"Chicken Sempol-!"
From the chicken sempol cart motorbike, the sound of an advertising jingle was heard. The motorbike was driven by a tall and muscular man with a macho, dashing Caucasian face profile. He was Ricardo Elmer, the only grandson of Gordon Elmer, a prominent billionaire from Los Angeles who lives in Jakarta.
"Chicken Sempol!" the advertising jingle continued to be heard from the motorbike, "Chicken Sempol, Kang Duda! Healthy, nutritious, delicious, cheap!"
Why did Gordon's grandson sell the chicken sempol? The man had been good at business since he was a teenager and liked to disguise himself as an ordinary person by becoming a traveling salesman. When he became CEO of Elmer Group, his grandfather's company, the habit remained, and by trading around, he could oversee the company's business units.
Ricardo slowed down his motorbike when he saw Matt, an assistant, standing in front of the gate of the Edelweiss 2 cluster, one of the property business units of Elmer Group in the Indonesian region. The assistant had seen the boss coming, slowly walked to greet him and when he approached, quickly, jumped onto the iron step behind the cart.
The boss just smiled, still driving the motorbike into the cluster gate and parking next to the security post. Then he turned off the motorbike engine, got off the iron horse, and went straight to the cart. Matt was already waiting there.
Not long after, Pras and four of Ricardo's aides arrived. Pras is the marketing manager of the Edelweis 2 cluster, indeed waiting for the boss who wants to inspect. While the aides came with Matt in the aide's car.
Meanwhile, Ricardo and Matt were arranging the merchandise on the cart table.
"Finally Kang Duda has come-!" Pras acted as if he was waiting for the snacks to be bought. That was the code of ethics set by Ricardo if he inspected in this way. "Kang, I'll order ten skewers of sempol, okay?"
"Okay, Mas Pras-!" Ricardo replied in the style of a street vendor. He took ten skewers of chicken sempol from the display cabinet and then gave them to Matt who was next to him. "Fry the sempol, Matt." The assistant asked him to fry the sempol.
"Okay, Kang!" Matt took all the sempol from the boss's hand, then with his other hand took a chicken egg from the drawer under the display case, cracked the egg shell put it into a large stainless steel glass, then beat it with a hand mixer, then put the sempol in there.
Ricardo brought Pras in front of the motorbike, then he sat on the motorbike saddle while taking out a pack of cigarettes and a gas lighter from the front right pocket of his jeans. He lit the cigarette for a moment. Pras remained standing, waiting patiently for this big boss.
After the cigarette was lit, Ricardo's eyes scanned each of the sixteen houses in the cluster.
Then, an online taxi entered the cluster area and stopped right in front of the front yard of the luxurious cluster house, then Wyne and Bella, the woman's daughter, got off. The taxi driver dropped off the travel bag and some of the mother and daughter's belongings.
Ricardo saw all this and observed Wyne who was beautiful and dressed simply. His heart felt a little bit touched at this moment so he kept looking at the woman who was paying the taxi fare.
Meanwhile, Bella was by Wyne's side, looking at the chicken sempol cart and her nose began to smell the aroma of the snack that Matt was frying. Her tiny hand that was holding her mother's arm immediately shook the arm.
"Mami!" she called out to Wyne who let the taxi driver leave them, "Mami!"
Wyne turned his eyes to Bella, "Yes, sweetie?"
Bella pointed the index finger of her other hand towards the sempol cart.
"That's, Mami, chicken sempol!"
Wyne then directed his gaze to the place the little girl pointed, then found a chicken sempol cart. She smelled the aroma of the snack, and then the little girl's feeling was tempted to buy it. She immediately bent down in front of the child.
"Bella, do you want that chicken sempol?"
The child nodded, "I want, Mami! Bella is hungry."
Wyne smiled, patting her daughter's head, "Okay, dear."
Bella let go of her hand, then clapped her hands happily, feeling happy to be allowed to eat chicken sempol. They had been in England for five years and had just come to Jakarta. But while in the land of Queen Elizabeth, Wyne liked to cook typical Indonesian food, so that when the child was brought to live in Jakarta, she would be used to the food of the Motherland.
Wyne grabbed Bella's right hand and then brought her to the chicken sempol cart. All her belongings were left for a moment in front of the house.
Ricardo quickly gave his cigarette to Pras, got off the motorbike saddle, and rushed to Matt's side who was draining the chicken sempol into an iron sieve.
Pras was stunned because they had not discussed work, then he stretched his neck towards the boss, wanting to know why his CEO suddenly rushed to the front of the sempol cart. Wyne and Bella appeared to have arrived next to the cart table.
He now knew that there was a beautiful young mother who wanted to buy chicken sempol, so the boss rushed to the front of the cart table to serve her. His face chuckled a little, feeling that the prince who was a widower was attracted to the beauty of Wyne, the young mother.
"Abang-"
Bella's voice was heard greeting Ricardo who was packing Pras's ordered chicken sempol into one kilo ice plastic. Making Matt gape, because the boss took over his job.
Ricardo turned to Bella, then smiled sweetly.
"Yes, little girl." The little one replied.
"Bella wants to buy chicken sempol." Bella stated her purpose while pointing at the chicken sempol in a plastic bag that was starting to be seasoned with sauce, "How much is it, Abang?" she asked the price of the sempol.
Wyne smiled at Bella's courage to shop, it was not in vain that she taught her that skill while they were in England.
"Hehehe-" Ricardo smiled, feeling happy to see the little girl's courage at this moment, "You can buy this chicken sempol." He said while stroking the little girl's head a little, "It's cheap, one skewer is only 2500 Rupiah."
Matt was next to the boss, observing the three people, then saw his boss's eyes occasionally glance at Wyne. His face immediately grinned, the boss's eyes were attracted to the beauty of the young mother.
"Mami-" Bella turned her gaze to Wyne, "One skewer costs 2500!" told her mother the price of skewered chicken sempol, "Can I buy it?"
Wyne smiled, "Yes, dear." She gave permission, "Bang-" Ricardo reprimanded him, "I'll order twenty-five skewers, okay?" She started ordering to the prince. "The five skewers are separate and without the sauce. Then the sauce for the twenty-five skewers is also separate."
"Okay, ma'am." Ricardo understood, then gave the plastic bag containing chicken meatballs to Matt, "Matt!" his assistant reprimanded him who quickly changed his grin to serious mode, "Give this to Mas Pras." He ordered the assistant to give it to Pras.
"Yes, Kang!" Matt quickly took the plastic, immediately meeting Pras, "Please, Mr. Pras." He offered the snack, "Altogether it's twenty-five thousand." He also mentioned the price of one plastic.
Pras grinned, took out his wallet from his back pocket, took out two ten thousand rupiah notes and one five thousand rupiah note, gave them to Matt, then reached for his plastic bag of chicken sempol.
Ricardo started making Wyne's order and Bella watched him make it with her toes on and her hands resting on the edge of the table. This kid always did that when Wyne was cooking or when the seller made his order.
The CEO smiled, "Hi, girl, what's your name?" He asked Bella's name.
"I am, Bella Claudia David, Bang." The child answered in clear sentences, "What is your name, Bang?" She then asked Ricardo's name.
"I am, Duda-" the CEO answered happily, "People call me Kang Duda."
"Yes, yes!" Bella understood what Ricardo said, mentioning the pseudonym Duda. Her nose began to smell the aroma of chicken sempol that was starting to cook. Stretching her neck upwards, her two eyes were directed at the large pan that was cooking chicken sempol, wanting to see if the snack was cooked and could be eaten by her.
Ricardo smiled, slowly lifting the little one, sitting on his two strong shoulders. So that the little one could see more clearly the chicken meatballs in the pan. Bella looked happy, both her hands hugging Gordon's grandson's neck.
"Eee!" Wyne was shocked, "Kang Duda!" her hand was about to take Bella from Ricardo.
"Madam, calm down okay-" Ricardo held Wyne's hands, "I purposely carried your child so she could clearly see the chicken sempol being cooked. She was craning her neck up to see it."
"But-" Wyne was confused, "You're cooking, right?"
"It's okay, Ma'am, I'm still comfortable cooking with her on my shoulders."
Wyne sighed, forced not to take Bella because she saw the child looking happy watching the chicken sempol being cooked while sitting on Ricardo's muscular shoulders.
Matt and Pras were stunned to see all this because since the boss got divorced, the man had focused only on work. The boss's colleagues invited him to a nightclub to prey on LC, Gordon's grandson only enjoyed drinks. Even chased away every LC who flirted with him.
But now, just seeing Wyne, Ricardo could be moved to seek the woman's attention and even did not hesitate to make Bella happy.
It didn't take long for the chicken sempol to be cooked and was immediately packed by Ricardo according to Wyne's order, then stored in a plastic bag.
"So how much is it in total, Kang?" Wyne accepted the plastic bag containing chicken sempol and opened his shoulder bag, taking out her wallet.
"Fifty thousand, ma'am," Ricardo replied as he put Bella down, placing her two feet on the asphalt surface of the road, right next to Wyne.
"Why is the price that much, Kang?" Wyne was surprised, "It should be sixty-two thousand five hundred." It was explained that the total price did not match the order.
Ricardo smiled, judging Wyne's brain to be smart because she was able to calculate without a calculator.
"Yes, ma'am," the CEO replied, "I'll give you a discount, so the total price is only fifty thousand."
Wyne sighed, then took three bills worth sixty-five thousand, and gave them to Ricardo.
"Here's the money, Kang." She said sincerely, "The extra tip is for you." She added when Ricardo saw the three bills, then quickly grabbed Bella's hand, "Thank you, Kang." She said thank you, then took the little one away.
Bella waved to Ricardo, "Bye, Akang! Bye, bye!" she liked the prince.
Ricardo sighed, returning Bella's wave. His heart was beating strangely at this moment and felt that the meeting earlier was very beautiful. He became curious about who Wyne and Bella were.