PART 5 - GIVE & TAKE

"Selvi wait!"

Kalila grabbed Selvi's hand to stop her. Selvi, who was not ready, almost fell if she didn't quickly grabbed the pole nearby.

"You said you wanted to buy food, didn't you?," Kalila said reminding Selvi of her main goal.

"Yepp. That's right. Who said we'll go dancing?," Selvi replied.

"Then why do we stop here? Do you wanna eat in the math students' canteen?" Kalila looked a bit confused when Selvi asked her to stop by at math faculty.

"No, we're not gonna eat here, you fool," Selvi said, who'd not given her an enough answer.

"We'll meet my bro first."

"Huh? Did you forget your wallet again?" Kalila asked.

"No way.. not my wallet again." Selvi chuckled.

"Then?"

"Well, I went to campus with Veer this morning. And, we'll find a place to eat which is a bit far away, so we needa go with him for sure," Selvi explained the reason why they needed to go to the mathematics faculty.

"Wait, you mean… we're gonna eat with your brother?"

Selvi raised her two thumbs up. "That's right! Who knows we can get a free meals if we eat together with him. Such a good idea especially for saving our pocket money."

Kalila seemed like she wanted to refuse Selvi's idea. Yesterday's incident where she's going home with Veer together, literally still gave an awkward feeling for her with that guy.

Kalila also felt a little embarrassed with Veer. As you all know, he actually saw her when she was having a quarrel with her boyfriend, Galang. She was afraid that there is a possibility Veer would tell about her incident to anyone, especially people at her campus. But if we remembered how Selvi told about his attitude, it seemed like he wasn't the type of person who had any interest or liked to talk about others business and stuffs. So that, Kalila didn't need to be worry about that.

"It's him!" Selvi pointed at Veer who was walking towards her.

"GOSH! There's Marvel too! Such a good thing that I woke up early and dressed beautifully this morning!" Selvi said, who's really happy to see Marvel's presence.

"Hi, Selvi! It's nice seeing you again." Marvel said with a big smile on his handsome face.

Marvel and Veer was completely different. If Veer was completely cold in front of people, Marvel would always look friendly whenever he met people, especially with those who were close to him.

"Hey, Marvel! Nice seeing you again too! It's been a while, huh?" Selvi replied. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a pretty long time, and now you look extremely more handsome and stunning, bro."

Marvel smiled and gently ruffled Selvi's head. "Ow what a smart talk, girl. Whose sister 're you?"

Marvel's hands which were cupping Selvi's cheeks made that girl felt uncomfortable. Now her face was red like a ripe tomato.

"Veer Alatas's sister, of course!" Selvi answered in a loud voice.

"Who's your real brother and whom you called first, tsk." Veer muttered seeing his sister's behavior.

"It's been a long time since I saw her, Veer. It's only natural that she's more enthusiastic with me than you, she's been with you every day anyway," Marvel replied, who indirectly defended Selvi.

"Sel …." Marvel was about to ask Selvi a question, then he stopped when he saw a girl who had been standing behind Selvi.

"Don't stand behind me, Kal. Come here. If you're behind me, you'll look like being my bodyguard, you know." Selvi pulled Kalila's hand again so that the woman would stand beside her.

Just like what Selvi did at the time she first introduced Kalila to Veer.

"Your friend, Sel?" Marvel asked.

Selvi nodded. "My best friend! Her name is Kalila. She's the most brilliant student since high school, you know!"

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Marvel," Kalila said politely.

"Wait, what did you just call me?" Marvel chuckled.

"Pardon?" Kalila, who got a sudden question from Marvel, looked confused. Especially when that guy laughed out loud after hearing Kalila's answer.

"I'm not your teacher or lecturer, and I'm not even married yet. So there's no need to call me 'Mister'. Just call me by my name, Marvel. And I'm not that old to be called with that, anyway." Marvel said explaining to Kalila the meaning of his question.

"Have a self-awareness of your age, dude." Veer said as an his disagreement with Marvel's words.

"No way!... how old are you now, Kalila?" Marvel asked.

"Twenty one."

"You hear? Only seven years apart, bro. Besides, my face isn't that old to be called by 'Mr'," Marvel acted being arrogant with Veer.

No longer interested in replying to Marvel's words, Veer quickly changed the topic of their conversation with something else.

"So we're going or not?" Veer asked to Selvi.

"Of course! If it wasn't for having lunch together with you, I wouldn't have come here anyway, my dear brother," Selvi replied.

"Can I come with you, guys? Think of it as a mini party celebrating my graduation. I'll treat you all guys!" Marvel said, and of course, Selvi wouldn't miss that chance for sure.

"Yeah! Just come with us! We're looking for a comfortable place to eat, with many food choices, and of course with affordable prices!" Selvi exclaimed, extremely happy cause she was going to eat with the guy she had crush on.

"How you came here?" Veer asked Marvel.

"With my dad."

"Then, how do you go to the restaurant?"

"Just go with you, bro. You brought your motorbike this morning, anyway," Selvi interrupted Veer's words.

"What do you mean? One motorbike for three people? You're kidding?!"

Selvi shook her head quickly. "Just the two of you. Kalila also brings a motorbike."

"Very well! Give me a ride, then. Next time, I'll treat you a meal. Okay?" Marvel made a bid with Veer.

"Which motorbike did you bring today, Veer?"

"That one, bro!" Selvi answered Marvel's question before Veer did.

"This one?" Marvel ensured that the sport motorbike in front of him was really Veer's.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! I don't wanna ride this bike with HIM! It's a nightmare to see two guys riding this type of motorbike together, you know."

"What a spoiled boy. If you don't want to, that's fine. Order an online taxi bike then!" Veer expelled without mercy.

"Don't be like that, Veer!" Selvi held her brother who was about to ride a motorcycle. "What if I'm with Marvel use your motorbike?"

"Then, whose motorbike I ride?"

"Kalila's."

Kalila was instantly lost her calm when she heard Selvi's words. She almost fell asleep if Selvi didn't mention her name. But once mentioned, was with something she didn't expect at all.

"Sel! Are you kidding me? How can I'm going together with my own lecturer," Kalila whispered to Selvi.

"What's the difference from yesterday? Both are the same. The only difference is just the motorbike, "Selvi replied. Kalila really wanted to refuse but Selvi had already acted.

"Veer, don't be just silent. Do you agree or not?" Selvi asked Veer to make a decision soon.

"Why been so long just waiting for his answer. It's gonna be night real soon," Marvel said, at the same time he snatched the motorbike's key from Veer's hand.

"OK!" Selvi gave two thumbs up for Marvel's ingenuity.

"When you're with my brother, if he tries speeding the motorbike, just hit his head, Kal. Okay?"

For the umpteenth time Selvi made a decision without hearing Kalila's opinion first. Look how Selvi was now. She casually smiled widely because she could be close to the guy she always had a crush on for a long time.

What about Kalila? She had to face the nervousness and fear of dealing with Veer.

"The key," Veer raised one hand in front of Kalila.

"Wait a minute, Sir," Kalila said, clutching the key tightly in her hand.

"My motorbike isn't the same as you have, Sir. If Mr. Veer doesn't like to ride it, I can order an online taxi for you, Sir, to catch up with Selvi and Mr. Marvel."

Veer looked away from Kalila. It was only a moment before he looked back at her face again who was standing in front of him.

"Your motorbike is pink?" Veer asked Kalila.

"No, sir," Kalila quickly answered. "It's not a matter of color."

"Then?"

Kalila, who was usually good at talking, suddenly felt stiff in her mouth and found it difficult to move it. It's as if she run out of words every time she talked to Veer.

"Are you sure you wanna ride this motorbike with me, Sir? I mean… , you are actually a lecturer while I am a student. It's quite not polite if a student and a lecturer go together in activities outside of classes and stuffs," Kalila said in a low voice giving understanding to Veer.

Actually Veer already guessed what Kalila was worried about. Apart from personal reasons that Veer didn't know from her, that girl definitely didn't want any misunderstanding thing happen because she went alone with the lecturer at her campus.

"Think of this as a payment for the help I gave you before, then," Veer said after he put on the black mask he brought from home.

"You can wait in front of the bus stop near the campus gate. It's not too far from here. How is it then? Still not comfortable with this idea?"

Seeing Veer's sincerity in finding a way out of Kalila's anxiousness, Kalila felt the warmness in her heart.

There was nothing wrong with taking Veer's advice. After all, the two of them didn't go out together to do anything bad. They will not just be alone later, anyway, there will be Selvi and Marvel who will go together with them.

"Okay sir. I'll try to follow your advice."

***

28 June 2022 (9.19 AM)