The next day, Caramel had just gotten off an online motorcycle taxi with her little bag in hand. She stood in front of a boarding house she knew all too well, then looked up at the second floor.
“Intaaannn!” Caramel’s raspy voice boomed so loudly that several birds perched on the power lines seemed to consider changing their address.
There was no answer.
Caramel yelled again. “INTAAANNN! OPEN THE DOORRR!”
Thunk!
“Ow!”
Caramel immediately grabbed her head. Something not particularly hard but thoroughly irritating had just hit the crown of her head.
She looked up.
The neighbor next to Intan’s room stood on the second-floor balcony with her hands on her hips. Her face was as crumpled as if she’d just finished arguing with her extended family over an inheritance. The three chili patches stuck to her forehead made it perfectly clear that she was at stress level ten.
“That’s why you shouldn’t yell in other people’s neighborhood! What, did you think this was a jungle?” the woman snapped. Her face looked like someone being crushed by family pressure over the question, “When are you getting married?”
Caramel looked left and right. “Oh my gosh... I thought it was a jungle, ma’am.”
The woman glared.
“Just look for yourself! This is a boarding house!”
Caramel nodded slowly. “Well, yeah.”
Then she pointed at the woman. “But there’s an orangutan right there.”
“WHAT?!”
Caramel immediately smiled. “I’m kidding, ma’am.”
The woman became even more furious.
“You have no manners! You yell, wake people up, and now you’re insulting me too!”
A string of curses involving various animals and certain body parts rang out. But Caramel didn’t care.
“Intan must still be in class.” She smiled. “That means I have time to think of ways to make Uncle Carlo fall even harder for me.”
Caramel climbed the stairs with a goofy smile on her face. She wasn’t worried about being stopped by Intan’s neighbor. However, the moment she reached the second floor, she was well and truly intercepted.
Caramel furrowed her brow as she stared at the woman standing there as solid as concrete, glaring at Caramel like she was ready to start a brawl.
“What?! You’ve got some nerve! How dare you call me an orangutan!” The woman planted her hands on her hips in front of Caramel.
“Wait, ma’am, I didn’t call you an orangutan.”
“Then what did you say?!”
“I said there was an orangutan.”
“Where?!”
Caramel pointed at herself. “Me.”
The woman fell silent. Caramel smiled.
“I have hands, feet, hair, a nose, and eyes too. The whole package. I just can’t swing from trees yet. And this version of an orangutan is prettier than Tiara Andini.”
“You little brat! Quit making excuses!”
The woman picked up her other sandal.
Caramel immediately took a step back. “Hey, don’t throw that one too, ma’am. This head of mine is a national asset. Lots of people keep asking when preorders open, but nobody actually wants to place an order.”
“Can you talk normally for once?!”
“Honestly, it’s weird, but I can.”
Caramel immediately spoke in an extremely formal tone. “Good morning, ma’am. I’m Caramel Louisa, a beautiful human being who happened to come to my friend’s room to collect my constitutional rights in the form of Intan’s potato chips.”
The woman fell silent.
Caramel smiled. “How was that? Normal, right?”
“You’re insane!”
“Thank you.”
“Who was complimenting you?!”
Caramel let out a small laugh and headed toward Intan’s room.
The woman was still grumbling. “Don’t yell again!”
Caramel didn’t turn around. She only gave a thumbs-up. “Got it, ma’am!”
“And don’t just barge into other people’s rooms!”
Caramel stopped. “But I have a key.”
The woman immediately fell silent. Caramel continued on her way with a smile.
“That’s why you shouldn’t get so worked up, ma’am. Those three chili patches might get tired of sticking to your face.”
“You little—”
Caramel had already slipped into the room.
“Enjoy your rest, Old Maid!” The girl poked her head out slightly.
“WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN OLD MAID?!”
Caramel laughed as she shut the door, but a second later, she popped out again and shouted, “I’m not the one who said it!”
“INTAN SAID IT?!”
Caramel didn’t answer. She went back inside, shut the door, and giggled. “Freaking wannabe fossils!”