Aletha stepped limply through the school gate, now she was standing on the side of the road while straightening her right hand in the hope that public transportation would stop. A few minutes passed, thankfully there was finally an angkot that pulled over and was ready to take Aletha home. Aletha immediately got on the angkot after telling the driver where she was going. Aletha took a seat in the back corner, at that moment she immediately felt uncomfortable, the reason was not the narrow angkot or the hot afternoon air, but because there were pairs of eyes suddenly watching her carefully.
It's not really surprising why Aletha suddenly became the center of attention, her appearance does not look good. Aletha had a gloomy expression with puffy eyes that were still dripping with a few drops of tear. It seemed that the people observing it were just curious about what made this teenager cried. As time went on Aletha became more and more uneasy, because she thought they were gossiping about her. as if every time the people in the angkot were whispering or talking, Aletha thought they were gossiping about her appearance.
Even so, Aletha still sat in silence, she looked down shyly with both hands that faithfully hugged her backpack. Almost seven minutes Aletha sat in silence, finally the angkot she was riding stopped, she glanced out the window and found a modern house with whitewashed walls. Of course, it was Aletha's house.
Aletha then got off the angkot, she gave the driver 10.000 rupiahs without asking for a change. The angkot was gone, While the angkot was leaving, Aletha stepped into the front yard. Aletha deliberately stopped her footsteps right in front of the door, she took the time to take her phone from her bag to check the condition of her face. Aletha looked into her phone camera, she looked really messed up. Aletha wiped the tears that were still on her cheeks, trying to cover up the fact that she had been crying. However, it was of course useless, Aletha's puffy and red eyes couldn't lie.
Reluctantly Aletha opened the door and stepped her right foot into the house. Aletha's mother was sitting on the couch in the living room, Kiran was immediately shocked to find her daughter coming home in that condition. Kiran hurriedly got up and stepped sat closer to Aletha.
"Aletha, what's wrong with you?" asked Kiran worriedly.
Aletha knew that Kiran always forbade her to have a boyfriend. Aletha was sure that if she answered honestly, she would get in to trouble. However, Aletha's little heart said that lying to her mother was a bad choice. Therefore, Aletha mustered all the remaining courage, to tell her mother the truth.
"Mom... I-I just broke up with my boyfriend," Aletha replied, stammering a little.
In an instant Kiran's face turned red, she couldn't control her anger until she reflexively threw her palm against Aletha's cheek hard enough. As a result, Kiran's palm made a red print on Aletha's cheek. Aletha, who suddenly received such treatment, then again shed tears. Aletha immediately held the part of her cheek that was in pain, now she lowered her face, not daring to look at Kiran's eyes which were filled with emotion.
"Aletha! How many times do I have to tell you? You can't date! Dating is not important, just a waste of time!" Kiran snapped.
Aletha didn't move as she continued to listen to Kiran's scolding.
"I'm disappointed in you, Aletha. How come you never listen to your mom? Even though I just want to give you the best, so you don't get hurt. You see, who's in trouble? You're on your own aren't you!" Kiran tried to express her disappointment to Aletha.
Aletha, who had been silent for so long, now began to open her lips to say one word. "Sorry..." Aletha regretted.
Kiran took a deep breath, then folded her arms in front of her chest. "No, you don't have to apologize. I just want you to stop crying and forget about that useless man."
Instead of stopping crying, Aletha started to sob, even more, the wound in her heart was already deep, she couldn't forget Bima in such a short time. Plus, the figure of Kiran constantly scolding her Aletha, making her feel even more shattered. Suddenly the door opened again, Arka, who was Aletha's older brother, had just returned. Arka looked at Aletha and Kiran alternately, he quickly understood that the situation was not fine.
"What's the problem, mom? Why is Mom so angry? your voice can be heard outside, it's a shame if the neighbors hear it," said Arka, who suddenly appeared.
Instead of responding to Arka, Kiran just frowned while massaging the bridge of her nose. Immediately the three of them were all silent. The situation turned awkward. neither of them wanted to speak. The atmosphere seemed to be getting worse, at that moment Aletha who couldn't stand it suddenly ran upstairs. Arka who witnessed this hastily ran after Aletha. He was worried that his sister would hurt herself. Anyone can do bad things when hurt, right?
"Aletha!" Arka called in the hope that his little sister would stop her steps even for a moment.
However, it turned out that Aletha did not heed her brother's call, she quickly got into her bedroom, slammed the door, then locked herself inside. Arka of course couldn't enter Aletha's room, he just stood outside while knocking on the door slowly.
"Aletha, can I come in?" asked Arka in a soft voice.
Aletha did not give any response, she laid down on the bed, covered herself with a thick blanket, then cried silently.
"It's okay if you need time. But I just want to say, don't hurt yourself, and if you need a place to talk, I'm all ears," said Arka before leaving Aletha's room.
Aletha heard all of Arka's messages from inside the room, even so, she was still reluctant to open the door. Aletha lay curling up on the bed, she could finally let out all the tears she had been holding back. Aletha buried her face into the pillow, then let out a scream. Aletha's scream was loud enough, she was sure that her mother and brother would be able to hear her voice all the way downstairs. However, Aletha didn't care about that at all.
Half an hour had passed, Aletha had stopped crying for ten minutes ago, her tears had started to dry up, and now she was just sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her reflection in the mirror. Instantly Aletha became insecure about her appearance, she kept on ringing Bima's words saying that Shela was much prettier than her. Because of Aletha's unstable condition, she noticed the slight crease of fat under her chin and immediately branded herself ugly.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Suddenly Aletha was surprised to hear a knock on the door.
"Aletha, can I come in now?" Arka again asked the same question.
Aletha thought for a moment before deciding to get up from the edge of the bed and opened the door. The two looked at each other, as a brother Arka was worried to find Aletha with messy hair and redder eyes than before.
"What is the problem?" asked Arka with a faint smile.
Aletha lowered her head while playing with her fingers for a few seconds, then she turned and sat back down on the edge of the bed. Arka stepped into Aletha's room when she accidentally stepped on something that felt soft, but moist and a little slimy. Arka looked at his feet, he had stepped on a pillow that Aletha used to cover her face when she cried. That's why the pillow was flooded with tears and even a little bit of nasal discharge. Instead of feeling disgusted by what he had just experienced, he continued on his way as if nothing had happened.
Arka sat on the edge of the bed, right next to Aletha. "Come on, just talk to your brother. What happened?" Arka persuaded.
Aletha turned to the side, she looked into Arka's eyes, then said, "But promise me you won't scold me, right?"
"No, I didn't come here to scold you like mom earlier," said Arka.
"My boyfriend cheated on me and he just dumped me." Aletha ranted
"Oh, It's okay, I had also been in a relationship before and ended up breaking up too. Shhh... don't tell mom, okay!" Arka lowered his voice slightly as he put his index finger to his lips.
"You used to have a girlfriend? I never knew about it." Instantly Aletha's eyes widened when she heard new facts about Arka.
"I never knew you had a boyfriend either, at least until today," said Arka.
"Come to think of it, why did mom forbid us to date, huh?" asked Aletha curiously.
Arka took a deep breath, he looked into Aletha's eyes before finally explaining, "As you know, mom and dad have been divorced for a long time, even before you were born. I still remember a few days before mom and dad's divorce, it wasn't a good memory. I guess she is just too worried that we're going to be in a relationship with the wrong person and then feel what she went through."
"I never met dad. Is daddy a bad person?"
"I don't want to say that daddy is a bad person, but he is an alcoholic. That's why mom and dad often fought."
"If dad were an alcoholic, then why would mom want to marry him?" Aletha was surprised.
"Let me ask you back. If your boyfriend were cheating on you, why would you want to date him?"
Suddenly Aletha was silent, she thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes ... I didn't know that Bima was cheating on me."
"Mom also did not know that daddy was an alcoholic. But mom's situation at that time was much worse than yours. Mom had already married and gave birth to me, so it wasn't easy to break up." Arka suddenly recalled bitter memories from when he was a child, it was indeed sad, but he still wore a faint smile in front of Aletha. "Never mind, forget about that guy, he's just not the right person for you."
"Yes bro. I really want to forget it, but it's so hard," Aletha complained.
"Perhaps keeping busy can help you forget about it. Aletha, which university do you want to go to?"
"I want to enter Unsri, bro."
"Yes, you just go after Unsri. Don't think about dating matters just yet."
Aletha nodded, a smile again etched on her face.
After talking with Arka, Aletha felt much better. Aletha was committed to eliminating Bima from her mind and then studied to pursue her dream university. The first step that Aletha would take to make this happen was to block all of Bima's social media, so that his efforts to move on would not be interrupted by WhatsApp message notifications or Bima's photos that suddenly appeared on
That night, Aletha was no longer texting with Bima, she was sitting in front of her desk while facing piles of books and various learning videos. Studying is tiring, but Aletha tried to stay focused on her ambitions. The night was getting late, Aletha studied until she forgot the time, she did not realize that the clock on the wall of her room had struck 30 past eleven. Aletha's vision was getting blurry, her finger strength to hold the pen was decreasing until she unconsciously closed her eyes completely. Aletha folded her arms on the table instead of a head pillow.
Arka accidentally passed Aletha's room, he thought Aletha had not fallen asleep because he saw the door to the room was still open and the lights were not turned off. Arka was about to enter Aletha's room because it was unusual for Aletha to be awake at this hour. Arka was only worried that Aletha was still confused about her ex-boyfriend.
Arka stepped into Aletha's room, he immediately found Aletha sleeping on the table with the laptop screen still on. Aletha was careless, Arka chuckled, then turned off the laptop and slightly tidied up the scattered books. Looking at Aletha's face which was being carried away into dreamland made Arka feel unable to wake her up, as a result, he just covered Aletha's body with a blanket so that his beloved sister wouldn't get cold. Finally, Arka turned off the light, then closed the door before finally leaving Aletha's room.
The next day Aletha was awakened by the sound of the alarm on her phone. She immediately grabbed her phone to turn off the alarm. Aletha was a little surprised to find her books neatly arranged on the table, besides that she just realized the existence of a blanket that had warmed her all night. Aletha immediately knew that all this must have been her brother's doing.
Aletha opened the window to breathe in the fresh morning air. Aletha started her day by cleaning herself in the bathroom, then put on her school uniform. After that Aletha hurried down the stairs, heading to the kitchen. Arriving in the kitchen, as usual, Aletha only met Arka because Kiran had gone to work.
Aletha sat at the dining table, apparently, Arka had prepared a pair of sandwiches for breakfast. As a mother, Kiran rarely took the time to cook with the excuse of being busy at work. Therefore, as the eldest child, Arka was accustomed to making food for himself and Aletha. Even though preparing food should be a mother's job, Arka never complained because he knew how difficult it was to be a single parent.
Aletha and Arka enjoyed breakfast while having some small talk. After eating breakfast, the two of them left the house. According to his daily routine, Arka started his motorbike, getting ready to take Aletha to school. Nothing interesting happened along the way, Aletha just looked casually at the various buildings and trees they passed. Finally, they stopped in front of the school gate, Aletha got off the motorbike, she took the time to kiss her brother's hand before stepping into the school gate.
Aletha was about to head to her classroom when her eyes accidentally caught sight that made her heart heated up a little. Bima and Shela were sitting on a bench in the school park. It seemed they were no longer hiding their relationship from Aletha because Bima had just dumped Aletha yesterday. As if not seeing anything, Aletha continued walking towards the classroom. When the teaching and learning activities started, Aletha was so focused on the material that she was able to forget about Bima's existence for a moment. When the bell signalling break time rang, Aletha no longer went to the canteen, she preferred to study in the library.
Since then, many of Aletha's classmates have called her the bookworm. Some people just used the call as a form of joke, but others intended to insult. Even so, Aletha didn't really care about people making fun of her anymore, she started to learn how to make peace with herself, she realized that she had to move on and stopped being trapped by bad memories from the past.
Several months passed and Bima and his generation had graduated from school. Aletha was now in class XII IPA 3, she had never met Bima again, and had cut off contact from any social media. Aletha was sure that if one day she met Bima somewhere, they would only be a pair of strangers who saw each other in less than a second.
Time passed, Aletha arrived to her graduation day. Thankfully she was able to graduate with satisfactory grades. Aletha was not accepted into Unsri through the SNMPTN, but she did not lose her enthusiasm. When the SBMPTN registration was opened, she immediately registered. Aletha faced the SBMPTN test with full preparation, she had studied a lot harder than before. As a result, efforts never betrayed the results, Aletha managed to get into the university of her dreams. Aletha was beyond happy, she hurriedly brought her laptop downstairs to tell Arka and Kiran the happy news.
"Mom! Arka!" shouted Aletha from the living room.
Arka and Kiran who felt called then walked towards the living room. When everyone had gathered, Aletha immediately showed her laptop screen which contained an announcement that she had been accepted through the SBMPTN. Arka and Kiran who witnessed this were happy and immediately hugged Aletha. It felt like it had been a long time since Aletha had been hugged by her mother.
"Congratulations Aletha! Whoa! Maybe we should make some kind of small celebration," suggested Arka.
"What kind of celebration?" asked Aletha enthusiastically.
"I'll cook a special dinner. Mom can come home from work early today, right?" Arka asked.
Kiran glanced down, she looked doubtful, but for the sake of pleasing her daughter she replied, "Yes, I can do it."
A wide smile appeared on Aletha's face; she could hardly believe it. The figure of Kiran, whom Aletha had labelled as a workaholic, in fact still wanted to spend a little time to make herself and her brother happy.