Love In Longing
Ct. 86 (In Lady Apartment )
Carrying a glass filled with water, Cla walked in the living room which was fused with a pantry and dining table that only had two chairs.
All he wanted to know was what photos were on display by the girl who was chasing her lover. Does the lover become one of the inhabitants of the wall or table of a Lady Charlotte?
And what he wanted to know was true he found in one of the photos attached to the wall. A photo of 5 people, where Arsen is seen standing on the far left side, and Lady beside him.
It was very clear that Arsen's arm was embracing Lady's shoulder. And the Lady's right hand was embracing Arsen's waist from behind and one more hand at the waist of the man standing in the middle. And Cla seemed to have seen the man passing by the door of Arsen's apartment when he was idly peeking at who was passing by from the small hole.
And again he had seen the man greeting the Lady when he first saw the Lady in the Lobby.
"this Arsen?" ask her to Lady.
Without approaching and seeing clearly, of course the girl who is still standing next to the dining table can know if in the photo there is Arsen.
Nodding slowly. "Yes..."
"Where are you guys?" cla asked casually, but in his heart he was trying to find out anything he could know.
"In Brooklyn." replied the Lady a little nervously.
"Brooklyn.." cla's mumbling looks flat.
' At that time Arsen also offered to vacation in Brooklyn... '
Continue in the heart.
' What to remember... if he had been there with the Lady? '
' No! No way! I have to trust Arsen! Get rid of those bad thoughts, Cla! '
' You are too much! '
He cried in his heart to dismiss all bad thoughts that attacked his head.
Cla went back slowly, until he again found a frame that also had Arsen in it. Sitting three with the Lady and the other girl. Where the Lady is sitting in the middle.
The three young men were dressed in thick clothes, and were somewhere believed to be one of the areas in Central Park in the winter.
"You go on vacation together often?" ask Cla later.
Hearing the question, the Lady hesitated to answer. Worried, if the question will spark a spark between the two, or it will be a boomerang for itself. Which very consciously still expects Arsen, the lover of the girl who was visiting his apartment without him inviting her.
"All the photos that Arsen has in them are old photos."
"meaning?" Cla turned his head and looked at Lady flatly and casually. Even though his heart was unable to relax.
"Yes... We haven't been in close contact for a long time.."
"What kind of close relationship?" cla's question intimidates.
Lady feels there is heat in the hold by Cla. As fellow psychology students, both of them could easily read their interlocutors' gurgles.
"We used to be close friends, when we first went to college," Lady began to tell a little story. "But everything changed, as we entered semester 5. We were never together again... Moreover, such a vacation." replied Lady smiling wryly, keeping a sense of disappointment in the chest.
"It was as if he was avoiding us, especially me." he continued sounding sad.
"So Arsen is also far away from other friends?"
"With others not... Because they are still often seen going and hanging out together. But with me, never again..."
"Why is that?"
"I don't know..." Lady shook her head.
"Have you guys ever dated?" ask Cla at the end.
Suddenly Lady who had a fragile head lowered her head. Looked at Cla's eyes waiting for his answer.
"Never..." Lady shook her head slowly.
"Match-like?"
Lady swallowed her own saliva. The question from Cla seemed to re-open what he was trying to bury.
"Hm?" cla asked looking more closely at Lady, but her face did not look angry at all and so on.
"No!" answer later.
"Related?"
Taking a deep breath and holding her heavy, Lady nodded despite not being sure Cla would believe. "We're just friends first..."
"I know there is no pure friendship between a man and a woman... At least one of them must be a baper! Especially every day meeting and exchanging stories."
DEG!
"You know? Arsen and I were friends too.. But it turns out we both keep the feeling of mutual love." said Cla elaborated what he meant. "So have you ever liked each other in silence like me?"
"Honestly... I have no problem." continued Cla.
Feeling Lady's answer this time lying, Cla walked over. Before arriving in front of Lady, Cla pulled something out from behind her phone case. Something he kept between the back of the phone and the inner casing.
"I found this..." Cla shows the white sheet to Lady. "If you've never had anything..why are there photos like this?" cla asked was seen holding something inside his chest.
I want to be angry, but I can't. Want to be gentle and ordinary, the same. Can't do. So clearly he withstood the onslaught of rough breathing.
Lady's flickering fingers moved hesitant to reach the white sheet in the back, but she did not know what kind of picture was behind it. It's just that he remembers one incredible photo he ever printed.
As soon as he accepted and turned it over, Lady's heart was like being hit by thousands of tons of stones from the sky, until her heart beat ever more rapidly. What should he tell me about the photo? He even just lied.
There is no word of like between the two. If you speak now, what does the world say? Will he be believed?
"So?" cla asked when he saw Lady just silently. "I found that picture in a novel! And the only novel on Arsen's bookshelf. But Arsen said he never read it."
Before replying, Lady stared fixedly at Cla's beautiful face. Hoping for the girl to be calm, for the sake of the absence of commotion between them. And hopefully his honesty will be trusted by the lover of the man he likes.
"We got acquainted the first time we entered the campus... He is very good, and all new students, of course know if he is the most handsome among others. Although his face was eastern, with his distinctive black hair." Lady started to tell me.
"I was lucky.he was good friends with one of my friends back then, and it made me have a chance to get to know him more closely. And it's getting closer because we live in the same apartment building, even though we never visit each other."
"From the many meetings, it felt very unlikely if I didn't like a young man as good as Arsen... I'm sorry I lied..."
"She was very kind." he muttered as he walked towards the nightstand, sat down on the sofa beside her and pulled out a novel similar to Arsen's, and took out the same photo that Cla showed from one of the pages.
"We get closer every day, we often leave and go home on foot together. Two years we're very close, of course there are so many stories that we share both."
"Until I knew, he went to New York to forget all the memories in Indonesia. It's about. love..."
"I was lucky because I had the chance and I was ready to be the cure. I'm ready to take the place of the girl who broke Arsen's heart. Until I give you everything I can give you. Gifts on his birthday, concert tickets and so on. I wish Arsen would make me his girlfriend."
"Especially Arsen's attitude is very good and looks comfortable when with me... And I'm the only student closest to her."
"And this photo..." Lady looked down, staring at the same two photos of the same size. "I picked it up at some time, before we were finally far apart."
"That day.. I managed to take her to lunch together. And we had lunch, just the two of us, at which time I had the intention to declare my love first... It doesn't matter if the world will laugh at me going forward first. But that day failed, because I was too nervous."
"And after that lunch, we went to the concert, where there was Jorja Smith who was performing her heartbreak song." said Lady reminiscing about the past. There was a smile, but it looked very painful and bitter.
"Then?" cla asked when the pause Lady gave him was too long.
"It seems like he got too carried away by the atmosphere and the flow of his song. Until he subconsciously hugged me from behind, in the crowd." Lady smiled back. "I feel very comfortable, of course let Arsen do anything to me."
"Until I think I don't want to forget that moment. So I secretly took this photo and printed it."
"In this photo, she really hugged me this tight, Clarice." - Lady looked at the photo of herself with the man who broke her heart.
"When he started to stay away from me, I really couldn't and didn't know what to do. Until I finally found this novel. Where the storyline is very similar to the love story I experienced."
"So I bought another new one, and I tucked the photo away as a barrier. And I gave it to her on her birthday that time."
"While I'm sure he'll never open the novel. And never would have known, if there was a photo of it that I'd tucked in a page that was very similar to the circumstances we were in..."
Cla took a deep breath and fiercely avoided him. Indeed, he was relieved, having heard stories from two sides like this. And what made him think since finding the photo is now gradually improving.
"I hope that after hearing this, you are not angry with me or Arsen.." said the Lady.
"We all have stories of the past, and that's what we've all experienced in the past" he continued. "And you should know, Arsen never got close to anyone again after getting away from me. Until I saw him use your profile picture after he wasn't seen for more than two days."
"I know." answered Cla.
"I know myself, Clarice... I've been trying to get away and forget about Arsen, it's just that because our neighborhood is so close, it makes us still meet often by accident."
"Yes.I came here to tell you.... To stop stealing glances and smile sweetly at Arsen! She is now my lover... As small as you steal, I know!" ketus Cla in a joking tone.
Dark without a sound, "I know, Clarice..."
"Hm!" cla's Nod. "I'm sorry, I forced you to bury your feelings..."
"It's okay! I've been aware of it for a long time." Lady smiled as sweetly as possible.
"Goody!"
Then their conversation continued from story to story. Cla also told me, if from the beginning he had been upset when reading a message from Lady on Arsen's phone.
Until finally, Cla said goodbye to return to the lover's apartment. After feeling his business with Lady was done.
The two parted at the door of Lady's apartment with a smile and a warm hug.
After Cla's departure from her apartment, Lady returned to the apartment. Re-look at the photo between himself and Arsen lined up on the table.
without feeling the tears fall just like that. Wounds and sorrow for broken love re-emerge in the living room.
Entering the room still with wet eyes, Lady took off one by one the photos she had attached on her study table.
"Good bye, Arsen.." It sounds so sad.
...🪴 Connect ... 🪴...