Only Raised Children
4. Meet Alina

This morning Rico is forced to fulfill his promise to Andi to meet a woman. The woman who was his friend's best friend.

Blind dating. That's the word that describes his activities this morning. It's just that Andi will come with them because that man will introduce her to a woman named Alina, if she didn't hear wrong last night.

After having breakfast with his family, Rico immediately said goodbye to his parents to leave.

"Where are you going early in the morning, Co?" ask Santi to his son.

"Rico has an appointment with Andi to meet, Ma. Not long, before 12 must have gone home" said Rico.

"Yes, be careful, honey. Greetings to Andi, if there is empty time invite him to play at home."

Rico smiled at the angel who transformed into that human being.

"Later Rico said, Ma. Then Rico goes first."

Rico kisses both of Santi's cheeks and alternates with Santi kissing her forehead. Such was the custom that Santi taught Rico from childhood if they wanted to leave. And that habit has been happening until now. Although he is an adult, but Rico does not mind it because it means that Santi is very dear to him.

After saying goodbye to his mother, Rico changed his goodbye to Irfan by kissing the back of his hand. After that, he went to the location where he would meet the location Andi had sent to his cellphone.

The morning walk on a weekend day makes Rico arrive quickly at one of the western restaurants, where they will meet. He went inside and when he saw the form of an Andi, Rico immediately approached him.

His friend was seen enjoying his breakfast with a woman sitting behind him. Yes, Andi deliberately made Alina sit back to the entrance so that Rico was curious about the face of his best friend.

Curious? Andi chuckles remembering that.

As soon as Andi looked towards him, the man immediately raised his hand as a form of greeting.

"Hey, Co."

Rico smiled faintly and nodded. After arriving at his friend's desk, Rico's gaze immediately turned to a beautiful woman who was sitting opposite Andi.

They looked at each other for a moment until Andi told Rico to sit next to him.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" andi asked after Rico sat down beside her.

"Here you go" replied Rico.

"When we have breakfast, Co. The acquaintance later after this," said Andi. Then he resumed eating with Alina who only smiled at Rico before continuing to eat.

As long as Alina and Andi ate, there was no interaction between the three of them. The atmosphere seemed quiet and they focused on their respective activities, which was where Rico played with his phone after ordering a drink.

Sometimes Rico's view focuses on Alina. Very pretty and looks classy, even though the appearance looks simple. Rico is not sure if she is different from all the women he has ever known. But since he was already here, it seemed like he had to get to know the woman first. Moreover, there was little interest that Rico felt from the first glance.

Almost ten minutes into silence, Andi finally opened his voice and introduced his two friends to each other.

"So this is Alina, Co. Al, this is Rico, the best friend I told you about," Andi told the two friends.

Rico and Alina looked at each other with her faint smile.

"Rico," he said, extending his hand to invite the woman in front of him to shake hands.

"Hi" Alina said without naming her. But he accepted Rico's hand.

"Where, Co? Beautiful, isn't it my best friend?" ask Andi prank.

Alina just silently heard Andi's question to Rico, while Rico himself looked back at her, as if to clarify Andi's question.

"Pretty. It's worth it Rena is jealous you're close to her."

Andi rolled her eyes lazily hearing the sentence that came out of Rico's mouth.

"Udah, don't discuss it. I'm here to meet you both," Andi said.

"We've just become acquainted" said Rico.

"Gosh my god." Andi rolled her eyeballs back. "I mean talk cake. That's further acquaintance. Yakali just introduced the name doang, indeed you are new students in the class."

Alina laughed amusedly at Andi's grunts. And it turned out that the sweet smile that appeared from the face managed to make Rico look at him with an unusual gaze.

Same with Alina. He who was stared at by Rico like that then stopped his laughter and smiled kindly at the man in front of him.

Andi who saw the action of throwing a glance in a short time then has his own initiative to rise from his seat. He bids farewell to the smoking area and gives his two best friends a chance to be alone. Maybe with him gone, the two of them will be more free to chat.

And just like Andi, Rico started to open his voice because Alina just kept quiet by staring at him. In the face of a beautiful woman who has extraordinary charisma, of course, will make anyone in an unsafe situation, as well as Rico.

Love at first sight is a risk and Rico has to melt the atmosphere before it happens. Rejected by the feeling of liking it feels quite painful, what if this time he was rejected with feelings of love?

If you can say, Rico is a man who is easily attracted to the opposite sex. But not to make him greedy by dating all women simultaneously. And don't let for the umpteenth time he's attracted to the wrong woman back. He really didn't expect that to happen.

"You're still in college?" ask Rico to start a conversation.

"Final semester," replied Alina briefly.

"Where do you know Andi?"

Alina raised one of her eyebrows hearing Rico's strange question.

"Should I tell you how we met?"

Rico scratched his head that was not itchy, he became wrong because he had thrown a weightless question. But he himself did not know what to ask, only that question spontaneously came out of his mouth.

"sorry. If you feel uncomfortable, don't answer" Rico said unpleasantly.

Alima smiled amusedly.

"Look easy, I'm kidding."

Although the question sounds strange in his ears, but Alina is more heartless if she sees others offended by it.

"I know Andi at Oxford. I'm his level brother over there, but even so me and Andi are the same age."

"You didn't graduate or...?"

Again Alina had to smile amusedly at Rico's question.

"I started school at the age of 7 and I was also a year late for college due to illness. So, I was 2 years behind my age friends" explained Alina briefly.

Rico nodded his head understanding.

"You work?" ask Rico.

"Yes" replied Alina briefly.

"Is the time enough? You have to go to college" said Rico.

"It has to be smart for time. If I don't work, money from where to survive. Asking parents is impossible, right? While my parents were struggling with farming," explained Alina.

"You're from the village?" ask Rico again.

"Em, it looks like you've been going on since. Is this an interview session?"

Instead of answering, Alina asked Rico. Although it is not a problem to answer all the questions of the man, but it feels like Alina is being interviewed by reporters, not chatting.

He was really confused about what to chat with the woman in front of him because until this second he had not found the topic of a cool chat. Moreover, Alina only answered her question briefly and there was no initiative to ask or extend the answer so that there was something interesting to discuss.

"If so, change me to ask. Do you mind?" alina asked and managed to make Rico cheer inwardly. Finally the woman asked, he thought.

"Of course not" Rico replied without hesitation.

Alina had not had time to throw her question, suddenly the sound of Rico's phone on the table made them stare in the same direction.

"Sorry, this is my papa."

"Its okay, just pick up. Who knows how important."

Rico nodded his head and immediately moved from there while carrying his phone.

Andi who was still in the smoking room, when she saw Rico leaving, she immediately put out her cigarette and came out of the room to approach Alina.

"Where is he going?" andi asked after sitting her body in front of Alina.

"His father called" Alina answered.

Andi nodded her head while looking at Rico out there from the windowpanes, then she turned her gaze to Alina with a curious face.

"Where? What were you guys talking about?" andi asked while raising her eyebrows.

"We do not talk, but rather interview," said Alina who made Andi frown. "Your friend is HRD, or a journalist? Why do I feel like I'm in an interview with him."

Andi then held back her laughter. "Why indeed?"

"That's it, good luck."

"Well, I've been able to praise men" Andi said spontaneously when he heard Alina praising Rico.

"Indeed he's handsome. Is something wrong?" alina asked with ease. His face really looked relaxed, unlike people who were misbehaving.

"Alright, Al. Just tell me you're getting interested in my best friend, aren't you?"

Andi laughed with his words. He hopes that the two friends can like each other to establish a relationship, because Andi is very confident in the nature of the two best friends that if put together will be very suitable.

Alina just looked at Andi with an unusual gaze, her friend was indeed able to provoke her.

There was not yet a minute Andi laughed, suddenly a beautiful woman was already standing beside their table. Making Alina look at him with a bit of surprise. Andi who realized that immediately stopped her laughter and put on a surprised face more than Alina.

"Darling?" andi said she couldn't believe it.

Yeah, the woman who just walked up to their desk was Renata, Andi's boyfriend. The woman who was buying a dress to wear later tonight at dinner with Andi accidentally saw her boyfriend's car in front of a restaurant. Out of curiosity Rena finally decided to stop by the restaurant to make sure if her boyfriend was there.

And when she saw her boyfriend sitting alone with a woman laughing, immediately Rena's legs just stepped over them. And what makes him very upset, it turns out that the woman who was sitting with her boyfriend was Alina. The beautiful woman who recognized her boyfriend as a friend.

Rena did not like to see the scene because she was very jealous to see the closeness of Andi and Alina. Although Andi and Alina say that they are only friends, Rena is still jealous. It's natural, isn't it? Moreover, the friendship between women and men will not always succeed. Even very far from succeeding, especially women are very beautiful like this.

Yes, Rena recognizes Alina's beauty.

"You lied to me, Ndi?" rena said with stifled emotions. "You said you wanted to nemenin Rico, but what is this? It's my birthday, Ndi. You have a hell of a lot of heart."

Rena wanted to run from there because she could not resist the emotions that made her tears want to come out. She felt lied to by her boyfriend on this happy day. But not yet he turned around, Andi had already held it by holding his hand.

"Darling, I'm not lying. I'm really nemenin Rico."

"No lie? Do you think I'm blind? Oh, or maybe Rico has now turned into a beautiful woman?" sela Rena fast. He still held back his emotions and spoke as quietly as possible so that the people in the restaurant did not see the commotion.

"Gosh, that's not it, honey. Look at it." Andi pointed towards the entrance, where Rico had just walked inside after finishing with his affairs. "That's Rico. He had just finished receiving a phone call from his papa. I'm not lying, I'm really nemenin he's here."

Rena looked towards the entrance. Sure enough there was Rico walking towards them.

"Why is this woman here?" asked Rena while glancing at Alina with an unhappy glance.

Alina who glimpsed like that did not take the slightest offence because she was used to the jealousy of Rena. She knew that Rena was jealous because she loved her boyfriend so much. But he also can not break the friendship or no longer meet with Andi just because the woman alone. After all, they are still with courtship status, not marriage, Alina thought.

"Of course Alina's here, 'cause I want to see Rico with her, honey."

Hearing that, Rena scrunched her forehead. How about Alina with Rico?

"You mean...?"

Andi sighed and invited Rena to sit down on the side chair.

At the same time Rico arrives at their table and Andi asks him to sit next to Alina. Rico who could guess what was going on at the time just agreed what Andi said. He sat his body beside Alina and looked towards the woman.

"Are u okay?" ask Rico.

Alina frowned confusedly.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Em, forget it" said Rico. Then he looked straight ahead, facing two couples who were having a small fight because of misunderstanding.

Andi who feels that Rena still does not believe in him, then explains what is happening here. He told me that he only wanted to help Rico to get acquainted with a woman because all this time the man had always failed in his romance. He also confirmed once again to Rena if she and Alina were just friends.

Although in the depths of Rena he believes Andi's words, but as a woman he still does not like to see his girlfriend befriend other women than himself. It sounds selfish, but that's how it is.

"Follow me or we break up" Rena said with her selfishness.

He got up from his seat and followed Andi forcefully. Andi can even only say the word 'sorry' to Alina and Rico as his parting sentence because he must immediately follow Rena's steps.

Rico and Alina just stared at the couple in silence. As soon as they left, Rico and Alina then looked at each other while raising their shoulders.

"That was your friend?" alina asked, joking.

"No. I don't know" replied Rico who responded to Alina's joke.

They put on an expressionless face as they said that, but a second later they chuckled in amusement at the situation.

A moment later they stopped their laughter and Rico looked towards Alina.

"I was told my dad would come home. There is a little work to be taken care of. Do you still want to be here?" ask Rico.

"It's okay, I'm going home too."

"I'll take ya."

Alina was silent for a moment before accepting Rico's offer. It's good to save money, he thought.

***

.

Do not forget to stay LIKE, COMMENTS, VOTE, and RATE ⭐ yes friends. Let the author diligently up. Thank you in advance🥰

.

.