The Traces of Destiny
Night Tension

"So, how are you two, Oo wow, you're with Camat sir apparently, huh? I was a little bit unsure of this coincidence. You're an attractive beautiful woman and she's our honorable father of camat, and let me guess..., you're on a date, right!?"

Saras feels automatically tense over Alex Numan's question. While it was the brother of Alex, the long-haired and tattooed man was standing right behind him, in his hand he was holding a bottle of bhir, his eyes were soft.

Alex pays a false salute to Saras, and Saras steps slightly away from Alex, and moves closer to Garin.

"And how are you, Mr Camat? It's good to see you here again."

Garin followed Alex's gaze towards Saras without caring about the man's greeting.

"That was the person I told you about earlier" Saras whispered.

Alex raised his eyebrows hearing that, but he said nothing.

"What do you want, Alex?" garin asked cautiously, recalling what Sutrisno had told him.

"I don't want anything, just relax Mr. Camat" replied Alex. "I just wanted to say hi to Miss Dina."

Garin turned. "Wanna go to the bar?" ask him to Saras.

"Sure" said Saras.

"Yes, yes. I don't want to dissuade you from dating" Alex said. "You've got a good girl, go over there" he said. “It looks like you've found someone new.”

Garin flinched, and Saras saw how hurtful the comment was. Garin opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. His hands clenched firmly, but then he took a deep breath and turned towards Saras.

"Let's go," he said. His tone reflected the anger Saras had never heard before.

"Yes, by the way," Alex added. "All the affairs related to Bara, don't worry too much about it, okay? I asked him to be soft on you."

Crowds of people, who sensed a problem, began to gather around them. Garin stared intently at Alex, who returned his gaze without moving. While his brother had gone, as if preparing to jump or run if needed.

"Let's go" said Saras a little more firmly, trying his hardest to keep things from happening. He grabbed Garin by the arm and pulled him. "Come on. I beg you, Garin," he asked.

That was enough to get his attention. Saras grabbed their jackets on the chair, keeping them under his arms as he pulled Garin through the crowd. As Saras and Garin go, the crowd disperse and return to what they left before.

Of course, among them can easily recognize the figure of Garin as a Gajakarta camat. And Saras was well aware of that.

A minute later, they were outside. Garin takes Saras' hand off his arm, angry at Alex, angry at himself for almost losing control, and he walks towards the highway. Saras followed a few steps behind, pausing for a moment to put on his jacket.

"Garin.wait..."

It took a while for those words to sink in, and Garin finally stopped, looking down at the ground. As Saras approached while holding out his jacket, Garin seemed unaware of it.

"I'm sorry about what happened inside" he said, unable to look into the woman's eyes.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Garin" he said. When Garin did not budge, Saras approached.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently.

"Yes, I'm fine." His voice was so low that Saras barely heard him.

For a moment, she looked exactly like Raka when Saras gave her too many tasks to work on.

"You don't seem all right. Actually, you look very bad.” Saras said again.

Although still holding onto the anger, Garin laughed softly. "Thank you very much."

Before the man could reply, Saras said again. "I think it's too late for us to walk or run home."

Garin was back. "Owh, sorry.it's, umm.let's go back to the parking lot" he said.

Garin stepped past Saras and walked ahead of him a few steps, and stopped when he realized that Saras was not following his steps.

Saras really enjoyed the smile on the bumbling face of the man. Then he rushed closer. Circling Garin's arm with his hand, towards the parking area.

After they enter the car and then the car starts to climb the highway, Saras breaks the silence.

"May I ask what was there?"

After a while, Garin shrugged his shoulders. “The story is long.”

“Typically so.” timpal Saras.

They remained silent for a while, only the sound of the roar of the vehicle was the only one heard on the streets.

"We have a history" Garin finally explained. "Ne is too good."

"I caught that part, but I don't know if my judgment is correct" Saras said.

Garin did not respond.

"Look, if you choose not to talk about it, I'll understand..."

It offers Garin a way out of conversations that he may find difficult to express.

Saras then adjusted his seat and put his hand in his pocket and closed his eyes for a long time.

And re-opened his eyes as he felt the car slow down. Garin pulled the car over.

Over the next few minutes, he tells Saras everything - about years of feuds, vandalism in and around his house, cuts on Raka's cheek, ending with his last arrest and even Sutrisno's warning. As he spoke, Saras listened quietly.

When Garin finished, he looked at her. "I'm sorry I stopped you" he said slowly. "I should have let you beat him to death."

"That's okay, I'm glad you did. He's not worth it." Garin commented a brief smile on his face.

The car moved back, they passed the shops that had closed completely. It was approaching one o'clock in the morning, silence, as if they were in a grave.

As Garin and Saras approached the riverbank, they stopped to stare at the tar-colored river water flowing slowly in front of them. The water hit the limestone along the banks of the river with a steady rhythm.

"Tell me about Maudy" Saras finally broke the silence that enveloped them.

"I'm sorry?"

“I want to know what he is like,” said Saras honestly. "He's a big part of you, but I don't know anything about him."

A moment later, Garin shook his head. "I don't know where to start."

"Well..what do you miss most about her?" Ask Saras.

Across the river, more than a kilometer away, they could see flickering porch lights and also lights from Saras' apartment room, bright spots in the distance that seemed to hang in the air like fireflies at night.