Aster Veren
Episode 196's

- Esther

"Frareeeen!" Sarah's voice surprised me who was putting bread in the basket.

I saw the boy standing next to me with his hands clenched firmly in front of his chest, his sparkling eyes making me wonder what he was thinking right now. Then that big, sweet-looking smile made me even more confused.

Did he get the lottery or something? My inner being who had never seen such an expression, looked fresh.

"You know?" His words again surprised me as his face looked up before me, closer than ever.

"A—what?"

"I heard fe—" he answered with a stop as the sound of the doorbell caught my attention, and Sarah and I quickly turned to the door, which had a male figure that I had seen yesterday. A man so familiar, I even forgot that I thought about him so much yesterday.

"Welcome home." I said along with Sarah, then walked towards the cashier leaving Sarah in her place.

I saw the man in his place, from behind the hat he was wearing I could tell that his gaze was on me. But since his hat covered his face, I couldn't be sure what he saw until it was sculpted like that.

Is he right—Carel?

"I suggest you buy this red bean bun, this bread is very tasty. Suitable to eat with milk, or you can also buy this meat sandwich. This is also the most delicious bread, there are various flavors that you can try, the most spicy taste is also there. Then ...." Said Sarah suddenly tear down my short daydream of Carel. Though a few seconds ago the man also kept watching me, but because Sarah's voice began to move.

"I bought this one." Said the man grabbing a chocolate banana sandwich near Sarah.

"Ah—oke."

I saw that they had walked up to me, Sarah immediately stood beside me still with a faint smile and the man was already standing before me, giving three loaves of bread in his hand.

After I counted them and gave them all the bread, he immediately gave the same card to pay for the bread he had bought.

"Have we met?" The question surprised me when I was about to give back his payment card.

"What?" As my gaze met face to face, I who saw her face so clearly was completely shocked to death when I found out the figure standing before me right now.

Even when he had started to open his mouth, my body had already been made goosebumps made. The voice I so longed for, the one I wanted to meet so much and the one I wanted to hug so desperately when I was so desperate. That guy, he's in front of me right now, Carel.

... What is this? Why is my guess right? My mind is feeling ungodly, somehow it feels like all my feelings are mixed right now. I felt good to see her again, but at the same time I also felt sad because I couldn't fall into her arms, and then there was a part of me that was also upset with her.

"Faren?" Sarah's voice made me look at her with my vision shaded, and somehow it felt like my eyes were so hot right now.

"You—nangis?" It made me grab my face immediately and wipe away the tears I had not realized had fallen.

"This ...dust—blink!" I refuse to lie while rubbing my eyes before showing my best smile.

"Eh? Ka—then don't rub it like that, your eyes can be red later." His words looked panicked, while that man, Carel. He left before me without saying anything more.

Am I caught? No right? My mind again, feeling restless.

"But, why is that kid here?"

***

- Carel

For some reason when I saw her, I felt a familiarity between us. And if you look again, his face also looks familiar. But strangely I didn't recognize him. Who's the kid?

Ting!

My cell phone notification knocked down my short daydream, I quickly grabbed the flat object from my pants pocket and took it out. Check the incoming messages I received. I saw Dwi and Teo's name on it.

"Hows it? Did you make it?" I muttered reading a short message from Dwi after swallowing the bread in my mouth.

I went to this region to confirm something, Dwi asked me to check it out because there was an unreasonable incoming report to the Alterio residence.

Me and Dwi want to confirm our suspicions. So I decided to go alone.

But in retrospect, why did the report enter the Alterio residence? Though this region is not included in the territory that must be monitored by the Alterio family. So what does that mean for nonsensical reports? My inner self recalls the absurd financial details of this region.

I swallowed the bread back in my mouth after chewing it a few times and started typing in a reply for Dwi before returning to continue my investigation.

"Say the region is in a difficult time because of crop failure, but why is the report different?" I muttered again while watching the vast expanse of land before me, and grabbed the milk I had stored in the plastic bag.

It seems like a corruption case? I remembered Dwi's suspicions.

"Wait a minute, Faren!" The scream of a woman caught my attention. I saw him looking at a man running away from him in front of the bakery.

"Let me catch up with him."

"No! You're kan—"

"You take care of the shop first, wait until Uncle Tesar comes okay!" Another man ran after the skinny man I saw earlier.

Waitaminute! What did he say? The tesar? My mind was completely taken aback by his words.

"Ah—Dean!" The woman screamed no longer heard.

I felt my heartbeat start racing, somehow I felt bad. Before I heard the man's name, I didn't feel anything. But when I heard the name Tesar, I somehow felt strange. Even more strangely, I don't know what weirdness I'm feeling right now.

"What is the annoyance because of his treatment of Aster first? Or feelings ...," I muttered as I squeezed the clothes on my chest. "I'll make sure." I decided to pursue the man named Dean secretly.

After running around in an uncertain direction, the boy finally stopped at a road crossing that looked lonely. His body pecked for quite a while there with his slightly shaking shoulders noticing something I could not see from behind him. Makes me wonder what he saw so he couldn't move.

"Hold aunty." The familiar voice of the man I met at the bakery made me walk quickly to the figure of Dean who was still in his place.

"Dee!" It surprised me when I looked at the man next to me. Quickly the boy ran up to her with his pale face.

"What is—bleeding?" I murmured as I looked at the legs of the women before them filled with blood.

"Ba—take aunt to the hospital. A—aku it ...,"

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Thanks for reading...