ONE
The sound of birds chirping sounded sweet in the morning in the sky of Jakarta. But the sound of chirping was not the reason for the waking of a teenage girl from her deep sleep on Sunday morning, she woke up to the sound of her mother’s chattering voice with the other woman’s voice right in the courtyard beneath her balcony.
Natasha rubbed her eyes and wriggled lazily as she reached for her cell phone to check what time it was and she moaned as she buried her face in the pillow. Her bright brown hair covered part of her pretty face. “Mama’s base! Her voice is not tight enough.” She grunted as she woke from her sleep. She walked to the balcony and opened the door and stepped close to the edge of the balcony. Natasha looked down and found her mother talking excitedly to a middle-aged woman of her mother’s age.
Tanti Widyakusuma realized that the balcony door of her younger daughter’s room was open and she looked up. She laughed as she waved and shouted loudly that Natasha could not pretend to be deaf. “Tasha! Come down, first acquaintance with the next aunt, our new neighbor.”
Natasha lowered her head from the edge of the balcony and grinned. “Tasha has not showered yet, Ma ...” but her sentence stopped when she saw a pair of Tanti’s eyes glaring at her even though she smiled. Natasha sighed and straightened as she waved her hand away. “Yes yes, Tasha is down!” and she immediately turned her body as quickly as possible to wash her face and brush her teeth.
Seeing her daughter is not able to argue anymore, Tanti now turned to Wanda, her new neighbor who just moved last night. “It’s just her; the name of the child wants the day to oversleep.”
Wanda laughed as she said. “But having a girl is more manageable than two heroes with different characters.”
Meanwhile, Natasha grumbled out of her room without changing her sleeping clothes in hot pants and a sleeveless shirt with long wavy brown hair. As she was going down the stairs she saw her sister was also heading for the stairs to go down with her violin box.
Natalie stared at her sister who had just come out of the room with tangled hair even from her face looked washed. The smell of toothpaste was faintly voiced by Natalie. She smiled at Natasha’s sullen face who had been forced to wake up from her throat. She waited at the end of the stairs to get down together. “Forced to get up?” she asked lightly as they were down.
Natasha wrapped her arms around Natalie’s sleek white sleeve. They have about the same height but Natasha is a few inches tall so Natalie looks tiny because of her small impressed body. Natasha smelled the vanilla scent surrounding her feminine body. “Are you very pretty, Nat?” since childhood Natasha never called Natalie “sister”. She always denied that they were only a year old so she chose to call her sister’s name and Natalie never minded.
Natalie smiled as she slipped her hair behind her ears. “I have to practice the violin at 9”.
“Why do we have to get off this fast?” Natasha complained as they headed for the middle room that pierced the garden where their mother was standing with her aunt next door.
Natalie shifted the glass door and the smell of the morning greeted her skin. She looked at her sister affectionately. “Because mama wants us to get acquainted with the new neighbors next to the house”. And she came out ahead of Natasha toward the park nearing her mother.
Natasha shrugged her shoulders and walked grudgingly toward her mother and Natalie, who was now shaking her aide.
“This is my eldest daughter, Jeng Wanda. Natalie. She’s 3rd grade high school “. Tanti pushed softly on her soft back and smiled proudly at how politely Natalie greeted Wanda.
“Ma”.
Tanti turned and frowned at the sight of Natasha. Her eyes wiped out the appearance of her youngest daughter who obviously did not try to change her nightgown in more normal clothes. And that hair? Tanti sighs to see Natasha always trying to be the opposite Natalie. Smoothly Tanti grabbed Natasha’s arm and pushed the girl to stand near Natalie.
“This is my youngest child. Natasha”.
Wanda smiled broadly at two beautiful girls in front of her. She liked them without any doubt Wanda sparked her praise. “Ouch, Jeng. You have two beautiful girls. Envy to see it! I wish I had a girl as beautiful as you “.
“It’s not a pretty girl, aunt”. Unconsciously Natasha made a voiceless tone to make her nudged by Natalie who finally silenced her mouth. Even Tanti glared at her stubborn younger daughter.
Tanti immediately looked at Wanda with a guilty face. “Sorry ... my daughter just likes to talk haphazardly”.
Instead of getting offended, Wanda laughed and shook her head. “Nothing. I do not have girls at home but two naughty boys “.
“Yach .. so aunt’s son are still elementary school huh?”
“Tasha!” Tanti snapped at Natasha’s lowered head.
Natalie pinched her sister’s waist and shook her head slowly. Wanda heard laughing then he heard footsteps stepping on the grass of Widyakusuma’s house garden. “Ah these two naughty boys that we have”.
Natalie and Natasha were stunned as they saw two tall figures appear before them with their own charms. Natalie’s heart pounded as she stared at the tall, large figure standing beside Wanda.
Feeling proud of the presence of her two sons, Wanda tapped slowly on both of them as she began to introduce. “This is Ali. He’s our first son. He’s a reporter at our National Television Station. This year he is 30 years old “. Wanda laughed as she stared at her big tall man with a brown skin that was now staring at her.
“Do not say how old I am, Ma”.
But Natalie did not really care about the age mentioned by Wanda. A pair of clear eyes just stuck to the masculine figure in front of it. Natalie’s heart was pounding. Ali was tall with a broad chest. His face was handsome with his long black hair tied at the back. His jaws were firm with his chin split open. His eyes were dark black and shining like eagles. His nose was sharp and his lips seemed to rarely smile. Of all of that Ali likes the figure of a sultan who was in the fairy tale 1001 night. And when the pair of sharp eyes looked at her, Natalie was forced to look down in embarrassment as she stared at him so closely.
“It’s Natalie. She is the same age as Marshal “.
Ali heard his mother’s voice telling him about the clear-eyed girl like the star of the ghost who had just stared at her so closely. Natalie. He said the name in his heart and looked closely at the straight-haired black-haired girl. Natalie is so pretty and so beautifully like a Japanese doll with her long, straight black hair that’s banged up. Her skin is smooth white with a small slim body. Her cheeks were reddish like a ripe apple, her nose was small and her lips were a little reddish like rose petals. His gestures are smooth and graceful. Like a japanese doll made of porcelain. But among the beauty Ali was interested in those eyes. A pair of bright, glowing eyes like flickering stars seemed to pull him like an infinite magnet. Ali rubbed his eyes as if to make his realize that the girl was so young and deserved to be her sister.
“And this is Marshal. He attended the same school at Natalie and Natasha as your mother once mentioned. ”
“Hi”. If Ali is like the night sky and rock solid, then Marshal is a warm meadow with sunshine. Marshal tall but thin and looks very distro. His face was handsome and his eyes witty and his smile always adorned his face. His mannerisms and able to attract the attention of many people.
At that moment Natasha immediately liked and interested in Marshal especially when the boy said that he is very good at playing basketball. She is determined to get Marshal in the near future.
In the eyes of Marshal, Natasha is so beautiful and agile with her style that is also distro with her bright brown curls. But when the first view of Marshal only fixed on the figure of who stood beside Natasha. His eyes fixed on Natalie’s beauty and made his unconsciously whisper to Ali.
“Bro, good-looking”.
Ali turned and looked at the direction of Marshal’s gaze. He said quietly. “I think Natasha is more interested in you”.
Marshal grunted and nudged Ali. “She is beautiful but her sister is my type”. Marshal grinned and Ali shrugged.
Ali looked at his watch and looked down at his mother. “Ma, I must go now”.
As if Ali’s sentence made Natalie aware that she too had to go on a violin course to say to Tanti. “I wanna go to the violin course, Ma “. Natalie reached for the box of her violin at the end of her leg.
“Nata?” Wanda raised an eyebrow.
Tanti laughed as she pointed to her two children. “Yes. Natalie is called Nata and Natasha is called Tasha. They have almost the same name on the front “.
Wanda laughed and she saw Natalie politely saying that she was leaving soon. The woman glanced at him that Ali was also preparing to pass. “Nata, how about being with Ali?”
All fell silent and both Ali and Natalie looked at each other in surprise. But Ali was first calm and calm and only saw Natalie’s reaction, which then suddenly became uncomfortable.
Natalie felt that all eyes were on her. She grabbed hold of the stem of her violin box and immediately answered smoothly. She looked into her mother’s eyes first. “Do not bother. I am used to go with Mr. Mamat, Auntie. Maybe next time”. And before hearing the next sentence, Natalie immediately passed quickly while carrying the pounding of her hard heart.
****
Ali changed his clothes before leaving for work as a reporter when Marshal came into his room. He saw his brother standing beside his bedroom door. Ali turned around as he tilted his hair and smiled thinly. “What is wrong?”
“Mama told if you can not go home late tonight”. Marshal walked into Ali’s black-and-white room and touched the miniature fighter on the small table where he placed his camera.
Ali glanced for a moment, saying flatly. “Do not touch anything in my room if you can not return it as it was”. He hung a camera strap around his neck.
Marshal dropped his tongue and pulled back his hand that almost touched the miniature of the fighter. He knows well that his brother is very concerned with neatness and cleanliness of his room. Very much different from his messy type.
“We’ll come to the next aunt’s house to have dinner together. Such an introductory event. ” Marshal winked. “Opportunity hehehe”.
Ali grunted and smiled a little. He patted Marshall’s head before coming out of his room. “I try to get home early”. He knew that his brother wanted to know the two sisters of his next-door neighbor.
Marshal’s waist-knees saw Ali leave with his cool and cool style. He flinches his head. He stepped outside and closed Ali’s bedroom door while muttering. “Still like a rock”. Marshal still remembers what made his brother, an Ali became so cold since his fiancé left him for another man.
Meanwhile, Natasha was chilling herself in the mirror that afternoon as Natalie passed her room. She checked into her sister’s room and found Natasha pulling out her clothes from the closet.
“Hi. What are you doing, Tasha? ”
Natasha turned to the door and saw that her sister was standing at the door. Natalie smiled at how Natasha wanted to look feminine with that knee-length dres. But she saw her sister was so difficult because she knew Natasha always dressed in distro or gothic.
“Nata, I find it difficult to combine this mini skirt with a less-open top”. Natasha scowled and threw some sleeveless tops on the bed.
Natalie stared at all the chaos Natasaha had created. She smiled because she knew Natasha was doing it because she wanted to look beautiful in front of their new neighbors at dinner. She stepped closer and stared at several pieces of clothing scattered over the mattress.
Carefully Natalie grabbed a short, balloon-shaped black blouse with a small buttoned accent along the chest. There was a small lace around her neck collar and she handed it to Natasha.
“Make this your black mini skirt. After that complete a simple necklace of silver material or white gold yours “.
Natasha stared at her sister’s newly realized choice that she had a cool blouse that Natalie had just chosen. She immediately got up and hugged Natalie. “Thanks Nata! Now I’ll take a shower first. ”
Natalie laughed and decided to go back to her own room. She opened her room and stepped inside. The rose smell burst through the spacious room. Natalie liked the scent of flowers so Tanti had made her an air freshener that could be filled with the flower oil that Natalie liked.
The large room is cream-colored and has a large bed in the center of the room. Large wardrobe lengthening white milk. There is a colored dressing table just like a wardrobe and also a study desk complete with a laptop that is always located on the table. There are several paintings of flowers that hang on empty walls in front of the bed. There is a small table complete with a semi-circular cushioned single sofa. Natalie did not keep too much stuff in her room.
But she can keep some knick knacks in a small room that is beside her bathroom in the room. A small room with with a mirror along the wall and when the mirror door was opened there were shelves lined up with all Natalie’s valuables. From accessories even to her childhood album with Natasha.
The balcony is Natalie’s favorite place to spend time reading or just staring at the night sky. So before taking a bath to prepare for dinner with her new neighbor, Natalie opened her balcony door and stood on the doorstep staring at the afternoon sky of Jakarta that day.
The sky seemed to have begun to creep into the twilight and Natalie’s gaze fell across the balcony. It used to be that the opposite balcony was dark because there were no residents but this time beyond the balcony was the glow of the lights and the wind seemed to blow into the half-open door gap. Natalie was curious as to which room’s balkom was right across from her room.
Middle Natalie stared curiously at the balcony, suddenly the balcony door was wide open and a large, tall figure seemed to walk out near the edge of the balcony. The expressionless face and the pair of sharp dark eyes met Natalie’s clear, mixed-eyed look.
Natalie was surprised to see that the figure that appeared on the other side was Ali. Ali who was only bare-chested with his thick black hair that bordered on his broad shoulders and was now staring back at her with his dark, sharp eyes. Natalie pulls back to her balcony door frame and without greeting anything she turns her body and enters her room.
Ali was astonished to see how Natalie’s fog had escaped from her own balcony when he appeared. In fact, Ali was also surprised to realize that his room turned out to be crossing the girl. He also did not expect that teenage girl would running back into her room when he saw it appear. Then Ali looked down at his bare-chested man with his loose hair. Ali grunted a laugh while wiping his hair. “Of course she escaped with fear of seeing a man appear half-naked.” Shaking his head Ali entered his room.
While Natalie seemed to be setting her breath in the bathroom while waiting for the full water in the bathtub with the foam she poured. Her face was heating and did not expect that the room across the place occupied Ali. “Oh God, Kak Ali does not wear clothes. I’m ashamed as if I was peeking at him “.
Natalie covered her face. It was the first time she had seen a man other than her father shirtless. Moreover, Ali’s appearance with loose hair is just like the figure of the god of the Greece and Natalie was forced to knock her own forehead and laugh quietly.
“I read too many fantasies”. And she immediately turned off the water tap and went into a bathtub already filled with foaming water.
****
Natalie was wearing a creamy milk-knee vintage dress with a tip that swelled like an umbrella with a sabrina collar so that her long and white neck looked beautiful with a necklace of white gold with its tiny bell-shaped pendant hung perfectly. No other accessories were worn by Natalie even for her hair ornaments she just clamped them with a butterfly clasp on her thick black hair and deliberately tucked at her waist.
The door to her room opened and she turned to the one that appeared that Natasha stared at her stunned. Natasha saw how pretty her sister was even wearing a vintage dress with no intricate details and Natalie did not use excessive accessories at all. Her sister was exactly a living doll, smooth and soft. Pretty and sweet and a small spot flicked Natasha’s heart. An envy point that has been hidden in the heart well. There was anxiety that Marshal saw Natalie so beautiful and delicate. And Natasha knew Natalie well. Besides beautiful Natalie also has a good heart. Natasha’s smile disappeared by the uncomfortable pounding that began to dwell in the recesses of her heart.
Natalie looked at Natasha affectionately and put her arm around her without any sense of difference. “Have they arrived?” Natalie slipped her arm around Natasha’s arm and did not realize that her beloved little sister let go of her grip unobtrusively.
Natasha stepped down the stairs first. “Yes. They’re coming, Nat “. and Natalie could see that Natasha almost ran away.
And Natasha’s anxiety proved, since coming with her family, Marshal had never let go of her eyes from Natalie sitting opposite her. All of that did not escape the attention of Natasha although Natalie herself was unaware of Marshal’s gaze addressed to her. Throughout dinner Natalie’s attention was only on Ali who sat next to the Marshal. She could not take her eyes off the cool, cool man in front of her. In his sharp eyes that seemed to see his heart. Natalie tries to hide her gaze from Ali but Ali is a grown man who can realize it quickly.
Ali could feel how Natalie was looking at her with her beautiful eyes and at the same time realizing that Marshal, his brother had been fascinated by Natalie. Not to mention Natasha’s gaze to Marshal who was full of attraction and contrasted with the girl’s gaze to Marshal who even his brother did not realize that her.
Ali sighed. He was pinched by the unstable teenagers, but to be honest he could not take his eyes off Natalie. The little teenage girl seemed to make something in his heart tremble and Ali tried hard to brush it away. This is just the first meeting. How can I be attracted to a teenager far below my age?
****
Ali was cleaning his camera lens when Marshal entered his room while carrying his guitar and a cigarette draped over his mouth. Without permission that boy dropped himself beside him and started strumming his guitar. Previously Marshal put the ashtray he brought from his room.
Ali glanced at it and resumed his activities. “You smoke again? Does Mom know? ”
Marshal snapped his cigarette ash on the ashtray and grinned as his old brother looked at him sharply. “Quiet. I will not drop a drop of ash on your leash “. And he started strumming his guitar creating a beautiful tune of one of D’Masive’s songs.
Ali again cleaned his camera lens enjoying the strains of Marshal guitar. Marshal is very talented playing guitar since childhood and Ali likes his game. Therefore their parents also equip Marshal with all types of guitars. Middle Ali enjoys the music from the Marshal guitar, suddenly the passage stops and changes his brother’s sentence.
“What do you think about the two sisters of our next-door neighbors?”
Ali turned to Marshal who was now leaning on the edge of his bed. He looked at Ali with a furrowed eyebrow. “What’s the meaning?”
Marshal looked at him intently. “Are they beautiful?”
Ali put down his camera and grabbed the Marshal cigarette box and turned it on. He stood up and walked to the balcony door and opened it so that the night air entered his room and the smoke came out with the air. He leaned on the edge of the balcony door and smiled faintly. “All creatures named women are beautiful, Shal”. Ali replied casually while exhaling his cigarette smoke.
Marshal rubbed the tip of his nose. He looked blushed. “Yes. All the creatures named woman is beautiful. But is not Natalie looking more beautiful? ”
Ali’s eyebrows rose and he chuckled. “Do you have a crush on Nata?” He says shortly.
Marshal’s eyeballs rounded. He puts his cigarette in the ashtray and moves to justify his seat. “Nata? Why did Bang Ali call her ‘Nata’ “?
Ali’s eyebrows raised high again. “You did not hear the aide telling Mama?”
Marshal blushed and shook his head. “I did not hear, bang. All my senses are fixed on her? Are you not? ”
Ali paused. At first glance, he threw his eyes on the balcony across from his dimly lit room. He looked back at Marshal and shook his head. He heard Marshal’s breath.
“You’re still cold since breaking up with Mbak Dewi ..”
“Marshal !!”
Marshal fell silent as he heard Ali’s shout. He saw his brother’s jaw harden and his shining eyes. He could hear the hiss from Ali’s lips. “Do not mention her name!”
Marshal bowed his head in guilt. “Sorry…”
Ali sighed and smoked his cigarette and walked toward Marshal. He bends down and kills his cigarette in an ashtray. He went to his bed and laid his body there. He closed his eyes and mumbled. “Back to your room. I want to sleep”.
Ali hears motion in his bed. He opened his eyes and saw Marshal who was also lying next to him.
“I like Natalie, Bang. Can I get it? “Marshal said, staring at Ali’s ceiling.
Ali stared at his brother. He turned his back on Marshal, saying flatly. “That means you’ll be dealing with Natasha”, he tried to close his eyes.
Marshal turned to Ali with wonder. “Eh? You mean? ”
But Ali waved his hand. “Please close the balcony door before you leave my room”.
Ali closed his eyes and he could hear the movement of his brother who rose from his bed and the sound of the balcony door closed. He also heard Marshal coming out of his room on tiptoe and closing the door of his room quietly. Ali’s eyes were wide open and he could still remember his conversation with Marshal. His brother seemed to fall in love at first sight with Natalie.
Ali felt his heart a little restless. Suddenly his eyes popped into a beautifully beautiful face. Long black haired bangs like a japanese doll. Ugh ... shit!
