Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Ghea had high hopes for Rian, hoping that he would feel the same way about her. However, Rian's heart was always for Inez. Rian had done many things to lure Inez to him, but Inez never opened her heart to Rian. Her heart was closed.

Of course, Ghea didn't like the way Inez rejected Rian so harshly. She knew about feelings that couldn't be forced, but what was the harm in trying first? Rian had also made an offer like that to Inez, if Inez didn't feel at home, she could break up. But that wasn't the case, Inez stuck to her decision to never accept Rian.

"Ghe?" Rian placed his palm on the back of Ghea's hand, making Ghea immediately giggle. She blinked her eyes.

"Why are you daydreaming all the time? What's wrong?" Rian looked at Ghea suspiciously. "Yesterday in the library, you were not much different like this."

"Ah, it's okay. What did you ask me earlier?" Ghea published an awkward smile.

"Are you and Inez really close?"

"Yeah, we're comfortable being friends. She often stays at my house, and I sometimes stay at Inez's house. Just take turns."

Rian listened while occasionally oohing and ahhing while nodding his head. "Close then."

"Yes, we also often talk to each other. Sorry for being presumptuous, if I may know, do you still have feelings for Inez?"

Rian let out a long breath. "My feelings for Inez have never been replaced, Ghe. I really like her, I don't know why I find it hard to turn to others."

There was a pain that crept into his chest when Rian said that sentence openly. Ghea grimaced softly as she turned her face away.

"Ghe, I'm sorry if I'm presumptuous in saying this." Rian closed his eyes. A moment later, his eyes collided with Ghea's. Rian filled his lungs with new air. Without blinking, he continued his speech. "I'm not supposed to say this, but I'm asking for your help, Ghe. Can you please help me so I can date Inez?"

Ghea swept her gaze around. Her breath stopped in her throat for a few seconds. Ghea didn't know what to say, her tongue felt numb.

***

Rian took off his full face helmet when his eyes accidentally bumped into something. After the head wrap was removed, his eyes narrowed, clarifying his vision.

Sitting on his motorcycle, Rian then widened his eyes. "Cakra?" he muttered, his forehead deeply furrowed and his eyebrows almost connected.

Rian couldn't have been mistaken, from a fairly close distance, he saw his half-brother. "What's he doing there?" he muttered again.

Rian's mind was already branching out, he was guessing and thinking of the most plausible possibilities. It was definitely Cakra he saw earlier, coming out of the restaurant with an apron around his neck. The guy threw away the trash wrapped in black plastic bags and then went back inside the restaurant.

"Does he work there?" he asked again. Rian pressed his lips together. Yes, the most reasonable and plausible possibility was that Cakra worked there part-time.

Rian checked the clock on his wrist, it was half past ten at night. As usual, Rian was about to go play with his friends. He stopped on the side of the road because he accidentally saw Cakra just now.

Still holding his position, Rian considered whether he should leave or stay here. Obviously, he was waiting for his friends, but his curiosity about Cakra was getting bigger.

"I can hang out another time," said Rian firmly. He then took his cell phone, opened the chat room, and sent a message to his friends that he was canceling.

According to the information Rian got from the search engine on his cell phone, the restaurant not far from him, where Cakra most likely worked, would close in thirty minutes from now. That is, ten o'clock sharp. The restaurant was quite famous, but it wasn't open until late at night.

Rian stared ahead, wondering if he should keep watching and waiting for Cakra to leave the restaurant or if he could leave now and come back at a later time.

However, with only thirty minutes to spare, Rian finally decided to stay on his bike, his gaze not leaving the restaurant. It didn't take long, Rian just had to wait.

Seconds passed into minutes, and it was now ten o'clock. Rian, who was already a bit bored of waiting, yawned too, then widened his eyes and began to focus again.

Soon, Cakra will definitely come out. Yes, Rian hoped so. And his words were proven, five minutes after that, Cakra came out of the restaurant, making Rian laugh and widen his eyes.

"He finally came out." Rian smiled wryly. He put on his helmet as soon as he saw Cakra riding away on his bike.

Starting the bike, Rian pulled the gas pedal until the bike was traveling at a slow speed. As much as possible, Rian kept his distance so that it wouldn't be too obvious that he was following Cakra.

"Where does he live anyway? It's far from his workplace." Rian said. He felt like he had been driving at this low speed for too long.

And in a short time, Cakra finally arrived at his house, making Rian smile wryly. Before Cakra entered his small house, Rian had to be able to prevent him first.

Rian increased the speed of his motorcycle, causing the engine to roar quite loudly, immediately distracting Cakra's attention. In the end, Rian parked his motorcycle right in front of Cakra.

Raising his eyebrows, Cakra watched the rider he didn't know yet. A few moments after that, he was surprised when the person on the motorcycle turned off the engine and took off his helmet.

He was slightly taken aback, and his breath caught. "Rian?"

A sardonic smile spread across the corners of Rian's lips. The boy smoothed his slightly messy hair, before finally getting off his big motorcycle.

"Hello, see you again." Rian walked arrogantly towards Cakra, who stood with many questions in his head. Meanwhile, Rian folded his hands in front of his chest.

Rian chuckled softly. "Why are you surprised to see me here? Can't your face be normal?" Rian looked at Cakra sarcastically, then spat to the side.

Cakra was still silent while holding his bike, his gaze not moving from Rian's face.

"Oh, this is your house, huh?" Rian looked down at the old building in front of him. Another chuckle escaped his lips. "It's so small, my bathroom is nothing."

Cakra tried to refrain from getting angry. He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. No, Rian was just provoking his anger.

"Your life deserves to be like this. It's not my fault that my father didn't bring you home. You'd be happy living there."

"I don't want to live with you and your father either." For the first time after a long silence, Cakra finally spoke up. "I don't need all that."

Rian laughed sarcastically. "Why are you angry? Are you jealous that I can live comfortably while you can't?"

"On what basis do you say that?"

"Everything is already clear."

"You know nothing." Cakra replied harshly. His eyes looked at Rian unfriendly. "Just so you know, I'm never looking for a fight. What are you doing here?"

"Why would I come here?" Rian turned the question around. "I was following you. I saw you on the street by accident. And now I know where you live, which is nothing more than trash."

"You'd better go." Cakra said firmly.

"Wow, how arrogant." Rian chuckled while clapping his hands. He stepped closer to Cakra. "I'm a guest, you can't act like one."

"What do you want?"

"I just want to chat with you, maybe." Rian shrugged his shoulders.

Cakra sighed softly. "You'd better go, I'm tired and I want to rest."

"You work?"

"None of your business."

"How poor do you have to be to work so hard?" Rian laughed widely. "That's how poor your life is. Uh, but your family life has always been like this, right? Before your mom married my dad?"

Cakra glared at Rian with a flat face. "One more thing I want to emphasize, this is none of your business, Rian."

"Who cares?"

"Already, right? Then I'll go in first."

"I haven't finished talking to you yet." Rian immediately prevented him, he tightened the back of Cakra's bike. Making Cakra's movement automatically stop.

"I ask you to stay away from Inez for the umpteenth time."

There was no response from Cakra.

"You're not compatible with her. Inez only belongs to me. I'm telling you this because I care about you." Rian said it firmly in one breath.

Cakra immediately looked up. Hearing the word "care" come out of Rian's lips made him react. Cakra sneered softly.

Rian continued his words. "Inez will still break up with you if she knows you have nothing. Sooner or later, Inez will find out about your shabby house, and she'll find out that you're from a poor family. And in the end, she'll break up with you out of shame." Pausing to take a breath, Rian said again. "Before anything happens, you should listen to what I have to say."

Without saying anything in return, Cakra dragged his bike into his yard. He was too tired to discuss such unimportant matters.

"I'm not messing around, you better think carefully about what I'm saying."

And he still didn't care.

***

Rian entered the room where his father usually worked without knocking on the door first. His action made the man, who was still busy struggling with the laptop in front of him, immediately turn his face forward, look up slightly, and let out a small sigh when the look in his eyes found his only son coming.

"I've told you repeatedly, Rian, that when you enter my room, you have to get used to knocking on the door. Don't keep surprising me," the man wearing glasses admonished with a soft sigh.

But Rian didn't seem to care about his father's words, the boy immediately positioned himself in a chair located right in front of his father's work desk.

Rian let out a short breath, his gaze then focused on the middle-aged man in front of him. "There is something I want to talk about with you."

"Rian, can you hold off for a moment? I work is piling up, I ask you to come out now."

Shaking his head firmly, Rian said. "It's important, it won't take long."

His father flinched for a moment, looking straight at his son. Then he exhaled as he removed his glasses that hung on the bridge of his nose.

"Alright, what do you want to say?"

"I am sure that you will be surprised by the news that I will discuss this time." Rian shone his focus into his father's eyes, so deep that his father, who had been half reluctant to listen to his son's words, now had his back straightened.

The middle-aged man frowned, watching Rian with narrowed eyes.

From his father's expression, which was full of high curiosity, Rian immediately finished his speech.

"I met Cakra." The three words combined in one sentence made his father's eyes widen. The man then leaned forward.

"Cakra?"

Rian nodded his head steadily. "Yes, Cakra. He goes to the same school as me."

The middle-aged man turned his face to the side. His face looked upset, and his forehead was getting bumpy. Rian didn't know what was going through his father's mind right now.

"Cakra also works at Kamala restaurant, you know that restaurant? It's quite famous. It might even be considered famous because it's very crowded. When I checked on my phone, the branches were everywhere." Rian explained again.

The boy's words made his father immediately look back at him. The man widened his eyes. "Kamala restaurant?"

"Yes."

"It's my restaurant."

"What?" It was Rian who was surprised. "You didn't lie, did you? Why don't I know?"

"I don't lie, the restaurant is really mine." The man answered with a brief nod. "You didn't know because I never told you."

Rian looked down for a moment, thinking about his father's words, which made him a little surprised. However, when Cakra's name crossed his mind, a sardonic smile formed. Cakra worked at Rian's father's restaurant, and somehow Rian was happy to hear that news.

"Are you sure the Cakra you saw was—

"I know him from childhood, even though we were separated when his mother died. And at that time, I and Cakra had not entered junior high school. I know him, and there's no way I could be wrong in recognizing someone's face."

"Which restaurant did you see?"

"What does that mean?"

"The place where Cakra works," said his father. The restaurant had many branches. After that, Rian mentioned the place, which his father immediately responded to.

There was a feeling that invaded her chest when Rian mentioned Cakra's name. The man wanted to meet him. For some reason, there was a speck of regret when he left the boy at the orphanage first. Even though Cakra was a conjoined child, the man still felt guilty.

Cakra should have been his full responsibility. He doesn't know what was going through his mind at that moment.

"I must meet with Cakra."

"Why?"

"I just want to see how he's doing," his father continued. Yes, he had to see his son. The lack of economy must have made Cakra have to work, which should have been spent studying.

Rian didn't care about that anymore, his shoulders shrugged. "I just want to say that to you, then I go out first. You can continue working."

Without waiting for an answer from his father, Rian immediately stood up and dragged himself out of his father's study.

***

"Cakra, table number five, the food is ready. Hurry up and bring it over." As soon as the head chef spoke to him, the boy picked up the tray and placed the plates on it, as well as two glasses of juice.

With careful movements, Cakra stepped toward the table in question. After arriving, he placed the order on the table politely.

"Enjoy," he said kindly, bowing his head with a smile.

"He's really handsome, can I ask for his cell phone number?" One of the girls chimed in, who Cakra guessed was a year or two older than him. Her appearance reflected that she was a student.

Cakra only smiled modestly before turning around.

"You're leaving anyway!" The girl grumbled, but he didn't care. He went back to the kitchen, put down the tray, came back out with a book and pen in his hand, and then approached the visitor who had just arrived.

"Congratulation—"

His words hung in the air as his gaze met the eyes of someone he knew. His lips trembled slightly.

"Cakra?"

"Inez?"

Simultaneously, they pointed at each other. Cakra glared with his mouth slightly open, while Inez blinked her eyes. She even stood up from her seat.

"You're really Cakra, right?" Inez confirmed this after swallowing her saliva roughly. Her eyes were slightly narrowed.

Cakra sighed softly, then nodded. "Yes, I'm Cakra, what are you doing here?"

"This is a restaurant, obviously I want to eat here." Inez replied, her eyes rolling lazily because Cakra's question struck her as ridiculous. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here."

"What? Seriously, this is where you work?"

Cakra didn't answer, he scratched the bridge of his nose. He then cleared his throat softly. "What do you want to order, Nez?"

Inez was still looking at Cakra's appearance from top to bottom. The corners of her lips slowly expanded, forming a sweet smile.

Inez grabbed the menu book in front of her, opened it, and started looking through the menu that caught her eye. "I'll just order spaghetti."

"Drink?"

"If it's a drink..." Inez looked at the menu again. "Here, just avocado juice."

Cakra nodded and took down Inez's order. "Just a moment, Nez."

"Okay boyfriend!" Inez chuckled softly, feeling amused herself for saying the word.

Cakra didn't reply, let alone grumble and refute her words. The boy just sighed softly before finally stomping away from Inez.

After the chef made Inez's order, Cakra immediately brought it to the girl's table. Inez welcomed it enthusiastically.

"I think it's delicious." Inez's face lit up, and she looked up at Cakra. "Thanks."

"Enjoy," said Cakra. "I'll leave first, there are still many other customers."

Inez nodded slowly, which Cakra returned with a brief smile.