The sun burned around. Hendrawan’s sweat gushed out seeping through his sheer t-shirt. From morning until the afternoon he had to expose himself under the sun to move a lot of paddy from the field to the miller. It was his job for as long as 2 years. It was blistering and thirsty. The fierce sunlight stabbed his body. ‘’Hendra, hurry, we need more paddy’’ his friend called him, so he hurried to take an armful of paddies while running faster.

Later on, he took a rest in the haven. A light breeze was the thing he wanted most. He was gazing out at the sun that was shut by clouds little by little. Not long afterward, Ashar Azan blared, echoing all around, and it meant it was his time to go home. He walked, kicking some gravel. He looked blankly at the long road in front of him. It was so monotonous that it was hard to step further.

‘’Psstt.’’ He leered and turned his head to the bushes beside him. ‘’Who’s there?’’ he said, but there was no answer. ‘’Hello?’’ he said for the second time, but everything was still silent. He continued walking hastily because he thought it was only his hallucination, but suddenly, ‘’Duarr!’’ ‘’Aww’’ he yelled due to someone unexpectedly shocking him. ‘’Hahaha. Good afternoon, Awan.’’ A girl with double dimples appeared, raising her beady eyes. ‘’Kirana, you just shocked me!’’ he muttered, sullen. ‘’I am sorry. Where are you going?’’ ‘’I am going home’’ he replied. ‘’Let’s follow me.’’ She directly pulled Hendrawan’s hand and walked in the direction of the hill.

The gentle howling of the wind accompanied their journey, drawing ahead the row of trees whose leafy branches danced in the breeze's harmony. They played tag and hid either behind the trees or in the tea plantation. Thereupon, they sat down contiguously on a big stone at the top of the hill, gazing over the sky and the wide sea.

"Awan, do you still remember the first time we came here?" she asked with her very delicate voice. ‘’Yeah, at that time we were 7 years old, and we had a plan to hunt birds hereabouts.’’ ‘’Right, and you gave me a very big catapult.’’ They laughed simultaneously, remembering their childhood. ‘’Hahaha. I still remember that you said you would not go home before you got a bird’’ he enunciated distinctly. “But finally, I surrendered because until the afternoon I still didn’t get one.’’

They laughed together, bringing back their beautiful memories. They had been together for 18 years, exactly since they were children. They loved adventure, such as climbing the hill to pursue the shine of the sunset, which covered their togetherness.

‘’What’s your dream now?’’ she asked deliberately. ‘’I don’t know. What about you?’’ He shrugged and inquired back. “I dream that in my future life, exactly in my old age, I will spend my life there’’ she said, pointing towards a gorgeous small island. ‘’Why?’’ ‘’I just want to spend my life in a calm place, far from the hurly-burly of the city’’ she told him. ‘’You will stay there alone?’’ ‘’No, my second dream is to live there with someone who is very special in my life’’ she expressed sincerely. ‘’Who is it?’’ he asked, trying to interpret what she meant. ‘’I don’t know, but to be honest, I only share my dream with someone who, according to me, is special.’’ Then, everything went quiet; even the twitter of birds could be heard clearly until she broke the silence. ‘’Will you accompany me to reach my dream?’’

Lubangsa, February 2022