Lies
Opportunity to Meet

“Prepare my return schedule tomorrow. I have to get to Jakarta as soon as possible,” Karan told his assistant, Ian. Because the longer he was in this place, the more difficult he was to forget about Raya. In addition to the city of Milan is where they honeymoon, now Karan is disturbed by the words of Luca. It was very difficult for Karan not to listen to the boy's words because it was too influential in his life. And what was said was also appropriate that Karan should apologize to Raya.

“Good Sir. Are we going to the hotel now?” asked Ian again to confirm the last time. Actually Edgar had prepared a lodging place for Karan and Ian, but Karan refused, especially when he found out Edgar already had children. Karan had no problems with the Edgar family, he often stayed at the homes of businessmen who had married. However, Karan could not constantly be near Luca. As he got closer to the boy, it made it even harder to get away from him. Luca is a charming boy who makes Karan very comfortable to be around.

Their car moved from the restaurant to the hotel Ian had booked. It was at that moment that Ian handed something to Karan. A perfume fashion magazine published by one of the New York print media companies. “Pak, this is for you.”

Karan who had been struggling with his phone raised his head to look at Ian. He frowned when he saw the magazine proffered by the assistant. “What is this? Why did you give it to me?”

“I accidentally found it earlier, Sir, while I was waiting for you at the bookstore. On page five is a picture of the Mother Kingdom. Looks like he's back in the entertainment industry.”

Ian's words startled Karan let alone the name Raya mentioned by the man. Karan quickly took the magazine out of Ian's hand and opened it right on the page Ian mentioned just now. Page five. When the page opened, Karan was surprised to see Raya there, in the small section below the sheet of paper. Although it does not fill a place in the full page of the magazine, at least photos of Raya holding a perfume is in a magazine. It should be Karan's gratitude. She has been on hiatus from her job as a model. She has worked in the entertainment industry several times, but not as a model.

Raya works as one of the supporting cast in a mini series on an application from the United States. The duration was very short back then, but he appeared in several episodes. Maybe if collected in full then the minutes obtained by Raya from her role as an artist in the series is about two minutes. Very little time when compared to the minutes Raya gets in some of her commercials on television. But because of the production of Uncle Sam's country, the name Drisana Raya had become the talk of internet citizens in Indonesia and globally.

How did Karan know that for sure? Because Karan watched it. He followed the series from the beginning of the episode to the end of 20 episodes. Of course not to seek entertainment or just fill free time. Karan just wants to see the appearance of the lover there. Moreover, the series aired exactly one year of Karan and Raya's divorce. Karan misses Raya so much that he can do things he never did, which is watching a mini drama even though Karan himself does not really understand what the essence of the short series is.

The weirdest thing is Karan to stop his schedule temporarily in order to watch the appearance of the wife because the series aired during the day, precisely still in working time. This surprises Ian as he never sees Karan until he leaves his job for the sake of drama. But after knowing who was the actor in the drama, Ian understood. It became one of the stars there. And Karan will always prioritise Raya over anything. That never changed even though the couple was divorced. For Karan, Raya is still the most important in his life.

“She is very beautiful now. How is she even more beautiful after five years of being separated from me?” karan chirps unconsciously. Just now he was crying over the photo of Raya on his phone screen as a sign of his longing, now he was presented with a new photo of Raya. Woefully the ex-wife looked so perfect in the red dress. Raya hair that decomposes long is arranged in such a way as to fit the photo shoot that seems to carry the concept of an Asian country. Because visually, Raya does represent Asian women in the photo. This is very inversely proportional when Raya played a drama four years ago, where the woman actually looks like a woman from Spain.

Ian just wanted Karan to talk again with Raya to finish what had been stuck between them. Because Ian knew, Karan never expressed his feelings honestly to Raya. And vice versa. The way they met for the second time was wrong. They married for very superficial reasons. But their feelings are very real. They just need time to express it to each other.

“I heard the day after there was a fan meeting with the Capital in Milan, Sir. I don't know the place yet, but the event started at one noon,” Ian told me the information he heard from some people at the bookstore who happened to be Indonesian. At that time they were talking about Raya who was doing her activities in Milan. Because the name Raya is quite famous in Indonesia at least until five years ago, it is not uncommon for there to be people who still remember his name and face.

The information naturally shocked Karan. He did not expect that Raya would do his activities in Milan. Indeed he was happy because Raya seemed to have returned to the entertainment industry in total, but he did not expect it to be so soon to hold a fan meeting. Especially abroad. Though Raya is a native Indonesian and Karan has made sure the ex-wife does not replace her citizens at all. So, how can Raya have a time base in Italy, especially in the city of Milan?

Instead of asking that, Karan asked Ian something else. “How did you know about Raya? I told you not to spy on him again.” Karan suspects that Ian has sent people to follow Raya. Karan is already committed to giving freedom to Raya, so he does not want the life of the ex-wife to be disturbed again by her.

Ian quickly denied, “No Sir, really! I know from the bookstore. There are some fans of Ibu Raya is talking about the fans meeting. I just accidentally heard it.”

“You sure?” Karan threw a look of disbelief.

Ian nodded quickly. “Iya Pak.” While continuing to drive the car, Ian occasionally looked at the mirror that was leading to the back bench of the car, where Karan was sitting. “How about Sir? Will we go home tomorrow?”

Silence was created in that place for a while. Then, Karan spoke again. “Please delay our return tomorrow. I don't know if the way I use this is wrong, but I want to meet with Raya. At least once I want to see it directly even if only from a distant place,” Karan said sincerely. He knew it was risky, but he couldn't waste a chance. The man wanted to see his ex-wife again because he did not know when he would have the chance to meet her.