Chapter 15: Chapter 15

"Dan, just a moment." Cakra held the hem of the sports shirt Zidan was wearing. Zidan immediately complied, he stopped and looked back, staring at Cakra.

"Why?" he asked, confused. "Don't want to go to the cafeteria?"

Cakra didn't answer Zidan's question. He squatted down and took off his shoes. Cakra sighed heavily.

"Are your shoes peeling again?" Zidan asked while grabbing the shoes that were in Cakra's hand.

"You go to the cafeteria by yourself, I want to take care of my shoes first."

"You never went to the cafeteria at all after moving here, and this is the first time you want to go. No, you have to come." Zidan still forced Cakra.

"What about my shoes?" Cakra raised his thick eyebrows. Staring at Zidan with blinking eyes.

Zidan handed back Cakra's shoes. "You fix them first, I'll wait for you. Take it easy, we have more time to rest when we're out of sports like this."

Cakra looked at Zidan. "You don't mind?" To be honest, Cakra felt bad for Zidan. He had inconvenienced his classmate. Even though he wasn't very anxious to go to the cafeteria.

"Hurry up, I'll wait for you. Didn't I promise to treat you earlier?"

"But—

"Let's not protest anymore, hurry up and fix those shoes." Zidan pushed and led Cakra to sit on one of the benches.

Cakra exhaled a long breath. He surrendered and began his activity of putting adhesive on his shoes.

Zidan sat next to Cakra while watching what he was doing. "Don't you try taking it to a shoe solver?" asked Zidan.

Cakra stopped for a moment to put glue on his shoes, then continued to turn to Zidan. The boy nodded briefly. "I really want to find it after school, while the restaurant where I work is closed."

"Why is it closed?"

"The boss's family wants to take leave and vacation in Singapore, so the employees are forced to be closed," Cakra replied while returning to his activism.

Zidan nodded his head. He watched Cakra more carefully. To be honest, Zidan felt self-conscious and embarrassed. Cakra was already able to work on his own and divide his time to earn money, while he was still dependent on his parents.

"I salute you, Kra, you're great." Zidan wore a big smile as he put his arm around Cakra's shoulders. "You work so hard, I feel ashamed of myself."

Cakra let go of Zidan's hand that embraced him. "Don't praise me like this, how will I float?" He joked with a chuckle.

Zidan pinned Cakra's head quite hard. "Are the shoes on yet?"

"Just a little more," said Cakra. "There you go."

"Let's go to the cafeteria now." Zidan lifted his bokoong from the chair, followed by Cakra.

"You really want to treat me, Dan?"

Zidan turned his gaze to look at Cakra. "At first I was playing because, until now, Arkan has been the champion runner in our class, and I underestimated you. I thought you wouldn't win against Arkan, but it turns out you run faster. So whether you want it or not, I'll treat you."

"Forced?"

"Not really," Zidan said, shrugging his shoulders. "I sincerely want to treat you. It's a reward, not just a sin to save up for."

Both of them burst out laughing, and even the other students who were around noticed the two boys with assessing and confused looks. However, neither Cakra nor Zidan cared. They were still laughing, and stopped when they reached the cafeteria.

After that, the two of them decided to go to a meatball seller who had been here since the school was founded.

Zidan tapped Cakra on the shoulder once. "You bring the meatballs, I'll find a place to sit first before it's too late."

Cakra nodded his head, and he obeyed. "Okay."

"Here's the money, pay later." Zidan handed Cakra a blue note and then immediately left Cakra with other customers.

It didn't take long before Cakra was carrying two bowls of meatballs and two glasses of sweet iced tea. The boy paused for a moment, looking around for Zidan's whereabouts.

Seeing Zidan's waving hand, Cakra smiled a little, then he intended to leave there. But unfortunately, an incident that Cakra did not expect happened. A boy deliberately nudged Cakra's shoulder. It should be noted that Cakra is innocent here, he is not looking for trouble.

The sound of breaking objects immediately attracted the attention of the cafeteria visitors. He looked down, noticing the shards scattered beneath him.

"You don't have eyes, do you?" The boy standing in front of Cakra exclaimed loudly with a red face. His hands were clenched tightly.

Look, he was wrong, but he was angry himself. He snorted softly and then looked up. He saw Rian, his half-brother, who was trying to play victim to him. Why was he the one being blamed? Even though it was clearly Rian who nudged Cakra.

Instantly, the two boys became the center of attention. All the students crowded around Rian and Cakra, who looked at each other with fierce eyes. This was the third time they were in trouble.

"I'm not trying to get into trouble with you!" said Cakra with emphasis on every syllable. His gaze sharpened.

Rian scrunched his waist and laughed blandly. "Not trying to cause trouble? You deliberately hit me just now, didn't you? Look, your uniform is already covered in meatball soup."

"No need to play victim, you started it first," said Cakra, trying to be patient with Rian, who was always looking for trouble with him.

"You're at fault, ashole!" Rian pushed Cakra's chest so hard backwards that Cakra was instantly unsteady and almost fell down.

Not to be outdone, Cakra immediately lunged at Rian so ferociously. The boy wasn't messing around, a crushing punch had already landed on Rian's jaw. Not stopping there, Rian hit Cakra in the stomach again. Instantly, the canteen became boisterous.

The students supported the fight, while the girls screamed loudly and tried to get away from there. Many of the canteen benches had shifted due to Cakra and Rian's actions.

Until finally the commotion stopped when Mrs. Chika, the counseling teacher, came while shouting loudly and telling all students to be quiet.

"You two!" she shouted, pointing at Cakra and Rian. "This is a school for gaining knowledge, not a place to fight. Why are you fighting?!"

"He started it, miss," said Rian, pointing at Cakra beside him.

Cakra glared, looking at Rian sarcastically. He then shook his head. "He started first."

"You hit me and got my uniform dirty like this." Rian was not afraid to defend himself. Before Cakra could interject, Rian had already spoken. "You also hit me first."

Mrs. Chika's gaze was now directed at Cakra. She sighed heavily. "Is it true that you started hitting Rian first?"

"Yes, but right—"

"You two come to my room right now," Mrs. Chika finalized.

Cakra let out a long breath, then turned his gaze to look at Rian. His half-brother grinned at him.

***

After getting a long lecture that was thrown from Mrs. Chika's lips for about half an hour, Cakra and Rian both let out a long breath.

Apart from his ears hurting, Cakra felt that his ass was hot because he had been sitting for a long time. Mrs. Chika ended the session by assigning the two boys to clean the toilet and library. Both of them had argued about cleaning the library alone, until finally Mrs. Chika ordered them to follow suit.

Apparently the fate of the vain this time fell to Cakra, who had to clean the teacher's toilet. Cakra started cleaning the entire toilet when he got instructions from Mrs. Chika.

With a completely forced heart, Cakra mopped the toilet floor and wiped the walls. Not to mention he had to endure the unpleasant odor that clogged his sense of smell.

Cakra was forced to skip school today to find a shoe repairman. He had no time, there were still some toilets that had not been touched at all.

What a wasted fate.

"Can I help you?"

Suddenly, a girl's voice interrupted him. The boy who was mopping the floor then turned his face, looking at the bathroom doorway where the voice had come from, and he snorted when he saw Inez.

Cakra was still a little fed up with Inez over his missing shoes, but he couldn't get too angry or, worse, get physical with a girl.

"Why are you staying quiet? Do you want me to help you?" Inez asked once again with the same question. She smiled a little as she leaned her shoulder against the door frame.

Cakra exhaled slowly and then looked at Inez lazily. "No, I can do it myself," he said sarcastically. Then he resumed his activities.

"Are you sure you don't want help?" Inez had not given up at all. She kept trying until Cakra agreed to be helped.

"You'd better leave than bother me," said Cakra quite sharply.

"I'm not bothering you," Inez argued as she stood up straight. Her eyebrows were now almost together. "I just want to help you get your work done."

"I still have hands, I'm not tired yet, so just save your energy. I don't need help, I can do it."

"Should I feel favored?"

"Don't ask me to talk anymore, will you? I'm working. You better shut up, thankfully, if you want to leave here," Cakra said with a glare.

Cakra was still angry with Inez. The girl had deduced it herself. From the tone of voice to the cold stare, there was strong enough evidence.

Inez let out a long sigh, but she still held her position. The girl looked at Cakra, who was now seriously struggling with her work again.

"Cakra," Inez said with a soft accent. However, there was no response from the boy, making Inez roll her eyes. Cakra really still harbors resentment towards her.

"Cakra." Inez tried calling him once again, this time louder than before.

"I don't care."

"How come you didn't call out?" Inez asked, feeling a little angry. She watched him with annoyance as she gritted her teeth.

"I'm working, I don't want to waste my time," he said indifferently. He gave Inez a quick glance, then returned to his punishment again and again.

"I want to talk to you."

"It's not important," said Cakra quickly.

Inez glared in disbelief at his response. It was really annoying. In fact, the boys that Inez tried to talk to would gladly make time for her, no matter how busy they were. In short, Inez was truly cared for and flattered. It was different with Cakra's answer, which was too ignorant and seemed to not care. And that successfully caused Inez to let out another long breath.

Annoyed with Cakra, Inez clenched her hands into fists, her teeth chattering in annoyance, and her gaze turned sharp. Inez then stepped forward with a quick movement, she immediately grabbed the mop in Cakra's hand and threw it carelessly.

Inez's actions, which Cakra didn't expect, made him wide-eyed in shock.

"What are you doing?"

Inez immediately cut Cakra off. "I don't like it when other people ignore what I say, including you." Inez's eyeballs glowed fiercely.

Seeing Inez's serious look, Cakra exhaled harshly. He didn't bother to rant, instead, he stood up straight in front of Inez, his chin raised.

"What do you want to say?" he asked.

Inez replied curtly. "Are you still mad about the shoes?"

"What do you think?" Cakra asked back, instead of answering Inez's question.

"I already told you, your shoes are gone. I replaced the new ones because I didn't know what else to do. You just accept it to make it even. Do I need to apologize to you first? Then will you forgive me?"

"No need."

"What should I do?" Inez shouted. She ruffled her hair in frustration. "I have to be your slave? How long? A week? A month? A year? Forever?"

"That's interesting," said Cakra.

Inez widened her eyes. Are you serious?

He quickly shook his head, "but I'm not interested."

Inez breathed a sigh of relief, "What do you want then?"

"I don't know what to do," Cakra replied straightforwardly while shrugging his shoulders. That made Inez furious. She wanted to punch him in the mouth. This was the first time Inez had gotten emotional with a boy, apart from Rian.

Cakra looked at Inez, who seemed to be holding back the mumps, but Cakra didn't care. The boy chose to pick up the mop that Inez had thrown away a moment ago. Cakra was confused—why does Inez like throwing things away so much?

"Don't confuse me, just accept the new shoes."

"Yes."

"What? Are you serious?" Inez blinked her eyes, her twinkle now visible. She approached Cakra and asked once more to confirm whether Cakra had misspoken or Inez's sense of hearing was impaired.

"Do you want to accept the shoes? Are you serious? I didn't hear it wrong, did I?" Inez looked very excited, her face was smiling.

Cakra let out a long breath, then gave a small nod. "What can I do? There's no other way."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"You're not trying to fool me, are you?"

"No."

"Why are you suddenly this nice?"

"Have I been bad all this time?"

"I don't care about that, but you really forgave me, right?"

"If you say that again, I won't hesitate to refuse to accept your forgiveness."

"Aaahhhhhh ... i'm so happy." Inez reflexively hugged Cakra very tightly. Both of the girl's hands were draped around his neck, making him glare in disbelief. The boy was just silent, in a few seconds, he transformed into a statue.

In his entire life, this is the first time Cakra has been hugged by a girl. Apart from his grandmother and late mother. Cakra was still stunned by the race of his heart, which suddenly moved faster than before. This strange vibration that his body felt confused him.

"Once again, I say thank you to you," said Inez after releasing her hug. Her wide smile grew even wider. "Tomorrow you have to wear the new shoes. Okay?"

Cakra just nodded obediently while rubbing his neck. He felt awkward himself. His chest was still pounding from Inez's hug earlier.

"I'll help you finish your work quickly!" Inez offered.

"But—"

"No buts, you have to accept it!" Inez quickly took a sponge and put it into the soap puddle, then started scrubbing the tiled walls of the bathroom.

Having no chance to object, Cakra sighed. "Whatever."