The Estuary of Desire Baruna
Eps. #32 Stay away from Him!

The night passed and changed into a cold morning.

Baruna slowly opened her eyes which felt heavy. Several times he blinked because his vision was a little blurred. Due to the influence of postoperative anesthesia, making Baruna feel dizzy now whack her head. Spontaneously he raised his hand and touched his forehead then rubbed his eyes to clarify his vision.

Baruna also tried to move her legs that felt stiff in a brown bandage. The gunshot wound was painful and painful after the influence of drugs disappeared from his body.

"Mom! You're awake, honey."

The warm greeting made Baruna realize that she had just passed a gripping and very emergency night that almost took her life.

"Mama!" Baruna turned to the voice next to her and smiled faintly when she saw that the figure of the woman who had given birth to her was there, and smiled at her.

"Thankfully you're okay, Una. Mama's worried about you." Pearls began to be able to review the smile and felt a little relieved to see his son was conscious.

Gently rubbed Baruna's face that still looks pale after losing enough blood after the shooting that happened to him.

"Don't worry about me too much, Ma! I'm fine" Baruna said in a soft voice.

"How come mama's not worried, Una. You almost lost your life" said Mutiara.

"The bullets are nothing, Ma. All of it is just a child's toy and will not make me die," concluded Baruna denied the anxiety of his mother who he thought was a bit excessive.

Pearl only smiled wryly not wanting to respond to the indifference of her son who seemed to underestimate the events that happened to her last night.

"My phone!" Baruna. His hands instantly fumbled all the parts of the bed next to him, hoping to find his cell phone nearby at the time.

"Where's my phone, Ma?" ask him to Pearl. Aware of his condition that is still weak and must undergo treatment in the hospital, he suddenly remembered someone who must be contacted immediately.

"I haven't called, Flo. She must not know what happened to me and she must have been waiting for me this morning, because usually at this hour I would pick her up to take her to the office where she worked," said Baruna. He feels guilty if he doesn't tell Flo that day he can't come to pick her up.

"Why are you looking for your phone, Una? Is there someone very important you should call right now?" sergeant Mutiara was a little confused by his son's panicked attitude looking for his cell phone.

"I-I just want to call my friend and let him know that I'm in the hospital right now, Ma" Baruna said looking for an excuse.

"Is your friend so special that you should call her soon, Una?" Pearl shook her head increasingly astonished by the behavior of Baruna who looked nervous when answering her question.

"From today, you no longer need to contact your friend, Una! Papa forbid you from being in contact with him!" interrupted a man who had just walked into Baruna's treatment room.

"For the girl you are like this, Una! So, Papa asks you better stay away from him from now on. There are still many other girls you can make your lover. Papa doesn't agree you're close to him anymore!" arkha confirmed his advice.

Baruna knitted her eyebrows together and let out a rough breath hearing everything her papa had commanded.

"What do you know about Floretta, Pa?" baruna asked back with her voice still sounding weak. Hearing Arkha's words, she knew that her papa already knew of his relationship with Flo.

"There's not much you know about the girl, Baruna. But for sure, your closeness with him will only bring bad disasters for you and all of us. That's why, papa doesn't want you to be in a relationship with that girl called Floretta!" Arkha repeated his affirmation.

"Bad catastrophe?" Baruna shook her head in disbelief. "What's the bad, Pa?" asked Baruna with a slight grin.

"You got shot and you're like now because of him, aren't you? All of this is enough to make you stay away from that woman!" Arkha raised the intonation of his voice.

"No, Pa. It's not all because of Flo. But the man who shot me made it up and said that Flo was his future wife" Baruna argued, disagreeing with Arkha.

"The man who shot you wasn't a random person, Una. It would be best if we could avoid getting into trouble with her, and that's why Papa wants you to cut all ties with Floretta!" arkha again.

"Who is he, Bang? Who's the guy who shot our son?" cut a Pearl full of curiosity.

"He ... Daniel Danero, a drug mafia leader who is very feared in this city," Arkha explained to reveal everything he knew to Pearl as well as Baruna.

"What?!" Pearl and Baruna gasped in shock at the same time and both of them also rounded their eyes. For them, the name also sounds familiar.

"Yes! Therefore, as much as possible we should not deal with that person again. We never know what he can do to us. The influence of a Daniel is very large in the criminal world in this city, even to foreign countries. He was very cruel and cold-handed. So it is better not to do anything that intersects with him!" Arkha continued to affirm his advice.

Baruna was silent to hear all the advice from her parents. For a moment the atmosphere became silent between the three people who were in the treatment room.

The pearl and Arkha momentarily stared at each other. Although without saying, the hearts of both are equally heavy when it comes to forbidding their son from connecting with the girl he likes. Moreover, all this time they have never curbed their children for matters of the heart.

Baruna rubbed her face. His mind was chaotic and his head became increasingly dizzy. After hearing the inducements and prohibitions of his parents, turmoil whipped in his heart.

"I can't stay away from Flo. I love her so much, "inner Baruna was eager to oppose everything her father had affirmed. Instantly he became worried about deciding what to do after knowing the truth about a man who had confronted and shot him last night.

"I have to keep fighting Flo so I'm mine. I won't let that man named Daniel hurt her!" Baruna continued to think and increasingly raised her determination to be able to fight for her love.

Remembering Flo's story that her brother Diaz, once tried to sell it to someone, made Baruna sure of her conclusion that Daniel was the man Flo had been referring to all along.

Flo has also told her that Diaz is the leader of criminals and likes to make trouble. Of course, a mobster like Daniel was behind Diaz all along, and always supported him.

****

Same morning at Floretta's rented house.

An agitated look was implied on Flo's face at the time. It had been more than thirty minutes Floreta stood on the porch of her house, waiting for the usual Baruna to come pick her up to go to work together.

Flo several times glanced at his watch and turned to the road in front of his house, hoping that the idol who was waiting for him would soon come to pick him up.

"It's this hour Baruna hasn't come yet either. It's not usually this late." Flo paced in front of the gate of his house and grew increasingly agitated considering he was too late to arrive at his office.

"Baruna's phone was also inactive from last night. The message I sent was only one. What happened to Baruna?" Flo looked at her phone screen. Suddenly that anxiety now surfaced in Flo's mind. She was afraid that something bad might happen to her lover.

"Didn't Baruna deliberately avoid me? After I gave up everything for him, is he now going to leave me?" A glance of that bad thought flashed across Flo's head. She was very worried that Baruna would run away from her once she got her whole self.

"Oh, God! I hope Baruna isn't like that. I love him so much, I hope he's not playing a trick on me" Flo said in her heart. Without asking for a single tear to fall from the end of his eye. Fear, worry mixed with disappointment raged in his heart. He did not dare to imagine if Baruna really ran away from him and forgot his promise.

From the end of the alley in front of the house, a car drove slowly and stopped right in front of Flo's rented house.

Rushing Flo directed her gaze at the car and she was surprised to see two men descending from it.

"Who are they?" Flo widened her eyes as the two unknown men were now getting closer and closer towards her.

"Come, Flo! You're coming with us now!" Without further ado one of the two men ambushed and stared with a sinister look towards Flo.

"Who are you, and why should I come with you?!" floretta snapped while walking back a few steps when she saw the two men had already barged into her yard.

"Not much to ask! You need to come with us now!" snapped the other man while urging Flo and pulled his arm.

"No! I don't know who you are! I don't want to go with you!" flo shouted as he struggled to release the burly hands of the man who was clutching his hands firmly.

"We just force him!" screech the other man while holding Flo's hand stronger.

"Take me off! Don't hurt me! Please.....!!"

Flo turned back and shouted in fear. He really hoped that someone would hear his screams and help him from the clutches of the two unknown men.

"Shut up!" snapped at the man again, smothering Flo's mouth with his hand.

"Phy!!" Flo could no longer scream or resist. His strength was certainly unable to match the two burly men who pulled and dragged him by force.

The atmosphere around Flo's house happened to be so quiet back then, that the two men easily carried Flo into their car, with no one to see him.

At high speed the car then drove, leaving Flo's house.