"There's a job opening!"
Damar half-ran toward the announcement posted on the glass wall of a coffee shop. But his smile vanished the moment he read the maximum age listed there.
With dragging steps, he made his way along the shop-house frontage by the roadside, hoping some miraculous job opening would suddenly come his way.
The sudden blast of a car horn from a vehicle stopping by the roadside startled Damar. A young man younger than him leaned his head out the car window, grinning widely.
"Damar!" Yuda called.
"Hurry up and get in!" called a stern-faced man from behind the wheel. "We've got a delivery job to Mijen."
"But I already got fired."
"Who fired you?" Adi shot back sharply.
"His watch went missing because of me."
"He found his watch," Yuda replied.
"Besides, you work for me," Adi said firmly. "I'm the one who has the right to fire you, not Miss Nagging."
"Miss Nagging is still your wife, brother," Yuda reminded him with a chuckle.
Adi snorted. "Enough. Get in!"
Damar's smile returned. Without wasting any time, he jumped into the cargo bed. The vehicle sped off down the road.
Of all the jobs he'd had over the past two years, working for Adi was the one he liked best. Adi was the only person who looked at him without prejudice. Here, Damar felt respected as a human being again.
The vehicle stopped in front of a fairly luxurious brick-red house. Damar jumped down and followed Adi and Yuda, who already seemed familiar with the homeowner.
They began loading the belongings: large suitcases, two plastic cabinets, a study desk, and even a small nightstand. Damar and Yuda deftly tied everything down in the cargo bed.
From behind a bedroom curtain, a man watched Damar with a furrowed brow. Curious, he eventually left the house and approached them.
"You're Damar, right?" he asked hesitantly.
Damar paused for a moment, then went back to tying the rope. Yuda, who was helping pull it tight, began glancing back and forth between them.
"You're Damar from High School 23, aren't you?"
Damar's fingers stilled again. "Yeah."
"When did you get out of prison?"
"Not long ago."
Yuda edged closer, trying to listen in.
"Marvin's going to be thrilled when he finds out you're free."
Damar tightened his grip on the rope. That name—the name he wanted more than anything to bury forever—had suddenly been brought up by a man who didn't even remember who he was.
"He's incredibly successful now."
Damar straightened and looked at the man. "Successful?"
"You haven't seen Marvin again?" The man gave a small laugh. "He was just on TV last night as a successful young businessman. He has his own company, Landsoft. You know it, right?"
Damar ignored the man's boastful story. "Erin?" he asked quietly.
"Erina?" the man confirmed. When Damar nodded, he shook his head. "I haven't seen her since graduation. She never even came to the reunion."
"Ajeng?"
The man's expression suddenly turned awkward. "W-why are you asking about Ajeng?"
"Have you seen her?" Damar's sharp stare made the man visibly uncomfortable.
"N-no. Never. I heard... Ajeng moved to Germany."
Damar's hand clenched tighter around the rope.
The belongings had arrived at their destination in Mijen, Semarang.
Even though Mijen's weather was relatively cool, hauling heavy items still left them drenched in sweat. The homeowner served them ice-cold syrup drinks to quench their thirst.
Yuda sat beside Damar and finished his first glass in a single gulp.
"Why are you willing to be friends with me?" Damar asked suddenly.
"What kind of question is that?" Yuda grimaced. "We're both outcasts. If Adi hadn't taken us in, we'd probably be homeless by now. My past is a mess, but I don't want to become society's trash."
Damar nodded slowly. "Do you think justice exists?"
"The prisons keep filling up. That means law and justice exist."
"If justice exists," Damar said bitterly, staring at his glass, "I should've been able to get justice. Not end up like this."
"So what do you want?"
"I just want to live in peace and find a decent job. I'm human too. It hurts every time people insult and humiliate me just because of my status. Who would want to live like this?"
"What else can we do? This is our fate."
"Fate can be changed."
"I'm trying to change mine too!" Yuda's voice suddenly rose, his tone growing heavy. "You think I don't want to get ahead?"
Damar fell silent.
"I didn't mean to steal back then either..." Yuda lowered his head. "I was desperate. I didn't have enough money for my mother's medicine, so I had no choice but to take a little money from the register."
Yuda's breathing quickened as the bitter memory resurfaced. "That amount of money meant nothing to my stingy boss. But do you know what he said when he caught me? He said poor people weren't allowed to get sick because they were nothing but a burden! I slapped him right across the face. That's why I was charged with two offenses at once: theft and assault."
Damar remained silent. He knew what Yuda had done was still wrong in the eyes of the law, but the reason behind it made Damar unable to bring himself to judge him."} peqata,? Nope invalid extra. Need fix JSON no weird. Let's output clean.