SERINA: I'M AN EXTRA
SAEMIS (2)
“Serina, tomorrow so shall we play to your house?” aela said enthusiastically as she stuffed a spoonful of rice into her mouth. After getting permission from Saemi, I did give word to Arka and Alea to come and study at my house during this weekend. Actually only me and Arka will learn to prepare for next week's Olympics, only I also need the presence of Alea to melt the atmosphere so that I do not feel awkward if I have to study alone with Arka at home
Right now I, Arka and Alea are sitting face to face on one of the benches in the classroom eating lunch that we brought from home because the break bell has sounded a while ago
Correct, thats, starting two days yesterday Alea also brought lunch to school because now her mother has hired a housekeeper at home so that every morning someone makes her breakfast as well as lunch supplies that will Alea take it to school
“Learn Alea, not main” Arka intruded Alea's words with an unshuffled focus from a stock box of rice and fried chicken seasoning complete with sambal terasi in front of him
Alea shook his head quickly with a mouth that was still busy chewing food. It took a few seconds until the food was completely swallowed into his stomach before he started talking “Yang want to race both of you, so the only ones who learn are you two. I want to play with Saemi, right Ser?”
“Eh, you said Saemi was a Korean blester right? It must be beautiful, similar to the idols of Kpop. So I can't wait to meet Saemi” Alea to connect her sentence, looking at me enthusiastically while returning to feed a spoonful of rice into her mouth
I stopped my activity, taking my eyes off the box of supplies staring at Alea who was currently still staring at me enthusiastically waiting for me to open my voice
“Alea....” call me to Alea in a soft voice. Not only Alea, Arka who was busy eating her lunch also turned to look at me
I breathed a long breath before returning to connect the sentence that had been held from my mouth “Before meeting Saemi, I want to tell you something”
Alea simply raised both eyebrows, revealing a gaze as if replacing the task of her mouth that was still busy chewing food to ask “want you know what?"
Understanding the meaning of Alea's gaze, I reopened my voice in doubt. Confused to have to explain the story of Saemi starting from where “As you said, Saemi does have a beautiful face, for me she is very beautiful even”
Hearing my words, Alea slammed the rough spoon she was holding onto the table. Swallowing quickly the leftovers in his mouth before reopening his voice enthusiastically “Tuh right my guess, you are 100% local is beautiful gini especially Saemi who has Korean blood? It must be more beautiful. You are talking about how you want to boast about your cousin Ser”
I let out a breath of air, forgetting that I was currently talking to Alea. He will never understand that at this time I will start a serious chat “Iya wait a minute, I have not finished talking Al”
Alea just nodded, while Arka just silently watched with her mouth still busy chewing the last few mouthfuls of food. Because I did tell the story of Saemi to Arkan at lunch a few days ago, just a little
Perhaps he is now silent to listen further to my story about Saemi, who he now knows as my cousin who would rather stay with me and my parents than follow his parents it is moving to Korea because it always feels uncomfortable when it comes to meeting strangers. As well as knowing Saemi as my best cousin and best friend who lost his confidence so that he always hid his existence from the world by choosing to always spend every day in the house
“Then, Saemi was an adorable kid. With his body filled, his skin white, his eyes narrow without folds and his thick straight black hair Saemi can always make anyone who sees it will feel anxious to pinch his piercing cheeks. Me, my extended family and my friends at school loved Saemi very much because she was the kind, friendly kind of kid, jovial and smiling” I continued my story while staring alternately at my two friends who have now completely stopped their lunch activities and focus on listening to every word that comes from my mouth
“Unfortunately all that has changed, the jolly and cheerful Saemi has been missing since three years ago. Since his appa had to be moved out of town to take care of papa's new company branch, Saemi's figure has changed to Saemi who is shy, quiet and always locked herself in a room while crying. He was also several times caught by aunt Lusi when he intended to injure himself by scratching sharp objects in his room”
I was silent for a few seconds, fondling is it true if I tell Saemi the dark past to my two friends like this?
After a while of struggling with my own thoughts, I finally decided to continue my story with the two people who were currently silent while looking at me. Waiting for me to re-open my voice and finish the tragic story of Saemi “ I still remember clearly, that night was exactly three months after the Saemi family moved out of town. Moments after dinner, Saemi's eomma called my mother in a voice that shook as it held back her sobs”
I fell silent again, remembering that the events of that day were really stirring up my emotions and feelings. Arka and Alea fell silent, but their eyes were still focused on looking at me. Maybe they don't know what to react to a situation like this
The situation was still quiet when I felt Arka's hand gently rub my hand like it was giving me strength to finish my story
Taking a deep breath, I reopened my voice. Connecting the story that has been interrupted several times “At that time aunt Lusi told me that Saemi was being rushed to the hospital in a state of unconsciousness after taking ten sleeping pills at the same time”
“I, my mom and dad who was relaxing while watching TV in the family room immediately panicked. After aunt Lusi gave her hospital address, we immediately rushed after them to see the condition of Saemi”
“It took us at least thirty minutes until the doctor who handled Saemi finally came out of the ER and gave news that made us a little able to breathe a sigh of relief”
“Saemi survived, but he took quite a long time to be hospitalized given his rather severe overdose condition”
“He kept himself locked in the room and did not want to open his voice to speak, he was also always afraid when someone entered his room or approached him”
“At that time we really didn't understand why Saemi could turn out like that in just a short time? until then aunt Lusi decided to take Saemi to a psychologist to get psychological therapy”
“After almost two months of observing Saemi's always locked up attitude in the room, the once cheerful attitude of saemi became suddenly quiet, and, saemi's attitude is afraid and uncomfortable when approached or met with strangers and Saemi's actions are several times caught by Aunt Lusi when he will hurt himself to the worst saemi's suicide attempt by taking sleeping pills and being treated for a month in the hospital led the psychologist who treated Saemi to suspect that Saemi had experienced something unpleasant whether it was in the neighborhood or his new school so that it causes Saemi to be traumatized by strangers”
“Knowing that fact, my mother immediately suggested that Saemi's parents immediately visit Saemi's homeroom at her new school to dig up information that might explain Saemi's recent attitude change”
“Saemipun's parents immediately agreed to mama's proposal and they immediately went to Saemi's new school at that time. Unfortunately after telling everything that befell Saemi, Saemi's homeroom teacher did not know any information and was instead surprised to hear how severe Saemi's health condition was then”
“Finally Saemipun's homeroom classmate called some of Saemi's classmates including Saemi's class president to ruangguru to tell her how Saemi's attitude was at school and how Saemi's new friends treated Saemi at school”
“And from there the root of Saemi's behavior change problem can be revealed, because one of the children called by the homeroom teacher dared to tell in detail every treatment Saemi received since she moved to her new school”
“The boy said that there was one group of perisak at school that always bothers Saemi every day. They always attack Saemi with actions or harsh words that make Saemi afraid and eventually become traumatized”
“The children of perisak always beratai body contains Saemi as well as being racist to Saemi who is indeed outward appearance similar to his Korean” appearance
“In addition to the physical Saemi that does contain and act racist with the appearance of Saemi. They also frequently harass Saemi by interrupting Saemi's school uniform, tearing up Saemi's workbook, crossing Saemi's bench with inappropriate words, locking Saemi in the bathroom while the class hours are still going on, until exchanging food supplies Saemi with stale foods that make Saemi in the end did not eat during school” I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly after successfully completing the tragic story of Saemi who had always been me and my extended family keeps meetings and we never discuss or talk to anyone outside the family
The atmosphere was still quiet when I finished my story. No one opened the voice of either Arka or Alea who had focused on listening to every sentence that came out of my mouth without even interrupting. Until suddenly the sound of sobs came out of Alea's mouth which made me confused and a little panicked
“Kok you even cry Al?” I asked while removing a packet of tissue from my bag and then I handed it to Alea
Alea received the tissue I gave her, took it out a sheet and used it to remove the melted tears that had slowly flooded her cheeks before she used it also to wipe the snot coming out of both her nostrils
After her cries subsided a little, Alea started to open the voice that made me and Arka refocused to listen to her “I can't shadow Ser, no matter what Saemi was feeling at that time. Being in a new place and environment with strangers that he has never met, Saemi even had to experience a rich bad experience gitu”
“I became into Saemi's position, how when the gang of perisak was again disturbing Saemi. Saemi must have been very scared, wanted to ask for help to ask for protection but there were no friends he knew. Want to ngadu with her parents is also not good because surely her parents are still busy dealing with this after moving” I took a heavy breath, nodding approvingly to every word Alea
“So that's the reason why a few days ago you told me that your brother feels uncomfortable when you meet strangers? That's because she was traumatized by bullying?” after a long moment of silence while listening to my story, Arka finally started to let out her voice to ask
“Iya Ka, at that time I did not tell because I still doubt. Is it true that I am telling you things that have been a very forbidden topic for my extended family to be discussed or discussed again? In addition, I also have not trusted you so much to listen to this story”
“So what finally makes you sure to tell all about Saemi to us today Ser?” Arka asked again, this time by propping up her chin using one hand
“Because I want to ask for help with you guys” I replied briefly with a faint smile looking at Arka and Alea alternately
Arka and Alea exchanged glances for a few seconds with both eyebrows linked together and frowns as if hinting that they were currently confused digesting my sentence which was just a piece
As if to understand the confusion of the two humans before me, I also re-opened my voice to clarify the purpose of my previous speech “I want to ask for your help to restore the nature of Saemi that was. Saemi is cheerful, friendly and likes to smile even at people she does not know though”
Alea tapped her finger at the table, spreading her gaze across the classroom like she was thinking of something heavy in her head. A second later he exhaled his sigh resignedly, returning his focus of his gaze towards me “So how can we help you make behind the nature of Saemi Ser?”
I leaned slightly forward, so that my two friends could hear clearly every sentence I would say “First, you guys should help me to regain Saemi”'s confidence
“How to do?” this time it was not Alea who responded, but Arka