We, From The First
#60. About "Nico"
After both agreed to return to dating for one week, the first thing Aira did was to get Nico to continue working on her script which was only a step away. Nico only has to carry out the actual exam, but all the problems that surround him lately make Nico have no desire whatsoever other than to escape.
Aira's first mission was successful, in two days Nico had already got his exam schedule.
"Is this your goal?" Nico asked Aira who at that time seemed to be busy chewing her bread.
As they often did before, they returned to doing morning sports together.
"Nic, it's okay if you don't want to tell me about your Papa. But in my opinion, you should be done one by one of your affairs first." After a long time harboring Nico's cold attitude towards her, Aira was finally able to tell her the truth today.
"Your thesis is only one step away, if you do not finish this first, Aunt Gina will still make it difficult for you to go ahead later. Now, you have to put together a strategy first."
"Strategy?" Nico asked a little astonished while wiping the milk marks on the edge of Aira's lips.
"Yes, strategy. Strategy wins Aunt Gina's heart. For a while, there is no harm in you being a submissive child. Do whatever Aunt Gina wants and—"
"Na, you didn't say this because of the wedding plans, did you?" Tempted Nico, deliberately interrupting Aira's speech.
In a split second, both of Aira's cheeks instantly turned red. He also misbehaved outside of his control. Seeing the funny scene in front of him, making Nico who had been reluctant to smile let alone laugh desperately held a smile on his face. For a moment, Nico forgot all about his problems and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of his time with Aira.
"YES NOT!" Aira dodged with flames. But the two cheeks that are getting reddened actually show something else.
"Do you want to marry me that way?" Nico again launched another temptation while glaring mischievously at the girl next to him.
"Nico, can you stop?"
Seeing the increasingly wrong Aira's behavior actually makes Nico eager to tease him. Nico moved his seat closer to Aira. That too, inevitably makes Aira's heart pounding more and more with a reddened face.
In that situation, Aira's attention was suddenly drawn to a ball that was flying about to hit Nico's head. With a quick motion, Aira moved and then deflected the ball with his hand to make him fall from the long chair he was sitting in.
"LANA!" Nico chuckled frantically with both eyes wide.
Nico rushed to Aira.
"Na, are you okay?" Tanya Nico while embracing both of Aira's shoulders. It was not long before Nico grabbed Aira's right hand and found a wound on his palm.
"Stupid! Why you—"
"Thank God you don't have the ball thrown, hehehe..." Said Aira casually while chuckling with relief, staring with both eyes sparkling brightly at Nico.
"I'm sorry, we didn't mean it" one of the group of teenagers who played soccer approached Nico and Aira.
Nico, who was covered in anger from worrying too much, stared intently at the teenage boy and was ready to spit out his anger, "you guys should be —"
"We're okay. Next time be careful, yeah." Sela Aira before Nico had time to scold the teenage boy.
"Once again I'm sorry."
Upon arrival at home, Nico instantly treated the wound on Aira's palm with great care.
"Other times, you don't have to do anything stupid like that just to protect me." Omel Nico after he finished his work.
"I was just panicking. Obviously I saw the ball pointing at you, how could I just keep quiet?"
"Then just shut up. Don't do anything, don't do anything that will catch you in the end." Nico answered so emotionally, full of meaning implied in each sentence.
...****...
In the evening, they all gather at the B-Cafe rooftop to welcome Rakha home, as well as celebrate his victory. And as he had promised Aira, Rakha actually bought eight pizza boxes for all of them.
"We won't be able to finish these eight pizza boxes. Aira has to take responsibility!" Cetus Bia who feels inexhaustible with Aira's crazy request on Rakha.
"Anyways, if this doesn't end, Aira will have to finish." Timpal Sheryl's.
"Eh, I mean well, each one of us has one box." Bela Aira's.
"But the problem is this one box can you run out of it?" This time Rio raised his voice.
"Already! It's already! You guys eat. If it doesn't end, I eat the rest." Said Rakha who eventually began to careless also saw Aira constantly being cornered.
Bia would have opened her voice to tease Rakha and Aira, but when she realized that Yumi had just been quiet, Bia finally held back.
In the midst of their togetherness that night, no one expected it before, Nico suddenly appeared with her face that always looked calm. As Nico approached, they all fell silent as they cast a look of astonishment at Nico.
"Selamet, yes, Kha!" Nico congratulated him while raising his right hand to do high-five with Rakha.
Rakha slapped Nico's hand, "thanks, bro!"
Nico then took a sitting position next to Natta, who faced directly with the position of Aira and Rakha who were sitting side by side. And to be honest, they look harmonious in Nico's view. It was also inevitable to make Nico's heart feel like it was pinched.
"That's great, Nic?" Sindir Sheryl who immediately get a reaction agreed from Natta, her boyfriend.
Nico, who had no intention of answering Sheryl's insinuations, smiled at Sheryl, and then took a drink in front of her with eyes fixed on Rakha and Aira.
"Ra, what's your hand?" Rakha asked worriedly after realizing that Aira's palm was wrapped in plaster.
"Ooh this? Jatoh pas jogging again." Answer Aira how she is. This time his eyes were on Nico who was still staring at him and Rakha.
Despite the awkwardness between Nico, Aira, Rakha, and Yumi, the others are still trying to melt the atmosphere. Rarely can they be as fully assembled as tonight. That was the reason why Nico and Rakha were slowly getting late in the atmosphere, and enjoying their togetherness that night.
"Ra, I'm anterin home, huh?" Rakha said after they broke up their meeting.
Yumi who at that time accidentally heard Rakha's words, just fell silent on the spot and tried to listen further.
"Aira's coming home with me, Kha. You may not know, but since last week, Aira's been staying at my house."
Both of Aira's eyes opened wide while listening to Nico's words. He had not expected before that Nico would be so obvious to Rakha. Aira initially felt flowery with what Nico was doing, but remembering that it could have been part of their deal, made Aira hold back her happy feelings.
Didn't he ask Nico to be his girlfriend for a week? So, it is only natural that Nico is now trying to carry out his role as best as possible. Just a week.
That thought instantly made Aira's chest look like a punch.
"Aira told me about moving him to the elo house." Rakha replied suddenly calmly and lightly.
Now it was Nico's turn to be surprised. But as much as possible Nico tried to hide his surprise. In his heart Nico felt disappointed, when he knew that his Nana could be so honest with others.
Knowing that he had defeated Nico, Rakha smiled gently and turned her attention to Aira who was standing behind Nico's shoulder. Rakha fondly rubbed the top of his head, then said, "i'll call, yes, Ra?"
Like a hypnotized person, Aira simply nodded.
This time Rakha turned her attention to Yumi who had just left. Rakha pursues Yumi's steps and embraces her casually, "Yum, let's go home together."
...****...
"Aira told me about moving him to the elo house."
Rakha's words continue to haunt Nico's mind endlessly. And during the journey, there was no chatter between her and Aira. Nico focused on driving while continuing to remember Rakha's words, while Aira herself who began to feel bored because she was not ignored by Nico, could only stare occasionally at the young man, then sighed softly, very slowly.
The boring minutes finally passed when they finally arrived home. Without saying anything to Nico, Aira got out of the car first and entered the house. Upon arrival inside, it turns out that there is already Regina who looks focused on doing something on her laptop.
"Tante, Om not home yet?" Aira sat down by Regina's side.
Regina stopped her work for a moment and turned to Aira, "uh, Na? You home?" Aira simply nodded in response. "Om busy, Na. Not had the right time to go home. Aunty has to follow Om to Singapore next week."
When Regina saw Nico and walked along the stairs, Regina got closer to Aira and whispered something, "titip Nico, huh? If he's acting weird again, call Auntie right away."
Aira chuckled amusedly at Regina's request. Moments later, Aira showed both her thumbs up and said, "shiip!"
After a long chat with Regina, Aira went upstairs. However, when he was about to enter his room, Aira's attention was knowingly fixed on the figure of Nico who was sitting alone on the balcony. Without needing to ask, Aira already knew that at that time Nico must have been thinking about his Papa.
Aira, who did not want to disturb Nico, decided to go inside her room. More than anyone else Aira knows, that for now Nico is in need of time alone.
About two hours later, Aira came back out of her room. But on the balcony there, he can still see the figure of Nico who did not move from his position.
Aira sighed deeply, after a long time of weighing, she chose to approach Nico.
Doubtful Aira sat next to Nico, but instead of the rejection she got, Nico turned to her with a sad look.
"Nic, you're fine, right?"
"Ma?"
"Yes?"
Before replying, Nico sounded a sigh full of consideration and doubt, "do you want the same 'Nico'? Can you please tell me how he was? Seinget you, Ra. If you don't want anything is okay, you—"
"I wasn't very familiar with Nico. He likes to kill me and make me cry. Until one day, a class sneaked at me because of Nico. I forgot what the problem was, but at that time Nico really made me sad to not want to go to school for days. But, either out of guilt, or being told by his mother, Nico came to my house every day to apologize. He brought chocolates, candy, comics, dolls and even flowers. But I didn't want to apologize to Nico until finally.." Aira's voice started to sound heavy, "the plane crash happened. In the past, because it was so small I did not understand anything, but now, when I was growing up, I began to understand what it was regret."
Nico didn't know what to say to Aira. For the first time, Nico finds out that Aira still has her own bitterness for 'Nico'.
Inevitably Nico finally thinks that if the accident that killed 'Nico's life never happened, of course 'Nico' is the one who will currently be with Aira. 'Nico' who did not hold any pain against Aira, 'Nico' who did not inflict the slightest injury on Aira, and 'Nico' who did not need to snatch any happiness from Aira. If 'Nico' still exists, certainly Aira does not need to lose both parents because they have to replace Nico.
Shoulda-coulda... Alvin was never Nico from the start.
As the situation between them became quiet, while Aira was not willing to leave Nico alone, Aira grabbed the guitar next to the sofa they were sitting on, then he started playing a song that Nico used to listen to for him.
Yes, Aira sang that song to Nico, as if she was describing her heart to the state that Nico was feeling right now.
"And when you need a shoulder to cry on
When you need a friend to rely on
When the whole world is gone
You won't be alone, cause I'll be there
I'll be your shoulder to cry on
I'll be there...
I'll be a friend to rely on
When the whole world is gone
You won't be alone, cause I'll be there"
^^^(Tommy Page, A Shoulder To Cry On)
After Aira finished the song, Nico who had been silent since then took the guitar with a soft movement from Aira. Nico then put the guitar on the table as if removing the barrier between himself and Aira. The next second, Nico instantly dropped himself into the arms of the girl.
Nico knows that this is coming to an end. For that, at least for once Nico wanted to hug Aira and lean all her fragility for a while. For a minute... Nico wanted to breathe comfortably without thinking about anything.
^^^To be Continued...^^^