are finished, you can borrow the paper," said Mrs. Asni with a friendly smile.
Mrs. Asni is Kai's favorite teacher because she always speaks and teaches about humanity to her students. Several times he invited us to study outside to see how street children can survive and how they react to bullying or even dropping out of school.
Kai and Sherin said goodbye after kissing the back of Mrs. Asni's hand. As if there was a sense of relief in their chests because Mrs. Asni was very interested in her paper.