November Rain

Chapter 18: The Silent Witness

[BRIAN]

Siapa yang nyangka, setelah sekian lama gue seenaknya punya casual relationship dan menganut asas no strings attached, tiba-tiba semua berubah gitu aja gara-gara gue kelewat lama ngebiarin perasaan gue kebawa.

It all started very simple. It wasn't in a bar between loud music and strong smell of alcohol, nor a party where everyone was looking for a hook up. Like what I usually did with all the one night stands. Or maybe two or three night stands.

It just began with a yawn.

She seemed tired when she walked into the gate. She chose the corner seat and read something from her phone, but I could tell that her mind was somewhere else. Probably half way through the dreamland. I kept counting, first yawn, second yawn, third... and then she went to her deepest sleep. The next thing I knew I was smiling like a fool.

Awalnya gue cuma menggeleng ngeliat dia tidur sampe kepalanya nengkleng nganan ngiri dan akhirnya berhenti saat pelipisnya tertopang oleh sandaran kursi. Sampai akhirnya pengumuman bahwa pesawat yang akan kami tumpangi pindah gate dan dia nggak juga bangun.

So I decided to wait. Fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, last call.

Semua orang dari gate kami sudah berpindah sejak pengumuman diberikan, jadi cuma ada dua nama tersisa saat panggilan terakhir disampaikan. Nama gue, dan nama seseorang yang gue duga jelas adalah namanya.

Ekspresi kebingungan dan paniknya, keingintahuannya, rasa penasarannya saat ngejar-ngejar gue meminta penjelasan, matanya yang melebar setiap gue menjawab pertanyaannya dengan singkat dan sarkas.

I enjoyed every moment of her confusion.

Gue sedang berkeliling mencari sign public bus dan taxi ketika gue melihat dia berlari memeluk seseorang yang menjemputnya hari itu.

Her face beamed bright, so contrast to how she was before the flight. They hugged tight like the world was gonna end tomorrow. Like they own the whole universe. Pfftt, what a ridiculous belief, true love and all those stuff.

Right when I thought that it was merely a funny short story to include in my journey, destiny meddled in between. Just in time.

The moment she pushed the cafe's door open my heart tingled strangely. I almost missed the chords of the song I was playing. 

The cafe started everything all over. Then the temple. The sunset. The dinner. The rain. It went on and on and....

It was finally time to wake up. She said goodbye. With no promise of getting back, or getting in touch.

"Can I still call?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure." she said with her face full of doubts.

It was too early to say that I liked her, that I wanted more. It didn't even make sense to me because that wasn't like me at all. The best way is to leave everything behind. This is my chance to start fresh, to not get involved in that stupid old life I had back in Canada, or my early life of college.

Strangely my heart felt heavy.

Beberapa hari setelah Indrika pergi, gue memutuskan untuk balik ke Jakarta karena nggak lama lagi kerjaan gue di kantor baru akan mulai. Hujan terus-menerus turun sejak pagi sampai gue berangkat ke bandara siang itu.

It seems like November and rain love to hold hands.

Kura is calling...

Gue melihat nama di layar saat hape gue bergetar di perjalanan dengan taksi menuju Suvarnabhumi. Di luar jalanan semakin macet karena hujan semakin deras mengguyur.