Dul
152. After So Long

“Udah done, right? I'm laper.”

Ibra's voice makes Dul flinch. His gaze had been in a second with Annisa. But the girl quickly took her eyes off. It turned out that what he heard earlier was true, Dul thought.

The wing is done. A sign of his career as a fighter pilot of the TNI AU has begun. Everything should go smoothly and he can leave Jogja with light steps towards his new placement area. In fact ... everything is not that easy. Everything has never been so easy, he thought.

“We're back to the hotel, yes. Eating at the hotel. Ibra is laper.” Bara took Ibra to calm his bored flowers.

“Bby. Ibra may be sleepy. This morning he woke up really fast,” said Annisa with a face that he tried to look cheerful.

Among the events that will not be forgotten for life, the events of the day are one of them. Sejah stared grimly at all the faces of his family members that day. He and Bara tried hard to make everything okay. It was their own belief that everything was okay.

They were not long in the city. The day before his return, Dul was able to join the family. He took an extra room in the hotel which he reserved for himself and Ibra. Sure enough, Ibra jumped for joy when she found out Dul was already ‘lepas’ from the dorm.

“Light we will stories yes, Mas.” Ibra still wrestles Dul who is still wearing his backpack.

“We story until morning,” said Dul chuckle. He should laugh. In the hotel lobby there is a father and mother. Mima who was also moody did not put it into the count. The girl was like she was trapped in her own mind. Dream often.

The next laugh that was heard was the laughter of family members almost simultaneously. Annisa also smiled warmly when she saw the togetherness of Dul and Ibra. The envy he felt did not deserve to infiltrate the chest. If all his older brothers used to be as caring and warm as that to him. Nisa let out a short breath.

"Dad, Mother ... Nisa to the room first, yeah. I want to clean up the suitcase" Annisa said.

"Oh, yes. I haven't cleaned my suitcase either. Good thing Nisa ngingetin," said Sejah with shocked mimicry made-up. "Come, Mas. Help me clean up. Mima and Ibra also helped Mom," said Dijah.

"Are you carrying how many clothes until we all help you?" Mima puckered her mouth. But he took Ibra to release Dul. She understood her mother wanted Dul and Annisa to talk alone. The trip to London should at least bring a little story.

Since saying that he was going to clean up his luggage and heard the reply of the Sejah, Annisa and Dul were silent as if hypnotized. Both of them are waiting to be left behind by just the two.

"Can you talk to me?" dul asked, when the backs of four people had vanished into the elevator.

"Where is it? In the lobby of this hotel?" Annisa circulated her gaze to the expanse of the lobby.

The sound of the piano instrument playing a slow-moving sound plus a few guests occupying the lobby sofa without speaking, made the situation in the hotel lobby very quiet. Every sentence they spoke would sound very clear.

"May," said Annisa, walking ahead of Dul towards the glass door located next to the row of receptionists. The door led him to a manual ladder. The park and swimming pool are located below. He had to slowly go down the stairs to reach where Dul meant.

During a leisurely walk to the park, Annisa had crossed the desire that Dul would hold or even embrace her as usual. But Abdullah is Abdullah, he thought. Dul is always polite and will not do anything without cue. Especially when they were cold like that. Approaching him at close range, Dul might not dare.

Together they went down the stairs and turned towards the garden near the pool. A few beach umbrellas with iron chairs lay near them. Dul approached one of them. "Sit here" said Dul, holding Annisa's arm and taking her to one of the chairs.

The touch made Annisa pause for a moment. A few seconds he forgot what he was going to say in the opening of their chat.

"Where have you been all this time? All my messages are never answered." Dul couldn't bear to ask that first. The distance and the walls of the dormitory did not allow him to date like friends their age.

"Why do you think I read and reply to your messages? Technically, we have no relationship anymore. We're not a pair of humans who have an obligation to exchange news."

Dul shifted the chair closer and almost parallel to Annisa. The two of them could easily look each other in the face, but it made Dul feel like a lawyer and a prosecutor were throwing arguments.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to your graduation, Nisa .... I want and want to be present. But I can't ignore your Papa. How is your Papa an old man. Must be heard," said Dul, looking at Annisa's face. The girl turned her face to the opposite place.

"I also know that listening to our parents is what we should do. But that doesn't mean you haven't considered my request." Annisa looked around at Dul. "I asked you to come to my graduation. Like I came to your graduation. I ask and you fulfill. It's that simple."

"But your Papa doesn't want me there...."

"Yes, you have to make an effort. Show Papa that you're serious about me. You came and were there for me."

"The graduation is for two, Nisa. Papa you take your mother too."

"That woman is not my mother!" Annisa looked at Dul irately. "I told you I don't care about the woman I should call Mama. She's not my mama. My mother doesn't exist, Abdullah. My mother died and I looked there every month. If Papa forces me to acknowledge the woman as my mother, you don't do it, Abdullah. You don't force me to call that woman Mama ...." Annisa's not as hiccuping. Not sobbing. But her tears had washed her cheeks.

"I am considered to be the one who took you from the family. I don't want our relationship to start with a disagreement. I want Papa to think of me as a grown man who loves his son. Not as a man who takes his daughter by force. If I insist or force myself to be present at your graduation, Papa you must be more angry, Nisa. Papa you must be getting less and less fond of me. I'm gonna have a harder time getting into your family."

To be continued