Under The Rain's
Chapter 52—All Not Equal

The palms that looked blue and wrinkled, as well as the intense rumbling all over the body were definitely the reason Reva and Rafael were forced to stop their dancing that night. The two bathrooms in the house were filled immediately, and each of them began to clean themselves under the warm water from the shower faucet. It didn't take long until the two returned to the living room to enjoy a cup of warm chocolate, and after that they had to say goodbye immediately.

“I'm sure Kris will be home soon.” Clutching a cup of liquid chocolate to warm her hands, Reva sat her head against Rafael's shoulders. “You should hurry home, El.”

Rafael reciprocated to embrace the woman's shoulder and play her fingers in her long, wet hair. “I know, but tomorrow I'll come again.” Once again his kisses sloped on that forehead.

Reva straightened her seat, then stared fixedly at the man. “Do not, El. Just once, we are like this. I realize we don't deserve this at all.”

With a thick blanket wrapped in cold bodies on a soft sofa, they began to prepare to let the warm togetherness end for the night.

“You still sick? Did he ever take you to the doctor?”

Unwilling to go home, Rafael immediately diverts the conversation. The black beads from both eyes continued to look at the woman on the sidelines of the hot chocolate gulp.

“El ... I told you I'd be fine here, ‘right? You don't have to worry too much.”

“Masa, anyway? How excessive? How many times have you grimaced in pain just because I hugged? A little nudge you scream.”

Reva is speechless. It was a bruise that time it felt so torturous. There seems to be a crack in his shoulder blade, but Reva is not sure. He had not checked himself into the doctor because Kris was very busy, and he was not allowed to go alone.

“I took you to the doctor, huh? If he doesn't want to take responsibility, let me. I don't want you to get to why-napa.”

“El—”

“I used to be in that position. I understand. I ran away from responsibility and he took you far away. I just want to do the same thing so you can come back with me, Yi.”

“Back with you? But the problem isn't that simple, El. I can't go so alone, you know it.”

“Keep up to how many bruises and stitches again? How many more wine bottles can you avoid? How long are you locked up in a house with no one?”

Urge after insistence did finally make Reva tell all about her household to her best friend since childhood, especially about how the injuries can be imprinted on a beautiful face that never demands anything. The more Reva told the story, the more the reddened Rafael's face was holding back his turbulent anger. He could not understand how a man who was much bigger and burly could hurt a woman to such an extent. Moreover, the little lady was his own wife.

On the other hand, it made Rafael increasingly aware that he had been exposed to karma. The wrath he felt must have been the same as the wrath that Kris felt for him, when fifteen years ago he abandoned her and fled responsibility. Rafael is aware that he has also incised similar injuries and traumas. He finally understood that he and Kris were not much different.

That's what keeps Rafael from fighting back when Kris beats him all out to put him in a coma, because he understands the meaning of each blow. The wheel has turned. Rafael has turned into a party who wants to avenge him duel every time he sees a bruised trail on the body and face of the woman he loves so much.

As Rafael gets busy with his daydreams, Reva touches his own temple. There, the longitudinal wound of the stitch mark does look thin protruding. It is located near the hairline. Reva can cover it with bangs, but anyone can immediately see it when the hair is blistered.

“Taste, ‘right? He left a scar on your face, Yi ...” Rafael stopped his sentence as he recalled the past, then looked down deeply and his eyes began to turn red. “Cause I ning—”

“Not to be discussed again about that!” Reva immediately cut because he did not want the man to continue to feel guilty. “Please, El .. I also misunderstood everything.”

“Mean her you go home, come with me now!” Rafael clasped both hands and squeezed them firmly. “I'm really worried about leaving you here. You have no one. What if he gets drunk again and something bad happens to you?”

The inner connection between them sometimes makes Rafael forget that the woman before him at that time was legitimately owned by someone else. Forgetting that the memories in his memory are only limited to the past, and everything has changed. No matter how much Rafael wanted to hug him back then, to hold him tight and sleep together until the sun came in the morning, he couldn't.

Many things had happened during their fifteen years of separation, and what once belonged to Rafael was no longer his. Who was once a part of it was already a part of someone else as well. However, how could the man let him go, when he knew that his heart was being so tormented and utterly unhappy?

“I can go tonight ...,” hiss Rafael resigned. It was impossible for him to force his will. “But, I'll wait behind the back wall until your husband comes. I have to be sure that he came in his sane state.”

Reva turned away in disbelief at what the man had just said. He said it was very crazy and dangerous. “You want to wait in Kebon? Midnight like this?” the protest disagreed.

“Indeed why?”

“You ... not afraid of ghosts?”

“I'm more afraid of your husband getting drunk and putting his wife in danger.”

“Terus, what do you want to do there? Lots of mosquitoes, you know! Cold ... dark ..”

“Gini deh, Yi ..” Rafael handed him two cylindrical objects that were about the size of a cigarette. “Hold this,” his word to Reva.

“What is this? Laser?” The woman could guess exactly. “Create what laser?”

“If there's nothing, send a green laser into the air, and I'll go home quietly,” explains Rafael as he presses the green laser button until it gives off a very bright line of light.

“Yes, ak—”

“But, if you're okay, shoot the red laser, and I'll climb the fence again to get in here.”

Reva just shook her head in no way expecting that strange man to actually do the thing that would put them in danger. However, he finally complied by taking the two small cylindrical objects and immediately secured them in his pants pocket.

Just minutes after Rafael had jumped the rear fence, Kris arrived home. Reva's heart started beating very fast when she saw the figure get off the car. That day, for the first time in his life, Reva felt that he had betrayed her fatally. Guilt made her breath hunt even more, and her arms trembled violently with cold sweat that began to wet her pores.

Kris stepped inside the house and watched his wife as if she had seen a ghost. “Why you?”

"Ng-no ... nothing," replied Reva who immediately maintained his attitude. "You ... just got home at this hour? How was that?"

Before being able to answer his wife's question, Kris' body was suffocated and he threw himself on the sofa. The pungent smell of alcohol came back out from his mouth as Reva helped him to lie down. His eyes looked red with a pale face.

"You're so drunk, Kris. What's up?" With great difficulty Reva tried to break down the limp body of her drunken husband. Slowly helps to open his thick leather shoes and jacket. "Why are you always like this the same alcohol? Are you going to live like this?"

Kris did not reply, but he began to grip Reva's arm very tightly. His eyes turned sharp when he felt something strange. "Your hair is wet, Va?" the rachor snapped a little. "Why is your hair wet? Did you just take a shower at this time?"

Reva gasped in pain at the grip on his arm, but he could only silence a thousand languages. Slowly, his one hand that was free from Kris's tight grip began to reach into his pants pocket. Red laser ... Red laser ....