# Chapter 3
A silver Avanza stopped in front of Pak Basuki's house. The house supposedly bought for nearly five hundred million rupiah made Clemira sneer as she watched from her bedroom across the street. She opened her bedroom window and pushed aside the Doraemon-patterned curtain that served as the final barrier between her and the outside world.
"Wow," Clemira cried when she saw a little girl get out, looking strangely familiar as she tried to figure out who the child was.
"This feels kind of familiar," Clemira murmured. Of course the girl looked familiar—she resembled her ex's second child, who was already five years old. But what really made Clemira's heart stop was when the tall, athletic man turned and looked straight toward her bedroom. As if he knew some gorgeous creature was spying on him.
"Wait, hold on—what the hell!" Clemira shrieked in shock. She was absolutely stunned. Her memory was still perfectly intact, and her eyes weren't too blurry to recognize that man.
"WTF, oh my God!" Clemira screamed, leaping off the bed and rushing out of her room to make sure her new neighbor really wasn't Galang. But her heart began pounding even harder when she heard her mother grumbling out front.
"What does that kid want? Wasn't messing with our daughter enough? He had to become our new neighbor too, even going so far as to buy Pak Basuki's house."
And Clemira could see the sour looks on her mother and father's faces. "Clemira isn't married yet, either, Ma. It'd be dangerous if that really is Galang, he's divorced now, and he plans to go after our daughter again."
So Clemira's guess had been right. The man living in the house across from theirs was her cursed ex.
"What's going on, Mom?" Clemira joined her parents after managing to pull herself together. Pretending she knew nothing was a much safer move than getting herself into trouble.
"Nothing. I just wanted to ask when you're planning to get married."
"Mom—"
"You're turning twenty-nine this year, Cle!"
"I don't want to choose wrong again, Mom, Dad!"
"For God's sake, Cle. Don't get back together with Galang just because he's our new neighbor now. I absolutely will not approve, in this life or the next." Untari pleaded, staring sadly at Clemira.
Clemira was speechless. Her parents weren't acting like that without reason. Their towering disappointment, built on the ruins of their failed hopes for her past, made them desperate to keep Clemira from repeating the same story.
"Who wants to get back together with Galang? Besides, why would I want a divorced man? I'd end up doing community service taking care of his kids!"
"Hush, Cle! Don't talk like that!" Jayadi scolded, warning his daughter not to say things carelessly.
Untari stood up and pulled her daughter into the house. "Don't go outside for a while. It's dangerous!"
Clemira should have felt saved, since being a writer meant she could avoid going outside for the time being. But the moment she grew restless and needed to step out just to visit the convenience store by the main road, she ended up hearing for herself that she and Arion had become the neighborhood's latest gossip.
"That's Clemira over there. She's getting old, and instead of getting married, she's always wandering around with Arion. Who knows what they're doing? Ever since she finished college with that so-called associate's degree, she's been unemployed!"
Clemira swore she wanted to squeeze shut the mouth of the judgmental woman, who happened to be Jamilah's mother and her neighbor.
"Really, Jeng? Doesn't she just keep going out to eat? Like three times a week, almost. I keep running into her eating chicken noodles or meatball soup on the main road."
"Whose money do you think she's using if not Arion's? He's from the next neighborhood over. That's why I want to meet Arion's mother, maybe she'd be a good match for Jamilah, you know? Better than Clemira, who just bleeds him dry! But what can you do? Jamilah heard that Clemira felt nauseous yesterday and Arion wants to take responsibility."
"Don't tell me she's pregnant? Poor thing, she's still so young!" another mother chimed in. The women were busy shopping for vegetables and hadn't noticed Clemira's presence as she joined them, sorting through water spinach.
"Ahem!" Clemira cleared her throat. She hadn't actually come to shop. She'd only come to confront Jamilah's mother about her outrageous gossip.
"Auntie, did you know there's a new neighbor in front of our house?" Clemira asked.
The woman she'd addressed flinched and began to tremble.
"Huh, Cle?" Her brow furrowed as if she were thinking. "Since when?"
"Since you started talking about me bleeding Arion dry," Clemira replied icily.
"You were eavesdropping?" the woman asked, glaring.
"I have ears, Auntie. Besides, Arion and Jamilah aren't a good match. Jamilah's way too calm. Poor Arion if she can't meet your expectations for a future son-in-law. Hey, there's a divorced man living across from us—fresh off the press. Go set them up!"
"Cleee!" Jamilah's mother snarled, barely holding back her anger.
Clemira finished shopping. She wanted to make stir-fried water spinach and crispy chicken that day, since her parents were visiting her grandmother and she was home alone.
Leaving the women behind with their irritation, Clemira suddenly remembered that her nausea from yesterday had become the latest gossip.
"Ar, I'm having an open house. Come have lunch with me?"
Clemira waited anxiously for Arion's reply. The man had never been even a minute late responding to her messages.
"You're alone, right? Do I need to bring a friend so we don't get busted?"
"No need this afternoon. We'll eat in the park out front!" Clemira added silently, And heat up my ex while I'm at it.
Arion really did come to Clemira's house alone. He had no idea she'd invited him over to make her ex jealous.
"Where are your parents? It's unusually quiet."
"They went to Grandma's. They're spending the night there."
"You cooked all this?" Arion asked, scooping rice and side dishes onto his plate before taking a bite.
"Of course I did. How is it?"
"It's great, especially since it's exactly what I like!" Arion ate enthusiastically, leaving not a single grain of rice on his plate. Clemira's cooking really was that good.
"Want seconds, Ar!"
"Can I take some home?" Arion asked.
"No, don't. I'll be embarrassed. You can't take just this much home too. What if your sister or your mom eats it? I'd never be able to show my face again."
"Please. You're talking about your future mother-in-law. Why be embarrassed?" Arion muttered, though Clemira could still hear him.
But this time Clemira didn't argue or snap back. She simply fell silent and let out a soft sigh.
Arion didn't leave until late afternoon. Clemira started cleaning the house, sweeping and mopping. For dinner, she decided to just buy something from the end of the street since she was alone. Clemira didn't know that Galang was currently watching her from his bedroom window with a huge smile on his face.
"What are you looking at, Dad?" Virgo, the five-year-old girl, broke Galang out of his reverie.
"Wow, my little girl already took a bath! Come on, go outside with Mas Rafa."
"Where are we going?"
"For an afternoon walk. One of your mom's friends lives here. Want to meet her?" Galang offered. He was planning to take Virgo and Rafa to meet Clemira.
"Who, Dad?" Rafa was already dressed and climbed down from Galang's tall, solid frame. The ten-year-old boy had been perched on him.
"The auntie across the street." Galang crouched down to Virgo's level. "Her name is Auntie Cle. She's pretty, just like your mom." Even prettier, Galang added silently.
Clemira had finished showering and had also lightly put on some makeup, even though she had no plans to go anywhere. She was going to stay in her room, cradle her laptop, and work.
Knock... knock... knock...
It was only five in the afternoon. Clemira assumed Arion had come back, so she opened the door without looking through the window first.
"You were just here this afternoon, Ar. Did you miss me that much?"
"Hi, Cle."
Clemira stiffened. Only then did she realize that the person at the door wasn't Arion.
"G-Galang...."