“I love you, Laras. I know you feel the same way about me.” Bram kept pursuing Laras without caring about the people around him.
“Enough, Bram. Go home. I know your parents are looking for you right now. Leave me alone; I still have a lot of work to do.”
“All I need is for you to admit that you have feelings for me. I know you love me, Laras.”
“Let’s just pretend we never knew each other, and that none of our encounters ever happened.”
Those were the last words Sister Laras ever said to Bram several years ago. Bram was the son of a prominent, wealthy businessman. He was fairly handsome, tall, straight-haired, with a well-defined nose and fair skin.
Bram loved a woman named Laras, who had been his friend back in high school. They had dated and been in a relationship for roughly three years during high school.
They had both attended a Catholic high school, and their relationship began when they were freshmen, at the beginning of the new school year. It ended when they were seniors, and they broke up during their final semester.
Bram was the one who caused their relationship to fall apart. He broke up with Laras because he had started seeing another girl. Bram had many girlfriends while he was still in a relationship with Laras, but Laras never knew about his bad behavior.
Bram was good at hiding it from Laras. But after he went to college and they had been apart for several years, Bram realized that Laras was the woman with the kindest nature.
However, Bram could never meet Laras again because he had to attend college out of town. He went to college in Bandung, while Laras joined the Sisters' Congregation in Yogyakarta and became a nun. Bram did not know that Laras had joined the congregation.
Several years passed after they graduated from high school, but Bram never met another woman as kind as Laras. Then, all of a sudden, he remembered his memories with Laras and wanted to find her again.
As it turned out, Laras had entered a convent school here in Yogyakarta and had reached the final stage: temporary vows. According to the rules of the Catholic Church, this was the last step toward perpetual vows, after which she would devote her life entirely to God under the congregation's auspices by carrying out humanitarian work for others.
(The congregation is an organization of monks and nuns in the Catholic Church with a vision and mission of serving others.)
She was now called Sister Laras. She lived in Yogyakarta and had been assigned by her congregation to an orphanage, where she cared for neglected children who had dropped out of school because they could not afford the costs, as well as street children and homeless people.
Sister Laras was extremely well-known among the children and could be called especially dear to them. Her gentle, kind treatment of the children had earned her a special place in their hearts.
Sister Laras had decided to become a nun six years earlier, just after graduating from high school. Her heart had suddenly felt called to religious life, and she wanted to serve others.
Although there had been a great deal of opposition at the time between her and her parents, because they did not agree with her decision to become a nun, Sister Laras was the younger of two children. Her older brother was now working and married.
Sister Laras was the daughter of someone respected both in the Church and in society. Her parents were financially comfortable. Her father worked as one of the officials in their city and was one of those entrusted to serve as a people's representative on the Regional People's Representative Council in their city. Her mother was a homemaker who always accompanied her father whenever he was on duty.
Besides being a member of the Regional People's Representative Council, her father also owned several businesses. Sister Laras's father was a wealthy man.
But she left behind all the luxury she had enjoyed and chose instead to become a nun and serve others.