Go to School Together

This morning Nusa with unsteady steps began to descend the stairs, already wearing a uniform complete with a standard-size bag on her back. She rubbed her eyes, then yawned because she was so sleepy. Last night she was watching cartoons until she realized that the clock was past midnight, and yes she regretted it for turning her sunny morning into a boring one.

"Morning, Rehan." She said languidly greeting Rehan as she sat on the dining chair, staring at her brother who was now shaking the frying pan with one strong hand. The man is now making two servings of fried rice as lunch for Nusa's school and himself who works. Kind and understanding brother.

"Morning my little girl, why did you just wake up at this hour? I prepared breakfast as well as lunch." Rehan answered without turning his head towards Nusa. He chuckled, joking. After all, he never let his little sister touch the stove --unless she had to--.

"Eh, okay, I woke up too late. Why are your questions so annoying in the morning?"

Rehan shook his head, he was tired of advising his younger brother who was considered very difficult to give advice, not to do things that were not clear to make his sleeping hours dwindle from day today. "You slept almost touching three in the morning?" he guessed.

"No, you don't know, and just guessing even your guess is wrong."

Lie, Nusa is not good at lying. The proof is now the girl buried her head in the folds of her hands on the dining table. The clock is still showing at half past 6 in the morning, it's only natural that Nusa's school spirit has not been fully collected.

"Oh my God, have breakfast first, Nusa." Rehan approached Nusa —he had already put fried rice on a plate and two different lunch boxes— and sat beside the girl with both hands each holding a portion of his homemade toast. Just toast with chocolate jam and a little honey, that's all for the breakfast menu this morning.

"Nusa doesn't exist, lost in a dream. So don't talk to me, pip." Muttered Nusa who had no intention of straightening her body and immediately had breakfast because the clock was ticking. Ah, it looks like the girl is feeling tremendous drowsiness. Don't let her sleep in class again and end up in the infirmary with El, oh no, don't let that happen again!

Quickly, remembering that, Nusa immediately straightened up, then grabbed the toast that Rehan had made for her. As for Rehan, don't ask how surprised she was by this one and only little sister.

"Why do you suddenly want to eat?"

"It's okay, Rehan. I just don't want to go into the infirmary with the fridge, the surroundings will be very awkward."

Fridge?

Before they could ask further about Nusa's strange behavior, their doorbell rang. Rehan let Nusa stay calm for breakfast, while he chose to get up from his seat and walk towards the main door of this house.

"Morning, Han."

Rehan raised an eyebrow when he saw the figure of El already standing in front of him with a flat face, completely flat like a board used to clean clothes. The man was seen carrying a black box that was wrapped very beautifully, right in his hand.

"Morning, Young Master. What are you doing here? It's very unusual for you to come here." said Rehan in a surprised tone of voice.

El raised an eyebrow, then handed the box he had brought to Rehan which was well received by the man in front of him.

"Earlier my uncle came to my house, he said he wanted to leave something and told me to send it to your house because you were ordered to deliver the box which is now in your hands," said El as he tossed his hair back, the forelock adding a plus point to his already very charming face.

"Why did I deliver it? You can take whatever's in this box to the address you want."

"His house is quite time-consuming and I have to go to school, you idiot."

"Oh, I thought you were naughty and it's okay if you're late for school. And your clothes look wrinkled like they haven't been ironed. Don't let me tell your mother who has prepared nice clothes but always wears the old ones."

Rehan laughed in satisfaction when he saw El's sour face. This is one of his hobbies, teasing El with his advice. Luckily, El doesn't mind it and thinks all Rehan's words are just wind.

"One more thing, Uncle said that it was seven o'clock at the address," El said, pointing to the location sticker pasted on the top of the box, so it could be searched with a cell phone.

"Then what about my sister?" Rehan asked while raising an eyebrow. Of course, he couldn't let Nusa go to school on his own, he was the worst brother in the world if he left his little sister alone.

"Your sister? What do you mean?" El asked again.

"REHAN YOU'RE TOO LONG, I'LL UNKNOWLEDGE SLEEPING AT THE DINING TABLE-- HUH?"

Nusa lowered the volume of her voice when she saw the figure of a man who had been the center of her attention for the past few days, she scratched her cheek which didn't itch. Gosh, it was like being in the forest, screaming incoherently like that.

Unlike Nusa, El only raised his eyebrows slightly. Why does he always meet this girl by accident?

Rehan who saw that just smiled, then lightly patted El's shoulder. "Take my sister to school instead, the school is the same as yours," he said with a warm smile. He turned his body to look at Nusa who was now silent watching El's good looks this morning, gosh, it's so cool.

Never mind Nusa, maybe many girls, if you show a guy like El, you won't be out of sight because the guy looks so perfect.

"I'll have this box delivered to the address immediately, I think the person with this address ordered a birthday cake, so--"

Before Rehan finished his sentence, Nusa had pulled the man's hand slightly away from El because she wanted to talk privately.

"How do you know someone I always call a fridge? You guys are friends?" Nusa whispered in the lowest possible tone. But unfortunately, El can still hear it.

El could only sigh instead. After all, who is to be trusted? Moreover, trust is a responsibility that inevitably has to be done. Yes, counting absences didn't come to ENCIKOPI this morning, he was still upset about yesterday's problems when he met Priska there.

"Yeah, why do you ask again? I explained that time, don't you remember?" asked Rehan in a whisper. He didn't understand Nusa who suddenly felt nervous.

Nusa chuckled a little, then smiled. "Come on I was just asking, but why didn't you tell me? How close are you to El, even calling him Young Master? Why don't you tell me how annoying El is to me?!" She said, pursing her lips.

"Why should I tell you, hm?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be misinformed--"

"So school or not?"

Nusa and Rehan simultaneously turned to El who was now looking at them with a colder gaze than before, asking briefly but managed to make Nusa gasp.

"Uh yeah I'm going to school, bye Rehan, see you and love you," said Nusa hastily --afraid of being reprimanded by El again for taking too long--, briefly kissing Rehan's left and right cheeks. She immediately walked towards El. "Come on."

El did not respond to Nusa's words, he immediately turned his body and walked out of the house without saying a word to say goodbye to Rehan who was holding an amused smile at the two of them.

In a hurry, because she didn't want to be left behind, Nusa ran after El's every step which was quite fast. "Wait for me, Bara."

"Don't call me Bara."

Nusa raised her eyebrows, still confused. "Huh, that's your name, right? Is there anyone who forbids me to call you Bara other than yourself?"

El again did not respond to Nusa's words. He just got on his motorbike, then wore a red and black helmet --a dashing color combination-- that matched the color of his current motorbike.

"Hurry up or I will leave you."

With enthusiasm, Nusa climbed into the back seat of El's motorbike. "Ready." She said, holding the strap of the cold man's bag as if holding on.

"Hmm."

El started his motorbike leaving Nusa's yard, he glanced at his rearview mirror which showed Nusa's innocent face. Starting to think because no girl has ever dared to sit in the seat of his motorbike other than Alvira. He even once scolded Priska for being so rude that the girl jumped on his motorbike and immediately wrapped her arms around his waist. At that time, El wanted to curse Priska loudly for always overreacting to him.

Maybe liking someone is natural. But it's no longer natural for love to be so forced that it causes discomfort from someone you like.

El glanced back at his rearview mirror, now showing the sleepy face of Nusa who had wanted to sleep at this time. The girl's head repeatedly collided with the helmet she was currently wearing.

"It can only bother me," mumbled El.

El started to grab Nusa's left hand with his left hand, wrapping the tiny hand around his waist. Not letting go of his embrace, he was afraid that Nusa would fall because of his position on the vehicle, and in the end, Rehan was blamed if something happened that endangered this girl.

"Nusa, you can lean on me," he said at last. Whether Nusa heard it or not, now the girl's body was leaning on his back. Right at the red light, he stopped and grabbed Nusa's hand to hug his body and held her with one hand he wasn't using to drive.

Bother. One word for Nusa that managed to stick in his mind. Meanwhile, the girl, now smiling a little, felt El, which was not as scary as she imagined. She started to close her eyes. The drive from home to school took half an hour, so she had had enough sleep in the few minutes before arriving at school.

"Thank you, Bara, my refrigerator can run but still feels cold."

...

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