CHAPTER 53: FAREWELL AND THE APPEARANCE OF A TERRIFYING MESSAGE

The T-junction Kartini XIII Dalam St. At 12:51.

They stopped at the T-junction on Kartini XIII Dalam St. It wasn’t very busy, with only adults on their lunch break.

"Why are we stopping here?" asked Julian, still sitting in the front seat.

"The reason I stopped—because I saw a Laundry shop that dries in 15 minutes" replied Lavendina, still sitting in the back seat.

"And Don’t worry, I’ll treat you" Lavendina continued confidently.

"N-no need, my mom will only get more suspicious—because she saw my sleeve is torn but my uniform is clean" Julian said nervously.

"But, if your uniform is clean... your mom will only ask about the torn sleeve" Lavendina said, her expression looking confused.

Hearing that, Julian was at a loss for another excuse.

"N-never mind, I just don’t want to bother you..." Julian said nervously.

"I just want to get to bed quickly..." Julian thought to himself with a flat expression, but in reality, he was still smiling at Lavendina.

"...Besides, we’ll be in front of my alley soon" Julian continued, smiling and bowing.

Lavendina’s expression immediately turned to disappointment upon hearing that.

"Sigh... I wanted to treat you for daring to speculate..." Lavendina said, disappointed.

"Haha... Thanks for the offer, but I’d hate to bother you..." Julian said, smiling politely at Lavendina.

"... Besides, lunchtime will be over soon, right?" Julian asked politely.

Lavendina nodded with expressions disappointed—her lips were pouting. Seeing Lavendina disappointed made Julian feel guilty.

"I-I don’t know why, but I feel guilty..." Julian thought to himself, staring flat at Lavendina.

Julian was actually trying to find an excuse, but Lavendina had already sighed.

"Sigh... Okay, maybe next time I’ll treat you" Lavendina said with a smile, though she still felt disappointed.

"Phew~... Thank goodness~" Julian thought to himself, breathing a sigh of relief.

Julian straightened up.

"Okay, I’ll gladly accept" Julian said, smiling at Lavendina.

Lavendina took a deep breath, controlled her emotions, and then said.

"Yoshh! Let’s ride again!" Lavendina said enthusiastically.

"Okay!" Julian replied enthusiastically.

When they reached the T-junction on Dwiwarna Raya St., Julian parked his bike and dismounted—while Lavendina had already dismounted when Julian stopped his.

"Okay, we’re here... Thanks for the ride, hihi" Julian said with a chuckle.

"Hahaha, what are you talking about? You’re the one driving the bike" Lavendina said with a chuckle.

"But, this is your bike, and you offered me a ride" Julian said gently.

"Never mind, the important thing is that we’ve reached our destination, hihi" Lavendina said with a chuckle.

Julian chuckled along, but soon his expression suddenly turned serious. Lavendina, noticing the change in Julian’s expression, fell silent.

"What’s wrong, Julian?" Lavendina asked, tilting her head to the right with a confused expression.

"Sis Lavendina... I’m starting to worry that the person who attacked me earlier was really a member of the Khitam gang" Julian replied, his expression looked serious.

"Like Lia said, relax because we’ll investigate first" Lavendina said, trying to calm Julian.

Julian turned his gaze to the right, his expression now changing to one of worry.

"But..." Julian said.

Lavendina approached Julian, then gently held his right cheek with her right hand. Julian was a little surprised when he saw Lavendina’s hand touching his cheek. The touch was soft—warm—and somehow calmed his mind.

"Listen, Julian..." Lavendina said softly.

Julian slowly glanced at Lavendina.

"... First, I want to apologize—because Lady Anindya brought you into her troubles. Then secondly, you can rest assured, if we already know who the perpetrators are, we will all immediately go to the location of those bastards" Lavendina continued gently.

Julian was immediately impressed, his previously anxious feelings now calming down. Julian closed his eyes and gently removed Lavendina’s right hand from his cheek. He opened his eyes and said,

"Thank you, Sis Lavendina... I feel calmer now" Julian replied with a smile.

Lavendina was pleased with Julian’s response. After that, they parted ways.

"Okay, we’ll part ways here" Lavendina said gently.

"Yes, once again, I wanted to say—thank you for the ride" Julian said with a cheerful smile.

Lavendina smiled, approaching Julian while taking her phone out of her skirt pocket. She then put her arm around his right arm. Lavendina tilted her phone upwards, opened the camera app, and the two of them took a picture—Lavendina smiled, while Julian stared at her awkwardly.

After that, Lavendina moved away from Julian.

"W-what are you doing?" Julian asked, confused.

"Just for memories, hehe~" Lavendina said with a chuckle.

"Haa... okay, then I’ll take my leave" Julian said resignedly, scratching the back of his head with his right hand.

"See you~" Julian said with a smile and waved his right hand.

"See you~" Lavendina replied with a smile and waved her right hand.

Julian turned around and started walking. After only two steps, Lavendina suddenly screamed.

"Ah... wait a minute!" Lavendina shouted, trying to stop Julian.

Julian stopped walking and looked at Lavendina.

"What’s wrong?" Julian asked.

"Please keep it a secret from Lady Anindya that you were giving me a ride, okay?" Lavendina asked, her palms pressed together, her right eye closed, and a smile visible.

"What’s wrong?" Julian asked.

Lavendina changed her demeanor to a limp one.

"You know... she could kill me, if she know me riding with you" Lavendina replied weakly, her expression tinged with sadness.

"A-ahh... you’re right..." Julian said with a worried expression.

The atmosphere grew quiet—because of the conversation, but Julian quickly changed his expression and broke the silence.

"Alright! I’ll keep it a secret!" Julian said enthusiastically.

At that, Lavendina, who had been feeling weak, turned happy.

"Aha!... thank you so much!" Lavendina said, smiling happily.

After that, they parted ways. When Julian arrived at his front gate, he didn’t open it because his phone suddenly vibrated. Julian took his phone out of his pocket, turned it on, and saw a WhatsApp notification—it was from Anindya.

"W-what’s!? S-she texted me 50 times!?" Julian said, shocked to see the number of messages Anindya had sent him.

Julian looked at the last message he sent, which simply read, ’JULIAN WHERE ARE YOU NOW!!!???’ The message was in full caps lock. With trembling hands, he opened Anindya’s chat. With wide eyes, he began to scrollup and read the message slowly.

The first scroll, from sentence 50 to 5, read:

"JULIAN WHERE ARE YOU NOW!!!???"

But Julian’s fear subsided after seeing sentences 1 through 4—containing Anindya’s concerns about the wound on his left arm, such as

"REMEMBER, GET HOME IMMEDIATELY AND REST!,"

"DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR PHONE!,"

"DON’T PLAY ANY GAMES EITHER!,"

"AND DON’T FORGET TO EAT HEALTHY FOOD!"

Sentences 1 through 4 made Julian feel warm because Anindya was worried about him, and he smiled at them. But what really scared him were sentences 5 through 50—sent at 12:37-12:47.

"W-what the hell happened? What made her angry?" Julian muttered with a slightly worried expression.

As he muttered this, Julian noticed Anindya’s status—which showed her composing a new message. After waiting for two minutes, the message was finally sent, and it read:

"WHERE ARE YOU, HUH?! I SAW YOUR WHATSAPP STATUS ONLINE SINCE 12:37!!!"

Julian froze, his eyes glued to the phone screen—which now displayed Anindya’s latest message. The capitalized sentence felt like a scream piercing his ears, even though it was only text. His breath hitched. He could feel his heartbeat racing.

~To be continued~