Best of Friends (Narrated by Danzel Lee)

Meng stared at me bewildered. I hope his brain cells would be able to process every single piece of information I just shoved him. We were sitting at one of our favourite spot at our favourite café, Nusantara Brew. The place was decorated like a loft, with elegant touch of Javanese arts for its interior and it offered the archipelago's best coffee beans with reasonable price. Besides that, they were also selling Indonesian traditional snacks and food. We frequented this place to hang out, since it was nearby our school. I glanced over my watch, it was almost four, and Megan would be here shortly. I asked her to go on a date with me today and I planned to take her to the movie. However, she still had another extra hour to finish her science project for the school's science club, so I said yes when Meng asked me to have a 'talk' with him, to resume our previous talk.

"Are you alright?" I asked and sipped my coffee.

"Yeah, why won't I?"

"You look stupefied."

"'Cause I am," Meng chuckled dryly. "So, let me get this straight. You and Megan are now officially dating."

"Yep," I made a toast with my cup of coffee.

"And she's a witch? Ken too?'

I sighed and threw a sympathetic glance to him. "Look, I'm sorry to break things out like this to you, Man. I know you have a crush for Ken."

Meng's face got red. He gawked at me as if I was some sort of alien. "Wh-How did you know?"

I gave him a pointed look. "I'm neither blind or stupid, Meng. I could see how you look at her, how you introduced her to me, as if she is a goddess of some kind… Please…"

My best friend blushed even more.

"But it's ended now," he sighed. "There's no future for us. Not that she knows my feelings toward her, anyway."

"Is it really impossible between you two?"

Meng nodded. "There's no way a Shaman and a witch could be together, unless I'm ready to be ex-communicated and would become a Necromancer, which I don't. It was one-sided love, anyway. When we were kids, we were close, Ken and I. And then she left abruptly, so that's maybe why the feelings linger. When she suddenly returned, I still see her as the little Ken. I should've notice her true self, actually. They're not that hard to spot."

"What's this Necromancer you mentioned? How's having a romantic relationship with a witch make you become a Necromancer?"

"It's the shaman thing. You do know that we are basically mere vessels for sacred spirits and gods, right? That's why we are the personification of 'my body is my temple' thingy literally. We are required to live a clean life, with all the healthy lifestyle. No drugs, smoke, free-sex, et cetera. And of course, for mating condition, we do need to mate with someone who's acceptable by our guardian spirit. Therefore, witches are certainly out of the question. If we insist, then our guardian spirit will leave us and the shaman community, too, will ex-communicate us. What's left for us? Our summoning spirit talent. That would be with us until the day we take our last breath. However, since we now couldn't call any sacred spirits, we could only call the impurity ones. We, then, became a Necromancer. Necromancers are feared and resented because sometimes the impurity spirits they called are malicious and would likely take control of their soul, make them turn evil."

"I see…"

Meng stared deeply, straight to my eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with a witch? They are complicated and smell of trouble, D'."

Say that again. I knew I've accepted Megan and decided to help her carry her baggage. I might lay down my life in order to do so too, but I don't care. I knew my heart and it wanted her.

My best friend raised both of his hands, surrendered to my strong-will. "Fine, if you're sure. And since you're my best friend, I certainly will not gonna let you get killed by any sorcerer, so I'm with you. We're in this together, 'Kay? What can I do?"

I smiled. "I knew I can count on you, Man. I only wanted to know if you have any information about Megan's Order, The Trevelyan? What happened to them? It's not like I could google it you know…"

"Trevelyan? You said they're from Western Europe? I'll try to check it with my Shaman friends from that region. They may have heard something… But dang, aren't they bold enough to come here for protection because they knew this archipelago have the most Shamans in comparison of any other region in the world?"

"That's make sense, you know. They're counting on your numbers, so their enemy would take that into consideration too, in case they're gonna go wild-wild west…"

"Yeah, but still… 'Kay D', I need to report this to my father, alright? I mean, I'm not gonna expose Megan, but I need to tell him that there're some refugee sorcerers came here for protection. We may get something faster about The Trevelyan too, if we let my dad in the loop."

I pondered. Meng was right. We couldn't do this without alerting the Han family. I couldn't let Meng cross-path with his family in order to help me and Megan. Moreover, as he said, I might get the information I needed faster if Uncle Han acknowledged the situation. Not to mention, the Hans could provide help if Megan's enemy ever got closer. Hence, I nodded.

"And there's your damsel in distress…"

The sound of the bell hung on the café door rang when Megan and Kencana walked in. They cast their gaze around, before they finally found us. Megan's smile flashed so radiantly when her eyes met mine. I smiled back to her and squeezed her hand gently once she reached our seats. If we weren't in public, I certainly would kiss her ever-inviting lips.

"Sorry, I'm late…," she whispered.

"It's OK, we still got time until the movie. Come, let's sit with Meng first. Do you want anything? How's the project, by the way?"

"It's a success. I can put it for exhibition by the end of this week. But I'm not gonna show up, I'll let Ken do that on my behalf. Right, Ken?"

Kencana was standing awkwardly next to Megan, before I realized that she was there. I glanced to Meng and found my best friend was looking at her rather intensely. Apparently, someone was still torn for his one-sided, platonic love. The tanned-skin girl nodded to Megan's words. She looked at me fiercely, clearly still disliking me and distrusting me with Megan.

"Megan said you two will go on a date?" She interrogated me.

"Yep, you got any problem with that?" I too, disliked her with all my beings.

"What time will you go back?"

"You're not her mother, Ken." Meng interrupted. "And D' has always been the responsible one. He'll take a good care of your best friend. I think you should start to accept that those two are dating now and we are the third-wheelers. So, why don't we go back home. I'll give you a ride back. Unless, you like the idea of double dating?"

Kencana glared at Meng, as did I. Megan seemed fine with the idea of double date, but I didn't want that tall and rude tanned-skin girl be around me for another minute. I didn't care if she was Megan's best friend or Meng's childhood friend. I just disliked her. Therefore, the idea of double dating was just horrifying. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual. Ken seemed hate the idea as much as I did, so she followed Meng.

"Call me once you get back, 'Kay?" She said to Megan. My girlfriend nodded. "Take care, Megs…"

"They're only going for a date, for heaven's sake…," Meng jeered from the distant.

"You knew nothing," I heard Ken hissed.

"Oh, try me," my best friend smiled smugly.

I tried not to smile. I could always count on Meng. Even after he knew there was no future for him and his childhood friend, he still offered himself to distract the girl so I could have a nice, alone evening with Megan. I would treat him with something nice after this.

"Did you tell Meng about me?" Megan pulled me out from my reverie.

I stared at her cognac eyes. "I need to, Megs. His family could help us…"

Megan sighed. "Okay, I trust you. If you say so, I'll trust you. But don't let Ken know that Meng knew, okay? She'll freaked out. I think she sees this whole hiding thing way too serious. I mean, yes, it's serious. My life is in danger, but I think she's over-reacted sometimes. You, on the other hand, keep it cool. I wish she could be like that too."

I laughed, couldn't help myself not to kiss her hand.

"What?" She looked bemused.

I shook my head. "Nothing, I just love you so much, Megan…"