BXBX NOVEL Chapter 147 - Birthday Party
The car went full speed ahead before the roads got crowded. The man drove his car skillfully, overtaking every vehicle he passed. The car was so fast that other drivers could barely see it!
"Can\'t you not be careless on the road!?" Lisa shouted, clutching the front passenger seat, trying to balance her shaking body.
"We can\'t be late, Lis! If I don\'t do this, we\'re going to be trapped in a traffic jam and it\'s not cool!" Rangga exclaimed, his eyes still looking straight forward to the street.
"Give it up! If you\'re driving this wild, you\'re gonna mess my appearance!" Lisa said, a little annoyed to see her close friend speeding on the road.
"By the way, Lis, you\'re mad pretty! I still can\'t believe you can be this beautiful!" The man had a smile on the corner of his lips.
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Lisa chuckled "I only wear eyeliner and red lipstick, that\'s all!" Lisa snorted, looking out of the car\'s window and stared at the oncoming vehicles.
Street lights illuminated the capital city\'s busy streets. The glint of the reflected lights looked very beautiful and caught Lisa\'s attention. She watched the sparkling beads of light in amazement.
As it turned out, the town where she lived wasn\'t actually that bad.
They drove for an hour and finally arrived at the most luxurious meeting hall in Central Jakarta. The building stood majestically, decorated with colorful spotlights. When Rangga\'s car entered the courtyard, the queue for other visitors\' cars was already very long. They had to wait at least 15 to 30 minutes to reach the front door.
"Are you crazy? The queue is already that long?" Lisa said, stunned to see how magnificent and crowded the birthday event was.
"Rich people," Rangga replied in an ignorant tone.
"I didn\'t expect that there would be so many invited guests. I\'m really excited!" Lisa said nervously while linking her hands while rubbing them.
"Relax, just walk next to me. You will be safe!" Rangga replied with a convincing tone.
Throughout her entire life, Lisa had never attended a birthday party as luxurious and grand as this. The last time she went to such an event was during the wedding of her old high school\'s friend, but the visitors were not this crowded!
"This is way more luxurious than the wedding ceremony I\'ve ever attended," Lisa added.
After their car arrived at the front door, Rangga got out of the car and handed the car keys to the parking attendant.
The man walked over to the front passenger door and opened it. "Please princess,"
"Don\'t joke with me!" Lisa exclaimed irritably.
Rangga chuckled, the man deliberately teased Lisa so that the atmosphere between the two wasn\'t awkward.
The couple was greeted by a magnificent gate wrapped in red velvet drapes and also a line of white roses decorating the red carpet.
Rangga then took Lisa\'s arm and leaned closer to her. "Lis, just keep going with me. Relax, you don\'t have to feel tense!" He whispered to Lisa.
"Goddammit I swear I\'m really insecure right now! The female guests are all cute and beautiful," Lisa whispered spontaneously.
"Don\'t feel insecure! You\'re really beautiful today, I swear," Rangga said, trying to comfort her.
From a distance, a man who\'s even taller than Rangga approached them.
The man was in a silver suit with a red hem. Amongst the sea of male visitors wearing black suits, he was the one who stood out the most. He had a handsome face, his hair was shiny black and combed to the side. His skin was so clean and fair, just like a Korean artist!
"You are here!?" The man in the silver coat exclaimed, raising his champagne glass.
Seeing the figure of a man with the face of a Korean artist made Rangga\'s eyes bulge. He was shocked to meet him here. Then he stopped his steps and said aloud, "Damn, Theo! When did you return to Jakarta!?"
Rangga patted the man\'s shoulder firmly and chuckled. The man also tapped Rangga\'s shoulder firmly. It seemed that these two men had known each other a long time before.
"I\'m just crashing here. This birthday party brought me back to Jakarta! I will return to Singapore tomorrow," the man in the silver suit explained while smiling sweetly.
The man casted his eyes on a woman next to Rangga. As long as he knew Rangga, he had never seen her.
"Anyway, who are you coming here with?" The man in the silver coat curiously asked.
"This is my childhood friend Lisa. We haven\'t met for years, uh, it turns out that she is an employee in my company!" Rangga continued, "Lisa, this is Theo. My friend when I was studying in Singapore!"
"Hello Lisa!" Theo held out his hand to greet Lisa. He smiled sweetly.
"Hi Theo!" Lisa replied briefly, shaking Theo\'s hand.
"By the way, have your tastes changed? Aren\'t you happy with the likes of that Maria?" Theo casually said while putting his arm around Rangga\'s shoulder.
Hearing the word \'Maria\' made Rangga immediately change his face. The face that used to look friendly and smiling had suddenly turned sour. "Theo! Lisa is my best friend!"
Theo looked at Rangga with a face full of suspicion. "Oh my, best friend? You mean friends with benefits?" he said ignorantly.
Rangga hit the man\'s back softly. "Don\'t mention Maria\'s name again!"
"Haha, sorry sorry. Anyway, I\'m going back to my group. I want to join my friends from Singapore. Please enjoy Mr. Wijaya\'s wife\'s birthday party!" The man turned and stepped away from Rangga and Lisa. His left hand was waving from behind.
After hearing the name \'Maria\', Lisa began to ask questions inside her mind. Who was this Maria? Was she in a special relationship with Rangga in the past? Why did Rangga never tell Lisa about her?
For a moment Lisa thought about this, Rangga looked down and brought his face closer.
"Lis, don\'t mind what Theo said earlier, okay? He\'s really that annoying, you know!" Rangga explained, trying to convince Lisa.
"Relax. But I\'m curious, who is Maria anyway?"
Rangga was silent for a moment. He didn\'t want to discuss his past in public. "It\'s… she\'s already in the past, so you don\'t need to know."
"Don\'t you want champagne?" Lisa asked, changing the subject. The man nodded and led them to a table filled with stacks of beautiful champagne glasses. Rangga took two and gave one to Lisa.
Not long after, a fat old man with a friendly face came over to the couple. The man spread his hands and greeted Rangga.
"Welcome, Rangga! Finally, I thought you didn\'t come!" He said in a very cheerful tone.
"Of course I will come, sir. By the way, happy birthday to Mrs. Wijaya. How old is she now, sir?"
The man laughed pleasantly. "It\'s her 60th birthday, kid! Aren\'t you turning into a senile old man this fast? Hihihi you easily forget things."
"Haha sorry sir. Oh, by the way, please introduce Lisa, my best friend from childhood."
Lisa smiled and held out her hand to the man named Roy Wijaya. As a sign of politeness, a smile spread across her flushed red lips.
"Wow, you are so beautiful, miss Lisa!" Mr. Wijaya praised her.
Lisa blushed and smiled. "Thank you sir,"
"By the way, I want to greet the other guests. You guys enjoy all the drinks and food here. Have fun, okay!" Mr. Wijaya patted Rangga\'s shoulder and then walked over to the other guests.
Suddenly, when Lisa cast her gaze at the entrance, she saw the unpleasant sight entering the majestic building.
"Oh shit, why did I have to run into them again!?"