“Auntie…” He called out while holding my hand.
I stood up and matched my height to the little boy’s. Then I looked at Anissa, and she merely shrugged.
“Yes, sweetheart. Who are you looking for?” I asked.
“Help me hide from Uncle Rahe and Uncle Mahe.”
“Rahe? Niss, you know him? And Mahe? The guy Nilna mentioned at the café that time, right?”
“Rahendra? He’s my senior in the law department.”
“Probably. Big Brother Mahe is the president of the Business Management Faculty’s student council,” she continued.
She said it while continuing to eat her snack. Then she turned toward me with her eyes wide and, let’s not forget, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the person beside me.
The little boy looked at Anissa as if he were about to cry.
“What?”
At the same time, the boy burst into tears.
“Anissa! See? You made someone else’s kid cry.”
“I was just surprised. He’s Rahe and Mahe’s little brother. You should know, they’re pretty famous on campus,” she explained, and I paid no attention to her.
“There, there, sweetheart. Don’t cry. What’s your name?”
“Cakra.”
“Why do you want to hide from your uncles?”
I picked him up and sat him on my lap on a bench in the park. His crying stopped.
“Uncle’s busy with their own things. Even though they were the ones who brought me here.”
Author’s POV
Elsewhere in the park
Malik Rahendra Gunnawan and Mikail Mahendra Gunnawan weren’t twins. It was merely a coincidence that their names were so similar.
Who knows? Maybe their parents wanted their children’s names to make them look like twins. Rahe and Mahe were one year apart.
Both of them were very active in various organizations and in competitions between colleges and faculties.
Their personalities were complete opposites. Rahe was fairly easygoing, while Mahendra was extremely aloof.
Today, they were busy preparing for tomorrow’s seminar. But their older brother, Tirta, had asked them to look after his son. So they brought Cakra to the campus park.
The seminar was being held outdoors, in accordance with the campus’s regulations.
Rahendra was typing up several reports, while Mahendra was discussing tomorrow’s event with several members.
Since Cakra didn’t understand what they were talking about, he decided to leave. They didn’t notice him.
After Rahendra finished writing, he tried looking for Cakra around the area, but he couldn’t find him.
Mahendra noticed the panic on Rahendra’s face.
“All right, we’ll continue the meeting later. Just handle whatever you can for now. If you run into any trouble, let me know,” he said firmly before walking over to his older brother.
“What’s wrong?”
“Cakra’s gone,” he said in a panic.
“What? Wasn’t he with you?”
“He was, but then I started writing this report, and the kid disappeared,” he explained.
“Then let’s look for him.”
They searched for Cakra, splitting up as they went.
But they found nothing. They searched around the women’s dormitory park. Faintly, Rahe could hear Cakra laughing.
I think I’ve met that woman before, he thought.
He approached the two women who were with Cakra.
“Cakra.”
All three of them turned around.
“You,” Rahe and I said at the same time.
“Nice to see you again.”
“Likewise.”
“You know him, Sha?” Anissa asked in surprise.
“I’ll tell you later,” I replied.
“Oh no, Uncle found me,” the little boy cried out. He looked very unhappy.
“Cakra, you can’t say that. Look, your uncle is tired from searching for you,” I said.
Cakra merely glanced at his uncle before tightening his arms around me. I patted the little boy’s back.
Cakra looked sleepy. I could feel it when his grip on my hand loosened. I handed Cakra to Rahendra.
Unlike me, Anissa stood there silently, staring at Rahendra. She smiled, for some reason grinning to herself.
It looked like my friend had a crush on her adoptive older brother.
Before I could hand Cakra over, he woke up again. His grip tightened.
“I don’t want to be with Uncle Rahe. I want to stay with Auntie Irsha!” he cried.
But the boy was already in his uncle’s arms.
Cakra tried to break free from Rahe’s hold. He wanted to be with me, but his attempt failed.
“Auntie Irsha is going home, Cakra, so don’t be difficult, okay? Listen to your uncle. Bye-bye.”
“I’ll be going now. Excuse me.”
“Peace be upon you.”
“And peace be upon you.”
Irsha and Anissa left. They walked toward the convenience store near the park to buy a few things Irsha needed for her apartment.
Meanwhile, Rahendra tried to find his little brother, who had apparently been sitting not far from where they had been earlier.
He approached him and took him home because Cakra had already fallen asleep.
Inside the convenience store.
“Sha?” she called.