He's The Unaffordable
Chapter 38 - The Mysterious Man

Mila tells about the incident she experienced while in the mall. Colin and I listened intently without interrupting until he finished talking. From the look on his face, I knew that my stupid friend had a lot of questions that came to his head.

To help Colin understand what was going on, I told him about Mila's face, which was similar to that of Aunt Lindsey's late daughter-in-law. Once he understood what we were talking about, his eyes were rounded. He looked at me and Mila in turn.

“Clarissa? You mean, she's Clarissa?” colin asked in disbelief. Colin was the only person who knew about Clarissa outside of my parents' circle of friends and relatives. Uncle Will, Aunt Gista, and Lily don't even know about it.

“It's still a guess, Cole. Don't talk carelessly. You're just gonna hurt Mila. He's been looking for his family for a long time, so don't give him false hope.” I looked at him sharply. He immediately raised both of his hands into the air, a sign of surrender.

“OK, okay. I'm sorry,” she said to me, then she turned her head towards the girl by my side. “I'm sorry, Mila. I didn't mean it.”

Mila shook her head slowly. “It's okay. That's all still an assumption, but as Hadi said, I really hope my search will end here.”

“It is fitting that the attitude of all adults on the eve of Dira's birthday is very strange. Turns out they saw a resemblance on your face and Aunt Lindsey's daughter.” Colin clucked slowly. “So, what are you waiting for? Why not take a test right away and find out if Mila is their missing granddaughter? Sitting down and talking about it won't bring you anything.”

“Tante Lindsey has done the test secretly. The result is negative.” I could see Mila's face turning sad when I said that to Colin.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Does that mean Mila's not Clarissa? Then what next? Are you going to meet that guy named Colton Jones and do a DNA check?” colin asked confusedly.

“I don't want to meet the guy again or do any tests. Because I'm sure he's not my real father. Witnesses to justify the allegations of Om Edu and Aunt Lindsey are far more numerous, while the man is alone. Of course I trust them more. You haven't seen the photo of Aunt Abby. When you see it, you will see our resemblance,” Mila said.

“You should have contacted me when you moved. I can help you carry your stuff,” I said remembering his impulsive actions.

“I don't have much stuff. Just clothes and books. Then I just pay the apartment security to help me move all the suitcases and boxes I need to move. It is much safer and practical.” He smiled thinly. “We just got to know each other, I can't possibly trouble you on your day off.”

“Although it is still an assumption, you are our friend, Mila. Hadi's right. You should have asked for our help. Don't you still have my phone number? If it turns out that you really are Clarissa, then I feel good about helping my best friend's fiancee,” Colin said half teasingly. I gave him my sharp look.

“I won't change my mind, Cole. Dira won't come back to you again.” Colin groaned softly at my firm words.

“You know why we became good friends? Because we have been bound together since childhood. I promise not to repeat the same mistake. I won't hurt or leave Dira again.” He's still trying to persuade me.

The waiter interrupted our conversation by bringing our ordered food. I'm hungry and they're just dropping him off now. Though the restaurant guests are not too much and the lunch hour has long passed. Maybe some of their chefs are on break, so I'm trying to understand the slowness of their work.

“Your new residence, are you sure you will be safe there?” I asked Mila.

“Iya. They will not allow anyone to enter the residential area. Things I wouldn't have been able to prevent in my rent room before. This apartment building has security, so I will feel safer if I stay there,” he said slowly.

“Commonly let us know if you are having any more problems. My dad has an apartment in the same building as Papa Colin's. You will be safe there, and you can have good neighbors. Uncle Will and Aunt Gista are very good people. You've also met Lily, Colin's sister,” I said reassuring her that she's not alone.

“Thank you. You guys are so good to me.”

Without wasting any time, that night I talked to Papa about Vivaldo and Nora coming to Colin. Papa took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions that I was sure were ready to explode at any time if I mispronounced. I told him everything my friend told me.

“Let me take care of it, tell Colin not to interfere anymore.” Papa massaged his forehead. “How can there still be photos left behind? Irwan would be very angry at his men once he knew this. They have never left a trace in the slightest.”

“Why do they use this way? Why separate Colin from Dira? They could have attacked Mama directly by spreading the photo on the internet,” you were confused.

“Irwan has made sure that every photo of your mom alone with Vivaldo will be automatically rejected by the system. That's why they won't be able to do the same thing again. Even if he cooperates with the most influential website owners, the system will reject him. No wonder, they use other more efficient ways.” Papa looked at me. “That's why, no secrets should be the way to prevent them from replying to us.”

Since our conversation about Vivaldo and Nora was over, then I told Papa about someone named Colton Jones. Papa is confused how someone suddenly appears and immediately tells his past to a stranger. Just because Mila's face was similar to his late wife's.

That also frightened Mila. He wanted to talk to the man because he was curious. Negative DNA test results give us little doubt that he is Clarissa. So, it was only natural that he thought that maybe the man was his father. But after the talk and the evidence he gave was quite weak and also seemed rushed, Mila was suspicious of his motives.

Papa is our hope to know who that man really is. I was trying to figure out who he was on the internet, but as Mila said, there was no Colton Jones whose face was like the man he was talking to. All the Colton Jones on the internet have different faces.

“Then there is only one possibility. That's not his real name,” Papa concluded. “It's an easy thing for Irwan. He'll soon find out who the man claiming to be Mila's real father is. Your mom gave this video to me earlier.” Papa held out his cell phone to me.

There was a small photo of Clarissa on the screen with the Play button covering her lips. I touched the button to play the video. Photo after photo pops up with numbers written in English on the top left of the screen. Five years, ten years, fifteen years, and the photo stops at the age of twenty. Now I understand what video Papa is showing me.

The little Clarissa turned into Mila who was smiling happily at me. Yeah, God. Not wrong anymore. Mila is Clarissa. But why do DNA test results show otherwise? Is there a wrong sample or, no, this is not possible. Has anyone intervened with the test results? Who would dare manipulate the results of that test? Only we know about this.

“Lindsey and Claudia were hysterical throughout their meeting. They want to get to Mila and bring her home. But your mama, Darla, and Qiana prevented them from acting recklessly. This is a big surprise that should be handled with care. There are many similar people in this world, only one test can prove that they are the right people.”

“So, what will we do next?” I'm just impatient. Mila is Clarissa. Not wrong anymore. The system they used to predict Clarissa's little face when she was twenty could be wrong, but her resemblance to Aunt Abby is yet to be disproved.

“Bring the girl to Adi's birthday show. We need a blood sample.”

*******

Meanwhile, a few hours ago~

“Hai, Dira!” greet a young man dressed in the same uniform as the girl was wearing.

Dira frowned. “Hai, Jordan,” reply while looking around. “What are you doing here? Aren't you tutoring somewhere else?”

“I moved here to be closer than school. He said this place was better than my first place. So, my parents moved me here. I'm glad it turns out you're tutoring here too.” The man named Jordan smiled happily. He glanced towards Adi. “What's he your sister?”

“Iya. Adi, this is Jordan. We are one school.” Dira shifted so that Adi could shake hands with the young man.

“Kak, we have to go to class now. Les will be starting soon.” Adi glanced at his watch.

“You're right.” Dira glanced at his watch. “See you later, Jordan.” Dira and Adi walk towards the stairs, Jordan follows them. Adi entered the class first, then Dira entered the room next to him. The young man followed him too.

“What's with your expression?” jordan asked with a small laugh.

“I know this class is full, how can they accept new students? You sure you were placed in this class, not the next class?” tanya Dira was confused.

Jordan shrugged both of his shoulders. “I don't know about that. The lady in the administration brought me to this class. That's my bag.”

Dira smiled and walked towards the empty seat at the front of the classroom. Jordan, who was originally sitting in the back, walked forward and asked the girl sitting next to Dira to move and give the chair to him. The girl agreed and moved to the empty seat next to her.

Not wanting to bother with the young man's attitude, Dira took out her book and stationery. Today was his last arrival to the tutoring place. Starting next month, she will be taking extra lessons at school. Therefore he was surprised by Jordan who moved the tutoring place on a less appropriate day. Maybe he forgot to tell his parents.