Clemira rubbed her puffy eyes. Crying nonstop had only made her look even worse. And now her eyes were swollen because she'd gone straight to sleep after crying. She'd even forgotten that she'd left Arion just like that earlier. Who knew? The guy was probably mad at her by now.
Clemira locked herself in her room. She even skipped dinner, ignored her parents, and ignored Arion, though the guy still hadn't sent a single message to this day.
Knock... Knock... Knock...
The soft knocking was coming from the window. Clemira frowned. When she peeked through the curtains, she found Galang standing outside, facing her room.
"What are you doing here, Gal?" Clemira asked without opening the window. She wasn't in the mood, and now he had to show up. Wasn't he afraid her parents would slap him?
"Your phone number?"
"What for?" Clemira muttered softly.
"I've got something. You can send it to the moms' group. I know about your problem with Arion."
"Stay out of it," Clemira grumbled. But did Galang know something? Did he know that she'd only been using Arion as a shield to avoid him?
"But I've got proof for you!"
"Zero eight five—"
Thanks to the video from Galang, Clemira could at least prove that the gossip Jamilah had spread wasn't true. She thanked her ex, who, despite being annoying, had turned out to be useful.
And Arion? It was almost midnight, and he still hadn't messaged Clemira?
"Where the heck is this guy? He hasn't checked in since yesterday!" By morning, Clemira was staring at her chat with Arion, which still hadn't gained a single new message. Usually, the guy would be chatty, reminding her to eat and bringing up all kinds of random things to talk about. But since yesterday—since she'd firmly rejected him and Arion had simply said goodbye—Clemira had been anxiously waiting to hear from him.
Don't forget, we promised to eat together today. The message had arrived at the worst possible time.
Clemira pouted. She remembered her promise to Galang as a thank-you.
I haven't showered yet, Clemira replied.
He wasn't giving up. "Is twenty minutes enough? I'll wait. The kids are all asleep anyway."
Whether she liked it or not, Clemira agreed, on the condition that they meet outside. She was terrified of getting an earful from Mom Untari and Dad Jayadi for going out with Galang.
"You said we were getting ramen. Why are we at the mall? It's so far..." Clemira complained after finding Galang on the steps by the exit on the second floor of the supermall.
"We'll get it at the food court here. I heard the food's really good. Maybe you'll want to catch a movie too."
"Dad-of-two move," Clemira teased.
Galang burst out laughing. "You're still the same. Still as funny as you were back then."
Clemira fell silent, pressing her lips together. "Don't bring up old problems. I don't even remember them."
Galang grinned. "Sorry!" But saying sorry while lightly taking Clemira's hand made her flinch in surprise and pull it away.
"Sorry, Gal. But I'm not comfortable holding hands," Clemira said softly, trying to calm her heart so it wouldn't waver again.
"I didn't mean to. Sorry, too."
"Hmm..." Clemira murmured.
Galang had thought taking Clemira out would be fun. He really had missed that smile of hers. Right now, he didn't want their time together to end anytime soon. Without her noticing, Galang took a few candid photos of her. Clemira looked beautiful, even from the side.
"My sunshine." Galang uploaded the picture to social media. Of course, Clemira's face wasn't especially clear—he was playing it safe. And Amera shouldn't find out what he was doing, because Galang had his own way of dealing with her.