And much to my surprise, we didn’t feel like we’re
strangers at all even if it was our very first meeting. I felt comfortable with
him as if he’s one of my long lost friends, even if I felt a bit awkward too
but, it didn’t show. My comfortable-ness was far too great than my awkwardness.
We talked along the way about nothing. Then suddenly
he asked “Do I stink?” “Nope! Why?” I asked him back. Then he told me that he
was playing soccer with his friends and came home late. He hurried to get me
without even took a bath first and that he only changed his t-shirt. I smiled.
Of course he can’t see me smiling because I was facing his back. But surely he
didn’t stink at all, even from his sweat.
*** *** ***
I also told him that I didn’t bring any essential
things with me as toothbrush, towel, etc, so, I needed to have one. Well, you
might think that it was very stupid of me to travel without bringing things
that are necessary. Hellooo... you think I’ve expected to be lost at some
unknown train station with people whom I’ve never seen their faces before? I
didn’t expect that I’d be lost therefore; I only brought with me some clothes. I purposely
didn’t bring the toothbrush, etc, because as in my plan I’ll stay overnight at
the hotel (they always prepare towels, toothbrush and whatsoever in a hotel
room) before leaving to Yogyakarta on the next day with my professors. But then
as you guys knew already (part 1), they canceled their flight and I was lost.
The hotel plan was out of my list that moment because I decided to go back to
Yogyakarta but,
every train was fully booked due to Christmas and New Year’s vacation, blah...
blah... blah... And there I was – with him, a perfect stranger who was for some
weird reason, not a stranger at all. Now you do understand my situation. Well then.
While waiting for terang bulan to be done, we went to an Alfamart nearby which is open for 24/7. I didn’t have to buy many things because my train to Yogyakarta will be in the afternoon at 4pm. So, I brought everything that I needed for an overnight. He bought two bottles of mineral water of 1.5 liters and a body spray – Axe, chocolate flavor. Not bad, I thought. Girls do love chocolates, don’t they?J When we’re done, we went to get terang bulan and went straight to his place.
The moment we arrived, my body was trembling. I just
realized that I was freezing. Of course I commented on the weather but didn’t
tell him that I was freezing to death. I followed him meekly from his back
after he parked. “We need to go upstairs because my room is at 2nd floor”, he
said to me without even looking at me. I can’t see his expression at all.
Minutes later, we’re there, in front of his room. He knocked while calling out
someone’s name. Someone’s there, I thought. The door was opened and a young man
was standing there. He’s probably in his twenties as both of us. He greeted us
with a smile and we went inside the room. He introduced me to that man as “your
sister”. I smiled. He referred to that man as a younger brother so I thought
probably they’re cousin. Honestly, I think that “someone” is much younger than
the man which he referred as “younger brother”. I was lost in my thoughts when
they conversed. Aziz, that man’s name, was asked by “my lover” to clean and
tidy up his room. So after everything was done, he waited for us while checking
on his Facebook account.
Few minutes after we arrived, he left. Now it was only him and me. He asked me to sit down so, I sat on his bed. I was really wanted to taste terang bulan again so; I quickly opened it and asked him to join me to eat. He said he wasn’t hungry but I insisted him to have even a small bite. I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer before I used a wet tissue. I double cleaned my hands as usual. I gave him some tissue and hand sanitizer too. We ate together even if he only had a bite. “Too sweet”, he commented on the food. “But I love it.” I answered him with a smile.
Just a short while, I thought he was going to have a
word with me but wasn’t. He did talk to me but only about today’s event. He did
talk to me but not while sitting or facing me. He did it while walking around
doing this and that, moving this and that. My eyes kept on following his every move.
Then finally he said to me and this time he was looking at me “You can sleep if
you’re tired.” “I need to wash up before going to bed”, he said again. “If
you’re thinking of taking a bath then it’s better if you’re not ‘coz it’s
almost 3am. You might catch a cold.” I said. He answered that he’ll only wash
up.
I, too, was supposed to wash up before going to bed as
I always do especially after a long and tired journey like that but I was too
tired to get up from my seat. “Hmm, I can’t sleep with the lights off so if you
don’t mind, can we just leave the lights on till morning?” I’m afraid of the
darkness so I asked. “I can’t sleep with the lights on too”, he said. “Hmm, we
can turn off the bedroom’s light then but, please let the bathroom’s light on”,
I said, hoping that he wouldn’t mind. “It’ll be fine”, he smiled and went to
bathroom.
It was 7 past 10 in the morning. He was still sleeping. I can only see his back. I tried to sleep again after telling myself that it was too early for me to wake up. I went to bed at 3.30am so I shouldn’t have woke up. I need to sleep some more, I told myself again.
However, my stomach didn’t want to compromise with me.
By 9 past 25, I can’t sleep anymore. I woke up and sat on the edge of his bed.
My stomach was rumbling. I was really hungry but there was nothing. Then I
remember terang bulan we bought this early morning. Before I could get up from
the bed and took it, he awoke. “Hi”, he greeted. “Hi”, I replied. “You wake up
so early” “You can’t sleep well?” he asked. “I had a good sleep. Thank you.”
“It’s just.., this is already past my breakfast time.” “I really am hungry”, I
added. Then he woke up from the bed. He walked to where his computer is and
took a carton of terang bulan. “Eat this first”, he offered it to me. “We’ll
find something to eat after taking a bath and changing our clothes.” He said
again while drinking a bottle of water, two steps away from where I seated. “Hmm,
okay”, I murmured quietly. Just when I opened it, “Oh.. God, don’t eat this
anymore” I said as calm as I could but felt disgust. There were those small,
diligent and stupid groups of ants near the only food in the room. “Don’t eat
it anymore”, he said. Ignoring my hunger, I packed it again and asked him to
throw it away.
I, then, asked him to wait for me outside so I can
take a bath. I couldn’t take a bath if he stays in the same room as me. He said
it’ll be okay but I wouldn’t listen. I insisted him to go out. After a few
minutes of arguing, he lit his cigarette and finally went out. Yeah, baby...
Now the room is all mine, I laughed inside of me. So, I started to undress,
covering myself with only a piece of cloth. I didn’t have a towel and he didn’t
too. He said he’s allergic to anything “furry” and towel is one of them. Oh
well... That surprised me. This was my “another first” to go to someone’s house
who has no towel at all. Another first was sharing the bed with a man. I might
have “another first” with him again, I thought.
His
bathroom’s door was a history. He broke it for months already for some silly
reason. He said one of his toes was wounded by the bathroom’s door so he kicked the door hard, so hard that it was
unattached from its hinges. The door was still there but we can’t close it
normally. He told me to close the door
whenever I want to use the bathroom. He said to just lift it and place it right
in the place where it once belonged. Sounded easy, huh? But I didn’t do as what
I was told. I was alone in the room that’s why. The main door was locked. The
window was closed. No one can see me. So I decided not to close the bathroom
door because I didn’t feel like to lift up any heavy load with an empty
stomach. I poured some mineral water into a plastic cup and brushed my teeth.
The water was cold. I was a bit holding back to take a bath but I did it. No
heater, cold water will do. I enjoyed myself taking a bath. I probably taking
quite some time but I didn’t care at all. It felt so good after all that
happened yesterday. I felt like the water just washed them away from my head to
toe – all the weary. Afterwards, I grabbed the same piece of cloth I used to
cover myself, which is actually my pink scarf (it was large enough) and dried
off my body.
I was
half done when I heard the knock on the door. “May I come in?” he said. I knew
he was already tired of waiting. I was really taking my time in bathing and
dressing up. “Give me 10 minutes”, I answered without open the door. I hurried
myself and did everything I needed to do and lastly I opened the door. “You may
come in.” I said with a smile curved on my lips. He was standing near the main
door, smoking his almost-finished-cigarette. He looked at me and said nothing.
He said nothing at all. He threw the cigarette and walked in. I moved backwards
to where the bed is. “You washed your hair”, he said after a while. “Yeah, you
should take a bath too.” I said. “I’ll wait outside”, I added. “You can stay
here”, his answer surprised me. “Are you sure?” “Yeah, just stay. It’s not like
you’re going to peek on me, right?” he laughed. “Of course not.” I said it coolly,
hiding my embarrassment. He was almost went in to the bathroom before he turned
to me again and said “You didn’t close the bathroom’s door, did you?” he
startled me. “How did you know that I didn’t close it?” I asked in return,
feeling uncomfortable. “I saw you took a bath”, he said with a low voice and
very fast that I was almost unable to hear it. “WHAT?” “YOU... WHAT?” I was
half screaming. I can feel my heart beat. My body began to tense. I was mad but
I waited for him to repeat what he just said before I can explode. I waited for
him to answer my question. “I said, I saw you took a bath”, he said but, this
time I can hear him very clear saying “I saw you took a bath.” I stared at him.
Too intense. I can’t stop staring at him. I was mad as hell. I just wanted to
slap the shit out of him and made him realize that what he did was so wrong.
“Why are you this stupid?” I heard me saying. That’s all I said. I was unable
to speak any of my thoughts anymore because I was too mad. Damn it!!! Give a
girl some privacy, I screamed inside of me. The room suddenly became so quiet.
“I was just kidding”, he broke the silence, again with a laugh. “I know you
didn’t close the door because the water was all over the place near the
entrance to the bathroom”, he said again with a big smile. “Really?” I said,
still not taking my eyes off him. “Yeah”, he said again. “It’s a relief”, I
heard me saying. “I thought you really saw me when I was in the bathroom.” He
might think that I was talking to him but I was saying it to myself. I felt so
relief when he said he didn’t see me at all. Before I could say anything else,
he went in to the bathroom.
I was
playing Temple Run on my iPad when he went out from the bathroom. He already
wore his dark blue jeans. Again, I could smell him from where I was seated. I
didn’t look at him, pretending I was too busy playing the game. Every time he
wasn’t looking, I took a glance at him. He took his Axe and sprayed it all over
his body. He smelled delicious. He made me craving for some chocolates. I was
glancing at him every minute I got the chance. He put on a deodorant before he
finally wore his dark blue t-shirt with “REBEL” printed in front of it. Rebel?
Seriously? I can’t help myself thinking that he’s probably a bad boy. If he is,
then I’m totally with the wrong guy. I don’t know him well, I thought. Anything was
possible. I was scared of my own thoughts. “Do I look okay now?” he asked while
looking at his reflection on the mirror. “Yeah, you do.” I said with a smile,
hoping he’s not a bad guy. He doesn’t look like one after all. “Let’s go”, he said.
*** *** ***
We
were holding hands on our way home, not like when we went out for lunch – no
holding hands. I was happy that we held hands. I think he was happy too. It was
almost 2.20 when we arrived. He took a key from his pocket and opened the door.
“Let’s take a nap”, he said. “What if we wake up late and miss the train?” I
asked him. “We’re supposed to leave now to Bandung at this hour to avoid being
late due to the traffic jam”, I added. “I know. I’ll be the one to drop you to
the train station. There’ll be enough time so, don’t worry”, he answered and
looked right into my eyes. “Okay then. We’ll leave after an hour”, I agreed. We
went to bed again to sleep awhile. He’s probably still tired because of last
night soccer with his mates, I thought. I slept facing him and he, me. He held
my right hand again. Then he touched my face. I didn’t know how it started but
he was kissing me. He was really close to me.
The space between us from last night wasn’t there anymore.
Curious about the next part? Don’t worry. I’ll be up
with the next part after you’re done with this.
Xoxo