Mr. Bully
Story of My Life - One Direction
The noisy sounds of the group of little children jumping into the times scattered the daydreams of Varo, the, the man's head turned to look at the small children's glimpse earlier and looked back at Ahmad busy throwing his fishing hook eyes into the times.
“You know not until a century also we will not get fish?” said Varo pointed towards the little children who are swimming, the noise and their splashy style when swimming will of course drive the inhabitants of the times as far as possible, even if there is. Last time when fishing with Ahmad he got only used flip-flops, pans, button t-shirts, and ****** *****.
“Quiet mas, there must be a way.”
Varo laughs and fixes his sitting position so as not to fall into the times. The unpleasant smell was smelled but did not discourage the two people to move places. In addition to being too pewe, the melodic sound of Mbah Hadi's old guitar also makes them more comfortable.
“That melody of what song is mbah?”
“The song Doel Sumbang, the title is I love you” replied Mbah Hadi then sang a piece of the lyrics of the song I love you popularized Doel Sumbang and Nini Carlina old singer in the eighties.
Mbah Hadi's age itself is arguably not young anymore, living since the second presidential government of Indonesia until now makes it indirectly become an elder and respected in the village. Mbah Hadi has no family anymore, initially he lived in the village alone because his wife and children have died, but when he heard the news that his only grandson who studied in Jakarta became a victim of major riots in 1998 Mbah Hadi then went to Jakarta. After the burial of his grandson Mbah Hadi decided not to return to the village to fight for justice for his grandson's tragic death. Although to this day the government still seems to close its eyes on the victims of the 1998 riots but Mbah Hadi did not give up, armed with a guitar and a worn violin he busied from one street and another in Jakarta, Jakarta, until then one day met with Sigit Ahmad's late father and became the adoptive father of the man. When Sigit died Mbah Hadi came to Jogja at the request of the man during his life who wanted Mbah Hadi to spend his old time in peace, and this is where they gathered. To be a family without blood.
“If the heart has vibrated, longing always appears, fretting, and the shadow of the idol always comes that means you have been hit by the arrow of romance.”
Varo. “Ye Mbah if I hit a fire arrow has died dong from earlier”
“Yes has her charms. If according to the lyrics of one song Doel Sumbang, love is grace then happy, because if there is no love we can be miserable”
“How does it hurt?” varo fishing rods.
“Resah, restless, and unsettled heart”
“Oh my pantes miserable. I often fret and fidget”
“Means Mas Varo needs love”
“But the problem is, no one wants to love me. Moreover, making love with me” reply Varo, Mbah Hadi laughed then sang asmaradana tembang in Javanese. It sounded melodious because even though he was not young anymore but the old man still had the ability to vibrate the ears and hearts of the listeners. Varo himself almost wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep if only the sound of Olivia's footsteps could not be heard coming towards them.
“Mbah this from Mbak Ayu, he said let's not wait for the fish.” Olivia put a baking sheet of boiled yams and sat between them.
“Thank you ayu” said Mbah Hadi then continued singing.
Olivia smiled sweetly taking her yam while watching Ahmad busy throwing a hook. He then shifted his seat slightly back following Varo who pulled him slowly.
“It's quiet yes, not kayaking in Jakarta”
“Yes, the heat is also different. Kalo in Jakarta kayak toast.” Let's say Varo agrees. Varo often to Yogyakarta and actually there is no interesting thing, because for him Yogyakarta or Jakarta is the same, if the day is hot if the night the sun has sunk, and the difference is only Jakarta does not have a prambanan.
But for this time Varo feels Yogyakarta is a little different, even the hot weather this afternoon is much different from the afternoon he had experienced while in that place.
“Jogja is like a place to escape, I used to be stressed school must skip here”
“So much” kekeh Varo.
“Ya than I died in school” replied Olivia lightly with a faint smile.
“You High School time kayak how?” ask Varo for the umpteenth time. Too long with Olivia with curiosity, making this question a favorite question of Varo on the girl?
Olivia was silent for a moment, seemed to be thinking, “I don't have many friends.”
Varo of course knew it from Ayu's story the other day, but he chose to put on an expression as if he didn't know anything and waited for Olivia to tell him everything. Although deep in his heart, Varo was eager to issue various questions that since yesterday kept coming and changing in his mind.
“I used to be fat. My acne is also a lot, until it is often called the expanse of stars” story Olivia relaxed.
A feeling of skepticism instantly appeared filling Varo's chest when he heard Olivia's story. Olivia's physique was too perfect to imagine the woman's self-image as she said.
“You know the hardest thing to do in the world?” ask Olivia. Varo shook his head innocently.
“Loving yourself” said Olivia stared straight at the times but clearly showed she was just throwing a blank stare because her mind was somewhere else.
“Usually every time I stand in front of a mirror, I hate to squirm my reflection. And the funny thing is, sometimes I still hate to see myself in front of a mirror. I always feel less beautiful.”
There was a sad feeling painted from the look on Olivia's face. A feeling that perhaps Varo would not have understood so much. Olivia spoke quietly and calmly, but perhaps her feelings were not so.
“Every time I squirm a beautiful girl, I immediately masang standard kediri myself, so I can be just as beautiful as he” continued Olivia back to tell the story. “The standard of a beautiful girl in my eyes is when she speaks soft words, has good clothing taste, and should always look perfect in the eyes of others.”
Wound.
That's what Varo caught.
Olivia's hurt.
Many things can be a reason for Olivia to feel pain, many things that can hurt her, and many things that can make the inside of her destroyed. Even though his physique was perfect without any flaws.
The beautiful one full of wounds.
“And you know what is the most ironic of my life? The people around me kept their standard version of beauty to other people, and one of those other people was me. Because sometimes for them to put beauty standards to others it is much easier than having to mengjalanin themselves.
That's why when I was in high school I didn't have any friends. Because I could not set the standard of beauty at that time. And now when I'm in this position, I feel tired of having to keep looking perfect. But maybe without all of that, I'm just an ordinary girl who you're fishing for.
I'm not perfect and my life is too much of a pretense.”
Olivia's words were clearly an outpouring of heart, she told him everything that was hidden. His gestures and tone were calm, but the facial features were contradictory. In addition to the injuries, there was a disappointment that Olivia kept. Disappointment that may come from what he has or has not had time. Again, something that Varo did not understand.
“You're tired, why don't you stop?” ask Varo seriously. “Stop to be perfect and start being yourself”
“Last time when I was myself, I almost died” Olivia replied with an amused laugh.
“I'm serious.”
“The world is sometimes unfair with people who are themselves” Olivia said.
Varo is silent, he is not the type who likes to talk at length. Varo used to keep all thoughts and responses to one's statements just to himself. Varo is also not a person who likes to give advice or too serious on the problems of others, he is more likely to allow anyone to think for themselves and find a way out on their own. Because for him to give attention it is exhausting.
But strange.
Varo's silence this time was not because he didn't care, but because he felt sympathy. All of Olivia's words and the girl's life story unknowingly draw her attention back to others. Something that Varo had buried in his heart.
“Why are you silent?” olivia's smile flashed.
“I...” murmured Varo slowly sounding somewhat doubtful.
I want to protect you, Varo said in his heart. He wanted to say that, but Olivia's gaze made him silent.
“Why?”
“No papa” geleng Varo forced himself to smile.
“Ya mas kolor again” shouted Ahmad pulled a green color from the fishing rod. Olivia and Varo immediately turned away, they then laughed loudly while Ahmad began to get angry because from earlier no fish ate the bait.
“About Ahmad, there must be a way” of Varo's seductive flips over Ahmad's previous words.
...*****...
Dimas' hand tapped on the table with a grim expression, his ears still hearing Alya's voice from the other end of the phone. “So her High School name was Alex?”
[Yes, he used to be a PMR kid too so I know] Alya said.
Dimas was silent listening to Alya's long story, but his eyes still kept staring at the photo of a fat girl from the yearbook photo given by Alya. Alexandria Charmelia's. Alya's story makes all the memories of Dimas back to the figure of a fat girl with a pimpled face who always bought rice. The girl he knew was named Alexa but everyone called him Alex, not because he was special, but because he was bullied.
In Dimas's memory, Alexa is not someone who likes to talk and often acts like he is not a real figure in school. Actually without the need to behave like that the existence of Alexa itself has been ignored by the people around. Dimas is only one of the few people who want to talk to Alexa, even then because every day the girl always buys rice on her back.
Furthermore, Dimas' memory goes back to a time when Alexa was just an ordinary student who existed or did not exist, her existence will still not be ignored because the girl is not beautiful and not as smart as her who still has friends even though she is not from a wealthy family.
So actually there is nothing from inside Alexa that can be a reason to attract the attention of others.
However, a mistake made by Alexa made her life change.
[It was Radit who met Alex's letter to Varo. That's why he was immediately bullied out] said Alya. [Gue dodged on the last day before she moved school, her skirt was torn because her chair was taped with gum mixed with mouse glue]
“There's a report to the teacher?”
[Not] Alya's laughter from across. [Emang any of us who dare to report Varo with his plot?”]
“Lu inget who put gum in Alexa's chair?”
[Grey looks like it, but I see it's used candy eating Varo. Really bad huh? As far as I know, Alex is not the son of a school social scholarship recipient.]
Dimas smiled bitterly. When High School friend Varo group is like a vicious circle without a handler, let alone teachers as if to close their eyes with bullying caused by the group. It was as if donations from their parents were far more important than the mental health of one of his students. Dimas may be the only child of a social scholarship recipient whose school life is safe without interruption, it was actually because he was close friends with Varo since Elementary, so unknowingly Varo becomes Dimas' backer to live his school life in peace.
[Gue used to meet Alex locked in a basketball warehouse when the school was about to close. He was screaming for help, I happened to be passing by so I opened it. Poor thing, his friends Varo deliberately told Alex to take the basketball, he said told the coach, uh instead locked. Even worse, the bag was thrown in the trash]
“Lu never heard of Varo ngebully Alexa? I mean the Varo ngebully directly?” ask Dimas. Actually that was what he wanted to know most of all the conversations today.
[I guess not. Varo used to date Dea, how does he care the same? Do you know how Varo is doing? There are dead people beside him who will not care] Alya replied. [But I know the guy who started it all to rebully Alex is the Dea. I used to be invited to flush water to the toilet again in Alex's use, just I chose to unplug first]
“But at that time Varo knew there was a child who was bullied that badly because of him?”
[Maybe he knows, but I don't care] Alya's bells sure. [The part that was bullied was Varo's accomplice not Alex doang. Inget Wawan who chose to change schools because of the influence of Varo on the basketball court?]
“Which helped Dea money?”
[Wawan does not help Dim, it's the same Grey Erwin who accidentally put his wallet Dea in Wawan's bag, so Varo occasionally follow to ngebully Wawan. Uh but instead of being bullied it was directly punched]
“Lu know where Grey works with Erwin?”
[Many eyewitnesses Dim, only no one dared to buy Wawan. Rather than being the next victim, mending diem-diem, right? At the very most they were just sentenced to suspension doang.]
Dimas remember. He remembered the incident when Varo seemed possessed by a demon and hit Wawan all out. That day Dimas saw another figure on Varo, the least concerned one who suddenly vented his anger indefinitely. Not because Varo was angry Wawan ‘stealing’ Dea wallet, but because it was the days when he knew his family harmony would end. There is no longer a mother who loves only one man in her life and no father who loves only his wife. They secretly have each other's lives and it creates a deep wound for Varo. The wound that aroused his anger and he unconsciously vented on Wawan.
Dimas knew Varo knew Wawan was innocent, but the guy's anger shut down his logic.
[Lu know? the rumor is Alex is dead] Alya said making Dimas' forehead wrinkled. [But at the time Sandra said she was squirming Alex in Jakarta. He said it was different]
“Kok Sandra can know it Alexa?”
[Either. But Sandra said, Alex was trying to make Sandra avoid. Maybe because he hates it. Sandra once threw Alex's gym clothes in the trash. I also want to be Alex I've touched Sandra's face, before seeing her eyebrows slashed like sushi] Alya laughs. She is one of the many schoolgirls who hate to die seeing Sandra's pretentious style with her accomplice while walking in the school corridor.
[But you why all of a sudden nanyain Alex?]
“Kangen” replied Dimas carelessly.
There was the sound of Alya's amused laughter. [Oh that's a sign of Dim, a sign of wanting to die like kangen the same people who are not close to us.]
Dimas followed laughing. After a brief pleasantry he then switched off the phone and lit his cigarette. Dimas' body was leaning against the chair with various thoughts appearing in his mind.
“Alexa” Mumbles Dimas.
It was hard to believe that the pimpled face with thick bangs and the thin smile swirling around in his mind belonged to a beautiful girl he knew now by the name of Olivia.