Ryanthi: Sweet Cake, Bitter Reality
• FORTY TWO : Peace Cake

Ryanthi was sitting pensively, receiving an incoming message from Indira. The message was opened immediately. Instantly, Ryanthi looks up in disbelief, seeing Adrian's ridiculous appearance. The girl immediately commented.

She why?

A moment later, Indira replied.

Adrian worked hard to make you a cake. Don't be mad at him anymore. He's so fucked up. Adrian even forgot to shave.

The afternoon breeze struck the beautiful face of Ryanthi, who was thinking about her next life move. Ryanthi has continued her education abroad. He won't back down again. Ryanthi must be able to realize his ideals and the late Farida.

So what about Adrian? To be honest, Ryanthi began to feel an attraction towards the man.

A moment later, Vera's car stopped in the yard. He just got back from the doctor. Vera looked very happy that day. Probably, because Arshan was accompanying him.

"How, Ver?" ask Ryanthi.

Vera smile. "Everything's normal. We can only find out the sex of the baby after seven months of gestation" he replied.

"Thank God. I'm glad to hear that.

Male or female, I think it's the same" Ryanthi said.

"Yes. I can't wait to buy baby equipment. However, mama says pamali if it hasn't been seven months," Vera regrets.

Ryanthi smiles. "Remember, don't flutter!" whispered slowly.

Meanwhile, Arshan prefers to go in and change clothes immediately. Today is the schedule for pickets to the factory.

"I'm going in first. Today Arshan will go to work" said Vera as she headed for the entrance.

"Piket, huh?" ask Ryanthi.

Vera's stunned. He looked at her with a glare. That look made Ryanthi feel bad.

"It's usually a Saturday off" Ryanthi said.

Vera smiled, even though there was a hint of a strange feeling in her heart. He realizes that Ryanthi has known Arshan for much longer than him.

Meanwhile, Arshan has prepared. Today, he doesn't wear a work uniform, because he'll just be monitoring. Arshan leads about sixty people in one cell. In fact, he was already quite senior when compared to his other men. However, it did not make him feel stiff or become someone big-headed.

Arshan can blend in with all his men. There is no distance between superiors and subordinates. Moreover, he realized that he was still working and in salary by others.

Vera looked at her husband. He was so admiring of Arshan's kind figure, even though after marriage the man had not touched him at all. Vera tried to understand it. He doesn't have much to worry about that either. For Vera, being near Arshan is more than enough.

"What time are you coming home?" ask Vera, when Arshan was wearing shoes.

"Before five," answered Arshan, rising up. He searches for his jacket which happens to be being held by Vera.

"Here," Vera thrust out the jacket.

"I'm leaving first. Take good care of yourself. Remember the doctor's message, "Arshan's message.

Vera smiled broadly at Arshan's words that felt very attentive to him. She hugged her husband. However, Arshan just stood by.

"That's it. I have to go." Arshan releases Vera's embrace. He's out of the room. A moment later, the sound of his motorbike came out of the yard.

................

Ryanthi had just finished bathing and got dressed when she heard someone throw a pebble at the window. Ryanthi knows who did it.

The girl walked over to the window, then peeked out from behind the curtains. Adrian was seen with a red box in his hand. The man smiled as he gestured for immediate descent. Adrian then reached into the phone from his shirt pocket.

Uncommanded, Ryanthi also retrieved her phone lying on the bed. After that, he returned to the window.

"Comedown. I brought you something." Adrian showed me the red box he was carrying.

Despite the hesitation, Ryanthi tried to smile.

"Come, come down."

Ryanthi hung up the phone.

He came down the stairs with great enthusiasm. However, Ryanthi is happy with Adrian's arrival.

Arriving outside, Ryanthi finds Adrian already standing looking at her. The man smiled calmly. She kept staring at the pretty face she missed so much.

"You shaved already?" ryanthi asked while cupping Adrian's handsome face.

Adrian nodded slowly. "I'm afraid of being scolded again" she replied, interspersed with a calm smile.

"I miss you so much. My days are so sad. I felt like I was in a desert without food and water. I spent my time sitting in bed, and could not stop thinking about you. You don't know how tormented I was then" Adrian said with a glittering look.

"I also cry every night because I think of you" Ryanthi replied.

Adrian looks happy to hear Ryanthi's words. He placed the red box on the bonnet of his car, then clasped Ryanthi's hand tightly.

"In that case, we've got this misunderstanding. I could have sworn that what I was waiting for that day was not Fiona, but you. Just think, why would I tell you to come if there'd be another woman there?"

"Who's Fiona?" ask Ryanthi.

Adrian did not answer immediately. There was a huge burden in the look in the man's eyes.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I really appreciate that" Ryanthi said a little disappointed.

"We were close about two years ago. However, after that I never got in touch with him again." Adrian was silent for a moment. A short complaint slid from his lips. "We were close for almost a year, before I realized it was the biggest mistake I'd ever made" Adrian said.

"Why?" ryanthi asked curiously.

Adrian looks over at Ryanthi for a moment. There was a great doubt in his eyes. He did not dare to reveal what had really happened. "I'm not sure you can accept this" he said hesitantly.

"Tell me. If it's just the past that you've left behind, then I'll definitely accept it" Ryanthi said, assuring Adrian to be honest.

"Ryanthi, I've ruined a marriage." Adrian was silent.

Meanwhile, Ryanthi waits for the continuation of Adrian's story with a pounding heart.

"Fiona is the wife of my papa partner. We met at a business dinner. Instead of taking care of work, I was busy watching women who also seemed to pay more attention to me. A married woman" Adrian said.

"Since then, we have often met secretly. However, our affair was finally known to her husband. He got angry and took a vibe to my papa, until my papa got sick." Adrian was silent.

"Don't you ever say you don't like complicated love stories? I think it's a lot more complicated than my love story with Arshan."

"I haven't had the courage to tell you that. I thought, Fiona won't return to Indonesia."

"That means if that woman never comes back, then you won't tell me anything?"

Adrian looked at Ryanthi. He looks so wrong. "That's a bad past and a very shameful one. You think I'd tell a woman like that I love?"

Ryanthi's heart tightened when she heard Adrian say the word love. She smiled, and seemed to ignore everything about Fiona.

"For the past two years, I've never been in contact with him. He just called me yesterday, when he came back to Indonesia. But I ignore it more often. After all, my attention is now only on you." Adrian kisses friendly fingers Ryanthi. This made Ryanthi very happy.

"Can I trust you?" ask the girl.

"I told you I love you. Even though I'm a jerk, my papa always taught me to be loyal to one woman, the woman I was in a relationship with. I know I haven't expressed my love for you, but I'm sure you don't need anything like that. You must have been able to understand the meaning of my attention all this time, even though to you I'm so annoying."

Ryanthi smiles. She blushed hearing Adrian's sweet words to her. A moment later, Adrian glanced at the red box he had placed on the hood.

Ryanthi smiles. He knew what the box was. Ryanthi invites Adrian to sit on the terrace. Between the steps of the stairs.

Ryanthi's smile grew wider as Adrian opened the red box. There's a sponge cake in it.

"I got this cake recipe from a video I watched last night. However, to be honest I managed to make it like this because of my mama's help. I was ...." Adrian did not continue his words. He looked at Ryanthi while shaking his head.

"You're totally outrageous to me, Ryanthi. I was dizzy when I faced wheat flour, butter, and eggs! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to linger in the kitchen. Near the oven. I don't know what it's like. Surely it won't be as good as you made it, but I made this lovingly." Adrian spoke at length, without taking the slightest look away from the girl before him.

"It's okay. After all, if it doesn't taste good we can give it to Vera."

Ryanthi ended her words with a soft laugh. Never had he felt this happy, after he had lived in the Surya residence.

Adrian laughed too. "Revenge is invisible," he whispered, who immediately replied to an anxious pinch from Ryanthi.

"Let's taste. I know you must have had a lot of consideration to eating it, but ...." Adrian did not continue his words. He looks doubtful. However, the man immediately took one piece, then fed it into Ryanthi's mouth. After that, he laughed amusedly as the cookie fragments filled Ryanthi's mouth.

"You are a bitch" Ryanthi protested. He hits Adrian's sturdy arm, which again only responds with laughter.

A moment later, Adrian stopped laughing. He looked at Ryanthi from such a close distance. Slowly and carefully, Adrian cleaned around the girl's mouth with his thumb. Adrian fingers then moved to the lips, rubbing them slowly.

Unbeknownst to him, Arshan watched the sweet scene of him lovebirds from the balcony. He immediately turned his face away.