Romance In Paradise

Heru

          Both Jaka and Bill had their breakfast in their hotel then started to pack up, ready to climb up the mountain back to their den! When they were on the main road, Jaka heard someone shouted his name: "Jaka!". Jaka turned his head and barely recognised the guy. He looked familiar then he realised it was Pram, his ex boy friend. There were four men with him. He walked towards Pram and greeted him. Pram hugged him and asked how he was. Jaka introduced Bill to Pram. When Pram asked Jaka if Bill was his boy friend, Jaka nodded his head. Pram asked him if they can chat in a café nearby and Jaka agreed. They chatted for nearly an hour in a café where both Jaka and Pram told each other story.

        Bill felt bored as he was left out in the conversation as Jaka and Pram spoke in rapid Indonesian. During this time the four men sat nearby. Pram told Jaka that those men were his body guards. Jaka teased him if there body guards and lovers. Pram nodded his head and said he took turn molested each one of them every night!! Jaka smiled awkwardly but Pram gave a hearty laugh!!

         Pram's father died last year and Pram took over his business but decided not to involve in politics like his father was. He was in Cipanas Resort to check the progress of his luxurious hotel's renovation in PuncakPass not far from Cipanas Resort. Jaka thought that Pram looked different now and somehow very arrogant. Jaka felt discomfort with this and the more he talked with him the more uncomfortable he was till he decided to leave. He said good bye to Pram and his men and gave signal to Bill to walk out. Pram laughed and somehow he kept following them. When Jaka and Bill were started climbing up, they were still following them. Jaka felt uneasy finding them still following him and warned them that his place was far and hard to climb. Pram mocked him and said that it was up to him to do anything he wanted!!

       They already made an hour trip when suddenly the four men attacking Jaka and Bill without notice! Jaka fought with the stick in his hand he found earlier on the ground. Bill used his small luggage hitting his two opponents. Jaka was smaller compared with his two opponents who were muscular and bigger than him. Lucky Jaka was very fit due to his life style and often walking around the mountain. Pram watching them from afar ordering his men to finish the fight quickly!! Suddenly out of nowhere a panther came and leaping towards Pram. Pram gave a loud shriek and shouting for help. His four goons now diverted their attention towards their master!! Seeing this opportunity Jaka asked Bill to start climbing up and leaving Pram and his goon behind. They can still heard the shout and yell from those men facing the panther!!

         Finally Jaka and Bill reached their hut. Their hearts were racing and pounding. They held each other hands and when they were calmed down; Jaka opened the door of his hut and asked Bill to get inside then Jaka shouted to his staff at the lodge. Jaka spoke rapidly to his staffs who were local people around there. He told them what happened to him earlier and asked one of his staff to have a look to what happened to Pram. A few hours later that man reported that they found nothing on that side but he alerted other villagers and told them what happened.

        He told Jaka not to worry about the panther as he said that panthers in that area never hurt them as they believed the panthers are guardian in the mountain. Those people like Pram and his goon were the real evil he said. Jaka could not agree less and nodded his head. He spent the day with Bill resting and showing the lodge and the things he built while Bill was away!! Bill was impressed with what he saw and made a mental note for some improvement. He also gave his opinion to market that place internationally via internet. He was an IT expert and knew how to setup a blog but unfortunately they can't do anything in their hut as they had no internet connection and no electricity.

        Jaka hang his petromax light after he filled in the kerosene insight. The light was bright and much better than the candle they had before when Bill met Jaka for the first time. They had dinner in the lodge where one of the staff cooked for them. They were no visitors that day so Jaka and Bill and his two staff had their dinner in the dining room. After dinner, Jaka asked Bill to walk near the camp site and visited the creek. Jaka told Bill that they can not walk naked around the area now in case of being spotted but they can still swim in the creek!! Bill commented how awful it was. While they walking holding hands together with a torch in Jaka's hand they did not realise a panther was eyeing them. The eyes of the panther was blazed with jealousy but satisfied seeing them unharmed. It licked its paw and quietly leaving the area after watching the couple from behind the bush!!

         The next day, Jaka had a visitor. It was Heru whom was Bill's guide and the person gave Bill's email to him. Jaka shook his hand but Bill gave Heru a hug which made him blushed. Heru was skinny and tall but he was taller than Jaka!! Though shorter than Heru, Jaka's body was well built and hard as he trained himself every day!! Jaka entertained his guest with lunch and asked what he was doing now. He said he has no steady job at the moment so Jaka asked him if Heru wanted to work for him. Heru thought for a while then nodded his head. Actually Jaka need a hand to look after the camp site as two staff not enough during the holiday season and when groups of University students visited them!!

        Heru was a quiet person and did not like to talk much with the other two staff. But he was diligent in doing his work. He only had a few belongings and had not much clothes so Jaka thought of shopping some new clothes for him. With this thought Jaka asked Bill as he thought of going down the next day to do some shopping and bought some clothes for Heru. Bill agreed as he also wanted to visit the internet café. When they were about to go the next day, Heru asked if he was allowed to come along. He told them that he can helped them brought the goods on the way back. With that thought the three of them had large back packs on their backs then started to go down towards Cipanas Resort.

        During the walk, Heru was quiet but Jaka was adamant talking with him as he wanted to find more personal details about Heru. Heru told him that he lived with his grandmother and some relatives and he had no schooling but someone taught him to read and write when he was small. When they reached Cipanas Resort they were parted as Bill wanted to go to the internet café to do his business and setting up a blog for their lodge but Jaka and Heru went shopping. Jaka bought a lot of things in the supermarket such as sugar, coffee, salt and rice and some spices then bought some clothes for both Heru and Bill. They found it's hard to find clothes for Bill as he was so big. Finally they found extra large size for his underwears and singlets. Heru was smiling cheekily seeing the size of Bill's underwear. They had lunch at Cipanas Resort before climbing up back to the mountain.

           When they were nearly reached the lodge, a panther was standing blocking their way. The panther was big but looked old. It gazed on them like scrutinizing  them and then nodded his head to Heru. Heru smiled at the panther and gave a funny snort from his nose and mouth. The panther slowly walked away and they were also started their climb back to the lodge. Jaka was puzzled by what he saw but Bill was thinking that he needed to buy a gun. At least an air gun will do he said when they were back in their hut.

        Jaka disagreed with him and told him about the local legend. Jaka told him according to the local legend they were two kinds of panthers. One kind was real panthers and the others are people who were cursed to become panthers all their lives. They used to be humans before but cursed to be panthers from generation to generation. Bill told Jaka that was absurd and only myths and he did not believed it. But Jaka persisted on his belief and told him some more differences between the real panther and the cursed ones. The real panthers often attacking domestic chook and other domestic animals even the villagers was sometimes attacked too. But the magic panther never attacking animals as they lived like humans. Both Bill and Jaka did not realise while they were talking Heru was listening to them behind the walls at the front yard!! Heru showed a smirk as he heard their conversations about the panthers.