19. A Secreet

I took a deep breath, looked at the ring on my left finger, and then looked at Elsie. For a moment, I hesitated to tell her about the ring's origins even though there were usually no secrets between us.

"El, you believe the story about time travel, don't you?" I asked with a serious look.

Elsi immediately let go of her hand, holding mine, and looked at me with a smile.

"Eh, it's a science fiction story that's always interesting to see, about a person who travels through time for a certain purpose, right?" Elsie answered excitedly.

"Yes,"

"What's it to you?"

"You believe it, don't you?" I insisted.

"Don't make me laugh, okay! It's only in novels or movies if. In fact, I'm a little doubtful,"

"Even though the story about time travel is in the Koran in Al Kahf, about some young men who hid in a cave from an unjust king and only woke up three hundred years later." I stared at the ring on my finger with a thumping feeling; Ali's smiling face flashed through my mind.

"Yeah... but if that's the case right now, I doubt it," Elsie stared out the window at the rose tree swaying in the wind.

"I have a secret, but just between us, huh ..." I asked.

"You're really weird, Zie. Earlier, you talked about time travel, and now you say you have a secret. What's a secret? Do you have an affair behind Harsya? Remember Zie, he's perfect, you're going, and you're if you cheat on Harsya!" Elsie looked at me with a disappointed face, then looked at the ring as if she suspected that the ring was not from Harsya.

"Not like that!" I got annoyed, "Would you like to hear it?"

"Okay, I'll hear..." there was still a hint of suspicion in Elsie's voice.

"Actually, I'm also still doubtful about this incident because I feel like all this is just a dream, but the existence of this ring makes me have to think this incident is real."

"How is it?" Elsie became interested in my story.

"The more I deny it happened, the more I feel it's all so real." I sighed.

"What happened?"

"One night, someone claiming to be from the future gave me this ring and to a friend of mine. She said that we be husband and wife in the future. I denied it and left them both before the middle-aged woman finished her word, " My gaze is clouded remembering that incident. I still remember flashes of the incident between Ali and me when the woman had joined our hands in her grip.

"Could it be just your friend's trick, Zie? Maybe he has a crush on you. That's why he purposely did that so that you would like him."

"I don't know, I've thought like that, but I don't think it's possible. My friend never liked me from the start as much as I had feelings for him. Besides, it's impossible, a student like us, to can't sneak a patient in the VIP room," I said grimly.

"So what?"

"My feelings for Harsya are still the same, I really love her, but now every time I meet my friend, I feel palpitated and sometimes awkward," I sighed, "I've tried many times to remove this ring but can't. , this ring feels attached to my finger. I think if I can get this ring removed, maybe I will not feel awkward every time I meet my friend."

"You like him?" Elsie asked, not liking it. As an admirer of Harsya, of course, she didn't like it when Harsya cheated on.

I shook my head.

"I don't know him, and he's the only friend I've never interacted with."

Elsie looked at me as if doubting my honesty.

"I never thought about him at all, let alone hope that she will be my future. You know yourself, right? Harsya is everything to me, so how can I expect other people to be a part of my life?"

"If your friend's attitude towards you changes too?"

I pondered over Ali's attitude towards me recently. Ali has become more considerate of me, and we haven't disagreed since that night.

"I didn't notice," I shrugged. I told Elsie briefly about Ali and my relationship with him.

"Sometimes the difference between love and hate is not too obvious, maybe because you hate him too much so without you knowing he has filled your heart," said Elsie, concerned.

"I don't think so, El. He was never in my dictionary before that incident," I objected.

"Maybe that incident was just the trigger. Come on, Zie. Don't overthink about it. Now it's just a matter of how you manage your heart, so you don't fall in love with that guy," Elsie finally said.

I nodded and shifted our conversation, talking about so many other things that it didn't feel like it was time for dhuhr.

***