Friend

When we had just finished eating, I was surprised that someone had come up to us. A man, wearing a navy-blue shirt and black pants. He was wearing glasses. It was obvious that he came from a wealthy family.

The man looked at Victor with a look that I couldn't understand why he looked at Victor like that. My heart rippled when I realized that Victor was uncomfortable with that person's presence.

Do they know each other?

The person stood beside Victor and did not speak for a few seconds.

"I think I recognize the wrong people. So, I made sure of myself. It turns out that this is really you…Haven't seen you for a long time, did you open a café in Jogja?" he asked Victor kindly. His voice even sounded soft. Victor didn't turn his head at all. He didn't look at me either. It seemed he was trying to be calm.

"And who is this?" he asked as he looked at me. He changed his voice to a little louder. Is it normal? Talking softly to a male friend and speaking in a rude tone to a girl, is it normal?

"Oh... I'm Rayansha, Victor's friend. And you...?" I spoke. I also tried to be relaxed with this new person.

He stretched out his hand. I shook his hand. The palm of his hand was warm and strong.

"I'm Mario, his friend too," he said.

When he introduced himself, I felt that he didn't like me. However, I think I should be friendly to him.

"Former colleagues at the company?" I asked to confirm where they met each other.

"Oh no..."

Victor suddenly stood up to make a noise on the table, then took my hand and stood next to me.

"We're done. Are you just about to eat? Please. We have to go..." Victor said. His voice sounded trembling like he was holding back anger. I was confused when I was dragged out by Victor. What's wrong? They don't get along.

When I turned my head because I felt bad for Mario, I saw Mario's gaze like he had just lost something valuable. Because of this, I began to suspect that something happened between Mario and Victor. What is it?

A moment later, we were already in the car. Victor hurriedly started the car engine and drove it out. We're back on the streets in a few seconds.

"Your relationship is not good?" I asked quietly. I didn't mean to offend him. "Sorry, I shouldn't have interfered," I said later, realizing that maybe my question was too presumptuous.

"Yes. Our relationship is not good," Victor said without looking me in the eye.

"I don't want to talk to him. I moved to Jogja because I wanted to start a new life," Victor said.

Hearing him talk like that inexplicably made me feel sad. His sentence seemed to indicate that many bad things had happened to him in the past and all of them were related to Mario. I became curious about what happened between them. But I didn't dare to ask at that time because I was afraid that I would hurt him. As he said, he was trying to start a new life, meaning that no matter what happened in the past, he was trying to bury it.

Victor drove me home.

I reflected on today's events. Mario's neat appearance gave me the impression that he was a successful and established man. In addition, I had time to see the car key. That's the kind of car that not just anyone can buy. From these two things I began to think, could it be that they used to be business partners?

I hope one day Victor will open up to me more and tell me more. My hunch says Victor is in need of help right now.

"Whatever the case, I'll listen," I told myself.

The next day I worked as usual, writing articles for the media. Next, I continued writing novels. This is a hobby that has made my days more colorful. I used to write short stories with the intention of making my writing skills more flexible, but who would have thought that I would finally really enjoy it and even dream that one day I could become a great novelist and get an exclusive contract from a platform for a lifetime.

Right now, I'm having a new idea, making a novel with a plot story about the LGBTQ community. In Indonesia, this community is rejected due to various factors, leading to violence and discrimination. The thing that I think is wrong is the discrimination and violence committed by people. I don't want to mention what they look like. I want to portray it in my story.

I think it's an interesting topic, one that I'm really uncomfortable discussing, but I want to do it. I want to present this topic from different points of view, so that people will have a new perspective in looking at this community.

I, myself support equality. I don't like to see discrimination and violence. I want people to have equal rights, so that they can live happily.

How do I think I should write it? Should there be two same-sex characters who fall in love and start their inner conflict?

I picked up the paper and started making a map of the problem. After that, I'll decide on the right characters to bring the story to life. But, for some reason I was lost in thought, imagining Victor and Mario. I shook my head hard.

"No, don't! Don't make them become the main characters. Think of the others," I said to myself and tried to clear my head.

At that time, I saw an incoming message in the WhatsApp application. That's a message from Rizal. He asked me if I wanted to hang out. Rizal and Rima are friends who used to study at a journalism institute with me. After graduating, they became real journalists, unlike me.

"Where? you invite anyone else?"

"Rima. She said okay. We will meet here," Rizal replied. The message comes with a location share.

Our meeting place is a coffee shop. I arrived fifteen minutes after receiving the message. Actually, the location is not too far from my boarding house, but because the road is quite blocked by crowded vehicles, I was slower to arrive at the location than I should.

Rima and Rizal were there first. I ordered lemon tea and paid for it at the checkout. I can also directly bring my own orders, from the barista's table to the visitor's table.

"You guys get off work sooner than usual?" I asked those who were busier than I was.

"Yes," Rizal replied. "And what are you busy with?"

I twitched my shoulders.

"There is no busyness. Just write as usual," I replied and tried to hide my plans to write a novel. I don't like it when I end up being laughed at.

"She said she was preparing a new script," Rima said. Sometimes she would talk about my life plan without asking me first. But I couldn't be angry with her. Because Rizal is also not a stranger. He's a friend.

"Novel?" Rizal looked assured.

I nodded.

"What's the topic?" Rizal looked interested.

I wasn't sure if he was really interested or just to make our meeting warmer. We will need something to talk about so that the meeting does not get boring. It can also prevent us from looking at our phones instead of talking to each other.

Don't you sometimes wonder at people? When they met, they didn't talk to each other, they were still busy with each other's mobile phones. So, what do they meet outside for, if they end up not talking to each other? The development of technology provides advantages, but it also has a bad side for all of us. That's what I thought, so don't bother arguing with me.