7 Virgin Blood
Million Questions

Happy birthday, Wulan. Congratulations on reaching this age and congratulations on your graduation. I wanted to apologize because I was late. But now I want to apologize because I came at the wrong time. And, sorry also if my arrival this time you did not expect. Not as I expected and not as I expected. Im sorry. If you do not accept my presence, I will not come again. Sorry if my arrival bothered you. Goodby.

Good-bye-bye...?

Tears instantly dripped down my cheeks. I don't know why I feel lost....

"What's wrong?" aji's voice suddenly drew my attention from the sense of loss that was immediately present after I read the letter in the bouquet. Aji just walked in and stood at the kitchen door. "Why is Siti crying?"

Wenny raised his shoulders. "I don't know, Kang. When I came Wulan was already crying. Oh yes, Wulan, why did you introduce yourself as Siti? Don't you like it when people call you Siti?"

"That's. I don't know." I shook my head, then wiped the tears. "I guess for the sake of hiding my true identity. Afraid that the one who grazed me turned out to be the bad guy and would find out about me or my social media accounts from the internet. So, yeah, so."

Wenny nodded, then turned towards her boyfriend. "Oh, yeah, that, Kang, Wulan can't believe that Kang Jaka just got home from the police station. He said Kang Jaka was here to see him."

"Seriously?" Aji asked me, I quickly nodded confirming. He came up to me and Wenny, and looked confused. "That's what I saw...."

Wenny flabbergasted. "Did you see it too? Where's where?"

"Here."

"Here?"

"In the front yard, in the car. Just a quick glance, anyway. But his face was clearly visible. I thought I was just looking wrong, just hallucinating. But it's definitely not Jaka."

Now I'm getting confused. "How could it not? I talked to him. Directly. In front of me."

"No way."

"Yes, it's impossible" Wenny said.

"But that's the truth. He was here. Therehewas. How could I have been wrong."

"But when I saw him, I was calling Jaka. She's with Luna."

I'm shaking. "That means there are two people who have the same face" I murmured. "How can you?"

"Impossible," said Aji. "I've known Jaka since childhood. "I never knew she had a twin."

If Aji doesn't know, how can I know?

"From childhood I often saw Kang Jaka come home. But he was always alone. There's never been two Jaka who come here."

What Wenny said was right. He always comes home to his own village. If that man had a twin, my grandmother would know. But this...? Can anyone duplicate his face? But... indeed in the real story there is something like that? Oh, my God, this is so confusing.

"Is it possible that there are two people with the same face?" ask Wenny. "Twin or intentionally duplicate? Someone who changed his face to imitate someone else? Disguise as someone else?"

Aji put his shoulders. "Eitherway. Could be. But whatever it is, my best friend Jaka is not a lecherous man. I'm sure, he who is not depraved, must be the real Jaka."

"So you think, about that rumor...?"

"That wasn't my best friend, Wen."

"That's the duplicate?"

"Maybe. Maybe someone wants to ruin his good name."

"Whatever it is," murmured Aji, "my best friend is a real man. He couldn't possibly act low that could destroy himself. Surely the one who did the heinous thing was the duplicate. I know Jaka very well. I trust him completely."

What about you, Wulan? Do you believe it?

Oh my God, why does it feel like there's a glimmer of hope in my heart? Why do I wish there was someone else behind that face? I wish Oom Jaka, the handsome man of my heart, was a clean man, and I feel like I want to fight back on this feeling.

The hate just disappeared.

I nodded like a mad woman. "Then, which one is the real one?" ask me to myself. "How do I know? How can I tell the two apart?"

"Yes, how are we gonna know?" ask Wenny.

"Of course." Aji shook his head in frustration.

"Who's with Luna, or who just came?"

"The new one came," I murmured. "He's Oom Jaka."

"How can you be sure?"

"But the one with Luna cares for Luna," Aji refuted. "That's Jaka's character. Jaka's good nature."

"But you didn't meet the person who just came here" I refuted. "I mean. You're not talking to him. You just saw it, didn't you?"

Everyone glanced at each other, then Wenny again asked me the same question.

That's when I realized the difference. "While he had just met me, he was so caring about me. The one at the police station, he pretended not to know me. She didn't protest or say anything when Kang Aji introduced me to her."

"So he knows you? And it should have been...?"

I'm nodding. "I don't feel foreign to the person who just met me. And he wishes me a happy birthday. He always said it every year. He must be the real one."

"What if he's a fake?" ask Wenny. "How about he comes for virginity...." Wenny closed his mouth. "Sorry, I shouldn't talk like this. Sorry...."

I'm termangu.

"True," said Aji. "How about that? While those there care about their best friend. That's what Jaka was to his best friend."

I grimaced. My heart slips. "Then to me? He pretended not to recognize me, why?"

"Sorry, Siti, I mean Wulan, what is your relationship with Jaka? Emm... I mean, do you guys have a special relationship?"

Well, in the end I have to be self-aware. Oom Jaka is not who I am. There was never any sign of interest from him to me. I'm the only one who likes it even the feeling it never expresses.

Why is my question as if I want to prove that I'm important to him?

How humiliating!

"Wulans?"

I'm shaking. I don't have an answer. Because I'm a nobody.

So what's important for me to know which Oom Jaka is real and which one is fake?