RUN WITH ME
CHAPTER 41: ANAHITA IRVINE

"Three days ago, my father suddenly said we were going to visit my mother's grave." After nearly ten minutes of silence between the two men, the higher figure spoke in a very small voice, almost like a whisper. Only Arunika could hear him.

There was no change in their sitting position. Gavin still drowned his face in the recess of Arunika's neck and Arunika still let the man hold her while giving gentle strokes on her back. The girl chose to shut up and listen to Gavin's whole story.

"Maybe this sounds ordinary to you, but to me, this is a very unexpected plan. Know it? Since the day of my mother's departure, my father only visited her grave four times and today became his fifth visit" Gavin continued in a sad voice. Despite being silent, Arunika understood the man's shocked feelings. He felt that he would experience the same shock if his family said they would visit his grandmother's grave, when they had not visited the place for many years.

"It turns out that the reason you asked us to go there was because you wanted to introduce Rebecca and Erlano to my mother." Arunika did not know who Rebecca and Erlano were, this was the first time she heard the two names. But the girl didn't ask because she felt that what Gavin wanted now was to be heard.

Arunika still did a gentle swab on Gavin's wide back, not a second did she stop. "Honestly, I wavered at my father's words at the funeral. I was thinking, is this really the time to move on and no longer bother about the behavior of this family to my mother?" gavin said after breathing heavily.

"But in the dining room earlier, my father's attitude changed again. She suddenly asked me not to visit my mother's grave anymore on the grounds of her long-ago passing and I had to let her go so that my mother could rest in peace." Finally Arunika found a point that makes Gavin bad mood like this so he nodded small.

Gavin again exhaled heavily while distancing his body from Arunika, ending his embrace of the small body. Arunika looked at Gavin. "I understand my mother's departure has been a long time. I can't help it, I can't accept that his death was caused by those old men. Why is my father talking like I'm making my mother unable to rest in peace?" After Gavin said the sentence, Arunika slowly grasped the man's hands and looked at the greenish blue net that was unusual for Asians.

"My father seemed clueless about my feelings and always acted as if my mother had never been in his life" Gavin said with his head bowed. Arunika still did not give a response, or rather did not know what to say.

Gavin's head was raised again and he looked into Arunika's eyes. "You wanna hear a little story about my mom?" asked Gavin gently, he realized Arunika did not know deeply about her life. There was a desire in his heart to open up to the woman, although there was also a slight fear of Arunika's reaction later.

At first Arunika was silent, but soon relived by nodding her head. Wh why? I don't know, the woman herself doesn't understand, she just follows her heart. Seeing Arunika give the green light, Gavin smiled faintly.

Before starting the story, Gavin exhales slowly with his eyes closed. When the pair of neutrals with unusual colors among Asians opened, the first sentence thrown by Gavin night made Arunika's eyes wide.

"My mother is Indonesian." How could Arunika not be surprised to hear that? He thought Gavin was completely bloody foreign nationals.

Gavin chuckled at Arunika's startled expression which seemed cute to him. To reassure Arunika, Gavin nodded his head, "Yes, my mother is Indonesian of Chinese descent, born in East Kalimantan in 1974." Arunika rounded her mouth in awe, never having thought of such a fact before.

"Just like my family," muttered Arunika who could still be heard by Gavin. Gavin smiled as he nodded. Realizing that Gavin heard his mutter made Arunika smile. "Then?" arunika asked Gavin to continue the story.

"Because they spend too much time together, they end up liking each other and trying to establish a relationship first. My father didn't tell his family at first because he believed this relationship would be met with strong opposition. But no matter how hard he tries to hide it, it will definitely be found out, right?" Arunika nodded in agreement.

"Their relationship was finally discovered, but my father insisted on keeping it. My mother also tried to get their hearts. In the end, they married very simply, the blessing of the church. There was no party because most of the family still opposed my mother's presence among them." Gavin exhaled slowly while changing his sitting position to the front with his legs stretched.

"After marriage, the elders, the old men who considered themselves in power over every member of the Kanagara family, pressured my mother to stop working as a TV presenter under the pretext of wanting to maintain the confidentiality of Kanagara's identity." Arunika understood the meaning of the words because the Kanagara Family is known to be very private and difficult to know the identity of its members, unless they introduce themselves to the general public.

"My mother loved her job very much, but in order to maintain her marriage, she decided to quit and fully take on the role of hostess. Shortly after my mother gave up her job, the elders again pressured her to give birth to a male successor, again my mother could only obey. Then I was born." One thing Arunika realized during Gavin's story. In fact, his family and Gavin are both conservative and conservative. He thought the Kanagara Family was like any modern family in general.

"My mom never told me about her feelings, but I could see her eyes were always sad every time I watched the news. I often secretly saw him standing quietly on the balcony of the room with a blank look. Not infrequently also heard the sound of screams full of emotion from my parents' room which ended with the sound of crying full of grief. Sometimes I think, why would my mom be willing to stay that long in this family?" The question came out as the end of the story. Gavin gently rubbed the end of his eyes that felt watery with his head down. He didn't want Arunika to see him cry.

"Because he thought of you," Arunika's spontaneous answer gave in return for the question, causing Gavin to turn his initial gaze on the small grasses in front of him towards Arunika.

"Yes, your mother persisted because she thought of you. He doesn't want you to be sad about his departure from home. He doesn't want you to be home alone every time you go home to school, eat alone, and sleep without hearing your favorite stories. Maybe he still wants to see you grow up to be an amazing child pianist" continued Arunika who made Gavin more silent. But a few moments later he smiled, making the woman confused.

"And it seems like those reasons can't make it last long, huh." Arunika frowned hearing that. Whatdoes thatmean?

"My mom killed herself when I was six, Run. In his bedroom, with an anxiety-relieving drug that he hasn't had since."

After that, Arunika was completely speechless, not knowing how to respond to that reply, whereas Gavin could only faintly smile.

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