The First Curse of Love
61. Dean's Proposal

Qiara looked at her phone with a huff. It's been two weeks since Danny returned to the town of Harsa, but to this day, not a single phone call has come from him. Qiara had tried hard not to think about Danny, but no matter how hard he tried, the shadow of Danny's face when crying and so angry at him, in the end always crossed his head. Qiara knew that this was not the right thing, but she could not control the way her heart was going in its own way.

"After you killed my son, how dare you still laugh! How dare you live your new life well. How dare you be happy when I almost forgot how to smile!"

Danny's speech is heard in his memory and again triggers the tightness. Qiara held onto his chest, hitting him many times with a blank look. And without feeling, her tears rolled again.

"Qia?"

Dean's voice instantly jolted Qiara and attracted her from her long daydream. Before Qiara looked back, she took the time to wipe away the tears on her cheeks, tried to put on a smiling face then turned around and looked at Dean who was already standing next to her.

"Have the show finished?"

"Yes. I have been looking for you, but you are not there. Eeeh, you're alone here." Dean replied as he spread his gaze across the entire health room.

That day, Dean and some of his employees came to a special orphanage to hand over some of the help they routinely provide every month. After going through a fairly exhausting activity, Dean still had to exert his energy to look for Qiara's distinction.

"Sorry, I'm not feeling well anymore i— day"

Before Qiara could finish his words, Dean had already touched Qiara's forehead with the back of his hand. And sure enough, Dean felt Qiara's body feel warm.

"It turns out I'm not really feeling well. Going to the hospital?" Bargain Dean.

Qiara shook her head, and slowly lowered Dean's hand from her forehead. Dean was not naive, he knew Qiara was giving a subtle rejection to him.

"Qia's better, Brother Dean. Qia slept here after taking fever-lowering medication." Qiara continued with an awkward smile. He then naturally shifted a little so that his position could be a bit away from Dean.

"Yes, go home, yuk! You didn't go to the radio tonight, did you?"

Qiara nodded, "i've already handed in the resignation letter this morning."

"Ah yes, you will return to ANHstar Radio next week." There's a bitter in Dean's tone.

Even though he had given up his trust completely to Qiara, but still he could not avoid being afraid of the fact that Qiara and Danny would return to being in a working environment.

Just as Dean and Qiara were about to step out of the infirmary, the matriarch of the parlour suddenly walked in and made them undo their intention to come out. Ira's mother, who had a face and a pacifying smile, approached Dean and Qiara.

"You guys want to go home?"

"Yes, Miss Ira. Tomorrow morning we're back for a farewell." Answer Qiara.

Ira's mother grabbed Qiara's hands and held them. This morning, Qiara had also said her farewell to the people in the orphanage. And even though it was only six months Qiara joined as one of the volunteers in that place, but everyone had already fallen in love with her. Of course there was a heavy feeling when they had to let Qiara go.

"Thank you for helping so much during these six months huh, Qi? Hopefully after this, Nak Qia can take a little time to see the sisters here. They already love Nak Qia."

"Of course, Mom. Every holiday, Qia would definitely come here, read fairy tales again to the sisters."

"Greet Ray, huh? It's been a while since he's come."

"Bang Ray is busy, Mom. But next time, Qia will definitely bring Bang Ray here."

Ira's mother just nodded. Not long after, he suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, Danny hasn't been seen again in two weeks. Reno's mom is Danny almost every day. He said he hasn't had time to thank you in person for saving Reno."

Qiara was silent. He doesn't know how to answer Miss Ira's question. Dean who realized that, immediately took over to answer. "The holidays are over, Mom. Danny's back at work."

"Oh, huh? It must be so urgent that it cannot say goodbye to others."

Dean could only throw one awkward smile in response.

Ira's mother looked at the two people in front of her seriously. His eyes seemed to hold so much hope, for Qiara and Dean to live happily.

"And you! When do you want to get married?"

"Huh?" Shocked Dean. He and Qiara both looked at Mother Ira with shocked eyes.

"If it can be as soon as possible, why not immediately? You will be an amazing couple when you get married. Good people will eventually be met with good people as well." Ira's mother looked at them in turn, who only Dean answered with an awkward smile while scratching the back of his neck.

While Qiara, he did not show any reaction. His eyes really look empty.

While on the way home, Qiara continued to stare at the mobile phone in her hand. In him now, there has been a great quarrel between his heart and his brain. When her brain insisted on not contacting Danny first, her heart was even harder to ask him to call Danny and tell her what Ira's mother had told her.

Actually, it's no big deal if Qiara doesn't tell Danny. It was just an alibi so he could figure out how Danny was doing now.

After going through quite a heated debate, Qiara finally won her heart. He tries to bury his pride deep before his fingers type a message for Danny. Once the message had been sent, Qiara immediately kept her phone in the chest, closed both eyes, then leaned her head on the seat back with a feeling of anxiety.

And all that turmoil, not one bit escaped Dean's attention. And outside of Qiara, Dean could see the contents of the message Qiara had sent to Danny. Back then, the two of them sat in the back seat with Dean's secretary driving for them, which was why Dean could steal a glance at Qiara's phone.

While elsewhere at the same time, Danny reads a message sent by Qiara without intending to reply. Danny stared at his phone for quite a long time before finally deciding to put his phone back on the table. After that, Danny returned busy with a monitor screen in front of him, trying to busy himself with his work.

...****...

"Sister Qia?" Call Reno while approaching Qiara who was sitting alone in the backyard of the home while looking at the view of the high sea that appears from a distance.

Lately, precisely after the departure of Danny, Qiara became more alone, Qiara also became more silent. And Reno, realize it all.

Qiara who gasped after Reno called his name, immediately broke her daydream and turned her head, trying to make out a smile on her face that was completely far from excited.

"Eh, Reno?"

"Ira's mother told Reno to call Kak Qia. His farewell is about to begin." Reno then sat down beside Qiara while carrying a roll of drawing paper that he neatly tied with a blue ribbon.

"Oh, huh? Yeah, we're in, yuk!" Take Qiara later.

"Sister Qia wait!" Reno said while holding Qiara's hand for a moment.

Qiara sat back to his original position with an eye that could not be separated from Reno.

"What's up, Ren?"

"Eeemm... Brother Qia same brother Danny fight, huh?"

"Why can Reno do that?" Qiara asked with a scrabbling face.

"Because Kak Qia has looked sad since Danny's brother left." Reno answered briefly.

"No, Ren. Brother Qia same brother Danny did not fight. Brother Danny just─" Qiara took a pause for a few seconds before continuing, "Sister Danny is just a bit upset with Brother Qia. Brother Qia has made Brother Danny angry, hehe..."

"Reno has heard this before, he said that if two adults are marahan, it means they love each other. Brother Qia loves you, Brother Danny, right?"

Qiara could not help but be surprised while listening to the last question Reno threw at her. His eyes suddenly warmed up before finally dewy.

"If Kak Qia loves Brother Danny, Kak Qia must be sorry for making Brother Danny angry."

Qiara laughed bitterly while trying to suppress the rate of her tears from dripping in the presence of this innocent boy.

"Who said Kak Qia loves Danny? Brother Qia is unfortunately the same Brother Dean." Qiara. The next second, he suddenly felt like he had thrown a lie at Reno, as well as at himself.

Reno shook her head steadily, as if knowing that Qiara was being dishonest to her.

"Sister Qia never came, did she, like Brother Dean?"

This time Qiara recalled. And if he thinks about it, for most of his life, he's never been in a fight with Dean.

It practically made his heart stupefied.

Reno who could read the contents of Qiara's head again said, "certainly never, right? That means, Brother Qia does not love Brother Dean. Brother Qia is more dear Brother Danny."

Qiara this time did not answer and just silently thought.

"Sister Qia, may I ask you a favor?"

"What do you want, Ren?"

"Since Kak Qia wants to go back to Harsa, can you please hand this over to Brother Danny? This is Reno's thanks for Danny's brother notolongin Reno." Reno said as she handed the paper scroll to Qiara.

Qiara accepted it. With both eyes glazed over and a faint smile she replied, "surely Kak Qia will pass this on to Brother Danny."

"And most importantly, Brother Qia must apologize so that you can get better."

This time Qiara's laughter broke out. He then rubbed the top of Reno's head with love.

...****...

After the farewell event specially designed for Qiara by some orphanage managers was over, Dean suddenly just pulled over from the crowd. He walked into the front yard of the orphanage with a thoughtful look on his face. Not long after, Dean then took out a red ring box from his suit pocket. Dean opened the box, and noticed the ring perched there. Inside his head right now, Dean was weighing, was this the right time for him to propose to Qiara? Qiara was about to return to the city of Harsa, and before that, Dean wanted to tie Qiara down first.

When Dean was in a dilemma, Trisa who was famous as the most kepo person in the place knew-know appeared out of nowhere. He poked his head from Dean's side while watching the ring Dean was holding. Both of Trisa's eyes were rounded, "Mas Dean would want to sleep with Mba Qia, right?"

The surprised Dean hurriedly closed the ring box, then turned to Trisa. "Tris? Since when are you there?" Dean asked, trying to dampen his shock with the presence of Trisa who was like a genie bottle.

"Udaaah, lamar now only. Tomorrow morning, Mba Qia is not here anymore, you know." Trisa warns with one mischievous grin. He crossed his arms behind his back and walked slowly until he stopped right in front of Dean.

"What the hell, Tris?" Dean's pretending to be stupid.

Dean also failed to hide his misconduct. But deep in his heart, he felt grateful because Trisa, the Most Kepo Man is the one who caught him.

As soon as Trisa saw the figure of Qiara walking out from inside the orphanage with Windy, Trisa immediately shouted. "MBA QIA, HERE!!" Trisa's shout was successful in attracting the attention of everyone on the page.

"Tris, what's wrong with you?"

Qiara accompanied by Windy walked over to Trisa. "Why, Tris?" Asked Qiara, he occasionally saw Dean who was acting quite strange back then.

Windy was too, he felt like there was something odd about Dean's attitude.

"Son Dean wants to say something."

"Trisaa!" Ringis Dean frustrated.

Qiara this time turned to look at Dean. Dean was even more confused, how to explain the current situation.

"Sister Dean?" Qiara muttered while looking deeply into Dean's eyes.

Windy, who seemed to be able to read the situation, suddenly stepped back slowly with a bitter smile on her sweet face.

Feeling already wet with a completely dead-end mind, Dean let out a long sigh.

It's final! He would take the decision to propose to Qiara this second as well.

His heart suddenly gained such a strong belief. And Dean didn't want to falter, which caused him to miss a moment like this.

A while later, Dean knelt before Qiara while taking out and opening the ring box earlier. A diamond-studded gold ring Dean dedicates to Qiara –the woman he loves most.

All the pairs of eyes that were in that place, were directly aimed at Dean and Qiara.

"Sister Dean? Why?" Curse Qiara with a half-whispering tone.

"Qi, I know this is very sudden. I never thought I would do this today either. But since it's already done, I'll continue it until the end."

Qiara freezes. This kind of situation was not at all foreign to him. He was in a situation like this three years ago. But the difference is, if three years ago he felt so happy, now it is different. Qiara felt a doubt that was so strong that it undermined her heart.

"Qiara Serena Ghandy, will you marry me?"

A moment later Qiara gasped as she felt something from within her jerk at her without a cue. He then spread his eyes around her. The hopeful spies of the orphanage residents, who had been loyal supporters who had always supported his relationship with Dean, seemed to tell him to accept Dean. Their faces were no less tense than Dean's now.

"Sister Dean's up! Don't be shy!!" Whisper Qiara with bulging eyes.

The thing that inexplicably looks funny in Dean's eyes, makes Dean casually show the look of his uncaring face with a careless smile that accompanies him.

All of his tension suddenly eroded.

^^^To be Continued...^^^