But neither Zeraiah nor I backed down. We held our ground, locked in a silent battle of wills.
Zeraiah arched a brow at me, clearing his throat. “Forgot something, Bib?” His eyes narrowed further. “Or are you trying to cheat?”
Cocking my head, I frowned.
“I won,” he said, “that pathetic game of yours, Plants vs Zombies? The one you swore you were some expert at?” he spoke in an exaggerated tone. “Yet I still thrashed you ten times over?”
Oh… right. I’d forgotten.
Zeraiah’s smirk turned triumphant. “The winner gets the playlist for the whole week!” he declared, shoving my hand aside and quickly selecting his beloved tracks. A blast of AC/DC filled the car, “Back in Black,” and my irritation spiked as he began belting the lyrics at the top of his lungs on purpose.
And as we drove through Jakarta, the late afternoon sky stretched a brilliant blue, the city itself bearing witness to our laughter, singing, bickering, and love for one another.
« -- * -- »
Present
That was Zeraiah. It had to be him.
Even the AC/DC song blaring from the car made it undeniable, this wasn’t a hallucination but real.
Our eyes locked, wide and shimmering. Our bodies froze, as if it had hit us all at once. His striking appearance—dark blond hair and emerald-green eyes, so rare in this city—made my knees buckle, and my tears threatened to spill.
It was Zeraiah.
Truly, it was him. It was my best friend.
My stiff legs tried to move, one step closer to the car as impatient horns blasted from vehicles behind him. I walked on, gaze fixed solely on him. The cars beside us rolled forward, but he and I remained suspended in time.
Until he broke it.
His eyes wrenched away from mine, and with tense, jerky movements, he sped off and left me standing like a statue.
I spun round and stared as the weight of it rooted me in place, as his car vanished into the distance. My chest tightened, and I screamed, my voice tearing through the street as I bolted after him. “Zeraiah!”
Running along the sidewalk, I ignored the startled looks and bumped into strangers, my breath ragged. “Zer!” I kept shouting, even though I knew it was useless. By the time I reached the end of the sidewalk, the wide main road stretched ahead of me.He was gone.
I stopped, and tears streamed down my face.
I’d been discarded.Again.
My knees went weak beneath me, as if I’d just run for miles. My eyes glazed over the rushing traffic before me, empty, and trembled. “Zer…” The whisper left my lips. “It’s me… please…” I prayed that I’d see his car return.
But deep down, I knew.
They had cast me aside long ago.
Behind me, Andi called out, his voice thin and breathless. “Biba…” He caught up, chest heaving. I turned to him, my vision blurry. My voice shook, and I stumbled over my words. “I-I wasn’t imagining it, r-right, Ndi? Y-you saw him, too, didn’t you?” I knew the truth already. But I needed to hear it. “That was Z-Zeraiah, you saw him?” I pressed, desperate for confirmation.
Andi didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. The way he bit his lip and the sadness in his eyes,it clicked in my head.It was what he and Tsabinu had been talking about when I’d overheard them.
They’d known all along. And once again, they’d chosen not to tell me.
Because to them, I would always be fragile, weak, and burdensome. Especially when it came to my golden past, to the people who had once meant everything to me.
And just like in the past, Zeraiah abandoned me without a word.
19
