The Cure

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Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn't mean to take.
Angela N. Blount

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Olivia McCain
Life is always part of our journey to find our dreams. People I saw through the glass window were busy with their own business. Many legs walked across the road after the green pedestrian sign lights on. I was just working in a private art studio with Daisy Halifax, my colleague. "Olivia, you're going to the West, right?" a familiar voice interrupted but with graceful manner. I turned my head off and saw my manager, Alia Difuva.

"Yes, Ma'am Alia," I replied in the Indonesian dialect.

Silence reigned over. She looked through the window and gave a deep breath. "I hope that you have a good time traveling without someone else."

I nodded, looking at her. She's wearing a pink hijab and black long-sleeved dress. "Your clothes look good on you. "

"Nah, Olivia. Don't use your flattery to me!" Ma'am Alia chuckled, patting my shoulder. "work is over, you have to pack up your things for the trip."

"Alas! Thank you, ma'am." I hugged her and walked out of the studio's door where I parked my bicycle. I rode it through the sidewalk. There were many Indo-European shops railed across the street. You can see people sitting on the restaurant's balcony. The smell of some Asian food has been gathered into my nostrils.

Likely to say that I was born in Jakarta. My parents were from Ohio and moved here to work with the management company. But the sad thing was mom filed a divorce petition with dad and left us with her mister after giving birth to me. But dad survived the lonely years without her. The truth was they're just having an arranged marriage for business purposes.

But dad kept reminding me that don't haste for marriage. So it will never be in waste. I saw women who were years younger than me now were married to some older men. It's their tradition and I should respect them.

I've never heard dad dating with other women. I guess he didn't want to tell me about his personal life. He's not like others who shoved their money to flirtatious women. But still, I love my dad. I valued family as most important to me.

I hanged one foot on the ground and stopped by the gate. Parking beside the door after getting into the gate, I thrust the door and went into the living room. Dad was still working on his business. I'm alone in the house.

My Samsung Galaxy Nexus rang to the song 'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran. I checked it out and it was Timothy texting.

HI babe!

How are you?

Good, I was practicing the finale for the concert. Hbu?

Great! I was about to pack my things up for the vacation tomorrow.

I'm so excited to see you after the concert 😉

Yeah! I have to pack up. Bye babe. See you soon.

See ya soon 😘

Lub you ❤️

Love you too 😚

Ugh! Freaking emojis. I shoved the phone on the desk and pulled off the luggage under the bed. One, two, three, four... I was counting all of my clothes and stuff inside. Five, six, seven, eight...

The door stayed open. A chill crawled up on my spine. I turned up seeing dad looking at me. "Hey, Dad!" I greeted, beaming.

"Hey, my princess looked like she's doing busy." he said, shifted his gaze to the luggage. "busy as usual."

"How's your day?" I asked, folding the blouse paired with jeans.

"Good, but your mom called me that she wants to send you her love."

I've got irritated. What? Love? You left me for a long time since I was born and now you were trying to tell me how you love me?

Freaking mom!

"Ok, dad." I was just pretending that I accepted it even though I didn't.

I grabbed my sneakers from the floor and placed it lastly on the luggage. Zipped it off and rolled it through the door. I went downstairs and to the kitchen where I saw dad chopping some meat for a stew.

"Where is she now?" I asked while looking at the chopped meat.

"She's in Arizona now." his eyes were concentrating on his work. The way he chopped off was a bit more on frustration than enjoyment.

"She's a dumb woman!" I screamed, grabbing the knife from the rack and stabbed it on the meat. Tears rolled out of my eyes.

Dad took the knife off the meat, placing it back in the rack then he wiped my tears from my cheeks. With sympathy and concern, he said: "Olivia, you have to love your mother."

"No!" I refused, shaking my head with disagreement. He pulled me close and enveloped me with his arms.

"She's still your mother, Olivia." his voice swept into my ears.

:

Silence crept in while we munching our meal. Dad was sitting across the table, thinking of what was in his mind. I swallowed the food, then sighed.

"I'm done," I cut off the silence and pushed myself back to the chair and stood up, taking the plate and the flatware. Placing them in the dishwasher would always be our daily routine for household chores.

"I'll take you to the airport tomorrow." dad remarked, holding his mug of Asian Tea with both of his bare hands.

I nodded, walking towards dad and kissed his almost bare head. He grunted. "Good night, dad."

"Good night." his voice was low, tiredly to have a tune.

I clumped to my bedroom and prepared for my ritual night wash. This was just a preparation before going to lifeless bed. After all the washes and flushes, I wore an oversized t-shirt with old-time jerseys and pulled my blonde hair up into a rugged bun.

I lied down on my stiff mattress, (usually I have a severe backache if I lied on soft and feathery ones.) facing at the same thing; ceiling. Pulling the cover up to my shoulders and blinked my eyes. My vision wavered, closing my eyes and saw the irresistible darkness.