Stela left without saying goodbye. She ignored R, who shouted her name over and over. The girl clamped her hands over her ears. She even left her bag behind on the chair.
R chased after Stela without asking permission. He seemed to have forgotten that an older man was watching them without looking away. The young man chose to sit in the spot where his friend's niece had been.
"Stel!"
R grabbed Stela's hand. He had done it so many times she had lost count. Pulling Stela by the hand seemed to have become his new hobby.
Stela tried to pull free without looking at R. She struggled with all her might, but it was useless. T's grip was incredibly strong.
R walked around until he was standing in front of Stela. The girl turned her gaze away. She tried to hide her tearful eyes.
"What's wrong with you? Did I do something?"
Stela kept looking over her shoulder, avoiding R's eyes. The girl never expected to run into her past. Hearing her name called from that man's mouth made her hate herself.
"Hey! Look at me!"
R grabbed both of Stela's hands and held them. He gave them a gentle tug, trying to make Stela look at him. It was all for nothing. The girl continued hiding her face.
R stepped forward a few times and peeked around Stela's right side. The girl immediately turned left. R kept chasing her line of sight until he got bored. Finally, Stela stopped looking away and faced forward. Her head was still bowed, though.
"What's wrong? Did I do something to you?"
Stela blinked rapidly. She gathered the courage to look at R. She wondered why R hadn't asked anything about the man she'd called Uncle earlier. Clearly, he knew Stela's name—he had even known it before introducing himself. All the boy had asked was whether he had done something wrong.
"You're not going to ask about that older man?" Stela asked.
"If I really mattered to you, you'd say it all without being asked."
Stela swallowed. His answer felt like a slap in the face. R seemed to be taking a jab at her for choosing to run away instead of explaining the situation first. The girl drew a deep breath and let it out. She repeated it several times until she calmed down.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to ruin dinner tonight."
"That was Uncle Yanuar, Uncle Farhan's friend. He's Mom's employee at the office. Do you know him?" R asked, confused. Judging by Stela's expression, this clearly wasn't a minor issue.
"He used my services before," Stela answered quietly.
R's eyes widened. He instinctively let go of Stela's hands and turned around. The boy walked away with his fists clenched.
Stela panicked. She had no idea what R was about to do. The girl hurried after him and grabbed his hand, exactly as the boy usually did to her.
"Where are you going?" the girl asked.
"I'm going to teach that bastard a lesson."
"What for?"
"To pay him back for what he did to Aunt Fanya—and to you."
R kept walking. Once again, Stela grabbed his hand. Unlike the girl, R always stopped and quickly turned around whenever Stela held him back.
"Stop, R. Don't."
"No! I can't. An old man like him needs to be beaten up."
R gently pulled his hand free from Stela's and continued walking. Stela's eyes began to well up, and she shouted R's name. The young man stopped abruptly without turning around even slightly.
"R! If you keep walking, you and I will never start our story as us."
R let out an annoyed snort. He immediately turned to face Stela without moving any closer. He waited for the girl to approach him.
"What's your deal? I just want to protect your dignity. That's all," R shouted.
Stela walked toward R. "If you like me, care about me, even love me, then you also have to like, care about, and love my past."
R threw himself onto his bed. He placed both hands beneath his head and stared at the ceiling, which was covered in glow-in-the-dark stars. The night that was supposed to become the most romantic moment of his life had turned into a disaster.
This was the first argument he'd ever had with Stela. He had barely taken his first step, and an obstacle had already appeared. He cursed the old man, his uncle's acquaintance, for ruining the mood. None of this had been part of his predictions.
R also hadn't expected Stela to have a painful history with that man. The girl had even screamed when R wanted to confront him. She had cried, saying she didn't want to continue this drama. The memory Stela had buried had instantly risen to the surface, sending her into a rage and making her lose control.
R was at fault too. He shouldn't have acted like a hero. He'd forgotten Farhan's advice: not every woman liked a dominant man. Some of them didn't like men who showed off or flaunted their masculinity. And on top of that, R had interfered with Stela's past—a past that was different from, and more complicated than, other girls'.
"Argh!!"
R angrily raked his fingers through his hair. He threw both pillows in random directions, and they hit the glass on his nightstand. A shattering sound immediately rang out because of what he'd done.
Not long after, someone knocked on the door. Apparently, R's housekeeper wanted to clean his room. The young man only got up for a moment before lying back down.
"Later, Mbok!!" he shouted.
"It's Mom."
R immediately sat up. He reflexively glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was only ten at night. It was unusual for his mother to have come home already. The boy quickly got up to open the door.
Maria barged right in. She was accompanied by a housekeeper carrying a broom. R only gave them a lazy glance. He followed his mother and threw himself back onto the bed. He was tired, sleepy, and annoyed all at once.
Maria shook her head when she saw R collapse face-down onto the bed. She immediately sat beside him and stroked her son's hair. She clicked her tongue when she saw that R was still fully dressed and hadn't even taken off his shoes. Maria patted R's leg, trying to get him to lie on his back. But its owner only groaned lazily and shook his head. Maria smacked R's leg again.
"What is it, Mom?" R complained as he rolled onto his back.
"Sit up first."
R continued shaking his head like a spoiled child. Maria smacked his leg again. Growing more annoyed, R sat up at once.
"What?!"
"Why are you so cranky? What's wrong with my baby, hmm?" Maria asked as she stroked R's hair.
"Nothing."
"Don't act like some lovesick maiden. When someone asks what's wrong, give them a proper answer. Don't keep saying 'nothing' and then suddenly complain that people are clueless," Maria teased.
"Please, Mom. Aris isn't that dramatic. I'm really fine."
Maria wasn't satisfied. There was no way R would act like this without a reason. The woman racked her brain, trying to get him to let something slip.
"Did your date fail?"
"How did you know?" R asked, startled.
Maria chuckled. In her eyes, R was still an innocent child.
"So it really did fail."
"Jeez!" R turned away, showing his back to his mother. He'd just realized Maria had tricked him.
"The pretty girl from yesterday, right? What was her name again? I forgot," Maria said casually.
"Stela."
"Oh, right. Stela? How did it fail? Why? Was there a third person?"
"Hmm, well, it's, uh—" R dodged the question. There was no way he could tell her everything so bluntly.
"There really was a third person?"
"No, Mom. It's just, uh..."
"I don't like seeing you get close to him, Stel!"
"Why? Are you jealous?"
Simon ran a hand through his hair in frustration. More than jealousy, he was worried about how close his best friend had become to R. But Simon couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. Stela had already entered that boy's world.
"Call it whatever you want. The point is, I don't like it. I want you to stay away from him."
"Even without you asking, we were already far apart."
"Huh?"
Beep, beep, beep.
Stela ended the call without another word, leaving Simon confused. He mulled over her last sentence. The girl had clearly said they had already grown apart, even before he asked her to. How was that possible? Hadn't he just seen her having dinner with R?