The First Curse of Love
51. Hints From Windy

"Felicya Aletha's love has finally come!" Arga said in a loud voice when he saw the arrival of Danny.

The others immediately turned to Danny.

That night, Danny, along with Arga, Celine, Alisha, and Windy gather together in a cafe they used to go to when they were in college. As usual, when they meet to gather, Danny always looks at the faces of his best friend one by one to ascertain whether there is Qiara among them or not. But even so, although the others also knew who Danny was looking for and for whom Danny had come, none of them dared to mention Qiara by name.

Since the accident, Danny has begun to give up on showing his feelings in front of his friends. All the longing he craved for Qiara, his pain and regret, as well as his waiting, Danny kept it tight for himself. Danny kept it as much as possible, so that no one could read his heart and mind.

Danny chooses not to answer Arga's fad. He just stayed still with a flat expression, then dropped his body on one of the chairs that were located right next to Celine. Celine smiled awkwardly at Danny. But then again, Danny just showed his flat expression.

While in silence, Windy keeps Danny's attention relentlessly. His sight looks guilty.

"Dann!" Call Windy pretty loud. They ended their meeting.

Danny, who was about to enter his car, immediately disengaged his intentions and turned to coincide with Windy who was standing before him.

"Yes, Win?"

"Denger-denger, you're on holiday, huh?"

Danny nodded in response.

"Where are you planning a vacation?"

"Have you ever seen me go on vacation even though I'm on vacation?" Danny asked coldly.

Windy just nodded, as if understanding that Danny, who is now, has completely different one hundred and eighty degrees from Danny version three years ago.

"Aren't you going to try Banu Island?" Windy said with a suddenly serious look. His eyes looked as if he was saying that Danny should go there.

Windy asserted that his words were not a suggestion, but a clue.

Danny did not answer. So did Windy who said nothing more. They were both silent, as they both stared at each other, talking through eyes to eyes.

...****...

"Danny, wake!"

Dean tried to wake Danny, who was still drowning that morning in the arms of his dreams. Unsuccessful, Dean now walks towards the big window and opens the curtain to let the sunlight in and tease Danny from his sleep.

What Dean did this time worked. Danny reflexively raised one of his arms and then covered his eyes with it while lowly moaning.

"Come, get up! I have to go to the hotel now."

"Yes, you go. I'm still sleepy. After all, so Big Brother has no understanding at all. I just shajuh nyampe, but now you've just woke up." Danny complained without opening his eyes. He then pulled out his blanket, then covered his entire body with it.

Dean clucked while shaking his head a few times. "Well, I'm leaving now, okay? If you want breakfast, at the dinner table is available."

Although Danny is not heard to give any answers, but Dean knows that Danny has listened to him. He then stroked his sister's head from under a blanket before finally coming out leaving Danny alone.

At ten o'clock, Danny woke up from his sleep. He went to the bathroom to clean himself up. A week ago, when suddenly Windy gave him a 'suggestion' for a vacation to Banu Island, somehow, Danny kept thinking about what Windy said endlessly. Windy's gaze when asking him to go to Banu Island, rolled a puzzle that made Danny moved to solve it.

Windy seems to know Danny's weak spot, and Windy has touched it. Danny is the type of person who if he is curious about something, then he will try to find out about the truth of something that he managed to find. That's the reason why Danny's in Dean's house now. On Banu Island, which is also his homeland.

Over the last few months since he returned from Los Angeles, Danny has gone to all the small islands to shoot. But somehow, Banu Island never entered the list of islands that he had visited. Even though during school to college, the island of Banu has always been his favorite place to vacation.

After cleaning up, Danny got off the second floor of Dean's house and immediately went to the dining room. And on the dinner table there, there is a bowl of green bean soup with several slices of meat.

When tasting the soup sauce, Danny felt a little surprised because the soup was still warm. While he remembered very well, that Dean woke him up about two hours ago. Not wanting to think too hard about it, Danny returned to eating the food available in front of him. He was starving after being trapped in a plane for almost a night.

But wait a minute! After finishing his first feed, Danny thought that the taste of the dish was not so foreign on his tongue. But Danny doesn't really remember where he tasted that taste.

"If so, sir, I'll go back to the house first, okay? The book has met."

One voice so familiar was faintly heard from outside the house. Feeling familiar with the voice, Danny was immediately aghast. That voice belonged to Qiara.

Danny shuffled out of his chair and rushed out of the house. But once he opened the door, it turned out that there was no one, except a gardener who was cleaning the yard. Danny breathed his heavy breath. There was a feeling of disappointment within him.

Little heart Danny actually wanted to ask the gardener if he had just spoken to someone or not. But because of fear of disappointment, Danny muffled the desire of his heart. For the past three years, Danny has been hallucinating Qiara's voice. It does not rule out the possibility that what he heard just now, is only part of his hallucination, and he will be even more disappointed if he finds out.

Danny went back to the dinner table, finished off his remaining soup.

Danny admitted that the soup was the most delicious soup he had ever eaten after three years.

...****...

Bored after a day of languishing at home, Danny finally decided to take a walk in the fresh air by riding a scooter. After driving around for approximately forty-five minutes, the wheel of the scooter that Danny was driving stopped in front of an old bookstore.

Danny entered the bookstore and looked around the room with a dumbstruck face. Danny was really in love with that place. Before this, Danny was quite often to Banu Island, he was even born in this place, but Danny just found out that there is a bookstore as beautiful as this on Banu Island. Danny was suddenly upset, because he felt he had missed something very valuable.

"Welcome!" Greet an Old Grandfather with his thick round glasses from behind the cashier's desk.

Danny who gasped was immediately attracted from his slackness. He immediately turned his head, and looked at the Old Grandfather warmly. His face no longer looked as cold as before. Afterwards, Danny smiled as he nodded his head.

"I was born here, and I've been here a few times for school holidays. But I just found out there's a bookstore this beautiful here. If you may know, this bookstore has been around since when?" Danny heard himself making a sound. Since losing Qiara, the first time Danny has felt this honest.

"This bookstore dates back sixty years." The Grandfather replied with a smile on his face.

"Do you believe it? Those who come here are the ones whose hearts are guided. You'll find what you're looking for here."

Danny is a doubt, because he's not the kind of person who believes in that kind of thing. After all, Danny meant that what Old Grandpa meant was; Danny would find whatever book he was looking for in this place.

Danny smiled again, and said, "in that case, I'd like to look at the book first."

"good. Happy searching!"

Danny walked over to one of the shelves and started picking and sorting out some books. The bookstore was not crowded enough, there were only a few visitors. Danny does not know exactly how many numbers because Danny is lazy to pay attention to other things.

Not long after, Danny's attention was drawn to a novel titled "To Heal Is To Let Go" by Adi K. When looking at the cover of the back of the novel, a paragraph of neatly arranged sentences seemed to scorn her so pitifully.

"Life is about receiving and letting go. Let go of something that was once the best part of your life. Let go of the burden and the gloomy and sad past. Let go of the hatred and resentment that have haunted the mind. But in reality, letting go is not as easy as it says."

Danny smiled bitterly reading that line. Of course, letting go is not as easy as it says. Danny now also scorned himself, just as the words without mercy did.

"Mba Qiara!"

DEGH!

A powerful punch was felt in Danny's chest upon hearing that one name. Everything blurred even more when the owner of the name said right from the side, in a very close distance to him, also with a soft tone of voice that managed to melt the iceberg in his heart.

"Yes?"

Danny turned to his side. He was shocked beyond measure when he saw the real figure of Qiara, no longer just a mere hallucination.

Both of Danny's eyes twitched and slowly dewed. It was hard for him to believe what he had just seen and heard.

Qiaras? That really is the qiaranya. His qiar that he missed so much that he almost died all this time. His Qiar disappeared like a dream one night. His Qiar that for the past three years has continued to dwell in his mind every second.

At that time, the quota of air around Danny seemed to thin out to make it difficult to breathe.

"I put the books in the trunk." Said a middle-aged man standing at the back of the bookshelf.

"OKAY. Thank you, Mr. Rendra." Qiara answered cheerfully while commenting on the wide smile.

That day, Qiara looked very beautiful with a small floral summer dress that she combined with a black t-shirt in it —series with the black oversize t-shirt that Danny was wearing at the time. Not to forget also Qiara used a white sneakers to complete her appearance. His long hair he braids all over to the side, thus further adding to the sweet impression.

"Qi–Qiara Serena?" Danny looked down with a trembling voice.

Qiara was seen frozen for a few seconds, before finally turning her head and looking at Danny. When their pair of beads finally collided with each other, they both flinched. But unlike Danny, although somewhat surprised at the beginning, slowly Qiara began to be able to behave normally and look normal in front of the man.

Qiara seemed to have known, that in a short time he would be reunited with Danny.

Danny sighed while biting his lower lip to withstand the whack of an evil streak. The next second, Danny laughed bitterly.

"See? I can't win if you choose to hide. I must have lost a lot in that, hahaha..." Danny failed to dispel his tears, and let them fall just like that in front of Qiara.

Fuck if Danny looks like a loser now. Danny doesn't care anymore. All he knew was that he missed this woman. His indifference to the situation was what finally made Danny want to pull Qiara into his arms. However, before Danny's hand could land on his wrist, Qiara took a step back with a bowed face.

Danny's heart was like it was being crushed. There was nothing more stifling, when the Qiara he had longed for for so many years was already in front of his eyes, but he could not even hold her, or just touch her.

"Qia?" Call Danny softly while slightly lowering his face in order to see Qiara's eyes.

Qiara took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. After that, he dared to return Danny's gaze. "H—Hay, Dann! How are you?"

Danny sighed, muffling the pain in his chest.

"After you've been missing for years, after you left me alone when you promised me you'd never leave me, you asked me how I was?"

"Danny, I–"

"It seems you already knew that if we were going to meet today, you must have prepared for this, right? Aye, right?" And accused Danny fiercely.

Before Qiara could answer, Mr. Rendra again came. "Mba Qiara, we have to leave now. It's about time. The kids must have been waiting."

Qiara rubbed the corner of her watery eyes before finally turning to Mr. Rendra, "yes, sir. Let's go!"

Not long before Qiara stepped foot to move, Danny quickly blocked his wrist with full force, as if not allowing Qiara to go a step. "Who said you could go? Huh uh?!" Danny asked with anger.

Highlight the sadness in his eyes, now changing full of cruelty.

Qiara grimaced slowly. His hand really hurt because Danny was too strong to grip him. "Danny, my hands hurt. Pleaseee..."

Danny instantly softened when he saw Qiara in pain. He finally let go of his grip. A guilty feeling instantly slapped him upon seeing Qiara's wrists flushed red from her actions.

"I'm sorry, but now I have to go. I'm really busy. We'll move on later, and you have every right to vent all your anger."

Danny snorted his smile cynically while throwing his face to the side. Then with a rash move, Qiara left Danny just like that.

"This is the last one, Qiara. Your hiding ends here. Next time, you won't have a chance to leave. I swear."

To Be Continued...^^^