TINA’S POV:

“Kyaaaaaahhh!!!”

Reen is screaming so loud when I finally catch her as she try to run away after she “forgot” to write my name down on the scetch book.  I tickle her belly wich is makes her screaming and laughing at the same time.  She beg me to stop and ask me to forgive her because she not only forgot, but also she run out of the paper that’s why she didn’t write my name down on her scetch book.  Where do I live now actually?  Why does a kid can simply give an excuse nowadays?

“Aunty Aom, please help Reen..!”  Reen is screaming asking for a help from her favorite aunty.  Thant’s when I finally see Aom become strange.  She’s looking at her phone with blank face.  I stop what I did to Reen and I let go of her.

“Fewhh..  Reen thinks that Reen will be dead.  Uncle, you know Reen’s power is only left 3 pile!”  Everyone’s laughing again hearing her ‘unbelievable’ words, except me and Aom.  I just rised one of my eyebrow and chuckled a little bit.  Then I see my niece walk to the kitchen and says, “Reen need to refill energy..”  I shake my head.  What a clever girl.

I walk to Aom, she remain still on her position.  I konw there’s something wrong, but I can’t read her expression now.  It’s unexplainable.

“Hey bunny, what’s wrong?  Did you hear what Reen said just now?”  I ask her.

“Huh?  Oh, yeah..  She need to refill her 3 piles power..”  She said, smiling, and put her phone to her bag.  I sit beside her, and I look into her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine..”  She said and then smiling.  I know she lies, but I don’t want to push her to tell me what’s happening.  She will tell me if she wanted to.  So I just smiling, I hold her hand and squeze it softly.

She bend down her head a bit.

“Aunty,  do you want to eat with Reen?”  My pretty princess Reen is in front of us now, I didn’t realize when she came.

“Hmm?  Sure, let’s eat together..”  Aom answer her.

“Yeaayyy!  Ma, Reen will eat with aunty Aom here..”  She shout to her mother.

“Oii!  Is that how a princess act, Reen?”  I remind her, she automatically close .  Aom smiles and move to sit next to her.  She pat her head softly, “A princess should be elegant, Reen.”  She said.

“Elegant?”

“Yes..”

“What is it?”

“To be an elegant lady, first we should sit straight.”  Reen follow her to sit straight.

“And then we should think smart.”

“Reen is smart enough, aunty..”  She said

“I know, Reen is really smart..”  Aom answer her and smilling.

“Then we should always have courage and be kind..”  Reen noods and she really pay attention to what Aom said to her.

“We have to always give our best smile..”  She’s smiling sweetly now, followed by Reen.

“Smile makes us beautiful, right aunty?”  Reen ask.

“Indeed..  And last but not least, an elegant lady or a princess never shout or raise their voice like that..”  This time Reen completely covers her face and wishpers, “I’m sorry..”  She give a peek on Aom and then smiles widely.

“Reen is a princess, so Reen will never shout again..  Aunty Aom also a princess right?”  She ask with her bunny eyes.

“Of course..  Aunty Aom is my beautiful princess.”  I said interupting them.

“Ehh??? Then what about Reen?  Reen is uncle’s princess too!”

“Is it?  I tought Reen already forgot uncle Tina..  That makes Reen not become my princess anymore..”  I said teasing her.  She frowns and I got a kick on my left leg under the table.  “Ouch!”  I scream.  Aom glares at me, I don’t know why she looks so adorable that way.

“Of course Reen is also uncle Tina’s princess.  In fact, Reen is always become uncle Tina’s number one princess..”  Reen raises her head in instant.  She smiles so wide then hugs Aom.

“Reen no need to be number one, because aunty Aom is number one.”

**********

I’m looking at my both beloved princesses eating right now.  They really enjoy feeding each other.

“Uncle Tina is hungry, can princess Reen feed me too?”  I ask her.

“No.  Reen is busy feeding aunty Aom.  Uncle should ask aunty Aom to feed you.”  She said.

“Then can big princess Aom feed me, please?”

“What’s with that ‘big’ appellation?”

“Because aunty Aom is ‘big’ and Reen is ‘small’..  Right uncle?”

“See?  Even a kid can understand what I mean..”

“Hurry feed uncle Tina, aunty..”

Aom is rolling her eyes and chuckles, she takes a spoonfull of the food and she’s about to feed me when I feel my phone vibrating.  I take it and its a message notification.  I take that spoonfull meal and then open the message.

“What are you doing?”  It’s Mean texting me.

“Eating dinner with my princess.  You?”  I reply her. 

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re feeding each other now.”

“Hahaha how did you know?  But its her who feed me exactly.”

“Nice..”

“Of course”

“How did you meet her?”

“At my workplace.”

“You love her?”

“What kind of question is that?  Of course I do.”

“Just asking.”

“Are you jealous?”

“What if I said I am?”

“Thats your problem then..”

“Okay.  I’m jealous.”

“Hahaha funny.  How’s your boyfriend?  Send my regards to him.”

“Good.  Send my ‘hi’ to your princess too.”

“Which princess?  I got two here.”

“What??  Seriously?”

“Uncle, please stop playing your phone.”  Reen is complaining now, “Why you smile by yourself?  Are you crazy?”  I grin, and type my last text to Mean.

“Hahaha just kidding.  I’ll send it to her. Hey, gtg.  My princess scolding me already because playing phone a lot.”

“Such a jealousy princess.”  She replies.

I smile and put my phone on the table.

“You look so happy just now.”  Aom look at me while ask.

“Haha its just funny.  You remember Mean, right?  She said ‘hi’ to you.”

“Hmm.. okay.”

“That’s it?”

“Then what?”

“You didn’t wanna know what we talked about?”

“Should I?”

“You know you should.”

“Nah..  No need to..”

“Are you jealous?”

“...............”

“Tell me you are.”

“In your dream.”

“Perfect.”

“Silly.”

“I know you’re jealous because you love me......”  I while singing

“What do you talking about uncle?”  Reen asking.

“Your aunty is jealous because there’s another aunty text me.”

“Do you have another aunty???”  Reen asks me in disbelieve.

“Hey!  This uncle is handsome and I can have a lot of aunties if I want.”  I smug.

“I don’t want another aunty!”  Reen said while crosing her arms on her chest, she’s frowning now.

“Hahaha, I know princess.  Your aunty is only this beautiful aunty.”  I said while holding Aom’s hand on the table.

AOM’S POV:

Mike and I have a nice and sweet relationship almost 2 years now.  He’s been a protective and loving boyfriend.  Even though he always busy, he can always makes me happy.  He never disappoint me, not until this past few months.  I don’t know what’s happening between us, but he keep breaking his promise.  I know his schedule is really strict, but he never abandoned me at all. He will always contact me everytime he has a break.  But now?  I don’t know why he sometimes looks like “rejecting” me.  He never turn off his phone before, but he did it nowadays.  He never ignore my texts before, but he often to do it now.  He always tell me if he can’t answer my phone call, but now he ignoring it without any further explanation why he did so.  And in the time I act like I don’t care, he mad at me.  What am I supposed to do?  What did he want me to do?  I can say that he’s change, can’t I?

I looked up to the night sky, there’s a bright star on it.  The only one star that shining in the dark of night.  If I was lost, I think I won’t be afraid to be alone because I can see the star and I know it will lead me to somewhere, even there’s no moon.  I turn my head and I see someone who’s driving beside me.  Tina.  She’s like that bright star.  She leads me and because of her, I never feel alone.  Is it wrong of having this kind of feelings for her?  Is it wrong to ask her to stay with me in this kind of condition I have?  Am I selfish?  I know I need her to stay with me now, but will she always be here?

“Do I really look that handsome until you can’t looked away from me?”  She said,  “You even didn’t realize that we’re arrived at your house now.  Do you want to stay like this any longer?”  She turn her head to look at me.

“Ohh..  I’m sorry.  I think I’m sleepy..”  I turn my head to hide my face from her, trying to make an excuse.  I heard her giggling, so I open the door and get out of the car.  She follows me, and she walks to me.  She looks at me and smile, that smile is really soothing me.  I like to see it.

“Is there something I should know?”

I remain silent, I don’t know what to say to her.

“I know you’re trying hard to hide something from me.  I can feel it..”

Should I, or shouldn’t I tell her about this?  Nahh..  I shouldn’t bother her with this problem I have.  I don’t want her to see me whining.

“Is it about Mike?”

I shock, but I try to hide it.  How did she know?  Okay, maybe she just guessing.

“Do you wan’t to take a walk to the park over there?”  She offer me.  I look at the park, she’s pointing on a bench there.  Well, maybe it’s okay if we spend a little time chatting there I think, so I just nod. 

She smiles and she hold my hand while we’re walking there.  I take a breath, inhaling the soothing night air, and because of her grip on my hand, I feel so calm.

We sit on the bench now, she’s still holding on my hand.  I close my eyes for a while, and take a deep breath.

“You know you can tell me anything, aren’t you?”  She said, I open my eyes and look at her.  I nod.

“Then tell me what’s bothering you this past few days..  I will be a good listener.”  She said.

I sigh, I want to tell her, but I still have no guts to do it.

“Tina, if there’s someone keep breaking their promises to you, what will you do?”  I finally ask her.

“Uhmm..  depends.”

“On what?”

“Ther reason why they keep doing it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything’s happen for a reason, right?  Then there must be something why they keep doing it.  Whether its because the condition or it’s their charactheristic.”

“Then..?”

“Well, first, you have to know is it their characteristics or habit in breaking the promise, or it might be because of something they do it?”

I stupefied,  Mike is not a type of a person who likes to break a promise he made.  But he always do it lately.  Is it means that there’s a reason why he do it?  I take out my phone, and open the messages from Mike.  I give it to her, she read it.

“It’s not the first time I had a fight with him this last few months.”

“.................”

“I don’t know why, but I feel tired.  It’s not the thing we used to do.  You know, keeping each other away for so long.”

“.................”

“I’m tired, Tina.  Sometimes I feel like I wanna give up.  But in the other side, I think I have to make it right.  Whether in a good or bad ending.”

“Do you love him?”

“Hhhh...  It’s a lie if I told you I’m not.  But it’s not like it used to be..”

“In those two feelings you have, which one is in your heart?  Do you want to give up, or you want to fix it?”  She’s looking into my eyes now.  I suddenly feel that electric shock on my body, seeing on her eyes that looking deep down into my eyes.  I don’t think I can even say a word now, its like i’m freezing, I can’t move anything.  It’s like I’m being hypnotized by the way she looks at me.

“You need to ask to your heart, Aom..  And if it said it wants to fix it,,,,,”  She paused her words and stand up from the bench.  “I’ll go away from you..”

I look at her in instant, and as she’s about to walk from the place she’s standing, I grab her hand.

“No!  I wan’t you to stay..”  She turns to me and look at my hand which is holding her hand tightly.

“If I ask you to stay with me, will you do it?”

“..................”

“If I want you to stay, will you stay with me?”  She remain silent, and it freaks me out.  I can feel my body is trembling now.  I feel hot in my eyes as tears start brim on it.

“Please..”  I don’t care anymore if she thinks I’m selfish.  I just want her to stay with me.  I feel a tear’s rooling on my cheek now as she pull my body closer to her and she hugs me.  I break my wall, I lost my defense, I cry on her shoulder.

“I need you, Tina...”  I said, and the tears keep rooling on my cheek, making her shirt wet.  I can feel her embrace tightened, she caressing my back and my hair.

“Please don’t cry..  I won’t go anywhere, I love you, Aom.”

MIKE’S POV:

I drive slowly as my car get out from the gate of the Airport.  I just landed safely in Thailand.  It’s been 2 week since the last time I text Aom.  I just want to make sure that she’s okay.  And I can’t hide like this forever, I have to face her all by myself.  Honestly I feel so coward because I keep repeating this to her.  I keep hurting her, she must be disappointed with me.  Sigh, but honestly I don’t even know what am I supposed to say to her.  I have no idea where to start to explain it.  Should I say it straight to the point?  Or should I do a lil chit chat first before?  My mind still force me to think when I don’t even realize that I’m arrived at the cafe.  I park my car and turn off the engine.  I didn’t jump out from the car excitedly like I used to do when I came to this place before.  I remain sitting on the driver seat instead.  After a while, I let out a heavy sigh again, and open the door and get out from the car.

I enter the cafe, and her presences caught my sight from the first place.  She’s standing behind the cashier machine, smiling warmly to the customer and say “Thank you” after they payed the bill.  Her smiles still plastered on her face until few second later she lift up her head and her sight caught my presence.  In a second, her warm and beautiful smile’s gone.  She’s freezing, she don’t even blink her eyes while seeing me.  Then I can see that tomboy, Tina came out from the kitchen and sees Aom’s awkwardly standing and do nothing.  She followed Aom’s sight and she saw me.  I can say her looking a lil bit shocked too.  But then they’re back on earth when hear Pita greets me.

“Mike?  What are you doing standing there?  Come in.”  Pita said and she walked to me, hug me and ask me to sit on one of the sofa there.  “I’ll call Aom.  Just a second.”  She said then she’s walk to Aom’s direction.  Not long after that I can see Aom’s walking, approaching me.  I smile, but she didn’t smile to me.

“When did you arrived?”  She ask me.

“Hi, Aom.  It’s been a while.  How are you?”  I try to make conversation with her.

“What do you want?”  She said, well, I guess my tactics didn’t work.

“I need to talk..  We need to talk..”  I said.  She’s looking on her wrist watch.

“Can you wait for around 45 minutes?  I’ll finish my shift first, let’s go outside.  I don’t wanna talk here.”  She said.

“I can do that..”

“What do you want to order?”

“Hot ginger ale please..”

“Cakes?”

“Not now..”

“I’ll be right back..”

Then she’s gone.  She’s asking me just like I’m only one of the regular customer here.  Not her boyfriend.  Se never asked me what I wan’t to drink or eat if I came, because she always served me whatever she want me to eat and drink.  But I always like it, whatever she choose is taste good.  Okay, I feel a lil bit abandoned here.  So I just sit back and wait for my ginger ale.  I was hoping that she’ll serve me my order, but unfortunately, its Tina who came and give it to me.

“Please enjoy your drink, Sir.”  She said.

“Do you like her?”  I ask.

“Excuse me?”

“I asked you, do you like her?  My girlfriend.”  I use emphasizing tone when I mention ‘My’.  She just smile.

“Who didn’t like her?  Only stupid people who didn’t.”  She paused her word for a few second,  “But it’s not what you should worry about.  Just try to fix what happened between you two.  Don’t let her suffer by herself like that.  Now if you excused me...”  She nod her head a bit, then walk away from me.

So, she knew what happened between me and Aom already?  How closed they are actually?  But she said that Aom is suffering?  I turn my head to see my princess.  She’s smiling, but somehow her smile looks different.  Its like she’s hiding something.  What did I do to her?  Is she really suffer because of me?  I let out a deep sigh, I took a sip of the ginger ale and throw my sight to the window.

**********

We’re walking in the park, remain silent, just walking side by side.  Alright, this is awkward.  So I hold her hand, but she didn’t hold me back.  I take her to a bench and assist her to sit there, beside me.

“How are you?”  I ask her again.  I really wanna know how is she all this time.

“What do you want to talk?”

“I was asking you how are you, but you didn’t answer me..”

“Is that even a question?”

“Babe.....”

“I’m breathing,  I’m alive..  Thanks for your concern.”

“Sigh..  I’m sorry.”

“You fly miles away just for asking me that?  Isn’t it a waste for you?  You can just simply reply my text or text me if you really wanna know how’s my condition, don’t you?”

“...................”

“What’s happening, Mike?  Why you treat me like this?  Are you bored with me?  Do you even love me like you used to do?”

“I love you, Aom.....”

“Then???”

“....................”

“I don’t understand you..”

“What do you want me to do?”  I ask her a really really stupid question.

“Excuse me, that should be my question to you, Mike..  What do you wan’t me to do?  Why you making me like this??  Are you bored with me?  Or you has someone else there in LA but you afraid to tell me because you feel sorry for me?? Am I just a charity case of yours???”

“Please don’t say like that..”

“Then what?!”  She burst her anger, I can see her body’s trembling.  “Don’t you know that I’m waiting for you all this time??  But what did you do to me?  Why you keep doing this to me?  Why you keep breaking your promise?  Why you.........”   I hug her,  her tears rolling on her smooth cheek already.

“I’m sorry...”  Thats all I can say.  She cries and she hits my chest.  I let her do it, at least until she feels better.  Oh God, what a jerk am I to her?  How can I hurt her so bad like this?  Seeing her in this state somehow makes me hurt too.  I’m sorry Aom, I didn’t treat you good.  I don’t know what am I supposed to do now.  This is not what I want.  I shouldn’t hurt her more.  But, I don’t think I can tell her the truth too.

She let go of my embrace after a while.  I wipe her tears with my hankie, she look so weak.

“Listen, lets go home.  You need some rest, I’ll tell aunty Nan to prepare us dinner.”  I said to her when she wipe her eyes with my hankie.  She shakes her head and lift up her head to see me with her swollen and teary eyes.  “Just take me to my house, please.  I just wanna be alone tonight.”

**********

Its 8.15pm when I arrived at my mansion.  I just drop Aom to her house.  I tried to persuade her just now,  but she insist to go back home.  She even refuse me when I said I wanna take her to dinner before sent her home, which is means really bad, because how angry she was before, she never refuse me if I ask her to go dinner.  God, I knew I screwed up.  I can’t tell her what’s happening, but I can’t let her go too, and I won’t do it.  She needs me.  I guess I need to think what I should do after this.

I just enter my room when I feel my phone vibrating.  I take it fast from my pocket because I think it must be Aom who text me, but I was wrong.  Its Sarah.  I open the message and read it.

“My parents figured out my condition.  They’re talking with your parents now downstairs.  I’m in my room, mom said I need to rest and not thinking much about anything,  It will affect the health of her ‘grandchild’.  I’m sorry.”

Oh God, another huge slap just hit my face.  I really screwed up.  I reply her text.

“They figured it out?  Then how?”

“I heard they will arrange our marriage a.s.a.p.  Mike, I’m sorry if I sound so selfish, but I wanna give birth on this baby..  I think it will need its father too..  Please do finish your things there with her, and come back to me.  I need you.”

MEAN’S POV:

I’m sitting alone, watching a little girl playing hide and seek at the garden while sipping a cup of hot ginger tea.  I’m waiting for someone to come, she said she’s on the way now.  I don’t know why I feel so nervous right now.  It’s like I’m waiting for something really important to be happen.  Well, it is important. I mean, she is important.  I’m still busy with my own thinking when I heard a little girl sound screaming.

“Uncle Tina!”  I turn my head to outside.  That’s when I saw someone who’s I’ve been waiting for finally come.  Yes, Tina.  I text her a while ago and ask her to meet me up.  Surpricingly she said yes, and invite me to come to her parent’s restaurant.  I still remember this place, so I just agree and excitedly prepare myself to come.  Now I can see how Tina become so happy when she’s holding the little girl in her arms.  Who is that little girl actually?  I don’t remember that I ever met her before.

Tina’s walking inside the restaurant with the little girl still in her embrace.  I stand up from my seat so that sh