Sweet Pills
Chapters 16. Nirmana

Dreams are flowers of sleep. Want to be as beautiful as anything, happy only for a moment. Even so, that momentary feeling alone was enough to make a thump in the chest.

It does not matter as long as this one flower blooms once. The story goes three times. Myths are littered with the belief that a dream that repeats three times will come true. Weary in the dark of the night, plus tired in the morning. Crazy feel.

What happens then happens.

All the design participants had already taken their seats. Of the sixteen available, only one seat in front of the AC was left empty and of course, Niki, the only participant who had not sat was forced to sit there.

A year ago, in Niki's dreamland, he was in a white room full of people passing by. He was with those people wearing black clothes.

At first, Niki thought that his dream was about a funeral, but when a computer appeared and a large woman sat next to him, he changed his mind.

His dream was that he was a worker who was completing some tasks.

The men around him often bothered him, except for one man who sat at the front of the line on the right. High man with wide shoulders. The man looked back, towards Niki, but again his face was nowhere to be seen.

Some of the conversations he heard described him as joking with other employees. I don't know, the dream feels real, but he was not following anything last year. Just an unemployed student at home.

Now, he sits in the front seat facing the AC room. He let out a breath, a little relief, because the man who resembled Si Mas was sitting on his right, not in front of the right. Again, that man was Vijaya.

"Your next task is drawing!" shouted Mr. Budi from behind while walking into the front of the projector.

He carried several sheets of A3 paper with colorful drawings. One of the images he showed to the design participants.

An abstract that is yellow and black. Very unique. The shape of the boxes that form a tunnel.

"What do you see?" ask Mr. Budi

Xabil answered "Abstract, sir."

Niki doesn't want to lose "Abstract but a tunnel."

Mr. Budi then clarified "True, this is abstract. But not just any abstract. If the abstract is a random picture that has aesthetic value. If this is Nirmana."

"Nirvana?" gregor asked confirming his pronunciation. Naturally, he sat at the very back, that's it, my fellow with Marzuki as well.

"Nir-ma-na." spelled Mr. Budi one-on-one.

Antony asked "What's the difference between being abstract, sir?"

"Nirmana is a pattern that repeats and has a purpose. Like this for example. There is one point to go, so it looks like a tunnel. Give a 3D impression. There's a game of dark light here, and it's also a game of perspective, point of view. The picture's alive."

Niki gulped, the last time he drew while in the High School bench, even a simple leaf drawing with a value of C. He is not very good at drawing by hand.

"Your job is to draw nirmana on A4 paper. I'll give it till Monday next week." he said and disappeared.

The participants sat quietly in their new seats. Niki's with Laras. He looked back, there was Sapphira and Vanny. Then behind him are Xabil and Antony, and the back seat is occupied by Mita and Kiki.

While in the row of seats on the right, Wijaya and Abigail sat at the front. These two supposedly most shrewd people are me. Behind her is Ryan and full of make up. On the third bench, it was occupied by a quiet duo, Finn and Rayhan. The back seat was occupied by Gregor and Marzuki.

Everything is not the same. I sat in front, not in the second row. Safe. Niki muttered on the spot.

He was overwhelmed by the worry between believing in disbelief. He looked at Wijaya full of search.

And Wijaya realized, the handsome man's tail understood what was going on, but he did not look back and chose to focus on playing with the computer in front of him.

Mr. Budi then knocked on the glass door of the new class again "Nobody started drawing?" sizzle.

"The paper is no sir." said Antony sonorous.

"In the next room. Under the printer. Per person one sheet. Okay, I go first." and then I disappear.

Design participants began to focus on determining what nirmana they would draw. Their mobile phones are actively looking for the simplest example of nirmana.

Xabil, Antony, Abigail, Vanny, and Sapphira had already come up with the idea. They immediately went to the next class to pick up the A4 paper.

"Eh, come!" Niki shouted towards Safira.

"Jaudah, work there." said Vanny.

Mentok, Niki doesn't know what to do. All the things he was looking for in his phone only made his mind more complicated.

Confused about making which one because his hand was not smart to draw lines neatly.

Unlike her, Vanny was very relaxed about this second task. It was only five minutes before he finished drawing the thin skeleton on his A4 paper, all of a sudden, he boldly brushed the line using a black marker. Not at all afraid of being scratched or scabbed.

"Van, are you used to drawing?" niki asked curiously.

Mita sniped from behind "Udah spelledin, this kid fell asleep at the table."

"Haha, yes mbak. Interviews late. It doesn't matter anymore. It's delicious."

Mita looked at Niki, She knew, Niki was also anxious about this second task, just as she seemed. The two then went out and stood limp in front of the window of the second-floor building.

Looking at the abilities of the other participants, made these two people feel far behind. Insecure.

"Sir, what's the plan?"

"Don't know yet. I think it'll be right back home. More comfortable think of the concept of a calm atmosphere."

"Yes, same. Me too." replied Mita hesitated.

He then looked at Niki who was suddenly pensive in front of the glass window. His belief ensured that in fact, Niki was making that concept right now.

Being late alone is not fun. Mita immediately enters, leaving Niki outside and retrieving a piece of A4 paper.

Niki was still staring at the window without realizing she was pensive. Until finally hordes of engineering children walked across to their building down there.

His eyes then looked down. The red motor is again next to the Dzulfikar.

His lips sneered, as if Dzulfikar was mocking his legendary motor there, just like his owner had suddenly been annoying lately.

"Niki, why is it outside?"

The voice of the man broke his focus. He turned around immediately, Ryan was there. Niki did not answer, the man continued to walk to the toilet.

Ryan tidied up some of his thin hair to make it look more youthful in front of the toilet mirror.

Apparently, he was the only participant who did not cut his hair as instructed, his head was not bald at all. And Niki saw that as she walked back from the toilet.

"Abang who wants to work as a painter, right?" his chirps were suddenly in front of the glass door Ryan had just opened.

His feet stopped for a second. "Painter?" where would he be called that. Ryan turned his head towards Niki who was still smiling kindly waiting for an answer.

Irritatingly. The face that Niki showed was very annoying, this weathered bujang civil engineering boy knows, not uncle cat!

Ryan then just like that, ignoring the random woman at all.

Niki clucked in annoyance as she stomped her feet back to the very end of the chair near the window, irritated at not being responded to.

"Uncle cat?!" cetus Mita on the spot.

It's finished. There is no longer the authority of Ryan as the class leader now, it turns out they heard Niki's words!

"Haha!!"

"What, chief?!"

"Huahaha, follow the design to be uncle cat, it turns out our chairman is very effortless!"

Niki's grin was reflected off the window. He seemed satisfied with the response of a class that heard what He said.

"Dong's story! Eh I think we need to share the incident during the interview anyway?" mita again. This one woman is indeed the axis of the topic in the daytime.

Cathering their pride has come. The daytime lag is enough to satisfy consumers who are already starving, except Niki. The menu is red seasoning chicken, typical kalimantan cuisine.

Even though it is red, it tastes really sweet. Not suitable for Sumatran-java Niki tongue.

"I really want to fit the interview anyway, Safira sat next to me. Aye right?" mita began the discussion.

Everyone listened to his story while opening one by one the packets of cathering dishes.

"Banana again, banana again. Bosen, uh. Nik, will you?" safira offered.

With open arms, Niki received the banana joyfully. Seeing Niki's response, it made the other participants' hand talk to give her banana to Niki's lunchbox as well.

"You don't want to be a healthy child, what? Bananas are good for digestion tofu!" he shouted criticizing the design participants.

With one sentence, they answered Niki's whining together with a compact "You're a boarding boy!"

Niki coughed as she swallowed her chicken. Ah, it's really fun. It feels, the moment of SMA and college boring used to be replaced by friends of graphic design.