10. Pika Pika

"I'm sorry. You have outstanding qualifications. We can't hire you, yet" a HRD of a company Surya was having an interview closed the talk. The same excuses Surya had when they rejected him. A refusal as well as an appraisal.

"What is going on here? Why am I rejected due to by excellent qualifications? A HRD would certainly love to have an employee like me" Surya grumbled.

"Brother, come here. I want to tell you something" the voice of the HRD was lowered as if he wanted to tell something important.

"Oh, what happened?" Surya also lowered his voice and walked to him slowly.

"I guess you won't get a job wherever you go" He whispered.

"Why is that? I graduated from overseas university. I will take any salary you offered. I have been working professionally for the last ten years". Surya could not take the reasons.

"Hey, that is not the main problem"

"What then?"

"When my director knew that you were the strong candidate to be hired, he directly rejected you, he said that if he hired you, he would lose the cooperation with Wenceslas Group. I guess it was your previous company. I heard that the president director of that company would cut off their cooperation if we recruit you" he told him understandingly.

"Pffff… damn Hendra!" he banged the table. Mr.HRD who just interviewed him jumped up of shocked.

Surya got up. He forgot how many companies he applied always ended up like this.

It seemed that all the rejections were caused by Hendra.

"I'm sorry Mr. Surya. I prefer to choose my own company safety to recruit you"

"What do you mean by caring more on the company's safety?"

"I advise you to come back to your previous company. This place is too ordinary for you. And it endangers my company to hire you here" he continued.

"What? Endangers your business?" Surya felt rejected.

"Please forgive me. I choose to expand my business instead of hiring a new employee even though you have excellent qualifications".

"Yeah? Who opened a job vacancy?" Surya asked back.

"The CEO's secretary is really excellent. I was curious. That's why I decided to interview you myself" an owner of a printing company also interviewed Surya.

"Alright, here are all your credentials. I give them back to you. And send my words to the CEO Hendra I'm waiting for his cooperation".

"Excuse me, am I hired or not?" Instead of discussing further about the job proposal, he sent messages for Hendra.

"Surely we don't hire you. We need contracts with Wenceslas Group" Surya was rejected.

.

.

_This is crazy! It seems like Hendra took part to my being rejected in some companies I sent my applications_

"PLUNK!" he dropped his empty glass hard on the table. It attracted people's attention.

"I won't go back to you! You'll see! What kind of best friend are you treating me like this? Ugh, so annoying !" People who saw him due to his odd behavior of dropping a glass shook their head. They saw him grumbling angrily. They thought that Surya was a strange man.

"What are you looking at??!" he snapped a man who happened to glance at him.

But when he realized many people saw him oddly. He became embarrassed.

"I have to face Hendra and with him. How dare he treat me like this?" Surya talked to himself. That made him even more weird.

.

.

"I'm sorry Mr. Surya, I'm late" a girl with hijab was rushed in. Her hands were full of stuffs, a box full of smaller things on one hand, another one carried a roll of paper. She dropped them on the table, tidy her hijab and her outfits, then hurriedly came to Surya's table.

"Emm… you're late for 7 minutes 49 seconds" His voice was stern,. These were remarks he used to send to remind his ex boss.

"If you don't leave now, you may be late for some minutes and some seconds" He was too details.

"Don't you see I'm busy? It is good enough I managed to be here. Only 7 minutes late, anyway and you counted it in detail" She grumbled and upset.

"Ugh… are you angry?" He was not experienced with a woman. It was hard to predict her language style. It suddenly changed.

"No! I am now so much happy and soon I will burst into laughter". Dea was absolutely upset. He always asked silly questions. Anytime they were chatting or talking on the phone, it would be ended with misunderstanding. Surya was pretty old for Dea. This made them have different perspective inany topics they discussed.

Surya looked so rigid and Dea still could not understand the mindset of a man 1O years older than her.

"Why are you going to laugh? Anything funny?" Surya was really confused.

"Astaghfirullah (Oh my God)…. Be patient Dea, be patient" that girl was trying to cool herself.

"Uffff… irealy don't get it. Why do you need to be patient? Are angry to me?"

"Yes"

"Come on, what is the point for being upset? I want to meet you to cool me down, not to argue "

"Same here. Who wants to argue you anyway?" Dea realized that it was hard to synchronize her and Surya. This man was too formal. He did not know sarcastic remarks, jokes, funny chats, or spams. For him it was all serious.

"Okay, what do you want to have now? Sorry I finished up your drink. You can have your own order now" Surya turned over the list of menu and pushed it under Dea's face.

"I only want to have orange juice" She replied quickly.

"Only drink?...no food?

"No, I'm on diet" She smiled and showed off her new healthy eating habit.

"On diet? What is it for? You are in hijab and your outfits are loose. People won't know you're fat or not?" He disliked the idea of died by skipping lunch.

"I'll order you a, okay?" He raised his hand to call a waiter.

"I'm on diet now. And even though I'm with hijab, when we get married you will…see me" She was blushed on the last words.

"And…and the connection with your diet?" He did not see her but busy ordering food to the waiter.

"I have to look slim" Now she was really ashamed.

"Why is that?" Even such sensitive topic he asked it flatly without feeling ashamed. He was really inexperience.

"Ugh… don't you understand that I want to look beautiful in front of you. Satisfy now?" She was annoyed by his 'silly questions'

"It is not important for me the outer beauty. What matters for me is you are cute and funny". He turned to speak sweetly beyond his awareness.

"Cute and funny, huh?" Dea smiled to hear his innocent confession.

"Yes, like Pikachu" a moment ago she was high but soon she fell down.

"WHAT?? So you think I am Pikachu?" She could not hold her emotion any longer.

"Uh hu…people say when someone is cute and funny, she is like Pikachu… isn't it true?" Surya did not know much about that cartoon character much as a matter of fact. He read it from online article.

"Huffff… don't you know that you analogize me with a small little yellow doll that can electrocute you and speak nothing but 'PIKA PIKA'?!" Dea raised the last words out of annoyance.

People on the tables looked at them. Now they did not see odd man, but odd couple.