That afternoon, Aletta arrived home. She slowly opened the gate, then entered through the side door that led straight into the kitchen.
After only a few steps inside, the aroma of cooking greeted her. Bi Minah was busy preparing dinner.
"You're home, Aletta?" Bi Minah greeted her warmly.
Aletta nodded quietly as she set down her bag.
"Mr. Thom and Mrs. Bianca are coming home tonight," Bi Minah continued.
Those words brought Aletta to a stop for a moment.
Her parents only came home once every two weeks. But they didn't return to spend time with their daughter. They came back to keep up the pretense of a harmonious family in front of Grandpa and Grandma.
As soon as the door to the extended family's house opened, they would put on warm smiles and show affection, as if everything were fine. But once they returned home, all that remained was silence and a distance that grew harder and harder to bridge.
Aletta had never been truly close to her grandparents, either. Her grandmother was known for being cold and keeping her distance, while her grandfather still greeted Aletta occasionally but never really asked how she was doing or what she was feeling.
Little by little, Aletta stopped hoping. She chose to keep everything to herself because she knew that no one in this house truly wanted to listen.
Night fell. The entire family had gathered around the dining table. Aletta sat on one side, across from Thom and Bianca. At the head of the table, Grandpa and Grandma calmly enjoyed their meal.
The warm atmosphere was nothing more than a performance they had put on countless times before.
Bianca smiled gently, occasionally spooning food onto Aletta's plate and playing the role of a loving mother. Thom, meanwhile, seemed friendly, even making a few light jokes with his daughter. There wasn't the slightest trace of the hatred Aletta usually saw when the three of them were alone at home.
Grandpa and Grandma ate dinner in silence. They looked pleased to see the family sitting together in what appeared to be a harmonious atmosphere, never realizing that the warmth at the table was only an act that would end as soon as they left.
Aletta kept her head lowered, stirring the rice on her plate without any appetite. In front of everyone, she played her part as a good daughter. But deep down, she knew that the family she had always longed for had never truly existed.
"How is the in vitro fertilization treatment going? Is everything going smoothly?" Marissa asked, breaking the silence at the table.
The question made Bianca fall silent for a moment. She lowered her head, while Thom cleared his throat softly before answering.
"We're still trying, Mom. So please stop pressuring Bianca."
Marissa let out a quiet sigh.
"I just want you two to have another child. But this time... I hope the child will be someone we can be proud of. Not like Aletta."
The words slipped out without the slightest concern for the feelings of the person sitting across from her.
Aletta lowered her head even further. Her fingers tightened around her spoon, but her face remained blank. Words like that were nothing new to her. Hearing them so often had slowly numbed her heart.
At the head of the table, Matteo, Aletta's grandfather, merely exhaled softly. His gaze shifted to his wife, but he offered no objection.
"That's enough," he said at last, trying to ease the tension. "Let's eat first. We can talk about that later."
The dining table fell silent again. The only sound was the clinking of spoons against plates. No one realized—or perhaps no one cared—that every word directed at Aletta was slowly destroying her confidence, piece by piece.
Elsewhere, Bagaskara stood on the balcony of his room. The night breeze blew softly, making his black hair sway with the wind. His fingers deftly plucked the guitar strings, letting the melody fill the quiet night.
But his thoughts were nowhere near the song he was playing.
The image of the girl he had met that afternoon filled his mind once again.
Aletta.
Her empty gaze, blank expression, and the way she had rejected his offered hand without saying a word continued to echo in his head.
"Why does she feel so different?" he wondered.
Whenever he had entered a new environment in the past, people had always tried to approach him. But Aletta acted as if his presence meant absolutely nothing.
Bagaskara smiled faintly as he continued plucking the guitar resting on his lap.
"Interesting... I've never met a girl like her before."
Without realizing it, his curiosity slowly grew into a desire to get to know Aletta better. He wanted to know what had made the girl choose to live in silence, as if she were hiding a wound no one was allowed to see.
That curiosity eventually led Bagaskara to reach for his phone, which lay on the balcony table.
He opened social media and typed a name into the search bar.
Aletta.
One account after another appeared, but none of them seemed familiar. He tried searching her full name and even added the name of their school.
Still, he found nothing.
"Does she not use social media?" he murmured.
Bagaskara leaned back in the balcony chair with a small smile. In an age when almost everyone shared their lives online, the girl seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Rather than giving up, his curiosity only grew stronger.
The next morning, Bagaskara did something unusual. Normally, he was driven to school, but this time he chose to take the school bus.
He deliberately sat in one of the middle seats and enjoyed the morning atmosphere. For some reason, he hoped he might run into someone.
His hope came true.
The bus stopped at a bus stop, and the doors opened. A long-haired girl wearing a faded yellow cardigan stepped inside.
Aletta.
Without realizing it, the corners of Bagaskara's lips lifted into a faint smile.
Meanwhile, Aletta swept her flat gaze across the bus, looking for an empty seat in the very back row as usual. But every seat there was occupied by other students. The only empty seat was right beside Bagaskara.
Instead of sitting down, Aletta chose to stand near the door, holding on to one of the poles.
Bagaskara frowned.
"Tsk. Why are you standing? There's an empty seat next to me."
His words made several students turn to look at them. Soft whispers began to spread, curious about why the new student was inviting Aletta to sit beside him.
But Aletta didn't react at all. She kept staring straight ahead, as if she hadn't heard a thing.
Bagaskara let out a soft sigh, then chuckled.
"Ignored even on the bus."
Rather than feeling offended, he became even more convinced that the girl named Aletta was truly different from anyone he had ever met.
When they arrived at school, Aletta was one of the first students to get off the bus. Without looking back, she headed straight for the school building.
She assumed everything would go as usual.
But the sound of approaching footsteps made her realize that someone was following her.
"Hey, wait."
Bagaskara jogged until he caught up with Aletta.
"What's with you? Are you still mad about what happened yesterday?" he asked as he walked beside her.
Aletta kept walking without turning her gaze. Her face remained blank, as if the question had never reached her ears.
Bagaskara scratched the back of his neck.
"I already apologized, you know."
Still, there was no answer.
Aletta quickened her pace. She really didn't like being too close to other people, especially someone she had only just met. Bagaskara's presence since yesterday felt like an intrusion disturbing the peace she had built around herself.
Bagaskara, meanwhile, only smiled faintly.
"The more you ignore me, the more curious I get about you, Aletta," he thought as he caught up with her again.
Bagaskara continued watching Aletta's back as she moved farther away. Without realizing it, he started walking after her again.
"Hey, Gas!"
Before he could get any farther, Rafael grabbed him by the collar, making Bagaskara stumble backward.
"What are you doing?" Rafael asked, puzzled.
Nathan looked at Bagaskara too, his brow furrowed.
"Don't tell me you're following Aletta?"
Bagaskara only chuckled softly, his eyes still fixed on the corridor where Aletta had disappeared.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Nathan scoffed.
"I'm just... curious about her."
Nathan and Rafael exchanged another look.
"Damn," Rafael muttered, shaking his head. "You've only been at school for two days, and you're already thinking about the hardest girl in all of SMA Pemuda Nusantara to talk to."
Nathan gently patted Bagaskara on the shoulder.
"If your goal is to make her talk, you might as well get ready to wait. You probably won't hear her voice until graduation."
Rafael immediately burst out laughing, while Bagaskara only smiled faintly. For some reason, the more people said Aletta was difficult to approach, the stronger his desire became to get to know her.
"Who knows? If I put in the effort, maybe she'll let me get close to her," Bagaskara said confidently.
Nathan and Rafael stared at him as if they had just heard the strangest joke of the morning.
"In your dreams, Gas," Rafael replied with a chuckle. "Find someone with better odds. That girl is trouble."
"Yeah," Nathan chimed in. "There are plenty of girls at this school who openly like you. Why chase Aletta when she never even looks your way, let alone smiles?"
Bagaskara simply slipped both hands into his pants pockets and smiled faintly.
"That's exactly why."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone says she's hard to get close to. That means no one has really tried to understand her."
Nathan slowly shook his head.
"Gas, this isn't about effort. Aletta really doesn't want to get close to anyone."
"Whatever," Bagaskara replied casually. "If everyone else gives up, I'll be the one who tries."
Nathan and Rafael could only look at each other. From the look in their friend's eyes, they knew Bagaskara wasn't joking. He truly intended to approach the most closed-off girl at SMA Pemuda Nusantara.