The Angel of Time
chapter 25

This is the day I kept my promise to him. That afternoon I accompanied him to plaza\alun Magelang, he had said he wanted to eat grilled rice in the square.

"Ke Magelang again yeeay.." so he said happily. Distance is no longer a problem. Every time he wants to eat something in Magelang I agree enough, and tomorrow go to that destination.

I walked beside him, we circled the square\alun area to look for that grilled rice. Soon we entered the room that was in front of us.

"There's no grilled rice?" ask Astrid.

"Well, it's over..!" said the father who sold in angkringan.

"Yes, thank you." said Astrid.

Astrid looked at me with a face that looked beautiful. He walked towards another corner. Astrid heads to Mom who's making you a drink. The mother immediately looked at Astrid who was approaching her.

"No grilled rice?" ask Astrid.

"There's no mbak!" answer the mother.

"Yeahhhhh.." Astrid looks disappointed.

"Try that one there!" connect the mother by pointing to angkringan not far from there.

"Yes, I tried to go there, thank you" Astrid replied.

I followed Astrid's footsteps leading to the next Angkringan.

"No grilled rice?" ask Astrid.

"There is but that one remains" replied the father with a smile. Astrid seemed to find her smile again, she looked at me with a smiling face.

"There is but one" Astrid said.

"Yes, you have eaten." I said.

"Yeeay." an answer I often hear when he is happy.

Astrid immediately sat down and picked up the rice wrapped in banana leaves that looked withered as it was already burning.

"Would you like it?" ask Astrid.

"Where to try." I replied.

"Any one time?" Astrid took a spoonful of rice to feed it into my mouth.

"Here.." I picked up his hand that was holding the spoon.

"A little" he said, as if he did not want to share. I smiled with that tone. Like not willing that food will enter my mouth.

"Amm." That rice has entered my mouth.

"Have a son!" I said.

Astrid immediately ate the grilled rice and she spent it alone. I ate other food.

We headed for the horse statue that was in the square. We took a few photos together. We sat under a tree for a moment to enjoy the fresh air in the square. Suddenly her phone rang, Astri stared at her phone screen.

"Just a minute, I'll reply" he said.

"Who?" my many.

"He.." he replied briefly not wanting to mention his name. But I get it, what he means is Jafar. I just fell silent, waiting for him to reply to the incoming chat.

"We rarely communicate, rarely chat. So if he's chatting, maybe I should take some time. He was fighting there" he said.

I just fell silent to hear him tell a story, like I wanted to respond, but telling him about it didn't interest me.

"But, lately I very rarely reply to his chat when I'm with you again. I started to delay the chat, several times he called me not pick up. He was always scared when I didn't reply. What else if I'm angry, he's so scared." Astrid put her phone in her pocket.

"There used to be an incident when I was working at Aldan. There was an Aldan employee approaching me, and he knew. He's the one if he's angry danger. He came to Aldan with a knife. He was looking for people who approached me, he challenged him to a fight in that place too, the knife he threw at him. He fought, I was embarrassed, and I went straight home to the boarding house. I don't know what happened next, Jafar kept chasing me to the boarding house, I was really mad at him. I asked him to break up, he never wanted to. He told me to get out of Aldan, he said what salary he wanted to work there. I'm out of Aldan. I'm ashamed." he said.

I was stunned at the thought of how hard that person was. But from the question of salary, I slightly deduced the way he looked at work.

"But behind that, he really loves me. She works, she wants to marry me. What else is his struggle from zero, from still in college, using an ontel bike. He said he wanted a car, and now it's over. Nor was he ever ashamed to hold my hand in front of so many."

I was silent, hearing all the stories. How can I fight for you, I just don't get an answer from your heart. That is how my heart holds back the grief.

"He wanted to see you at that time" he said.

"Why?" my many.

"She wanted to say thank you for changing shifts with me, so she could meet me, but I told her, let me thank you." Astrid looked at me, though,

"When you texted, I opened the message and I told him you texted, and he kept telling me to text you. But I knew at the time that something might get us this close. And again, when you convinced me not to resign from Sambel Cowek, at that time I knew that you had the intention to take me down." he continued.

"And I promised to change that new year's night for another night" he said.

"Maybe it's fate, I can meet you" he said.

I let out a long sigh, because from the moment Astrid told me, my breath began to pant. The calm night atmosphere in Magelang city square, made me get carried away.