Knock, knock, knock!
"Peace be upon you!"
This was the first time Galaksi had ever visited a woman's home.
Even though Galaksi, often called Gala, was ridiculously handsome and a genius, his background as nothing more than a scholarship student from an orphanage was the reason girls didn't want to fall for him.
Only Mentari was different. Gala's girlfriend was completely sincere.
"AND PEACE BE UPON YOU, JUST A SECOND!"
Not long after, a young woman stepped out of the modest house.
"Gala?" The girl's puffy eyes widened in complete surprise at seeing her boyfriend arrive so suddenly.
To make matters worse, he was soaking wet. It had been raining moments earlier.
"Come inside first, bro! I'll get you a towel so you can dry off." Mentari gently pulled Gala's hand, leading him into her home.
Actually, Mentari hesitated to invite Gala inside when the house was empty like this.
It wasn't that she was afraid Gala would do anything inappropriate to her. Mentari was afraid someone might see her alone in the house with a man. It could easily lead to slander and become the subject of the neighbors' gossip.
Or, even worse, her father might come home and find that she'd let a man into the house. He might chew her out horribly. But she couldn't bear the thought of Gala getting sick because of her.
"Wait here a minute, okay, bro? I'll get you a towel." Mentari left Gala alone in the living room.
Meanwhile, she went into her bedroom to get a towel.
Gala's eyes swept across every corner of Mentari's living room. A faint smile touched his lips as he took in how clean the house was and how neatly everything was arranged.
It was the complete opposite of his tiny rented place, which was always a mess and rarely got cleaned.
'I hope someday I'll have someone to help me clean up, so my place won't look like a pigsty anymore, like Alzi says,' Gala thought.
There was one strange thing about Gala: he had never wanted to meet his biological parents. In Gala's opinion, people who had abandoned him didn't deserve to be sought out again.
If his parents had abandoned him in the past, then now that he was an adult, he would never want to meet the people who had thrown him away.
All Gala wanted in his life was Mentari. No one else.
'Wait until I'm more settled, sweetheart. Then I'll propose to you soon,' Gala thought as he gazed at Mentari's photo hanging on the living room wall.
Meow.
Gala, who had been lost in thought, jumped in surprise when he heard a cat. He also felt something licking his leg.
A smile bloomed across his handsome face. Gala could guess who was responsible for licking his leg.
Gala looked down, the smile still firmly in place on his handsome face. "Just like I thought. You're Boma, right? The one who always interrupts Tari's calls with me every night."
Boma was Mentari's beloved Angora cat. Every time Gala called or video-chatted with Mentari, the mischievous cat always pulled some stunt to make Mentari pay more attention to him than to Gala.
Meow.
Boma ran away from Gala, who was trying to pick him up. The cute cat clearly didn't want Gala touching him.
"Hey, don't run away!" Too smitten with Boma's beautiful fur, Gala ran after him around Mentari's living room.
The clever little troublemaker kept dodging Gala until he ran into Mentari's bedroom, which had also been Boma's sleeping quarters all this time.
"Wait up, Boma! You have to meet me first!" Without realizing it, Gala followed him into Mentari's bedroom, startling its owner terribly.
"Gala? What are you doing in Tari's room?" Mentari asked, bewildered and startled at the same time.
"Relax, sweetheart! I didn't mean any harm. I only came into your room by accident because I was chasing Boma." Gala pointed at Boma as the prime suspect responsible for leading him into Mentari's bedroom.
Mentari glanced briefly at Boma, then giggled when she saw her beloved cat sitting obediently on top of her study desk.
"Boma always does that with people he's seeing for the first time, bro," Mentari replied with that gentle smile of hers.
"I only wanted to meet him. I wanted to tell him that I'll be helping you take care of him from now on." Gala let out a rough sigh, apparently realizing he was going to fail at picking up the adorable cat.
"Boma!" Mentari called, stretching out her arms.
Obediently, as if he understood exactly what Mentari meant, Boma jumped down from the study desk and then leaped into her lap.
"Here, bro. You can touch him. It's okay." Mentari smiled sweetly as she held Boma out for Gala to pet.
Unable to hold back any longer at the sight of Boma's beautiful, thick fur, Gala gently stroked the cat.
"His fur is so soft," Gala remarked, still stroking Boma's fur.
For nearly twenty minutes, the couple stayed busy with Boma. By now, the cat was struggling to get free and climbed down from Mentari's arms.
Gala looked around in admiration at Mentari's bedroom, which was so neat, clean, and wonderfully fragrant.