The Oracle

"What are you doing, bro?"

"Can't you see I'm watering the plants?"

"Yeah, I know that. It's just … usually it's mother who is watering."

"What are you doing yourself?"

Tama patted his arm, then smoothed the collar of his slightly folded shirt. Then put on the coat over his shoulders.

"Still asking? Because of whom, I ended up having to go to work? You never took me to heaven. If you go to hell, you tell me first."

Frans threw the water hose in his hand and approached Tama to tidy up his jacket's sleeves, which were slightly bent at the wrist. Then, he patted Tama's cheek twice, plus a slight slap.

"Well, it's time to help me! Don't play around!"

Tama pouted in annoyance.

"There you go. As a temporary official, you can't be late on the first day of work."

"Bro, come on. Let it go. Yura just doesn't think about you. Why do you think about her and getting sick like this? Try not to—"

"Don't be like mom. There you go, go," Frans said quickly as he pushed Tama's body into his car.

After waving farewell, and Tama's car was no longer visible, Frans continued his watering activities. After watering, he took some flower seeds—mama's collection—from the garage and planted them in pots. People said gardening can help reduce stress, so there is nothing wrong with Frans choosing this activity to fill his spare time.

"Frans! Please carry this trash!" Mama shouted from inside the house.

Frans went to the kitchen, then he took a plastic bag of household waste and brought it to the front. Coincidentally, the Garbage Collector who used to collect garbage in each house to be taken to the Final Disposal Site was stopping in front of Frans' garbage bin.

"Uncle Prince, you live in this house?" asked a boy sitting on the back of a modified trash rickshaw.

"Yeah, why? Oh yes, but I am not a Prince."

"Uncle Prince, do you know who owns that big house?" asked the boy again, pointing to the big house right next to Frans's house—only separated by a wall—paying no heed to Frans' explanation. "Who lives there?"

"Why?"

"Um… sorry, Sir. My son is really fussy," said Mr. Garbage Collector, who smiled awkwardly at Frans.

Frans smiled back as he scanned the appearance of this middle-aged man in front of him, then turned to his son, who was still looking in awe at Frans' neighbor's house. Frans doesn't know how many days the father and son have not changed clothes and who knows how many pieces of clothing they have. Seeing the ragged and faded color of their clothes, Frans immediately felt sorry for them.

It is totally different from Frans appearance. Even though it's just a plain white t-shirt and shorts, which usually doubles as pajamas, Frans bought these clothes at the mall at a price that wasn't cheap. Maybe when compared to the clothes worn by this father-daughter couple, the price is many times higher.

"Oh, are you sad? Abandoned by the Princess?"

"Hah?" asked Frans, not understanding the words of the little boy who smiled sweetly at him.

"Yes, Uncle is sad because his princess left, right? The princess is also sad. It's even more sad, because Uncle has made the Princess cry."

"What does it mean?"

"Don't listen too much, Sir. My son really likes to digress," said the father.

"Uncle will continue to be sad. You can never be happy, if you don't apologize to the Princess."

"But I don't know the Princess you mean and I am not a Prince either."

"Really?" asked the boy with a look of disbelief at Frans.

Frank nodded quickly. However, Frans' answer had not satisfied the boy's curiosity, who was also looking at him with a flat expression. Frans became embarrassed and went back into the house.

"Uncle, don't forget to apologize to the princess, so that you can be happy with the princess," shouted the boy again from the ride of the father's rickshaw which left Frans' house.

"Who have you been talking to, Frans?"

"Oh, it's the father who collects the garbage, along with his son."

"Where?! They still up ahead, isn't it?"

Frans frowned in confusion at Mama's excited reaction.

"Oh, Mama hasn't said thank you to him yet."

"Why? Mommy knows them?"

Instead of answering, Mama raised her left hand and showed one of her fingers and a ring with a large gem around it.

"Her name is Dika. He has helped Mama find this ring. I accidentally throw it in the trash!"

"He found it out of a plastic trash bag?"

Mom nodded. "Mama is also confused. How did he know? He must have a sixth sense!"

Sixth Sense. Indigo. Yes, whatever it is. It seemed that the girl in shabby clothes had something that not everyone had. Frans, who was initially unsure of what was he heard from that tiny mouth—about him—now became doubtful. Maybe what he said had some truth in it! He had to find Yura! Apologize for his attitude all this time, which is more concerned with work than with Yura.

"Where are you going?" Mama asked when she saw Frans move.

"Shower, going to the office."

------------------------

"You don't believe it?"

Frans looked annoyed at the three people sitting across from him and judged him as if he was a madman!

"Honey! Tell this stubborn friend of yours that he's gone mad!" Ken annoyed at her husband, who just leaned back on the sofa and looked at Frans flatly. Then Ken rubbed her belly bump.

Satria cleared his throat for a moment, buying time to think of the right words for Frans, other than 'stupid madman!'.

"Are you crazy? Crazy? Or stupid?"

"What do you mean?"

"God! As long as I've known you, I've never seen you this desperate, to the point of believing in the things of shamans."

"Sat, he's not a shaman. He's an innocent little kid who has a sixth sense," said Frans, repeating this sentence many times. "How many times do I have to explain that he can tell when I'm sad? What's even more surprising is that he found Mama's wedding ring in the trash!"

"Blind people can also tell when you are sad because of a broken heart," muttered Tama quietly, to which Ken agreed.

"Okay, if you say so. Now I ask again, how did he know I was sad because of a girl? He said Princess! Which is what he meant by Yura!"

"Frans, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but I also read the contents of Yura's letter. There she said—"

"I was never there for her, that's the point," said Frans.

"And she doesn't love you. She's in love with someone else," Ken added in annoyance. "And you stupidly still expect her?! Crazy! Got your spell?"

"Ken!" Frans huffed and made the three people in front of him flinch in surprise.

"All right, Frans. Let's just pretend Ken didn't say that," said Satria, trying to calm the situation down. "Okay, we believe what you say. So, what's your plan to find Yura?"

"Wait!" cut Ken, made Frans pursed his lips again. "Sorry, but I'm still curious."

"What is it, Hon? Frans has told me everything. Which part is less clear?"

Satria immediately raised his hand, a sign of surrender, when he saw his wife's sharp gaze.

"How can you be sure that the princess that boy is referring to is Yura? I mean this, considering your history—the two of you—which had many exes, and how you behaved in the past, doesn't rule out the possibility that the princess who was hurt by you—to the point of being able to make a spell—were your exes?"

Instead of getting an answer, Ken got the sound of loud laughter from the three men who were nearby. Ken looked at the three, confused. As far as she studied the sentence that just came out of her mouth, there was nothing funny there. Then what are these three crazy men laughing about?

"Ken, if I'm not Frans's younger brother, and I'm a girl, I also want to be his ex."

"Why is it so?" asked Ken, demanding an explanation from Tama, who was trying to hold back his laughter. "You too, why are you laughing too? Don't you answer?" annoyed Ken, this time at her husband.

"Ken," Frans called. "I've never hurt the girls I broke up with."

"Tsk! The name breaking up must be heartbreaking. The proof is now you're crazy!"

"Different. In the past, the girls who were my girlfriends didn't really love me."

"How did you know?"

"Yeah, how could I not know? Every time I want to break up, and then I buy a new cell phone, clothes, jewelry, or whatever is expensive, they are immediately willing to break up with me."

"Hah?"

"Well, you understand, why do I also want to be my brother's ex?" chuckled Tama.

"So it's unlikely that the ones who are hurt are my exes."

Three of them laughed again at Ken's stupidity and confused expression. This pregnant woman still finds it hard to believe what Frans said.

"So, what's your plan?" asked Satria after his laughter subsided.

"I'm going to start all over again. Starting from her parents, her friends, and the damn guy who dared to take Yura from me! I want to see what's better about a guy that can make Yura choose him over this handsome and established me?"

"Bro, I'll tell you."

"What?"

"In the end, someone who is handsome and established like you will lose to someone who makes her comfortable, and is always there when needed. Girls are like that," chuckled Tama, then quickly got up from his seat before the tissue box floated to him.

"You bastard!"

********