CHAPTER 2—FLUSTERED IN THE CAFETERIA
Their project earned the highest grade in class.
Mr. Handoko even asked them to present it in front of another class as an example.
"See? What did I tell you?" Bara said proudly as he walked beside Kiki toward the cafeteria during break. "We're a solid team." He patted his chest proudly.
"That's because you did all the work. I only wrote the report," Kiki said honestly.
"Still counts as a team." Bara held out his fist, asking for a fist bump. Kiki returned it a little awkwardly.
And that's where the problem started.
In the middle of the crowded cafeteria, Bara laughed as he told her some random story, and without thinking, he patted Kiki on the shoulder.
Kiki, who was carrying a tray piled high with food, jumped and almost dropped everything.
Bara quickly caught the tray—and in the process, their hands accidentally met, overlapping on the edge of the tray for just a fraction of a second.
Time seemed to stop for a moment.
"...Thanks." Kiki pulled her hand away quickly, her face already as red as if she'd just run laps around the field.
"D-don't mention it." Bara—who usually had a witty answer for everything—looked flustered this time, hurriedly straightening a collar that was already perfectly neat.
Della, sitting not far away, immediately nudged Yuda. "Yud. YUD. Look." She called to one of her friends while darting her eyes toward Kiki and Bara.
Yuda raised an eyebrow. "What about them?" he asked, confused.
"Bara. FLUSTERED. BARA ADITYA NUGRAHA IS FLUSTERED." Della nearly shouted from excitement. "This is the second historic record this week!" she announced dramatically.
Meanwhile, Kiki and Bara sat at the same table, but both were busy looking down at their own food, sneaking glances at each other and quickly looking away whenever they got caught.
"Hey, Ki," Bara finally said, his tone slightly different from usual. "Thanks. For that day, at your house. I don't usually tell other people about my dad." Bara spoke honestly, awkwardly.
Kiki turned to him, surprised that he still remembered that moment. "It's okay. Everyone needs someone to talk to. You don't have to look strong all the time," Kiki replied.
Bara was quiet for a moment, then smiled—a real smile that reached his eyes this time. "You know, you're different from what I thought you'd be when we first became desk mates," Bara said, gazing off.
"Different how?" Kiki asked, puzzled.
"I thought you'd be nothing but strict and uptight. Turns out you're... actually pretty fun to talk to." Bara flashed another mischievous grin, slipping back into his usual mode, though his cheeks were still a little red. "For a class president," he added, raising and lowering his eyebrows.
"For a band kid, you're not so bad either," Kiki shot back, unable to hold back a small smile.
At the end of the table, Della had already secretly recorded everything on her phone, ready to share it in the class group chat that night.
And for the first time since starting high school, Kiki—the class president who usually had a plan for everything—felt that there was one thing that had never made it onto any of her plans, yet somehow she didn't mind it happening at all.
Maybe, she thought, not every beautiful thing had to be planned first.
Della, as usual, couldn't hold herself back.
The ten-second video she'd secretly recorded in the cafeteria, titled "Bara Gets Flustered in Front of Kiki," had already spread through the class group chat before the dismissal bell rang.
From the class group chat, it moved to the whole-grade group chat.
From the whole-grade group chat, somehow, it even made its way to the story of an underclassman who had a crush on Bara.
The next morning, when Kiki had just entered the school gate, several students from other classes greeted her with giggles and whispers.
"Ki, is it true that you and Bara are a thing?" one of her classmates asked, holding out a phone showing the video, complete with a caption from the school's gossip account: "CLASS PRESIDENT VS. BAND VOCALIST—OOH, LOOK WHO'S FLUSTERED TOGETHER 👀"
Kiki felt like the world had stopped turning.
"It—it was just a falling tray, it wasn't anything," Kiki hurriedly explained, but even her own voice sounded unconvinced.
All the way to class, Kiki felt like every eye was on her.
It might have been all in her head, but it still made her walk faster than usual, head down, heart pounding wildly—not because she was catching feelings this time, but because she was panicking.
When she entered the classroom, Bara was already sitting at his desk, and as soon as Kiki approached, several students began whistling teasingly.
"Aww, the viral couple is here," one of the kids in the back row called out.
Bara laughed awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood like usual. "Hey, don't gossip about us. My class president's parents are gonna chew her out," he said a little loudly.
But Kiki didn't laugh. Her face looked stiff.
She sat down tensely and immediately opened her book, pretending to study even though her eyes stayed fixed on the same page.
"Ki, what's wrong?" Bara finally realized that Kiki's mood was different from usual.
"Nothing," Kiki answered shortly—too shortly for someone claiming nothing was wrong.
During break,
Della followed Kiki to the bathroom with a guilty grin. "Ki, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would spread this far. I was just being playful and sent it to—"
"Del," Kiki interrupted, her voice quiet but sharp. "You know my mom likes to check the school's social media. If she sees this..." Kiki didn't finish. She couldn't think clearly at the moment.
Della fell silent.
She knew exactly how strict Kiki's parents were about grades, staying focused, and "not wasting time on unimportant things"—and to them, anything involving boys in high school ranked number one on the list of "unimportant things."
"I'm scared, Del," Kiki finally admitted, her voice trembling slightly. "Not just scared of being gossiped about. I'm scared that if this gets to my mom, she'll think I'm losing focus, and then... everything I've built since 10th grade to become a student they can be proud of will look worthless just because of that video." Kiki explained, her voice shaking.
Della hugged her best friend. "I'm sorry, Ki. I really am. I messed up. I'll take care of it. I'll ask that kid to delete the video," Della said, feeling guilty.
That afternoon, after all the students had gone home, Kiki was still in the classroom, slowly putting away her books, alone—or so she thought.
"You're still here?" Bara's voice came from the classroom door.
Kiki hadn't expected Bara to come back.
"Did you forget something?" Kiki asked, surprised.
"No." Bara walked in and sat in the chair beside Kiki like he usually did. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You've been quiet all day," he said, worried about her.
Kiki let out a long sigh and finally told him everything—about her parents, the pressure to always be perfect, and her fear that one small mistake could make all her hard work seem meaningless.
Bara listened without interrupting once, until Kiki finished telling her story.
"I'm not gonna say I know exactly how you feel," Bara said quietly, all traces of his joking tone completely gone. "My family has different problems. But I know what it's like to be afraid of disappointing someone important to you." His voice was serious as he tried to understand what Kiki was going through.
"Then how do you keep from looking so weighed down all the time?" Kiki asked, beginning to grow curious.
"Who says I'm not weighed down?" Bara smiled faintly. "I just choose not to show everyone. But that doesn't mean it's the right way to handle it, Ki. You saw it yourself, right? I've only told you, and even that made me feel so much lighter."
Kiki fell silent, thinking about his words.
"Maybe," Bara continued, "the problem isn't whether the video spread or not. Maybe it's that you're too afraid to be an ordinary human being who's allowed to make mistakes sometimes. Good grades are important, I know. But you also have the right to, you know... laugh, get flustered, or simply sit with someone who makes you feel comfortable without feeling guilty."
His advice touched Kiki's heart.
Kiki hadn't expected Bara to think that way. The Bara she'd seen was a guy who did whatever he wanted.
For the first time that day, Kiki smiled for real, even though her eyes were still a little watery.
"Thanks, Bara," she said softly.
"Don't mention it. Besides—" Bara stood and picked up his bag, a mischievous smile returning to his face. "—if your mom asks about the video later, just tell her I'm a good, virtuous study partner. Not a lie, right?" he said with a laugh.
Kiki chuckled and shook her head.
"Virtuous? Since when? You're the guy who draws stick figures in other people's notebooks," Kiki said, holding back a laugh.
"That's called creativity, Madam Class President," Bara shot back, unwilling to lose.
They walked out of the classroom together that afternoon, their burdens feeling a little lighter than before—even though they both knew this was only the beginning of a much bigger problem to come.