Brother Zone
Tapping Memories

Hearing Rian's words, Nisa's body stiffened, feeling like she had just been electrocuted. His round eyes stared intently at Rian, his chest rising and falling holding back the slowly seething emotions.

"Responsible?" Nisa repeated Rian's words.

Rian did not answer. He opens the car door for Nisa.

"Get in, we're talking inside. It's not good to see other people later" said Rian. Nisa also complies.

"I want to marry you. I want to take responsibility for the incident" Rian said slowly after being in the car.

Nisa shook her head strongly. "Rian, that incident was just a misunderstanding. Nothing has ever happened between us, so you don't have to take responsibility" Nisa explained.

"But, your father is demanding that I take responsibility" Rian replied.

"You're responsible or not, it won't change my father's assumption that I'm a family disgrace. If you take responsibility and we get married, that means justifying that there is something between us" Nisa said.

Rian was silent, and so was Nisa. For a moment the two were just silent, dissolving with their respective thoughts until finally Nisa who opened her voice.

Nisa breathed a tired sigh. "Rian, it's all gone, you better not discuss it again."

"But, Nis...." Rian did not finish his words.

"Well, I'll go home first." Nisa's switching the conversation.

"Let me take you. It's late at night, the danger of girls coming home alone" Rian said as he turned on the car.

Nisa was about to refuse, but the car was already running slowly, finally she just sighed resignedly. Nisa stole a glance at Rian who was focusing on driving. The man next to him did not change much in appearance. However, his attitude looked more mature than it used to be when they were in college. That pretentious and never serious Rian seemed to have disappeared.

During the trip, no one spoke. Both of them are drawn by thoughts about the past. Rian slowed down his car as it entered a housing, opened the windshield and pressed the horn as it passed through the complex guard post. The sound of the horn jolted Nisa from the daydream. He realized they had arrived.

"Do you know I live here?" nisa asks as Rian's car stops in front of the house number nine.

"I've been here a few times, you know" replied Rian.

"From me?"

Nisa can't believe Rian's really looking for her. Did the man really feel guilty to the point of looking for her here?

"I heard from your boarding friends, he said you went to Surabaya. I thought you were just going for a walk or a vacation, it turns out you deliberately left me. I searched everywhere for information about you and I finally got your address. That's the reason why I'm here now" explained Rian at length.

Nisa's round eyes widened, increasingly distrusting of Rian's explanation. So important to the young man who used to be his best friend.

"After you leave, my life falls apart. Losing two best friends like you and Dhika made my life lose its way. My college is not finished, thrown out of the family and almost died of an overdose of sleeping pills" Rian continued with a smile.

For some reason, hearing Rian's story made Nisa's chest feel tight. Heart touched. The emotion that had been raised suddenly extinguished, changing his pity for Rian's fate. Nisa patted Rian's shoulder softly as an expression that she could feel what Rian was feeling. Just like when he used to be a backrest and a place where Rian complained.

Rian nodded and smiled. "Aren't you angry about that?" ask Rian again.

"Who said I wasn't angry? I was angry, but I finally decided to forgive everything and start a new life" Nisa said.

"I'm sorry, Nis. You're right, forgiving everything is the best way, but I know forgiving isn't that easy. I also still want to correct my mistakes, especially our friendship. We're still best friends, right?" Rian's gaze glared far away. Remembering a friend who still seems reluctant to forgive him.

"I'm sorry you've been around for a long time and for any time, you're still my best friend." Nisa smiled sincerely.

"Thank you, Nis. Oh yeah, you have no time tomorrow?" tanyanya.

"If there is no afternoon, because in the afternoon I have to work," replied Nisa.

"OK, tomorrow at 10 I'll pick you up, will you?" Rian.

Nisa seemed to think for a moment then nodded in agreement. There was no harm in following Rian's invitation, he thought. Think of it as an encounter with an old friend. Although there was a bit of worry in his heart considering the girl he hit earlier this afternoon. After making small talk, Nisa got out of Rian's car and waved her hand before entering the house.

***

Just as Rian promised, at 10 the next day, Rian stopped his car in front of Nisa's house. Rian got down from the car and stepped casually towards the fence. Impatiently Rian clipped the bell on the side of the fence. Soon, a woman he meets every time he comes looking for Nisa appears behind the door.

The woman opened the fence and let her in, but Rian refused and chose to sit on the porch, while the woman came in to call Nisa. Almost ten minutes, Nisa finally came out.

Nisa is still a typical Nisa with a t-shirt that is two sizes larger than the size combined with jeans and sneakers. It has been his style since college. However, Rian felt comfortable seeing this kind of Nisa.

"Is he ready?" ask Rian. Nisa nodded, then Rian walked ahead of Nisa, while Nisa tailed behind.

"Where are we going?" ask Nisa when the car has left the complex.

"As far as you. I miss the time we were in college, often vague wandering. I think it's exciting if repeated," said Rian while chuckling.

"Eat, play, whatever the end," said Nisa, along with remembering their memories.

"To the mall first, yuk. We play first, it's just been a meal."

Nisa nodded in agreement. Rian also drove his car to one of the malls in the city of Heroes. Once there, they headed straight for the game area. They play anything, like a child whose parents are invited to play. Play and laugh without burden and forget all the problems for a moment.

Satisfied playing, Rian took Nisa to one of the seafood restaurants in the mall. Without asking again, Rian immediately ordered a serving of spicy sweet sour squid complete with rice for Nisa. As for himself he ordered shrimp, kale with rice and two glasses of orange ice. It was their favorite menu first. While waiting for their order to come, Nisa said goodbye to go to the toilet for a while.

On the way back from the toilet, from a distance Nisa saw a man who was familiar to her was looking at the watch. Unknowingly Nisa's feet stepped towards the person.

"Dhika?"

Seriate.