Soon, their car left The Jannah hotel and merged with the heavy traffic on Mayjen Sungkono's road. Armand drove the vehicle while Kalyana sat there beside him.
"Armand ...," muttered Kalyana suddenly.
"Yes?"
"When are we leaving?" asked Kalyana.
"It's still a while, maybe two or three months. Anyway, we have to get married as soon as possible so I can register your name in the company's relocation department."
Kalyana felt her cheeks heat up. She smiled awkwardly. "That fast?" she asked, "is there enough time to prepare everything?"
"I've arranged everything," replied Armand, "the party is simple, I hope you don't mind. For the honeymoon, we'll live it when we're there."
"Wow, last week you were really busy, apparently," muttered Kalyana. "Why are you so sure I will accept your proposal?" she teased, smiling idly.
Armand chuckled. "I'm just thinking positive, Na."
Kalyana grunted with a smile, then looked out the passenger window.
For a moment no one spoke. Music from the radio filled the cabin.
"What's wrong, Na?" asked Armand a moment later.
Kalyana gasped, turned towards Armand. "Huh?" she exclaimed slowly, "oh, nothing, Mand!"
"Do you mind my proposal?" demanded Armand in a soft voice.
Kalyana gently held Armand's hand which was resting on the gear stick. "No, Mand! Who can refuse a proposal from a man like you?" she said with a smile, "I'm just thinking about what to do before we go."
Armand turned to Kalyana, returned her sweet smile, then focused on the road. He just held back Kalyana's hand that had previously held him and squeezed it gently.
Kalyana once again frowned slightly when the precious metal on the ring finger of her right hand pressed her fingers slightly.
For the rest of the trip, no one spoke anymore. Armand had just released his grip on Kalyana's hand when he had to turn into the courtyard of Kalyana's apartment.
In front of the lobby, Armand stopped the vehicle, then poked his head towards Kalyana.
Kalyana thrust a cheek.
"Have a good rest, Na!" Armand said while kissing Kalyana on the cheek gently.
"You too, Mand!" Kalyana replied. "Thank you for proposing me!" she continued, showing the ring on her ring finger, then immediately hugged Armand.
Armand smiled. "It's so fit," he said, "Your finger is more beautiful with the ring."
Kalyana blushed. "Stop it!" she exclaimed, opening the door and stepping out. "Be careful on the way, ok!" she exclaimed from outside, holding the car door.
Armand nodded and smiled.
Kalyana closed the car door, then stood in front of the lobby, and only entered the building after Armand's car left the apartment yard.
***
Arriving inside the apartment unit, Kalyana immediately threw the briefcase on the bed and sat on a chair on the dressing table. With her elbows resting on the table, she took a good look at the ring. Beautiful, with a few diamond stones perched there. She couldn't help but smile. Who can refuse a proposal from a man like Armand, let alone one that is accompanied by such a brilliant ring?
Kalyana took a deep breath. With care, she released the proof of the proposal. Then she put the object on the table, and walked to the bathroom. Her body felt tired and sticky after working all day at the office this afternoon. For now, Armand's dinner and surprise couldn't beat a warm bath.
One hour later, Kalyana was sitting on her back on the bed wearing her nightgown. With a heavy heart, she reached for the electronic tablet from her briefcase. Armand's proposal and departure schedule submitted by her lover made her have to immediately rearrange all of her office work schedules, including handover of assignments. With a long yawn, Kalyana began to open the work file.
One long yawn followed her finger tapping again on the tablet screen. The text editing application opens. It contains scribbles of ideas and storylines, along with several pieces of the story. Absolutely not related to work.
Kalyana cursed silently. Apparently she was too sleepy to open the wrong application.
She was about to close the editor when her eyes stared at the note she made several months ago.
Half daydreaming, Kalyana closed the scribble file, then opened the flight ticket booking application and hotel. After typing for a while, an itinerary is compiled, ready to buy. For a moment she glanced at the past hour, after considering it for a moment, grabbed the phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, what's up, honey?" A reply was heard from the other side after several dial tones.
"Uh, since when did you call me 'honey'?" joked Kalyana with a big smile.
"Since you are willing to be my wife," replied Armand,
Kalyana didn't answer, just smiled with hot cheeks.
"What's wrong, Na?" asked Armand.
"Mand, let's accompany me to Yogyakarta this weekend!" asked Kalyana.
"You call at night just to ask me to go to Yogyakarta?"
"Oh, you are asleep, haven't you?" Kalyana replied hastily, "sorry."
"Oh no, really," said Armand lightly, "so what are you gonna do in Yogya?"
"I want to continue research for my novel," answered Kalyana.
"The novel at that time you said stuck because you ran out of ideas?"
"Yes," said Kalyana with a small chuckle.
"Why do you suddenly want to continue again, Na?"
Kalyana took a deep breath before answering. "I don't know, maybe because suddenly there was a deadline for my departure to Europe, my head was triggered by the idea."
There was Armand laughing lightly. "How about we postpone it? This weekend I have to work overtime, drafting the handover documents."
"When do you think we could go? Next week?" Kalyana asked, taking the tablet. Her hand opened the order date column, preparing to set a new date.
Armand paused for a moment. "Maybe I'm busy next week too, Na." His voice sounded weak on the other side.
"When then?" said Kalyana curtly. Her mouth pursed slightly.
"How about next month?"
"That's too long, Mand!" Kalyana exclaimed, "I'm afraid I will be busy for handing over too at the office."
For a moment no one spoke.
"Mand," Kalyana said suddenly, "what if I go alone this weekend?" Her finger pressed the button on the screen to reduce the order quantity.
"Go alone?" muttered Armand, "will you be all right later? I'm afraid ...."
"Worried about what?" Kalyana cut, "as if I was going to war alone!" She then continued to chuckle, "don't worry, Mand, Jogja is safe, really!"
Armand fell silent again.
"Besides," urged Kalyana, "you will be busy this weekend, right? Instead of me being alone doing nothing, I'd better go out, right?"
"All right," muttered Armand, "as long as you're careful there."
"Certainly!" Kalyana exclaimed excitedly, "so, can I?"
"Yes, you can," replied Armand.
"Hurray!" Kalyana exclaimed again, "thank you, Mand!"
"Well, I'm going to sleep again, okay?"
"Yes please, sleep and kiss the pillow!" Kalyana replied with a big smile, "Bye!"
Kalyana ends the call and immediately presses the "Buy" button on the tablet. Then she reopened the note she had left for a long time. The sleepiness is gone.
***
The girl sat stretched out on a cast iron chair by the lake. Her hair that covered the back of the chair was slightly played with the cool November breeze. She seemed engrossed in writing while occasionally looking at Jet d'Eau.Harso's chest skipped a beat. It was the exact same sight he had seen years ago. He could feel himself stepping closer to the girl.Getting closer to the sweet girl, the wind brought a glimpse of the fragrance of the familiar perfume. Then, as before, some static disturbance began to appear in Harso's sight and hearing. The scent of fragrance came and went. Harso tried to ignore the noise.It was useless, about ten feet from where the girl sat, Harso's vision became chaotic, full of colorful lines. His ears only heard a meaningless sound, like dozens of radio stations playing simultaneously, while various smells burst forth, sickening. Only the beating of his own heart he could still feel in his chest, the pounding heart and fluttering f
Towards lunch break, from the open door of the study, Mrs. Rina seemed to be fully concentrated in front of the computer screen. Several silvery strands adorned her left loose hair. Reading glasses perched sweet in the middle of the nose bridge. The leader remains elegant in her long-sleeved white shirt. She draped her blazer on the back of the chair. “Excuse me, Ma'am,” Kalyana said, knocked on the door of the study.Bu Ani turned her gaze towards Kalyana. “What's up, Na?” she asked. “Come on, come on, sit down!” she asked, nodding at the empty chair in front of her desk. Kalyana's heart skipped a beat. Swallowed hard and cleared her throat slowly, she entered Mrs. Rina's study and sat on the chair. “Look, Ma'am,” she said after sitting up straight, “in two months I will most likely have to resign.” For a few seconds, Mrs. Rina just stared at Kalyana deeply. Then, slowly she took off then folded the glasses, and put them on the table. “You mean,” she
Lenses always managed to keep Rajata out of trouble. Behind the camera's aperture, he didn't feel the hot sun over the village of Bokoharjo that weekend, nor did he feel that he was in a hollow mood. He also didn’t care about the tourists bustling around him. The man was busy looking for photo objects and shooting angles around the Prambanan temple area.A relief attracts attention. Rajata took a stone, then stood on it so he could take the photo from the direction he wanted.Suddenly, a voice full of joking screams in the distance startled Rajata. Reflexively, he turned toward the sound. However, it seemed that the movement made his footsteps shaky. The man fell off the rock and his body swayed towards the temple.In a panic, Rajata tried to protect the camera he was holding. It works. The base of his thumb hit the relief, protecting the camera. An instant later, thousands of fireflies flooded Rajata's eyes when his head hit the temple wall.For a moment, Ra
Kalyana dropped her backpack on the floor, then slammed herself onto the bed. It was already dusk, even though only an hour ago the plane she was traveling in landed at Adi Sucipto. Kalyana is annoyed, regretting her decision to buy a sudden ticket at a busy hour. She didn't know what she could do in Yogya the rest of the day. Tomorrow, maybe she'll rent a vehicle. The girl took her cell phone and surfed the internet, trying to learn about some tourist attractions in Yogyakarta. There was nothing interesting, all the information that was displayed felt like passing by, only makes her head dizzy. The breeze from the air conditioning system slowly made Kalyana fall asleep.***Phone ringing woke up Kalyana. Reluctantly, she grabbed the phone from her trouser pocket. Call from Armand, as expected. Kalyana hesitated for a moment, before finally hitting the 'Receive' button.“Hello? What's up, Mand?” she said, still lying on the bed, still sleepy.“Have you arrive
“One coffee, ma'am!” A woman's voice disturbed Rajata's reverie.Rajata raised his gaze towards the voice.A girl was buying a glass of coffee and a plate of fried bananas from the elderly lady, the Lesehan caretaker. Rajata watched the girl walked to the next pillar and then sat back against it with her knees bent. While enjoying the fried bananas, the girl took out a tablet and started working. Her black hair was curled upwards, revealing the shape of her face, ears, and neck.Rajata could only be stunned. The girl's figure and voice reminded her of someone she had seen in Prambanan.Then, as if sensing someone was watching, the girl looked up and turned to the side, towards the Rajata. She smiled briefly, then returned to busy with the device on her lap.Rajata was shocked with embarrassment. After hesitating for a moment, he finally stood up and walked over to the girl.“Hello,” said Rajata, standing in front of the girl.The girl raised
At five minute to eight o'clock, the car driven by Rajata entered the courtyard of Hotel 404. He hoped to prove that Kalyana's phone number was really needed. However, it turned out that Kalyana was seen standing on the lobby steps. Her hair was no longer tied up.Seeing Rajata arriving, Kalyana immediately walked over. “Why are you late?” she said as she got into the car.“But it's still five minutes short, Na,” snapped Rajata.“But you said you wanted to come early!” replied Kalyana.“I know, it's still five minutes short.”“But I've been waiting a long time!”“Sorry, Na,” said Rajata, “When have you been waiting?”“From six minutes to eight!” Kalyana replied curtly.“Huh?”Kalyana burst out laughing.“It's only been a minute, Na!” exclaimed Rajata, shook his head and smiled broadly.“For girls, waiting for one minute is too long, you know!”“So, give me a phone number, please, so that next t
While waiting for the lift, Kalyana took out her cell phone from her jacket pocket. She smiled at Armand's unanswered call. The elevator doors opened. Kalyana returned the cell phone to her pocket and stepped inside.Arriving at the room, Kalyana immediately called her lover.“Hello, Na?” said Armand after two rings, “so busy writing the novel that you didn't have time to answer my call?”Kalyana chuckled. “No, I just forgot that my call was silent,” she replied as she took off the jacket.“So how about Jogja?”“Interesting,” said Kalyana, “Last night I visited Malioboro, then last afternoon I went to Prambanan, and I just came home to have dinner at Gudeg Yu Jum.”For a moment Kalyana was silent. On the other side, Armand is still waiting for the continuation of her lover's story.“Well, at least,” Kalyana continued, “I got to know this place before we left for Barcelona.”Armand just chuckled at that. “So are you co
Rajata sat back on the seat of the carriage. Shortly thereafter, the train left the Yogyakarta station for Surabaya.The cell phone in the pocket vibrated. Meanwhile Rajata took the device. The digital screen displayed a notification of an incoming message on social media accounts. He was stunned as he read the name of the sender of the message: Merina Tambunan.“Hi! Are you my high school friend Rajata?”“Yes,” Rajata typed briefly, replied to the message, still amazed.“How are you, Ta? It's not unusual for you to look at my social media accounts?” Merina replied moments later.Rajata smiled, realizing his carelessness in opening Merina's account last night. “I'm fine, Mer,” typed Rajata, “and you?”“I'm fine too, Ta.” Merina's answer came to Rajata's phone a few moments later.Rajata was stunned, wondering what message he should type.“Are you in Surabaya?” Merina's message came in again.“No, I'm in Yo