That afternoon, after practice ended, Bagaskara, Nathan, and Rafael gathered at their usual café.
The atmosphere was filled with casual conversation and laughter. But unlike his two friends, Bagaskara was busy staring at his phone screen.
Nathan, sitting across from him, glanced over and chuckled.
“Damn... your gallery is full of Aletta?”
Bagaskara only smiled, completely unashamed.
“You’ve only been at this school for a month, and you’re already crushing on someone’s daughter,” Nathan teased.
“Seriously,” Rafael chimed in, leaning back in his chair. “And the girl you like is Aletta. Your taste is seriously weird.”
Bagaskara laughed softly.
“I don’t know why, either.”
He looked at one of the photos again. It had been taken from a distance while Aletta sat alone in the school garden, facing the lake.
A few seconds later, Bagaskara locked his phone.
“Hey, do either of you have Aletta’s number?”
Nathan, who had been sipping iced orange juice, immediately shook his head.
“I don’t think so.”
Rafael shrugged as well.
“She barely ever talks to anyone. How would we have her number?”
Nathan chuckled.
“Besides, from what I’ve seen, Aletta doesn’t seem like the type to give her number to just anyone.”
Bagaskara let out a quiet breath, a faint smile on his lips.
“Then... I’ll have to find another way.”
Nathan and Rafael exchanged a look before shaking their heads in resignation.
“That’s bad,” Rafael muttered. “You’re really serious about this, huh?”
Bagaskara only smiled.
For the first time, he felt that his curiosity had turned into something deeper. It was no longer just a desire to get to know Aletta. He wanted to become someone who could make the girl believe that there were still sincere people willing to be present in her life.
Not long afterward, Bagaskara decided to leave first.
“I’m heading out.”
Nathan and Rafael simply nodded. They knew that his mind hadn’t really been in the café all this time.
Throughout their conversation, Bagaskara had spent most of it daydreaming. Every time Aletta’s name came up, Nathan and Rafael advised him again to stop trying to get close to her.
But the more they told him to give up, the stronger Bagaskara’s desire to understand Aletta became.
After putting on his helmet, he started his beloved black sport bike. The engine rumbled softly before he finally sped away from the café.
The night wind struck his face as the bike cut through the streets of Jakarta, which were still crowded with traffic even though the clock had already reached nine at night.
At every red light he passed, his thoughts filled once more with the image of the long-haired girl in the fading yellow cardigan.
“Why is it that every time I see her, I always want to know what she’s thinking?” he wondered.
Bagaskara smiled faintly beneath his helmet.
He realized that what he felt now was no longer mere curiosity.
Slowly, without him realizing it, Aletta had taken up a small space in his heart—a space that became harder and harder to ignore with each passing day.
As he passed an intersection, Bagaskara caught sight of someone he knew all too well.
A girl was walking alone beneath the dim streetlights.
Her long hair hung loose, and her steps were slow and aimless.
Bagaskara instinctively slowed his bike.
“That’s... Aletta, right?” he muttered, trying to make sure he was seeing correctly.
The closer he got, the clearer the girl’s face became.
Aletta’s eyes looked swollen and red, as if she had just been crying. Her face was pale, and both hands clutched her schoolbag tightly against her chest.
“What’s she doing walking alone this late?” Bagaskara whispered in confusion.
Without thinking twice, he slowly twisted the throttle until the bike moved alongside Aletta’s steps.
“Letta...”
Aletta didn’t turn around.
Bagaskara called her again, a little more softly this time.
“Aletta.”
Only then did the girl stop. She turned around slowly and looked slightly startled when she saw Bagaskara get off his bike and remove his helmet.
“What are you doing here?” Bagaskara asked worriedly. “It’s already late.”
Aletta fell silent.
Her gaze was empty, and then she lowered her head again without answering.
Bagaskara studied her face carefully.
Her swollen eyes.
The faint traces of a wound still visible at her temple.
And the exhausted expression she could no longer hide.
All of it made his chest tighten.
“Aletta...” he said quietly.
“If you’re not ready to talk, I won’t force you.”
He stood beside his bike, looking at the girl with deep concern.
“But... don’t walk alone at night like this. It’s dangerous.”
For a while, the only sound filling the silence between them was the traffic passing by.
Bagaskara stopped asking questions.
He chose to stay there, making sure Aletta wasn’t truly alone on the streets that night.
“Where are you going?” Bagaskara asked softly. “I’ll take you home.”
Aletta lifted her gaze. Her eyes, which had been trying so hard to look strong, reddened again.
Slowly, she shook her head.
Bagaskara didn’t pressure her. He simply stood in front of Aletta, waiting in case she wanted to say something.
But not a single word came out.
Instead, the tears she had been holding back finally fell, one after another.
Aletta hurriedly wiped them away, but the crying only became harder to control. Her shoulders began to tremble softly.
Seeing that, Bagaskara’s expression filled with concern.
“Letta...”
Without saying much, he stepped closer.
Carefully, Bagaskara opened his arms, giving Aletta the chance to pull away if she didn’t want him to hug her.
But Aletta remained silent.
When he saw that she wasn’t moving away, Bagaskara finally wrapped his arms gently around her.
For a moment, Aletta’s body tensed.
But a few seconds later, all her defenses crumbled.
She lightly gripped the back of Bagaskara’s jacket, then cried harder against his shoulder. The sobs she had swallowed for so long finally burst free.
Bagaskara said nothing.
He only patted Aletta’s back gently, letting her release all the pain she had kept buried by herself for so long.
“It’s okay...” he whispered. “It’s okay. Cry if it makes you feel even a little better.”
That night, beneath the dim streetlights, Aletta cried in front of someone for the first time without trying to hide her wounds.
And for the first time, she felt that someone had chosen to stay instead of leaving when they saw her at her most vulnerable.
Several minutes passed.
Aletta’s crying finally began to subside. Although her eyes were still swollen, her breathing was much steadier than it had been moments earlier.
Bagaskara slowly released her, giving her space to feel comfortable. Then he held out a packet of tissues that had been in his jacket pocket the whole time.
“Here.”
Aletta accepted it hesitantly and wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.
Bagaskara smiled faintly.
“Thank you... for trusting me enough to cry in front of me.”
Aletta merely lowered her head. She didn’t answer, but this time she didn’t avoid Bagaskara’s gaze, either.
The boy then glanced at the watch on his wrist before looking toward his bike.
“I have an idea.”
Aletta slowly raised her head.
“How about we take a short ride? We don’t have to go far.”
Bagaskara pointed to his black sport bike parked by the side of the road.
“Lucky for us, I brought two helmets.”
He took the helmet hanging from the back seat and held it out to Aletta.
“You don’t have to talk if you’re not ready. We can just ride around... get some fresh air until you feel a little calmer.”
Aletta stared at the helmet for a long moment.
On one hand, she remembered Alice’s threat and all the problems that might arise if anyone saw them together.
But on the other hand, after keeping everything bottled up by herself for so long, someone was offering her his presence for the first time without asking for anything in return.
Her hand slowly rose.
Hesitantly, she accepted the helmet Bagaskara offered her.
Seeing that, Bagaskara’s smile widened.
“Relax,” he said gently. “Tonight... I just want to keep you company.”
The bike moved slowly through the night streets, which had begun to grow quiet. Bagaskara deliberately kept his speed down, glancing at the mirror every now and then to make sure Aletta was all right.
In the reflection of the rearview mirror, he could see the girl sitting stiffly.
There was still a small space between them.
Bagaskara smiled faintly.
“Your first time riding a motorcycle?”
Aletta didn’t answer, but her body language gave him the answer.
Bagaskara chuckled softly.
“If you’re scared, just hold on to my jacket. Don’t be shy.”
Aletta remained silent. Her fingers hovered uncertainly, as if she were arguing with herself.
A few seconds later...
Bagaskara felt the back of his jacket being tugged gently.
Then the grip grew tighter.
Until finally, Aletta was clutching his jacket hard whenever the bike went over a slightly uneven stretch of road.
Bagaskara couldn’t hold back his smile.
“See?” he teased softly. “What did I tell you?”
Aletta lowered her head, a little embarrassed that her fear had been so obvious.
Bagaskara didn’t continue teasing her. Instead, he slowed down so the ride would be more comfortable.
“Relax,” he said gently. “As long as you’re with me, you don’t have to be afraid.”
For some reason, that simple sentence slowly loosened Aletta’s grip on his jacket.
Not because her fear had disappeared.
But because, for the first time in a long while, she was beginning to feel safe beside someone.
Bagaskara’s bike stopped at a simple roadside food stall. It wasn’t too crowded, but the atmosphere was warm, with yellow lights reflecting off the surface of the small river across from it.
Bagaskara turned off the engine, then looked toward Aletta.
“Are you hungry?”
Aletta only looked at the food stall for a moment. Then she opened her bag and took out the small notebook Bagaskara had given her, along with the pink pen she always kept with her.
Neatly, she wrote several sentences before holding them out to Bagaskara.
“I don’t have any money. If you want to eat, just eat by yourself.”
After reading the note, Bagaskara smiled faintly.
“I gave you that notebook so you could talk to me, not so you could turn down my invitation.”
Aletta slowly lowered her head.
Bagaskara then pointed to a table by the river, set a little farther away from the other customers.
“Come on.”
Aletta followed him until they reached the table. The night breeze blew softly, carrying the scent of the river and the soothing sound of trickling water.
“Nice view, huh?” Bagaskara said as he pulled out a chair for Aletta.
The girl sat down without saying a word.
“Wait here for a minute, okay?”
Bagaskara ruffled his own hair lightly before smiling.
“Let me treat you tonight. Think of it as... a reward for finally agreeing to talk to me, even if it’s through writing.”
Without giving Aletta another chance to refuse, Bagaskara walked toward the ordering counter.
Meanwhile, Aletta watched the boy’s back as he grew farther away.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze to the little notebook in her lap.
No one had ever treated her with such genuine kindness without asking for anything in return.
That unfamiliar feeling filled her chest again.
Warmth.
Because for the first time, she felt that she wasn’t alone in a world that had been so cruel to her.