-chapter nine-
-LA-
“Darren you’re sure?” Brian asks him for the umpteenth time while he is packing.
He stops and looks at Brian, “Never been so sure in my whole life.”
“Dude, the ‘Bro Vacay’!! I mean Cabo!”
“I’m sorry Brian, you guys can go without me.”
“Darren, the whole point of the ‘Bro Vacay’ is for you to get over her. I mean, she dumped you right?”
“Technically I walked away from her,” he says to Brian.
“Whatever, but now you’re going halfway around the world for her? What if you fail?”
“Thank you for the pep talk Brian, you’re a real friend.”
“Darren, that’s not what I mean.”
Darren stops his packing, “Brian, I’m going, and that’s final. So right now, you could either give me supporting words or just shut the fuck up.”
Brian sighs, “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Aaw Brian, that’s so nice of you.”
“Shut up.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“When will you be back?”
“Curtis gave me a week off, so I’ll be back at the end of the week.”
“If you need anything, call me.”
He nods.
“Good luck,” Brian says and hugs him.
“Thanks,” he says, “now could you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“I need a ride to the airport.”
-jakarta-
“Whatcha doing here?” Adya asks Lucy, one of her best friend, when she comes by to her cubicle.
“Don’t tell me you forgot,” the girl who always has her hair up in ponytail, and dress down almost every day says.
“What?”
“Our usual pre-date lunch.”
Adya stops and she remembers, tonight she’s having a date. She completely forgets about it. And tonight’s date is compliments of Lucy, she had set Adya up with her boyfriend’s college friend.
“You forgot aren’t you?”
She grins.
“Which one?”
“I forgot I have a date, therefore I forgot our lunch.”
“Do you have shits line up?”
“No, not really.”
“Let’s go then!”
“It’s 11.30,” she says to the younger woman.
“You’ve been gone that long have you?”
Adya laughs, “Shut up, lemme gather my things.”
-jakarta, the airport-
He arrives in Jakarta, he’s a little lost, he has no baggage, so no need to wait too long. He walks out of the terminal, and the hot air just slaps him in the face. It is a complete departure from the cooling air in LA. Suddenly he is swarmed with people asking him where he’s going. He gestures them that he didn’t need anything from them, he quickly scans the airport and finds a familiar fast food chain, he walks up to it and orders a cup of soda, while he finds himself a seat, he scrolls down his phone and find a phone number.
“Hello?” the woman replies on the other line.
“Hey Ninta, it’s Darren, I’m in Jakarta, can you tell me how to get to your house.”
-jakarta, the ramen place-
“Are you still hanging up on him?” Lucy asks Adya as they ate their bowl of ramen.
Adya looks at the younger woman, “It’s something I need to work on.”
“Do it soon dude, you’re like what?”
“Ow shush, I’m good.”
“I’ve known you for ten years now, I know when you’re not good.”
Adya lets out a small smile, “I’m going with what’s his face tonight right?!”
Lucy scoffs, “And you forgot about it, shows how much you care.”
“I’ll be there Luce.”
“Genuinely?”
“Don’t push the luck, the fact that I’m agreeing to even do this is generous enough.”
“Cung,” a name Lucy calls her by, “you’re the one who walks out on him.”
“Correction, he stormed out of the apartment.”
“And why may I ask?”
Adya looks at Lucy, “I told you the story.”
“And now you’re torturing yourself.”
“What am I supposed to do? You know we can’t be.”
And now is Lucy’s turn to be quiet.
“Just do it soon dude, and maybe this guy could be it. But hey, no pressure. He’s sure is a nice guy though.”
She lets out a small smile, frankly she is tired with people trying to set her up. But she didn’t want to seem picky. She’s still in love with him.
-bogor, her parents’ house-
Darren arrives in the quaint house. He looks at the house, it is small yet homey. He smiles knowing it’s the house she grew up in. He feels closer to her again.
He pays he cab and ring the doorbell. A man opens the door for him.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for Mr. Sutrisno?”
Suddenly he hears someone running out from inside the house, her sister Ninta comes out, she speaks Indonesian to the person, the older man just nods.
“Hey Darren,” she says.
"I should've learn some Indonesian from your sister," he says and comes over to the woman, “I thought you’re in the hospital Ninta,” he gives her a hug.
“Gosh you stink.”
“It’s a 30-hour flight.”
Ninta makes a face, “Things you do for love huh?”
He smiles wearily.
“Bapak’s waiting for you inside.”
He takes a deep breath, “Okay.” He walks inside the house, it looks like he has step into their dining room.
“It’s the side door,” Ninta whispered to him.
“Ah.”
He hears a man clearing his throat coming out of a saloon door that separates the kitchen with another room, he couldn’t make what room it is.
“Ow, hi sir Mr. Sutrisno,” he says and extends his hand.
“Darren,” the older man takes his hand, and firmly shakes it. “You’ve come a long way.”
“I need to see you sir.”
“It’s not about me being one of the writer on the show right?”
He smiles, “No sir, it’s not that.”
“Darn, I was waiting for that,” he said, “sit.”
He takes the seat. Adya was right, her old man is funny. But he is just too nervous to see it right now. “Mr. Sutrisno, I know your last impression of me maybe is that well, but I’m willing to work on that sir. I’m willing to work to be part of this family, I love Addy, she is such a sweet soul. And these past months had been hell for me. Being away from her is just not right. So I’m willing to anything, to make you see me fit as her partner for life.”
Ninta who is standing in the kitchen makes eye contact with him. She looks impressed.
The older man clears his throat, “You know what young man, you just did.”
No one is more surprise than he is by that statement.
“You’ve come a long way, you deserve a recognition and a blessing.”
“Sir.”
“Now, you take Maman there, I’ll tell him to drop you to Adya’s house. I’ll take you as my son if she’ll have you.”
A burden is lifted from his shoulder, “Sir…”
“Stop with the ‘sir’ thing Darren, you should try and call me ‘Bapak’, it means father.”
He smiles, “Bapak.”
“Right, now go, you might catch her as she gets home.”
He says his thanks, and goes outside and as he gets inside the car Ninta comes up to him.
“Dude, that was ballsy.”
He smiles.
“I hope it’s you Darren,” she says and hugs him.
-jakarta, the date place-
Adya sits there trying to focus on what her date was talking about. He is working as a tech support in some oil company. Her face was tired from smiling. While she listens to him, she tries to count what number of date this is. People around her have been really keen on setting her up with people. She didn’t blame them, they’re just looking out for her.
“So I told them to get the newer version, and it ran smoothly,” her date says with a proud smile.
Adya smiles, “Great.”
“That easy, duh!”
“Uh huh,” she says and glanced at her watch, “look at the time, it’s kinda late.”
He looked at her weird, “It’s only nine, what are you a baby?”
“I have breakfast meeting tomorrow,” she lies.
He nods and calls the waiter for their check. Adya offers to pay her half, he declines. They went out of the restaurant to the parking lot. He walks her to her car.
“I had a great time,” he says.
“Yeah,” Adya smiles politely, “thank you.” She says while activating the alarm to open the door.
He leans in to kiss her she pushes him away.
The guy is taken aback his pride was wounded.
“I’m so sorry,” Adya said.
“Hey, who am I to live up to Darren Mitchell.”
Adya scoffs, “Gosh you know what, I’ve been polite all night long, but that does it! Have a good life.” She says and got inside her car. She turns on the engine and shifts the gear and got away from the place as quickly as she could. She reaches out her phone and scrolls down a number. She looks at it and starts to sob again. Then she tosses her phone aside, she misses him, terribly.
-jakarta, her place-
Darren arrives at her place. He stops and looks at the house, it’s much bigger than her apartment, she has a big backyard, something that she really wants. He knows that much about her.
“Mr. Darren,” Maman’s voice calls him.
He turns around to face the middle age man, “Yeah?”
Maman points out to the house next to Adya, “Come.”
“I thought this is her house.”
“Yeah, go there first,” he says with a lot of effort.
Darren appreciates it, he was trying to carry out conversation with Maman on the way. His English was really limited, but Maman tried. He remembers some words Adya taught him, “Terima kasih.”
Maman smiles, “Sama-sama.”
They’re going to the house next to Adya, and a dark-skinned woman greeted them. She is a bit shorter than Adya, and a little girl is hugging her leg.
“You must be Darren,” she says.
“Yeah.”
“Ninta called told me you’re on the way, she forgot to give you the key to the house, I’m Rika, Adya’s cousin, we live next door.”
Darren laughs, “She wasn’t kidding when she said you guys are close.”
“Yep,” the woman laughs, “that close.”
Suddenly he sees a flash running from inside the house and comes to halt. The flash turns out to be a little boy, “That must be Kresh.”
“Yeah.”
“And this must be Duckie,” he kneels down to greet the little girl.
“Only Adya called her that, and she called her ‘Bebek’ it means duck in Indonesian.”
“Okay, what should I call you then?” he asks the little girl.
Rika translates for her.
“Tanya,” the little girl says.
He smiles, he had fallen in love with her family. She never said much about them, but whenever she did, she always glows.
“Do you want the key so you could wait there?” Rika gestures to the house.
“I’d like to wait here if you don’t mind. I don’t really want to wait alone. And I want to get to know the crew here,” he gestures to the kids.
Rika smiles, “Come in then, have you had your dinner?”
“What is it with you guys and food? Addy always do that too!”
“We have this pathological need to feed people I guess. And you should see us when we eat.”
“I’ve seen her ate.”
“Should’ve seen the whole pack.”
Darren laughs, this would be interesting. He comes inside while Rika leads him to the dining room. He feels warm inside the house, it feels welcoming and he likes it there. He eats his dinner and looks at the clock.
“What time’s Adya comes home?”
“She usually comes around seven, unless….”
“What?”
Rika winces, “She might have a date.”
He is taken aback for a bit. But Rika reaches out for his hand, “But don’t you worry, she’s only doing that so people would get off her back. She’s still pretty much in love with you.”
He smiles.
“I’ll tell you something, she’ll probably deny it, that’s the way she is, but she was relieved when you went stag.”
He raises his eyebrows.
“She loves you, had the situation were different, you both don’t need to suffer for the last three months.”
He smiles. Suddenly they hear a car pulling up next door.
“That must be her.”
He takes a deep breath, “Here goes nothing.”
Adya pulls up in driveway, she can’t wait to curl up on her bed in his t-shirt. It was just a bad date. She opens the gate and parks her car. She is about to close the gate she freezes on her track. There he is standing there. I must be dreaming, she thinks to herself.
“Hey you,” he says to her, “how’s the date?” he smiles.
She doesn’t reply. She is lost for words. She misses him so much.
“You’re a hard woman to get Miss. Sutrisno.”
She still doesn’t reply. She can’t believe he is there, standing ten feet away from her. She wants to run to him and start making out right then and there. But then she remembers the consequences.
“Do you know what I have to go through to get to you? I have to talk to Curtis to let me off for the week, and that flight,” he rolls his eyes, “30 hours is a long time to sit in. But your old man’s a surprise though. He was actually nice.”
Her eyes widens, he met her father. “What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t say goodbye.”
“You could just call me.”
“And what miss all this?” he gestures to the neighborhood.
She rolls her eyes, “What do you want?”
“At the moment? I just want to rest. I had a long confusing day, I just want to lie down.”
She looks at him, “Come in, you can sleep on my couch,” she says and opens the door.
He scoffs, “Your couch,” he says under his breath while he walks toward the door.
“You want some coffee?” she asks once they're inside.
“No, I’m good. Too much adrenaline right now,” he says and sat on the couch. “I would take your chocolate milkshake though.”
He looks at her with the look she could never resist. Without saying a word, she goes to the kitchen and takes the milk from the fridge. When she turns around, he is standing right behind her. She gasps in surprise. They just stand there, in the middle of the kitchen. Then he reaches for her face to touch it.
“Stop it Darren,” she says and pushes him away.
He groans in frustration, “Goddamit Addy, what the hell do I have to do?”
Again she doesn’t answer.
“I pulled all the stops for you. And yet you’re still there, doubting me. Can’t you see how much I want to make this work?!”
She looks up at him, “Sometimes I forgot how young you are, and how incredibly naïve you can get.”
“Omigod, you’re not pulling the age card again!”
“Come on Darren,” she exhales in desperation, “That is not the only card that is stacking against us. This distance, the backgrounds, our different worlds, the odds are stacking against us!”
“Yet I’m here standing in your kitchen, how’s that for against all odds,” Darren snaps back.
She stops and she looks at him, “When this doesn’t work out, you’re going to hate me even more than you do right now.”
“But if it works out, it’ll be great,” he says and walks closer to her. “It’s only 30 hour flight Addy, and we can get cheap long distance package. And come on, these days, half the world, means nothing,” he caresses her face.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re so fucking charming it’s not even healthy?”
He laughs, “Not lately, but it feels good to hear it again.”
She smiles.
“So, we’re doing this then?”
She nods.
He smiles, and takes out a velvet box, “Like I said, I talked to Bapak today.” She gasps, “It’s not a ring. Not yet anyway, I know how you’ll freak, and I don’t want you to freak, because that would send me back to LA stupid.” He says and opens up the box. There is a charm bracelet with all the symbol of eternal from all over the culture. “I had these made for your graduation. The jeweler lagged behind on making it. Note to self, don’t trust a jeweler referred by Joey.”
She laughs.
“Well, Bapak gave us his blessing. And this is a promise. We need this, because of the distance we’re putting between us. I’m wearing mine. And I hope you like yours.” He shows Adya his arm with a charm bracelet in it, only his ankh has a black jewel encrusted on it and Adya’s has emerald green.
“Darren.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it a bit gay-ish for a guy to wear charm bracelet.”
He looks at her, “Not me dude, I’m Darren frickin’ Mitchell, I look 10 times hotter.”
She rolls her eyes, his cheesiness, what she loves about him, “Uh huh.”
He leaned in to her, “I miss you so much.”
“Promise me this will be good.”
“No, I can’t. Because I just experienced a 30—hour flight, and it’s not good. It’ll be tiring at times, but it’ll be worth it.”
“Charming and hopeless romantic, it’s a deadly combo.”
“So I’ve been told,” he smiles and they kiss. “So,” he says between kisses, “Do I still have to sleep on the couch?”
She pushes him away and gives him a look.
“What?” he gave her a sly grin.
She locks her door and walks toward the bedroom, “My bed fits two people, it’ll be too empty to sleep in alone.”
He follows her to the bedroom, and he sees his t-shirt on her bed, “Is that my t-shirt?” he asks her teasingly.
“Ow shush,” she says and they start kissing.
-epilogue-
-a year later-
Adya walks out of the plane with her carry-on luggage. She turns on her phone and dials a number.
“Hey you,” his voice answers on the other side.
“I’m just arrived.”
“How was your flight?”
“Long,” she answers as-a-matter-of-factly.
He laughs, “I miss you. My shoot will wrap up around seven, I’ll see you tonight then?”
“You want me to get some dinner?”
“We’ll just order in later.”
“I can’t wait to see you.”
“I’ll tell Curtis to wrap in soon.”
Adya laughs, “I’ll see you tonight.”
“See you tonight Mrs. Mitchell.”
“Now that made me sounds like your mom.”
He laughs.
Seven months after Darren’s visit to Jakarta they got married. They balanced their time between Jakarta and LA. They fight, they bicker, they only see each other once in a blue moon. But they’re happy.
So it’s true right? Everything did happen for a reason. And happy ending do come true. So the next time you feel like the Guy’s upstairs screwing up with you, just believe, there is a reason behind it. And it’s not because the Guy’s upstairs needed a good laugh.
