The Arranged Dinner

"Luna…."They both mumbled her name upon their realization of her existence at the door; their faces paled in shock for not anticipating that she would appear in the library. Then, in awkwardness, both Danish and Felix moved to the opposite direction.

"I am sorry for bothering you. I just passed through the library and heard the commotion. So, I decided to check it out." In half doubt, Luna forced those sentences out of her mouth, with neither of them seeming to pay attention to.

After some moment of stillness, Danish exited the room, leaving Felix and Luna who was staying at the door, dumbfounded. Luna could sense that Danish took a final look at her

with the corner of his eye when he reached her path. And that expression he wore on his face confused her as if her arrival disturbed his conversation with Felix yet Luna chose not to take it to her heart.

"Luna…." At her back, Felix's voice interrupted her turning around and then she halted her pace. "Did you hear everything?" she, in reluctance, spun back at him who waited for her to respond to his curiosity. Instead of words, he received her shaking head as an indication that she didn't catch the subject of their talk.

"Luna…Felix…." They both mentioned each other's name at the same time, but Felix signaled her to go first with her say. "I will marry him no matter what happens. Don't try to provoke me or him. I know I will never be in his heart. I'll do it for the sake of my mother and grandma Li."

"However…."

"I hope you will not talk about it anymore. I have made up my mind."

Luna swiveled around and made her way to her room. Felix's query ceased her feet that had carried her for a few feet away from him. "Do you like him?"

Luna didn't intend to answer his question; she refused to honestly confess that her love for Danish had grown in her heart. She had developed feelings for that frigid man who looked at her no more than a parasite in his life. The pain pinched her along with the heartache that beat against her chest. Luna resumed her stride with the tears she withheld flooding in her reddened eyes.

"Do you know that Danish already has a girlfriend he loves so much?"

Luna kept walking, biting her lower lips in a mess of her own feeling; she strove not to pour out her sadness through the tears. Thankfully, Felix no longer said anything until she got to her room and locked herself inside it.

***

The next day, grandma Li arranged the candle light dinner of Luna and Danish in a restaurant in the city center. This opportunity would give them both to know each other better. Despite living under the same roof, they barely had time to be together and have an intimate conversation because of Danish's job occupation. That was not the main reason for the barrier between them; it was Danish's refusal to accept Luna that had created that boundary.

Luna, in her light green dress with her hair tucked in one side of her ears, descended the stairs carefully as if each step she took would be able to trip her feet. Her sight fell on the rung her feet stepped on while one of her hands clutched on the stairs to support her nervousness. With her eyes focusing on her footsteps, she didn't notice that Danish's and Felix's eyes were drawn to her, and it was only when she reached the living room, both Danish and Felix averted their gaze off her.

"You look so gorgeous, my dear." Grandma Li, in a full of excitement, became the first one to greet her while approaching her. A vibrant smile landed on her wrinkled lips; it didn't wither until Danish took her with him to the car that had been ready in the front area of the mansion.

At one invisible spot, invisible from the others, Felix watched from afar Danish opening the door for Luna and the girl sliding into it with a bright smile on her visage. His lips turned up in a wry smile, enduring the ache that hit against his heart. His hand unconsciously rubbed his chest, trying to solace his pain he had inside.

During their journey to the venue of the dinner, both Luna and Danish muted their mouths like statues. For Luna herself, this moment with Danish alone imprisoned her inside her disquietude, not because she felt bothered with Danish beside her but the way Danish acted and treated her like a stranger induced that restlessness.

From the rearview mirror, Luna caught that man in his driver seat; wielding the steering wheel, Danish only paid his heed to the road the car devoured on its way to the restaurant. The distance might be short but their quietness made it farther than it really was.

Arriving at the restaurant, Danish nonchalantly walked inside the restaurant with Luna behind him after re-opening the door for Luna and handing the car's key to the valet. Even in the lift to the top floor, Danish ignored Luna like she wasn't there with him. If it were Felix next to her, he always found the way to melt the iceberg of Luna's introvertness and build the conversation. Luna cursed herself for having that thought while she was with Danish, her future husband.

Danish, still in his frigidness, assisted Luna to have a seat. They had been sitting face to face but no talk until the waiters came with the food grandma Li had ordered for them. With the fork in her hand, Luna was about to pick the food, but Danish, at the same time, did the same thing; their hands touched each other. In clumsiness, they both pulled their hands away after a few seconds.

"You go first," for the first time, Danish opened his mouth but still in a cold tone. Luna did as his instruction without responding to his words verbally.

Then, the silence consumed them again as if their talk would suspect them guilty and drag them to the prison. During dinner, only once in a while, they exchanged sentences and it was only a simple question like how their day was.

The dinner was over faster than it was expected; there was no romantic scene like in the movie or novel. All ran in a flash as if it were just like other routines.

Danish and Luna got in the car and returned to Li's mansion, but still in their quietness.

The night sky had been at its peak; Luna fell asleep at her seat, not bothering Danish who focused on driving. All of a sudden, the car screeched in a squealing sound and woke Luna from her sleep. In her half-consciousness, she saw two men with a big stick in their hand got in their way.

Fear jerked Luna back to her senses; her eyes widened in dread and worry. Her brain could not process what was happening or guess who they were. What she had in her mind was their safety.

Without compromising with her, Danish calmly climbed out the car and asked their intention. He didn't want to cause trouble but those two men, out of nowhere, attacked unarmed Danish. Luna wrapped her own body with her arms and could only witness their battle from inside the car in panic without having capabilities to help Danish.

At first, Danish could handle their assaults, fending their blows with his bare hands. However, over time, he lacked his power; to fight against two armed bulky men with his bare hands alone wasn't easy. He finally gave in his defeat; his body collapsed. Only one second before one of the men hit him with the stick, Luna ran to Danish's unmoving body and shielded it with her weak torso and that stick landed on her back harshly.

"Luna…."Danish groaned in pain, both for his own injury and Luna's sacrifice.