Chapter 13: Long Distance Relationship?

Part 13

"He's been hurt a lot since childhood." Bayu finished his sentence. "His mother left her and his father for another man, while his father had to suffer for years and often took out her anger on him."

"Both verbally and physically, he accepts everything. He received the tantrum that his father was sent for his mother, he took a beating that he shouldn't have taken. He has suffered since childhood. But … lately he always seems happy."

Zia feels pity when Bayu started to tell a story, and when Bayu said that Eza always looks like happy, Zia can't smiled like nothing happened.

"I didn't know he already has a girlfriend now. At first I thought he might not believe in love because of the wounds he had suffered since he was a child, but who would have thought that there was a girl who could shake him?"

"In twenty years, this is the first time he has had a special girl by his side and that person is you."

Zia looked down embarrassed at Bayu's words, not knowing what to respond to. However, she was curious about one thing he never knew the answer to.

"Uh, umm ... May I know, why Eza was late goin' to college, Uncle?" she asked. So far, Zia was quite curious about why that man was two years late to take his college studies and instead enrolled at the same time in his year.

Heard Zia's question, Bayu's face bent slightly. His eyes wandered again, as if he were diving into his deepest memory.

“He went through difficult times for two years after graduating from high school. His father died in front of his eyes, hanging his head on one of the walls and Eza saw it clearly," he recalled painfully.

Zia heard that and she felt her heart was being cut. There were too much side from Eza that Zia didn't know it at all, but actually she thinked she know him anything. Behind the humorous smile that Eza has always been a mainstay of ... Zia couldn't imagine how many scars were left there.

Can't reliezed it, a tears down on Zia's cheeks.

"What's wrong with you, Zi?" asked Bayu, surprised to see the look of Zia who suddenly cried.

Zia shook her head, “It's okay, Uncle. It's just something twitching in my eyes," she argued, trying not to make the man who was still lying on the hospital gurneyworried about her.

Bayu wasn't stupid. He found that the girl cried because of what he tell in the story, and Bayu was silent for a moment. "Please keep our conversation secret, ok?" he demanded just before the knob of the room's door was turned by someone from outside a few seconds later.

"Yes," said Zia with a faint smile, wiped the trail of tears and let her mane stretch out to cover the remaining traces of the man who had just entered this room.

"What are you talking about?" shoot the curious Eza.

... -toxic- ...

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon," said Zia after glancing at her watch, then moved to stare at Eza, who had just finished feeding Bayu a bowl of porridge.

"Do you have something to do after this, Zi?" asked Bayu, astonished by the change in Zia's face.

Zia nodded slightly, "Yes, Uncle. I have a dinner appointment with my friends. If possible, may I go home now?"

"Let me deliver you, Zi." Eza put the empty bowl on the nightstand, then stood over to Zia. "Earlier, I was the one who picked up you here, so I should take you home too."

Zia did not reject Eza's idea. She then walked towards Bayu and took the man's hand. "Uncle, I promises I'll visit you later, see you." Zia promised to Bayu.

Bayu nodded slowly. "Be careful," he said. "Eza, take a motorbike in a low speed, Zia was a poor child, you bring it to death too if you take him too speed."

"Hahahah ...." Eza laughed crisply at Bayu's joke. "Of course not, Uncle. Eza is aware of herself, heheh .... "

"If he brings a speed motorbike too fast, just admonish him, Zi. He is already used motorbike like he's going to die, Zi. I already know that you only have one life, but you really like being made up and down on the asphalt!" Bayu told to Zia, made Zia laugh too instantly.

The three of them finally ended their meeting and Eza now who is now riding Zia's ride home. Zia without hesitation wrapped her hand around Eza's stomach and rested her head on the man's back.

To be honest, she still couldn't stop thinking about Bayu's story to him. It turned out that the owner of this broad back had a lot of uneasiness in it, which he had never even shared with Zia.

Without realized it, the motorbike had entered Zia's rented area complex and stopped right at Zia's rented yard.

"Zi ... we just arrived jn your home," said Eza as he slowly shook his body, bringing the woman leaning on his back.

Zia blinked quickly, realizing that her daydream made her unaware that she and Eza had arrived in front of her house.

"E-eh?" She muttered awkwardly, hurriedly got out of the passenger seat and smiled at Eza. "Thanks for accompanying Zia home," she said sincerely.

Eza laughed anxiously at Zia's words. I was so exasperated, his hand immediately scrambled the top of Zia's head. "Why are you sorry? It's already my job to send you home carefully." He said, still laughing that never stopped from his lips.

Saw Eza laughing in front of her, Zia again remembers Bayu's words, who think Eza seems happy lately. However, her smile faded as her thoughts said otherwise. Zia's face suddenly sad.

"Za ..." Zia called Eza's name slowly, so slowly, Eza stopped laughing and then looked at Zia with a serious face.

"What's wrong, Zi?" he asked in surprise.

Zia gave Eza a faint smile. Her hand grasped Eza's wide palm, then patted it slowly. "It's okay. If Eza has a problem or a story that Eza can't keep on his own, don't hesitate to tell Zia ... "

“... because Zia always ready to listen to Eza. Zia doesn't want Eza to be sad and Zia won't leave Eza alone, really. "

Zia's words made Eza give an astonished look. He then pulled Zia's body into his embrace, then let his head be supported by Zia's small shoulders.

“Thank you for being by Eza's side, Zi. I love you, Zi."

Zia smiled at Eza's words. She tapped Eza on the shoulder slowly, trying to channel her trust in the man. "Zia also loves you too, Za," she replied without hesitation.

In that afternoon, in Zia's rented yard and under the fading sun, the two of them laughed at each other after expressing their affection for each other. Eza kissed Zia's forehead lightly before leaving Zia and headed back to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Zia only really entered the house after she could no longer see Eza's silhouette from where she was currently standing.

There was a sense of comfort rising in each other's hearts, as if their relationship had gone up to a more serious stage with a higher level of trust in each other.

Now Zia's heart no longer feels the dilemma like yesterday, she is starting to be ready for a long-distance relationship later when Eza moves to Kalimantan*.

"Hopefully our relationship is always this sweet, Za," she asked before actually entering her rented house.

-To be Continue-

Note: Kalimantan*, it's called Borneo too. It's one of the island in Indonesia.