“Praak..! Praang..!”
The sound of broken plates coming from the kitchen where there was a plate and glass rack, I stopped for a moment to feed and chew the rice in my mouth.
“Wow..! What happened in the kitchen? It seems like the sound of the broken plates was not because they fell but were slammed?” I muttered to myself.
I, who was still at the dining table not far from the kitchen, felt curious, because earlier the only one in the kitchen was Mrs. Asih, a maid in my uncle’s luxurious house.
“It’s nice to eat and drink in this house for free! Does she think living in the city is easy!” a woman’s voice was heard grumbling and it was not Mrs. Asih but Aunt Dewi’s voice.
I, who had intended to stand up and go to the kitchen to see what was happening, suddenly changed my mind. My appetite suddenly disappeared and I finished my lunch, then went to the terrace and sat on one of the chairs there.
“I feel uneasy, Aunt Dewi’s anger earlier was definitely not directed at Mrs. Asih, because I was the only one having lunch at that time,” I muttered to myself while staring blankly at the yard.
I felt increasingly uncomfortable sitting on the terrace for a long time, until I decided to go to my room which was upstairs. When I arrived in my room, I lay down on the bed hoping that the uncomfortable feeling would go away.
But after lying down for a while and even closing my eyes, the uneasy feeling still crept into my heart until I decided to get up and sit on my bed.
“I’m sure Aunt Dewi’s anger earlier was directed at me, because since I came and lived here, Aunt Dewi often shows her cynical attitude when passing each other or sitting together in this house,” I said to myself in my room.
“But why is Aunt Dewi’s attitude only seen when Uncle Ramlan isn’t home? Or is Aunt Dewi really afraid of my uncle that she shows her cynical attitude every time Uncle Ramlan isn’t there? Ah, what should I do to deal with Aunt Dewi’s attitude towards me?” My head became dizzy thinking about the incident of Aunt Dewi getting angry in the kitchen earlier, until I lay down again hoping to close my eyes and calm my mind.
The next day after school, as usual after changing into my school uniform in the room, I went straight downstairs and headed to the dining table for lunch. Before sitting on one of the chairs between the dining table, I took the time to look around the room to the kitchen.
After I didn’t see the figure I wanted to find out about looking around the dining table, I sat down and opened the cover of the food menu on the table.
“Gosh..!”
I was shocked when I saw on the dining table there was only a plate of rice mixed with crust that had been squeezed so much that the rice and crust could no longer be separated, then near the plate there was a little chili sauce without side dishes placed on a small plate.
I really wanted to meet Mrs. Asih who I saw earlier in the back room, to ask why there was only a plate of rice mixed with crust and a little chili sauce without side dishes on the small plate on the dining table, but I decided against it because I didn’t want to make the situation worse.
I sat down and looked at the plate of rice mixed with crust and a little chili sauce, because my stomach had been hungry since earlier, so I finally ate it. When I ate a few mouthfuls of rice mixed with crust, suddenly my heart felt sad and my eyes immediately filled with tears.
“This is the first time I eat rice crust with a little bit of this chili sauce, no matter how hard it was in the village living with my parents, I have never experienced anything like this. Even if there are no side dishes and only eat with chili sauce and boiled vegetables, the rice is never mixed with crust like this,” I muttered in between chewing the rice crust so that my hunger would soon disappear and I could stop eating.
I finished lunch when the hunger in my stomach began to subside, I then stood up and decided to go straight upstairs where my room was.
When I was almost at the stairs, I suddenly bumped into Mrs. Asih.
“Ryan,” said Mrs. Asih.
“Yes, Ma’am, what’s up?” I asked.
“You were asked to meet the Madam outside on the right side of the house,” answered Mrs. Asih.
“Okay, Ma’am, I’ll go there now,” I said, even though I felt uneasy but I dared myself to meet Aunt Dewi next to the house that Mrs. Asih had mentioned, there I saw Aunt Dewi standing with her hands on her hips while looking towards the gutter on the right side across the fence of the luxurious house.
“What’s wrong, Auntie?” I greeted when I was standing next to Aunt Dewi.
“So easy, huh, being you! Going to school and getting pocket money! After school, eating, then sleeping in the room!” Aunt Dewi exclaimed in a sharp tone, I just lowered my head hearing her words.
“There’s nothing free in this city! Everyone has to work hard to get money to eat! Well, because your uncle gave you pocket money this morning, now you have to pay by cleaning the gutter along the yard of this house!” Aunt Dewi said with a sharp gaze full of hatred.
“Okay, Auntie, I’ll clean this gutter right now.” I said while pointing to the gutter that Aunt Dewi meant, then I looked for tools like a hoe that were in the warehouse behind the luxurious house.
“You’re so shameless! It’s nice to live in this house for free! You’re given snacks again!” Aunt Dewi grumbled while stepping into the house, it was clearly heard by me because Aunt Dewi grumbled loudly.
“Bruuuuuk…!”
When I was about to step into the warehouse, I was surprised to hear a sound from inside the house…