Salsa reflexively said istighfar many times until she calmed down a bit.
"Can you not startle me?!" Salsa scolded Reyhan while hitting his shoulder so hard it made Reyhan groan.
"Sorry Sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you like that. Oath!" he said, holding up his two fingers in the air as a sign that he wasn't lying.
Salsa saw Reyhan's behavior and felt guilty and finally smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. First, because for Salsa at that time, Reyhan's face looked so cute and adorable, just like this afternoon when Reyhan was sprayed by a customer. Second, because apparently there are still people in this place and he is not alone.
"Yes yes. It's okay," said Salsa in the end. He adjusted his messy hair in the wind.
"Are you still waiting for the bus?" Reyhan asked again, trying to make small talk. Because he must have known that if the bus that Salsa used to ride had arrived, the girl wouldn't be here now.
"Yes, yes," replied Salsa. "It doesn't usually take long like this," he continued. He looked at his cell phone. There the clock showed it was almost ten o'clock at night.
Reyhan looked at Salsa's face, which looked increasingly panicked. He intended to offer help.
"Thank you for wanting to help, but I'm afraid my mother and Sabila will misunderstand," said Salsa. He was worried that his mother and twins thought he had done something wrong.
Reyhan then looked in the direction the bus was coming from, but the vehicle was nowhere to be seen. The air is getting colder and the wind is blowing harder.
“But it looks like the bus won't come. It's very late. Maybe the last bus passed before you came here," Reyhan said.
"Just come home with me. You can't be here alone. You're not afraid of--"
Before Reyhan finished his sentence, Salsa had already shouted, "No need to be scared, okay?" He was very annoyed with his boss because he had been pestering him since noon and hitting him once again.
Reyhan could only laugh while pretending to beg for forgiveness.
After considering it, Salsa finally agreed to Reyhan's invitation to take her home, but on the condition that she had to drop Salsa off in front of the alley, not right in front of Salsa's house. Reyhan agreed. He gave me a helmet which is usually placed in the back seat. Reyhan did that on purpose, even though he rarely asked anyone to take him. Salsa accepted the black helmet rather reluctantly and put it on. After that they both left the place.
The whole way they were just silent and focused on each other's thoughts. Salsa also continued to pray that no one would see her being escorted by a man. While Reyhan's gaze continued to focus ahead. Occasionally he asked Salsa the next route every time there was an intersection.
Actually, without Salsa knowing, Reyhan was trying hard to catch his breath so he wouldn't notice that he was nervous. This was the first time he and Salsa were so close. And it managed to make his heart beat much faster than usual.
"Ahem." Reyhan suddenly cleared his throat after five minutes of silence between them. Making Salsa who had been daydreaming about whether she would be scolded or not dispersed.
"Why all of a sudden? Is your throat itchy?” asked Salsa innocently.
Reyhan, who was asked, slightly turned his head back. "It's here, Princess. That's your house, right?" he reminded me.
Reyhan had indeed seen what Salsa's house looked like by accident when Sabila showed a photo of himself with Salsa.
"Uh, yeah right. How did you know?” Salsa was starting to wonder. He wondered whether he had invited anyone to his house or not. But it seemed, no one else had been here before. Moreover, Salsa is the type of person who is shy and does not have many close friends.
"I don't think I'm going to—"
Before Salsa's sentence was finished, Reyhan answered first, "I know from Sabila. He once gave me a photo of the two of you in front of this house.”
Reyhan's explanation made sense. Salsa finally nodded. From a distance of approximately eighty meters, Reyhan lowered Salsa according to the agreement.
"Thank you for taking the trouble to take me home," said Salsa, looking down. He was very displeased with Reyhan. However, Reyhan didn't feel like he had been bothered at all.
"Alright, I'm going home first. It's not good if people see it either. I thought I'd be done with you later."
"What do you mean?" Salsa was a bit offended by Reyhan's words. She looked at the man, pursed her lips. In Reyhan's eyes, Salsa looks very cute. Unfortunately, he couldn't really say that. Reyhan hastily averted his eyes and started his old motorbike. Salsa continued to stare at Reyhan's back until it disappeared at a bend in the road.
The night was quiet again. The only sound was the sound of crickets along the alley. Salsa walked quickly towards her house. It was unusual for her to feel as scared and tired as today. Salsa was hesitant at first, but after she slowly opened the door to her house, her chest relaxed a little. There was no one in the living room. The lights have also been turned off. Maybe his mother and Sabila were already asleep in the room. And Salsa decided to go to her room and go to sleep early because tomorrow there was a morning class.
***
The next morning, after the morning prayer, Salsa got ready and headed to the dining table for breakfast. Today her class will have a quiz and Salsa hopes that all of her grades are good so that she doesn't have to repeat the subject in the next semester.
Salsa's hands were busy spreading jam onto a piece of white bread. Beside him sat his twin brother who was looking at himself in the mirror. Salsa could only rub her chest and shook her head.
"Why are you like that? Don't like it?! asked Sabila in a sarcastic tone. He paused for a moment to stare at Salsa.
"It's not like that, sis. But it's better if you wear a skirt that is a little longer," said Salsa in a low voice, glancing at Sabila's mini skirt, which showed her thighs.
"I don't care about your life, why do you bother with my clothes?!" This time, Sabila was provoked by emotion and made him not realize that he had yelled at Salsa.
"Sorry, that's not what I meant. but-"
"What is it, it's noisy this morning?"
Salsa's sentence was cut off by the arrival of Kania, their mother. He who saw Sabila's face turn red immediately knew what was happening. Without hearing an explanation from Salsa, Kania scolded her first.
Salsa who was used to being treated unfairly by her mother could only stay silent until the old woman stopped scolding her for being tired.
"You really like finding things, don't you!" Kania snapped. Sabila who was next to him also felt guilty, but Dipa also couldn't do much. Even though he is annoyed with Salsa, Sabila still has affection even though he doesn't realize it.
"Well never mind, I want to go first," said Sabila who just walked away from the dining table.
"Sa, let's go quickly! It's noon!" shouted Sabila from the front.
For a while Salsa can get out of Kania's scolding. Despite being treated unfairly, Salsa remains an obedient child. He kissed Kania's hand and said good-bye. Along the way, Salsa was still thinking about why her mother always scolded her when she had a disagreement with Sabila.
"But that's something to think about later," he muttered. He chose to memorize the material for the quiz later.