Two Different Lives

"Yeah," said Lathifa with a languid bow. "It's not wrong if you feel scared like that. After all, you do seem to be from a future that has a different life to what we have here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

Lathifa lifted her head, glanced back, and smiled with a shake of her head.

"It's okay," she said. "You have no obligation to think about the troubles in this country."

"Hey…" Satya took a deep breath.

Then silence fell between them, except for the man's hand still at work gently rubbing the girl's back.

Many things were now playing in Satya's head during the silence between them. About him who was suddenly thrown into this middle of nowhere, then the girl herself who is quite unique with her face and body shape still like a 17-year-old girl even though she is already 25 years old. Then, about a bit of tragedy that befell the ruler of this country itself ten years ago.

All these things flashed and overlapped in his head. Of those, like it or not, of course, becomes a separate thought for Satya.

"I don't think anything bad would happen to this country," said Satya after a while, "to that king and queen, even to the princess herself if the princess hadn't decided in a hurry to marry a man she—I don't know, she just met."

"Why do you say that?" Latifa frowned. "You sound like you're blaming the poor princess?"

"Where I come from, people will approach—at least, for a year to get to know their partner better before deciding to get married. And yes, I think, in this case, the princess is more or less guilty."

Lathifa turned around and it made Satya stunned because the beautiful and big breasts were in front of his eyes now.

"You're so mean!" said Lathifa with a sad face.

"Hey, that's not what I meant," said Satya, lowering his gaze. Unfortunately, the shaft of his genital was throbbing even more violently. "I don't blame the princess completely. I'm just saying, if the princess had been wiser in deciding her marriage, perhaps, all the misery the people of Artapurana have suffered in these ten years wouldn't happen."

"Still," said Lathifa whose eyes even filled with tears again. "You blame the poor princess."

"Lathifa, I don't—"

"Do you know what it feels like to be the subject of ridicule?"

"No, Lathifa. Hei, listen to me–"

"Many years of living in mental agony because of having a bad face, black skin, and fat body. Even though people didn't say it directly, behind her back, they were gossiping about the poor princess. And you still have the heart to blame her. Oh, Great Goddess…"

Satya didn't know what else to say, what's more, he could see the girl's tears rolling down in telling all that.

Driven by his guilt, as well as the empathy that suddenly welled up inside him, Satya pulled Lathifa into his arms, gently caressing her head and back.

"Hey, I'm sorry," said Satya. He cupped her cheeks gently, looking into her eyes. "I don't mean as bad as you think. Trust me, I sympathize with what happened to her, to her family. I do."

Again Satya took Lathifa into his arms. For a moment, only the sound of sobbing from Lathifa's mouth could be heard there, as well as the soft sound of the slow flow of the small and shallow river, and the chirping of birds around them in the vast wilderness.

"Satya," said Lathifa a few moments later.

"Yes?"

"Hmm, you've hugged me long enough."

"Good grief!" With a red and shy face, Satya moved away from Lathifa. "Sorry, I…"

And yes, Satya seemed to have just realized that they were both still naked, and he just hugged the girl for long enough. This instantly made his genital throb again.

"Sorry…" he looked down.

Lathifa smiled with a face that was as red as Satya's. "It's okay, just forget it. Hey, I think the river water is getting colder, you feel it?"

Feel it or not, Satya wants to get out of this very awkward and embarrassing situation as soon as possible, he thought.

***

"I'm sorry," said Lathifa, "this is the only food I can serve you."

Satya tries to smile. "Why do you even say that?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I thought you might not like it—well, I just saw that you seem to be having a hard time swallowing this food."

"Honestly," said Satya, "so far, I have rarely consumed boiled taro, or you could say never. But, it's okay, I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Latifa smiled. Yes, only boiled taro and some grilled fish can be provided by her. Besides, the fish was quite small, and probably wouldn't satisfy the man's hunger, she thought.

Like before, Lathifa only used the kemben for her clothes. Traditional clothing that prints the beauty of her curves. And Satya also still uses a piece of batik cloth that he wraps around his waist to his knees because his shorts and underwear are still not dry at all.

They were eating in the hut, more precisely in the front room. The hut consisted of only three parts. The front, where they were now, was only twice the size of an arm's length, then the middle, which was twice as large, and the back room, which was also as small as the front room.

All the rooms in the hut only have dirt floors. No wooden floors instead of concrete. As for the lighting in the hut, it is obtained from lamps made from coconut shells, using oil which is also made from coconut extract.

"Hey, I remember something," said Satya. "What about the princess herself?"

"You mean?" Lathifa frowned softly.

"Well, you told me yourself," said Satya. "That—hmm, the Royal Counselor changed the symbol on the princess's forehead just before her death, to help her, right?"

"Yeah, that's how it happened."

"Then, what happened to the princess now?" Satya asked. "Isn't it ten years now?"

"Yes."

"And did the princess come back alive? Or, well, as you say, getting help?"

Latifa smiled. She didn't know why but she suddenly became a little worried about telling Satya about the poor princess. After all, the man didn't seem like a fool. No. He looks smarter than that.

Satya realized that. He realized that there was something that made it difficult for Lathifa to tell him the story of the poor princess. It could also be that Lathifa wanted to keep certain things a secret about the princess.

He took a deep breath. "It's okay," he said, "if you don't want to talk, it's not a problem for me."

"You are a good man, Satya."

Satya smiled. "No, don't get me wrong. After all, we've only known each other for a day. You'd be surprised if you found out my true nature."

"Are you saying that you are a bad man?"

"Not really," Satya chuckled softly. "I mean, don't judge someone you just met."

"Like you said about the poor princess?" Lathifa said and her face immediately turned sad. "Yeah, I understand."

"Hey, come on now!" Satya shook his head slowly. "That's not what I meant—yeah, more or less. Good grief! See…! Now you're making me go all wrong."

And the silly expression on Satya's face was at least able to make Lathifa hold back her laughter.

"Seven full moons after the princess was thrown into the abyss and plunged into the sea," Lathifa said after a moment of silence between them. "The help is coming."

"Hey, don't tell me that the princess was revived?" Satya glared. "Seven full moons? Are you kidding me? For just one hour, the princess would be dead. No, no, no! It doesn't take an hour, five or ten minutes I think that's enough to suffocate the princess."

Lathifa just smiled as she watched the expression of the man in front of her. Secretly, she praises Satya's good looks, slightly muscular and masculine body shape, she admires him. This made Lathifa's face blush even though Satya himself was not aware of the changes in her face and gestures.

"Remember the blood symbol the Royal Councilor carved on the princess' forehead?"

"Yes," said Satya. "The symbol that should have been a symbol of worshiping the Devil was turned by that man into a symbol of worshiping the Sea God. Then what?"

"When the princess was so close to her death," said Lathifa, "the symbol saved the princess herself."

"You mean?" Satya frowned.

"Yeah, a spell or something like that. And the spell itself causes the princess to be between neither life nor death."

"Argh, I don't understand," Satya rubbed his forehead.

"Say, the spell freezes the princess for seven full moons."

"In a condition that she is still alive?"

"Of course. Even so, she continued to be there, at the bottom of the sea, unable to do anything."

"This is very unlikely," said Satya. "Unless you guys in this country have technology like cryo pods."

"Cryo pods?" Latifa frowned. "What's that thing?"

"Never mind, just forget it," Satya realized, even though he used the scientific term, it only exists in fantasy stories dealing with interstellar travel. "I mean, something that can keep you alive even if your body is frozen. Well, sort of."

"I don't understand what you're saying," said Lathifa. "But, yes… the princess's condition is frozen. During those seven full moons, only his mind and heart remained alive."

"Yeah, I think I quite understand that condition." Or at least, thought Satya, it sounded like someone in a coma. "Then, what happens on the seventh full moon after the princess is thrown into the sea?"

"The princess was saved by the Royal Counselor."

Satya frowned again. "Wait, wait, wait! You said that Counselor saved the princess?"

"Yes."