Is It Possible To Fill This Empty Space In Ourselves?
Chapter 8
In the afternoon when the sunlight was not as bright as before, Ernest was sitting enjoying the wind in the back when the woman came out and gave him a slanted look.
“What?” tanyanya did not understand.
“Do you have to show off your uselessness?” cynical Arsyana.
“Then what else should I do?”
“Make yourself useful.”
“With what?”
Instead of answering Arsyana went to walk towards the yard which became the corner of the gathering of plants grown in a pot.
Ernest saw the woman crouching there and was seen observing with her hands flipping through the leaves in front of him.
Arsyana turned to him, “Ernest bring your ass here.”
“Can't you speak politely?” ernest complained but still obeyed the woman and stepped closer.
“Want me to issue word ‘tolong’?”
“At least don't sound dirty.”’
Arsyana rolled her eyes, “what are you? A little girl who hasn't been out of the room?”
“You are a woman.”
“Duh, outstanding observation.”
Ernest frowned at the cynical tone of the woman who had now turned her head back to the collection of plants in front of him and chose not to continue the debate by asking, “what do you want?”
“Help me weed the plants that are here.”
Ernest was stunned for a moment, “I have never done this,” I told him honestly.
“Wow, are you a young master? Should I start treating you gently?” scorned Arsyana glanced at the man who was now lowering himself beside her and using the clogs as a pedestal to sit there.
“I've weeded plants but not those in a vase like this.”
“It's not like it will be much different to the one on the ground directly.”
“I also never weed herbs and spices.”
“There is always a first time for all things.”
Ernest sees Arsyana easily finding and pulling weeds from behind the leafy green. After a while of noticing and although still not entirely sure Ernest also plucked what he considered weeds.
“Do not use your injured hand,” Arsyana reminded without looking at her.
“I know.”
Silence enveloped them for a while. Both are fixated on their own parts.
Ernest's movements were not as rapid as Arsyana's, but fortunately it was not his main hand that was injured so he was not too slow as well in this weeding.
Plaque!
“What's Arsy!” shouted Ernest who was surprised by the slap on the wrist that made his hand move away from the ground surface in the vase.
“What did you say my name?”
Ernest blushed in embarrassment when he realized what he said, “that's because I was surprised.”
“And cut my name at will?”
“I'm surprised.”
“Wow,” Arsyana rolled her eyes unimpressed, “very great defense.”
“Stop that iron tone of yours.”
“Your stupidity makes it difficult to do so.”
Sighing in defeat, Ernest looked at the woman beside him seriously, “why did you hit me?”
“You're ruining an idiot plant.”
“I don't.”
Arsyana pointed at the bunch of grass that Ernest wanted to unplug earlier, “you will do it if I don't stop you.”
“That's weed.”
“Not everything.”
Ernest frowned as he let his upper body back slightly in order to make room for Arsyana who leaned towards him when carefully choosing which grass to pull and which to leave, “what is it?”
The plant has round-shaped leaves and is slightly oblong.
“You didn't know it?”
“Even saw him growing wild by the roadside, therefore I thought weed.”
“Originally you know the ointment I gave you that the main ingredient is this plant,” Arsyana snorted to see Ernest staring blankly at the plant in question, “ unexpected is not?”
“The people I passed along the way thought it was a weed.”
“Most people consider it so.”
“How do you know?” asked Ernest curiously.
“You think what books are on my desk?”
“I just always read your book in the outermost row.”
Arsyana back to his original position, “your fault then.”
“So I can read your entire book?”
“It seems that when you ask first I never forbid you to read everything there.”
“Ah, I do not want to guess carelessly and violate your limits,” said Ernest admitted easily.
Arsyana just kept quiet after hearing it and continued to clean up the existing pest plants.
Ernest did not expect a response and again weeded the vase by his side, this time much more carefully than before.
“No need to guess,” said Arsyana suddenly after both long enough in silence, “you can always ask.”
“Can I?”
“Ya.”
“Even if I accidentally go too far with my question?” Ernest asked in a calm tone.
“I just chose not to answer if it happened.”
“So won't kill me?”
“Do it if you don't stop and keep forcing.”
Ernest silently smiled hearing it, “dotated.”
The atmosphere felt lighter and more pleasant afterwards. The two continued to move their hands while chatting, mostly Ernest who asked about some plants that he did not know or Arshana who rebuked when other plants were almost uprooted by weed.
Ernest felt the warmth of the Sun in the afternoon this time not only touched the skin because without his knowledge there were other places that also felt the same. It was his chest and he didn't want to admit that it wasn't because of the Surya why his beating limbs could feel as warm as they are now. And also obviously it was not because of the laughter of the woman beside him. Not likely.
*
But it did not take long for him to memorize the path because in the fourth experiment Ernest had managed to distinguish all directions precisely even though he had to really seriously pay attention to his environment. Not as natural as Arsyana which looks as if just stepping on a one-way street.
“How do you do it?” ernest asked as the two sat across from each other in the room at noon on the last day of the week.
Ernest sat in his usual place and Arsyana was on a mattress leaning right under the wide-open window.
Arsyana doesn't even take her eyes off the book in hand, “do what?”
“Memorize the road in the forest.”
“Same as you.”
“And when you got lost?”
“I'm not stupid like you,” Arsyana glanced at Ernest who was looking at him with a book on his lap—kini who can already cross legged because it no longer has to run to avoid injury before returning to his reading, “aku left a trail to return.”
“You passed the village under the mountain when you first came here?”
“Ya.”
“Then,” Ernest licked his lower lip and fell silent for a moment, “how can you know that shortcut?”
It was the same question he had asked when Arsyana first took him through the forest to the district. Ernest did not know whether to receive the same indifferent answer as well.
This time Arsyana dropped her book and straight looked at Ernest, “why do you want to know?”
“It's stupid.”
“But you repeated that question for the second time.”
“I realize it.”
“So why?”
Ernest felt pierced with those brown eyes so he turned his eyes out the window, but honestly replied, “I want to know you.”
The sound of the leaves screeching for a while became a filler of silence between them.
Arsyana again lifted the book, “you become sticky Ernest,” he said slowly.
“Maybe.”
“Birds don't perch on trees for too long before returning to fly.”
“Some birds have nests to return to.”
“To lay eggs.”
There was silence for a while, “good I am not a bird then,” replied Ernest calmly, vaguely understanding what that woman meant.
Only an amused snort he received. There is an understanding there. Intentions conveyed in an implied manner and responses received—not acceptance but also not rejection.
“So why?”
“You are stubborn,” complained Arsyana.
“Does this question bother you?”
“I'm just lazy to explain.”
“Then,” in the end Ernest took a step back in his approach, “can I guess it?”
“Sure.”
“Is it from the previous owner's family?”
“They passed the road further away from the other side of their village,” Arsyana argued calmly.
“That means you yourself found this path?”
“Can be said so.”
Ernest nodded in understanding, “you deliberately looked for another path for the escape route,” this time is not a question but a direct statement.
“What makes you think so?”
“You're a smart woman.”
“I like to think that I'm not stupid.”
“You are in a foreign place without anyone known and it would make sense if you go check out the environment.”
Arsyana did not drop the book but her attention now turned to Ernest who saw it. The man continued his conjecture.
“If I don't know for sure how far, but from the few times accidentally seeing you practice martial arts I can tell your abilities belong to the top level. You have the power to protect yourself.”
“Only because of it?”
“The main reason is your prevention not to meet the villagers nearby, you are someone who has far-sighted thoughts,” saw Arsyana just silence Ernest continued, continuing, “and assess the condition of this building that is organized and has a sense of a place to live, live in, I suspect the word ‘several months’ you stay here that you mentioned before might mean almost the same as one year.”
“So?”
“I just put it all together.”
“I want to hear your conclusion.’
“You vigilant and think far away so it is impossible not to think of any other solution if the escape through the streets of the village cannot be done, protecting yourself is not a problem for you, you also have the courage for it, you also have the courage for it, and the most supportive is that you have time to explore around the forest slowly and carefully.”
Arsyana smiled thinly, “not bad.”
“So my guess is right?” I don't know why Ernest was excited.
“What if I say it's a coincidence?”
Ernest was stunned to hear that.
“You are not entirely wrong,” said Arsyana, “but it was a coincidence that I found that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“It's true I did a little exploring the forest, but not to find the way.”
“Then?” asked Ernest a little in disbelief.
“I'm looking for a place to hide.”
“Why?”
“As you said I should have other plans if the village road cannot be passed.”
“But I feel something is wrong with you entering the forest just to find a place to hide, you don't seem to be someone who will let himself be in a cornered position.”
“Perhaps more precisely a hiding place to attack secretly,” explained Arsyana calmly. There was a smile on his face, but unlike before that was often seen scornful and amused or even occasionally sincere. The current smile looked sharp with flat and empty eyes straight looking at the interlocutor.
“It feels more like you,” said Ernest after a moment of silence.
And just like that, that expression broke. Arsyana laughed loudly at the response of the man in front of her.
Ernest snorted amusedly at it. Lifting the book from his lap, he let the corner of his lips remain elevated even as his eyes retraced the writing on the book read and the sound of laughter gradually disappeared into a comfortable silence.
***