Her Eye Candy | Completed

.::13::.

Limpas suda tengah malam, sy sama Vince duduk di sofa sy bercerita sambil minum beer sejuk. Belinda minta excuse masuk bilik tidur, siap dia bagi pandangan ‘kasi cerita sy nanti’ sama sy.

“Nice seeing you again, Vince.” Belinda bilang sebelum melangkah masuk pigi bilik.

“Yeah, always a pleasure, Belinda.” Vince balas dengan senyuman.

Belinda angguk-angguk terus ja dia masuk dalam bilik. Untuk seketika, sy sama Vince diam. Sy nda sangka pula Vince dulu pernah ada real estate company. Selama kami kawan dan sudah pernah kongsi apa saja berkaitan kehidupan masing-masing, nda pernah pula dia kasi cerita. Kenapa juga dia nda kasi tau ar?

“Apa jadi lepas company ko jatuh?” sy tanya.

“I had a marketing degree to fall back on and a fair amount of sales experience. Tengok la sekarang.” Vince explained.

“Sy nda sangka pula oo” sy bilang lagi masi nda percaya.

Vince tersengih, “sy pandai ba ‘tapuk-tapuk’.” Dia angkat bahu, “Bikin malu ba kalo mau cerita pasal bankruptcy ni. Lebih-lebih lagi bila perkahwinan pun ikut jatuh.” Clasping his hands together, he lifts his head, tapi pandangan jauh betul ni.

“Sy banyak ba melabur dalam bisnis sy sampai kadang-kadang sy nda dapat tidur sebab terlampau banyak idea dan rancangan yang sy buat. Leah sebenarnya bertolak ansur juga dengan apa keinginan sy. Dia tau juga yang sy kerja keras untuk kami dua.” Vince hembus nafas berat. “Tapi bila ‘ribut’ datang  melanda dan sy terpaksa kana declared bankruptcy. Betul-betul kena tempias sama perkahwinan kami. Well, a bigger one and the I lost her and my parents’ respect on top of it.”

Sedih sy dengar apa Vince kasitau. Betul-betul rasa teruk ba kan, kehilangan impian, hilang semuanya. But he wouldn’t be the smart, confident Vince I know today if it didn’t happen.

‘Ko ada rasa menyesal?”

“Apa? Pasal bisnis sy?” Vince tanya balik.

Sy angguk-angguk, “Ya, kalo ko tau apa yang bakal terjadi, would you have decided not to start it?”

Vince tengok sy, hairan. Macam nda pernah pula dia kena tanya dengan tu soalan. As if he’s been so plagued by regret that he’s never considered the positives that come from the experience.

“Actually,  I think I’d do the same thing. How about that?” Vince shrugs and takes a long pull of his beer but still his shoulders tense.

Sy teringat balik pasal ibubapa Vince mau datang nanti. The opinion of his parents must matter a lot to him if he’s this stressed about their visit. Maybe I should offer myself to go with him to dinner.

“Sy ikut ko.” Sy bilang.

Vince ampai botol beer dia di meja, he’s narrowing his eyes. "Apa?"

“Sy ikut ko pigi dinner sama parents ko.” Sy bilang lagi. “sy orang yang sesuai to buffer uncomfortable conversations.”

“Ko mau jumpa ibubapa sy?” Vince terkejut ni.

“Well, I’m great with parents.” Sy bilang kasi yakin dia. “and if they think it’s weird that you’re bringing a date, you can blame work. Kasi tau ja yang ada project kita lambat siap, terpaksa bawa sy satu kali, for fun.”

Vince scoffed, “Oh dear, sweet, naïve, Jackie. Ko fikir makan malam sama parents sy will be fun?” dia terus menyandar.

Vince tengok sy, lama macam banyak pula dalam fikiran dia yang susah mau agak ni. “Ko okay ka kalo sy cakap sama parents sy yang ko ni girlfriend sy? Kita baru dating satu minggu.”