I woke up to the noisy child playing. I just woke up when the sun hit me. When I sat down, I saw I was asleep and Hugo was gone. The other children looked at me as if they had only seen a person for the first time. The smallest of them smiled, while a few giggled as I smiled back. I looked around and saw that many people were awake and walking around.
Hugo and I fell asleep in the back of the car because the rain stopped and we continued talking. My eyes glimpsed the man cutting wood. Hugo with no clothes while his body was sweating. I stared at his sweaty abs. He just continued to break some woods while some elders are talking to him.
“Sister, your saliva is already dripping staring at the handsome brother out there.” The biggest of them spoke who has semi-bald hair. I laughed at what he said because I would salivate at that view! Even if I look at it all day, go ahead! Not boring! I looked under his pants.
I quickly averted my face because of worldly thinking! It’s just morning, Adele! What is in your mind! I was busy removing the demon Adele from my body when the boy suddenly touched me. The semi-bald. Since I didn’t want to call him semi-bald, I asked his name.
“What’s your name?” When I asked, he turned his back to check if he was the one I was talking to. The children with him leave one by one to join the others playing.
“Chris.”
“Chris. Why are you here?” I asked again. It was awkward to see that they were looking at me while I was asleep. And one more thing. Why didn’t Hugo wake me up? It’s embarrassing for me to people see me sleeping here. They might think I don’t like the hut they prepared for us.
“Nothing. I can’t play, so I just look at other people. Sometimes, I go for a walk. I enjoy picking fruit in the forest too. It’s hard to find now, I don’t know why the fruit tree stopped bearing fruit.”
At the length of what he said, I was glad. I’m so happy that he can talk to me freely and comfortably. But while listening to him, I thought about what he said he can’t play.
“Why? Does your mother won’t let you?” My eyes became sad for him.
“Yes. But not in the way she doesn’t want to. She just doesn’t want me to get sick.” Now he has shown a robot made of wood. I was amazed at how he did that. As I watched him play that, he continued. “When I’m tired from playing or running, I am short of air. Sometimes I can’t breathe. When we went to the city to get a checkup, they said I had asthma. They said it would make it hard for you to breathe.”
‘Why didn’t you get treated?’ I looked at him with pitying eyes but I was afraid to ask that because that was the reason we came here; to give them support and look after them. I also looked at other children who were thin. Is this province even worse than I think?
The boy remained standing in front of me when suddenly someone had put his big arms around his shoulder. I look at Hugo. His hair is wet now. It looks like he just finish and had directly washed. I was embarrassed to look at him because of what I told him last night. I look like surpassing the drunk man, but I don’t regret saying that. I didn’t speak, so he is the one who talks.
“Are you hungry already?” He just looked at me while I didn’t look at him directly. My heart was beating fast. The butterflies were playing inside again. They are happy again.
I nodded. I don’t know if I ate last night, but I feel like I’m hungry. In the sky’s color, it looks like it’s already noon. Did I sleep that long?
“Alright.” That’s all he said and left. What? What am I going to do here? I would have stood up to follow him, but I couldn’t because the boy spoke again.
“He’s going to get food. Early in the morning, I saw him catching fish. He also caught crabs and other seafood. Maybe he’ll take it for you.” He continued to play with his robot. I wondered why Hugo was so knowledgeable about such things when he grew up with a gold spoon.
I immediately smelled the food that Hugo was carrying in both his hands. He laid it in front of me. When he is done putting them, he pinched my nose. Even fireflies have fun playing with butterflies. He went back again.
I looked back at the child. “Have you eaten yet? Come and join me.” I brought a plate full of shrimp in front of him, but he put it back.
“We’re done eating. The handsome older brother brought a lot earlier, so we ate a lot. Can I go up there?” His question surprised me and laughed. Why didn’t I think of inviting him to sit down earlier? He probably needs it. And one more thing, we don’t have the supplies to give them yet so I don’t have anything to do yet. It’s just a good thing and I enjoy talking to him.
“I’m sorry. Go up here.” I was still laughing as I started to eat what Hugo had brought. When Hugo returned, he was carrying a coconut, a wooden straw was also stuck in it. He handed it to me and never told me he saw leaving. I saw him go straight to the wood he was chopping earlier.
“What is your relationship to, handsome brother? I noticed earlier that when you were asleep, he was peeking at you. He was watching to see if you were awake.” Chris said that as if nothing.
If for the child, that gesture doesn’t have any meaning; for us who are in love, it’s too much.
“My future husband.”