So In Love
EP. 79. Let It Go

********

Sunday morning sidetracked. Shien half ran down the stairs in his house.

It had been almost half a decade, but Shien had just finished preparing himself for waking up a little misfortune.

Today is Jackson's book launch day, and Shien must attend. Shien grimaced a little, as it was almost too late and he had yet to buy a bouquet of flowers for congratulations.

The horn sound that shrinks a little long and occurs repeatedly that comes from outside creeping into the house. Shien guessed, it must be Fina who sounded it. Clearly, if he was in the position of Fina would have done that too. Who wouldn't be upset waiting for someone for almost half an hour?

Shien was silent for a moment as soon as his feet touched the last rung of stairs.

His eyes went through every corner of the room. The house looks empty. Only the humming sound of the vacuum cleaner machine that Aunt Sumi was using echoed there. He guessed that everyone had left the house. In other words, enjoy each other's holidays.

Papa must have gone to golf as usual and Mama might have accompanied him, or at the very least, the middle-aged woman must have gone to the show with her social friends. As for Shanna, Shien had no idea where she was because the girl had not come home at all since being reprimanded by Papa.

“Bi, if Papa and Mama come home before me, please tell me I'm leaving again.” Shien's message to Bi Sumi. For a moment the older woman of her age stopped the vacuum machine she used to clean the dust at home.

“Where, Non? Long?” Ask Bi Sumi. Shien glared at the jutek, as it was not usual for the woman to be kepo. And Shien dislikes others who ask a lot of questions about his business.

“Just go, don't know long or don't.” Sahut Shien, then passed away from the presence of Bi Sumi whose guts slightly shrunk with the shock of the child of his master.

“Ohh, yes.” Shien stopped and turned around as he had just taken a few steps. “There is a gift for Auntie just like everyone else in the car. Later to see, yes. The key is the same Mr. Yudha, kok.” Shien continued, remembering something that he had bought for people at home, including Papa, Mama, and Shanna. But he had kept it in their room.

“Iya, Non. Thanks.” Sahut Bibi with a face that changed radiantly. Obviously, anyone would be happy with that one word, a gift.

After which, Shien moved back to get out of the house. But his steps stopped again because the door suddenly opened, and Shanna appeared from behind the white door leaf.

Their eyes looked at each other in a straight line. However, Shanna immediately bellowed indifferently.

“Childish.” Shien exclaimed, successfully stopping Shanna's move.

“Doing such childish things, what makes you feel better, Brother?” Shien turned around and stared intently at Shanna who was also looking at him.

“That's nothing.” Shanna smiled slanted. Then without saying much more, Shanna stepped out and passed from there. “If I really let go of the Sky. Are you going to stop?” Shien asked raising a slight octave of his voice, and it again made Shanna stop stepping.

The colorful haired girl turned her back.

“By pleasure.” Coldest. “Let go of Heaven and go all the way from him. If you can also go from this world!” Shanna screamed at the last sentence. Both of his palms clenched tightly, his face flushed red, and his shoulders rose up and down along with the roar of his breath that held back emotions.

However, that second also Shien felt like he had been stabbed right in the mouth of his heart. Just because of the sky. The jealous man who could only rely on his instincts and emotions, Shanna would have the heart to put out such words to him? Is that how much Shanna hates him so much that she doesn't want to see him again in this world?

“I love you more than anything.”

Instantly the sentence that Shanna had said when she had just returned to the house was ringing in Shien's head. So where did Shanna go to tell him that?

“Please, Brother. Take Sky. I'm not interested in the same useless trash as him.” Shien grinned thinly.

“And when viewed. . . .” There's a little pause there. Shien looked at Shanna full of scorn. “Bad people like you guys do fit together.”

Then, Shien hurriedly left from there.

Actually Shien did not want to say that. However, his hopes were dim. The sky itself changed it.

********

Finished cleaning up and dressed neatly, Sky immediately rushed to the Cafe which became one of the facilities in his apartment to meet Aunt Risa who might have been waiting for him at this time. During the journey to get there which was taken on foot, Sky kept wondering why Aunt Risa suddenly asked him to meet?

“Sorry, Aunt, I'm late.” He said that he was not happy because he had let the parents wait. The sky then pulled out a chair, then sat in front of Aunt Risa. It looks like two cups of Cappucino are already on the table, and it is definitely Aunt Risa who ordered it.

“Nothing. Wrong aunt for telling you all of a sudden.” Aunty Risa said, then sipped her coffee gracefully after previously allowing Heaven to drink it as well.

“Eung. . .” The sky hesitated to start the conversation. But curiosity encouraged Sky to quickly ask, plus he saw the attitude of Aunt Risa who was suddenly serious, but usually he always joked when he met her.

“Sorry, Tan. Actually, what's up until Auntie has to come all the way here to meet me? Aunty can ask me to come home. I'm, right, so not good, Tan.”

Aunt Risa smiled stiffly. From the look on his face, he hesitated to say something.

“OK. Aunty straight to the point aja.” Said Aunt Risa, then silent for a moment to take a breath, occasionally wiping the coasters to cover her nervousness. While Sky only looked at him questioningly, waiting for the middle-aged woman to continue her sentence.

“Sky, Auntie does not like you. Nor does it support your relationship with Shien. . .” Aunt Risa again sighed accompanied by a slow sigh, she was like a heavy heart.

“Tan, what's the matter, anyway?” Desperate Sky curious.

“Tante want you to release Shien.” Said Aunt Risa, making the belly of Heaven feel hit by something, then spread to her chest.

The sky opened its eyes. I don't want to believe what he just heard. He then squeezed the strong arms of the coffee cup that was still in the hook of his finger.

“But why, Tan?” Sky Protest, his gaze asking for more explanation. The middle-aged woman even said that she liked and supported him. But why would he suddenly ask her to release Shien?

“Because Aunty prefers Auntie children to get along, rather than them having to hurt each other just because Shanna and Shien like the same person.” Aunty Risa was sad, even though she could not bear to do this to Heaven. But he said it, didn't he? If something had happened between his daughters because of Heaven, then he would not have been reluctant to keep the man away from them. And if it wasn't even the sky, he would still do it.

“You know, right, that Shanna also put your same heart?” Aunty Risa.

Sky nodded. “But Shanna has accepted my relationship with Shien, Auntie. That should be no more problem.” The rebuttal then, considering Shanna had once said that she had given up Heaven and accepted her relationship with Shien.

Exhaling heavily, Aunt Risa guessed that the Sky did not know what had happened lately. “It looks like you missed something, Sky.”

“Means Aunt?” Sky forehead wrinkled sign did not understand, he looked at the face of Aunt Risa who cheered.

Aunty Risa folded her lips inward for a moment to compose the sentence inside her brain while playing the coffee cup.

“You know? Lately Shanna did a bad thing to Shien. . .”

Aunt Risa then told Sky about what Shanna had done to her sister, Shien, including Shanna who injured Shien by storing shards of shard into Shien's shoes, until her legs were seriously injured. It was not Shien who complained about it to her, but Aunt Risa knew it from one of the CCTVs installed in every corner of the house.

“. . . and the reason is you.” Said Aunt Risa weakly. He looked at the face of Heaven which immediately paled after hearing the story.

While Heaven was silent with a stiff stiffened body. How could the heavens not know this? Why would Shien hide this from her?

“Sorry, Sky, Aunt should ask for this same thing you.” Connect Aunt Risa.

“From childhood, Shien's life is not as good as others think. Shien had experienced something very heavy that shook his heart.” He continued, without intending to tell clearly about what Shien had experienced as a child until the girl suffered a deep emotional wound.

“And Aunt couldn't protect it that time.” Aunt Risa smiled wryly, considering the true helplessness was her stupidity that could not protect her own child.

While the Sky was still fluttering in its position. Listening to Aunt Risa finished her story even though there are some things that she cannot digest from the sentence that Aunty Risa said. But Sky knew that the middle-aged woman was very serious. Actually what happened to Shien as a child to make Aunt Risa so sad when telling it? The sky wanted to ask the details, but it felt like this was not the right time.

“But not anymore. Auntie won't let anyone hurt Shien again, including her own brother.” Aunty Risa said solemnly. “Then from that, Auntie asks you to let Shien go, because maybe if Auntie asked Shien to let you go, she would object.”

“Do Aunty think I don't mind?” Sky Protest not accepted. “I don't want to, Auntie. Anyhow Aunt asked me to let Shien go. I won't do it until anytime.” Resolutely continues.

“But then Shanna will stop at nothing to hurt Shien. Are you the heart? In the future no one knows, maybe Shanna can do something beyond her common sense to Shien. You want that to happen if you're still together?” Sambar Aunt Risa desperate. “This order. So Auntie please do it.”

“There are still other ways to make Shanna stop and sober, Auntie.” The sky is no less desperate.

No. gabe. The sky would never let Shien off despite being threatened to die even once.

“You don't know how stubborn Shanna is, Lang. It won't be easy. And Auntie thought this was the only way to stop her from doing what kept hurting Shien.” Reply Aunt Risa. “Tante please. By Shien. . .” Belasnya.

“No, Auntie! That is not the only way and definitely not the best.” The sky does not want to be denied.

“At any rate Aunt will take Shien to Germany. So it's good that you guys break up. Shien can go carefree and focus more on his treatment.” Aunt Risa did not heed the young man before her. But his sentence just succeeded in making Heaven surprised and did not understand.

“Treatment in Germany, Aunt?” Reset Sky ensure. Aunt Risa just nodded.

“But instead of Shien getting a donor?” The sky was confused. He remembers very well when in Lembang Shien said that he had received a donor and would have a transplant operation in the near future. And if you remember, it should last a few more days. Shien should have stayed in the hospital, too, but the girl was still wandering outside.

The Sky's forehead was getting wrinkled in thinking about it.

Aunt Risa also frowned in surprise, because as one of the people who was close enough to Shien, Heaven should have known this. But if given Shien's reclusive nature, it was undeniable that the girl must not have told him about it, and it was only fitting that Heaven did not know about it.

“Shien not story?” Ask Aunt Risa make sure. The sky only shook as an answer.

“Actually what happened, Auntie?” Ask Sky finally, filled with curiosity.

“Dia. . .” The sound of heavy breathing sounded from Aunt Risa's lips.

“Donornya is off. . .” He then explained the reason for Shien's transplant surgery being suddenly canceled, just as Nathan explained it a while ago.

“A-what? Cancel, Tan. . .” The sky does not continue. Suddenly his voice was choked and all his joints were squeezed, as well as his face that paled after hearing the sentence of Aunt Risa.

Again. How much does he really not know? Something as important as this, why didn't Shien tell her? Though, last time when they were in Lembang, Shien was still passionately sharing stories.

“Iya. Therefore, once again Auntie asks the same you better let Shien go. Aunty does not want to happen anything else Shien, Aunt wants her life to be calm.”

The ears of the sky were ringing. The sentence Aunty Risa just now seemed to bounce so easily that it did not sound at all.

“Tante, Shien where?” The sky really ignored the words of Aunt Risa.

“You heard Aunty's talk, anyway, Lang?” Aunt Risa's a little upset.

“At home.” Aunty Risa's voice unconsciously. “Eh, but Aunt is not done talking, you know, Lang.” Said when he woke up.

But the sky did not heed it again. The man stood up and grabbed his phone on the table.

“Eh, where are you going?” Aunt Risa blingsatan herself when she saw the sky that was about to leave in the middle of their conversation that was still hanging.

“Sorry, Aunt. I'll pretend I never heard of this, because Aunt's orders are something I can't possibly do.” The sky then moves on to return to his apartment unit with a dazed face, intending to retrieve the car keys.

He ignored Aunt Risa who kept calling out her name.

********

His mind was raging, completely muddled like a tangled thread.

Actually, what did he miss during his trip to Yogyakarta at that time?

Entering his room, Sky took the keys of the car lying on the nightstand, then sat on the edge of the bed.

He was pensively pensive with his forehead slightly wrinkled, trying to put together a puzzle that seemed like there was a missing piece or maybe a mis-stacking.

His memories drift on the day he meets Shien upon his return from Yogyakarta, and they quarrel over Shien's photographs with Sagara and Nathan. Sky also remembered Shien as trying to explain something back then, but being too instigated by a single word ‘jealous’ left him blind and deaf. He did not want to hear anything from Shien and only believed what he saw.

Is he selfish for not listening to Shien?

That sentence flashed through his mind.

“It is very clear that you never gave me a little trust.”

“You dare say anything to me. How dare!”

“I didn't think you'd be more willing to believe the same person who sent this photo than me.”

“It turns out your mind is only this shallow, huh?”

“Everything you see in this photo is wrong.”

Likewise with the sentences Shien threw as he threw various accusations flashed quickly in his head, and it instantly made his heart waver.

Either all the sentences were just evasive sentences Shien or really his defense sentence and Sky had misunderstood the photos.

The sky sighed, scooping his face violently. Doubt what is right, what is wrong. The guess? Or Shien?

But if examined again, what is in the photo is not necessarily true. Apparently, Sky's common sense began to walk back.

The guilt arises, even though his brain desperately denies if he has misunderstood.

PRANGS!!

The sound of falling objects scattered the daydream of Heaven where his brain and heart were struggling.

The reflex of the sky's head turned toward the sound of the falling object.

He could see the picture frame of his friendship with Shien who was on the desk fell and broke on the floor. He frowned in wonder, when there was only a gentle breeze that even only moved a little curtain of his room, but why did the picture frame fall?

A moment later he thought, maybe because the picture frame was too attached to the side of the table, so the frame fell.

The sky then rose and moved toward the workbench, intending to clear the broken frame of the photo. However, his attention was distracted by a medium-sized goodie bag bearing the brand name of a camera brand printed thick in the middle.

Pensive for a moment, his brain tried to digest the existence of the object. The goodie bag was not his, and he guessed if it might belong to Mother, Papa, Sister Twilight, or Shien. Because they're the ones who have access to her apartment.

Walk around the desk, then sit himself in a chair. Slowly he reached for the goodie bag, but the movement of his hands again stopped when his attention fell on another object lying on top of the pile of his medical books.

Some photos are deliberately placed in an inverted position.

The sky decided to take some photos first. It was seen that the photo was a photo of Shien that he got from Terry and the anonymous sender. Up here the Sky understood that Shien had come to his room and put down the photo and the goodie bag.

But there is something a little different about the photos, there is writing behind it.

Because you do not want to hear my explanation, but I hope you want to read these writings. Believe it or not, that's your right. And one thing you should know, I'm not someone like you're accusing.

I went to the airport because Aunt Hilda asked me to pick up Jackson and I wasn't alone. There's Fina with me.

I don't know how you know Jackson. But there is one thing you should know that Jackson has a habit of hugging people when greeting them. You know that's American style, right?

The sky flipped over the photo, a photo of Shien and Sagara hugging at the airport. Cold temperatures began to creep up on his palm. His mind floated, remembering what kind of person Sagara was, and Shien was right. Too long living abroad makes Jackson follow the cultural habits of Westerners.

After that, Sky again continued to read the writings on each sheet of the photo.

Maybe you are used to meeting in a meeting room or a large hall. But we sometimes use hotel rooms to discuss the latest book projects.

It was the writing behind the photo of Shien and Sagara as they walked into the hotel.

Embracing as a friend shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? Okay, maybe in your eyes you're wrong. But please don't be so narrow-minded and careless, because we're really ordinary friends, and we never do anything outside the bounds as friends.

It was the writing behind the photo, where Sagara embraced the familiar Shien.

And one more. . . .

Brother Nathan just came to comfort me, he felt guilty because the donor was void. He gave me a rabbit. You can come to the house and see it. We can also eat together.

Ohh, yes. Brother Nathan warned me to make treatment abroad also at that time. Should I go and follow his advice? And maybe I won't leave if you take me.

But, before that you have to apologize first to me.

And that is the writing behind the photo of Shien and Nathan as they play with the rabbit.

The sky fell silent with its body stiffening along with the corner of his wounded heart. His hands dropped limp until all the photos he held fell to the floor.

So is he really wrong?

His chest suddenly rumbled violently. Remembering he had hurt his girl so rudely. He really is immature and concludes things without thinking first.

All these unfounded accusations, their abusive behavior. . . .

Remembering that, Heaven actually felt himself like a worthless piece of trash.

It was possible that Shien wanted to shed all his grievances, but he instead added weight to his heart and mind, at a time when Shien might need it as a place to share.

The sky so remembered when Shien tried to say something as he accused him of deliberately going to Sagara's Cafe to meet him. “That was because it was in the office. . .” And also remembered the story of Aunt Risa earlier. “Shien's new work was stolen and claimed by others.”

“Udah deh, do not make a classic excuse use office affairs all.” Plus his own words.

The sky rubbed his face with both hands while sighing deeply there.

Maybe that time. . . .

Shien wanted to indeed want to tell the truth. Shien came to the Cafe to entertain himself since the Sky was not there back then. Again, the sky was suddenly deaf.

“Yes Lord, Shi. . . .” Lirih. The sky felt his eyes misty, then a drop of tears slowly fell from the corner of his eyes.

The sky now turned to the goodie bag, in which there is a black box containing the action cam and the equipment, and a beautiful pink greeting card.

Of various characters. Without you knowing, you are the only one who is truly important and the most special in my life to date.

You are the best thing that has happened in my life.

Happy anniversary to a hundred days.

Haha. I'm ridiculous, aren't I, counting the days?

Ohh, yes. Kadosanya make me. . . .

Say sorry and trust me. That'sthat's enough.

Remember, didn't you just accuse me of being reckless?

The breath of Heaven choked together with the paper squeeze in his hand. After what he did, Shien still cared about this and considered him the most precious and special person. He felt ashamed and inappropriate.

Sky you jerk, I hate you. But my love is bigger.

I love you to the moon and back.

But despite this, Sky did not want Shien to leave him.

********

To be continued. . . .