BXBX NOVEL Chapter 127 - Bitter Beginning
"Lisa! Bella! Can you please help me in the kitchen for a moment? Come here quick!" Kumala exclaimed in a loud voice from the kitchen.
"Let\'s come out!" Lisa grabbed Bella\'s shoulder and asked her out. The two sisters then approached their mother who was busy with cooking utensils.
"Lisa, please help me to prepare the burning tools outside! Bella, you help mother cut vegetables. I will clean the fish and season it," Kumala said, handing her a set of grills and fans.
Rangga came to the kitchen. He Looked around and asked, "Auntie, do you want me to help too?"
"Thank you but It\'s okay, son. Don\'t bother! We can do it alone," Kumala replied reluctantly.
Without saying much, Rangga immediately lifted the burner from Kumala\'s grasp. "Auntie just take a break, let me do the cleaning. Auntie shouldn\'t get too tired or you\'ll get sick later!"
"Rangga, son, you\'re a guest, how come you\'re the one cleaning up? Come on, you just sit there in the living room, auntie will prepare a drink!" Kumala tried to refuse. She was reluctant to receive help from the tall, slender man.
"Auntie, I\'ve been Lisa\'s friend from childhood. I\'m not a guest anymore! Come on, let me get the burner ready!"
Giving up, Kumala finally gave the burner to Rangga. The man picked up the tool and set it right in the front yard.
"Rangga, don\'t hurry home, okay? There is still a lot of food for later in the middle of the night," Kumala kindly said.
"Take it easy auntie, I really want to stay with auntie, Lisa and Bella too!" Rangga replied as he sprinkled charcoal on the grill.
"The fish\'s coming!" Lisa approached the man with a bucket full of seasoned fish.
The woman put it down with difficulty. The bucket was very heavy!
"Shit, do you want to eat this much fish all day?" Rangga asked, staring at the bucket filled with seasoned fish.
"A neighbor gave it to my mother earlier. She said celebrating the new year\'s eve won\'t be complete without grilled foods!" Lisa explained briefly.
"Besides, you are so skinny so it\'s okay to eat a lot!" Lisa added, elbowing Rangga\'s arm.
***
When the night had shown 12 o\'clock, all the neighbors started sounding trumpets, shouting \'happy new year\' at each other.
Unfortunately, Lisa and her family didn\'t have any trumpet to blow that night, nor fireworks to light.
Bella sat next to Rangga, pointing at the fireworks that had just exploded in the air. Its sparks illuminated the dark night sky of the capital city. Rangga was busy grilling the fish and handing it over to Lisa and Kumala.
Everyone was very happy. It felt wonderful to have small chats and simple grilled fish while accompanied by the sound of new year\'s trumpets and the sparkling light of fireworks exploding above the sky.
"That\'s amazing! Hey, look over there! It looks like a lotus flower!" Bella said, pointing up at the sparks of fireworks on the sky.
"Hey, the one over there looks like a sunflower!" Rangga said, pointing in another direction.
"Rangga, you have to finish the fish! You\'re really skinny, kid, gain some more weight!" Kumala said as she handed a plate of grilled fish to Rangga.
"Oh, auntie, don\'t bother! I\'m already full," Rangga frankly said.
"Then just take it home! There are still many of them left," Kumala replied.
"Don\'t give me all of it auntie. Better keep it here. What if auntie runs out of food tomorrow?" Rangga said, increasingly reluctant.
The night was getting late and all the trumpets slowly started to die down. The explosion of fireworks above the sky was also starting to disappear.
Lisa, Kumala, Bella, and Rangga were very full. They were very grateful that they could celebrate the new year by eating together and having fun, even though it\'s so simple.
"Lisa, I\'ll be back first, okay? Sorry for not being able to stay here long. Aunty! I\'m going home!" Rangga approached Kumala and kissed the middle-aged woman\'s hand. He then hugged Lisa and Bella before he left the house.
"Thank you very much for your kindness and everything," Rangga added.
"Don\'t hesitate to stop by here again, okay? My door is always open for you, Rangga," Kumala said kindly.
"That\'s right, brother! Please help me do my assignments again next time!" Bella exclaimed cheerfully.
"Lisa, please take Rangga to the front," Kumala told her as she gently pushed Lisa forward.
Lisa got up from where she sat and asked Rangga to come out.
When the man was outside the fence, he turned around and said, "Lis, thanks for everything! Unfortunately, Julian can\'t join us because he celebrates the new year with his \'father\'," Rangga said softly. His face turned a bit gloomy.
"Ah, why didn\'t you just bring Julian here!"
"Because I was originally here to talk to you about business," Rangga bluntly said.
"Fine, at the end of the year, you can come here again. Let\'s celebrate together again, but don\'t forget to bring Julian along!" Lisa said cheerfully. "By the way, be careful on the road!"
"You too, take care!"
The man got into the car and drove away. Lisa waved her hand from a distance and went back inside.
Kumala was still busy washing dishes and setting the dining table. Lisa sat on a chair at the dining table and took a deep breath.
"Lisa," Kumala said softly. "Rangga is a good man. Earlier, I saw that you and Rangga looked very close. Are you sure you don\'t want to try going out with him?"
Hearing that last sentence made Lisa startled on her seat. She felt her mother was spying on her and forced her to approach Rangga. Lisa felt uncomfortable with her mother\'s question.
"Mom, we don\'t have that kind of relationship. The two of us are just close friends and now we are business partners! There is no way I\'m going out with Rangga," Lisa said, a little annoyed.
"But Lisa, you are a woman. Do you want to be widowed like me? Isn\'t it good if you have a husband to accompany you and care for you?"
Lisa felt so irritated at her mother\'s words. She really didn\'t want to ruin her joyful moment with Kumala\'s unpleasant comment. She hated being asked to get married the most!
"Mom, instead of trying to get me married again, you should just pray that my business runs smoothly so I can support you and Bella with the monthly allowance!" Lisa replied irritably.
"Why don\'t you try it? Are you afraid of hurting again, like when you were with Oscar?"
Lisa was surprised, hearing Oscar\'s name made her mind even more cloudy and her heart pounding fast.
"Mom, please don\'t mention that name again!" Lisa exclaimed curtly.
"Lisa, I just want you to be happy. I know how hard it feels to be a widow. I don\'t want you to be traumatized by the divorce for too long so that you can remarry and have a steady income from a husband and own a proper house!"
"Mom! We are different. You are a woman who cannot stand alone, still hoping for a male figure to accompany you. I\'m not like that, mom! I don\'t want to rely on anyone, especially a man. So you better stop forcing me to find a mate again!"
Kumala was surprised when her eldest daughter denied her suggestion. However, she didn\'t want to fight with Lisa anymore. Kumala chose not to respond to that.
"Sorry, mom, I better go back tonight. Thank you for everything," Lisa went to the door and left the house.
That night, Kumala\'s house was suddenly lonely and quiet.