I'M (Not) A Spy

3. The Realy truth

"Thank you, Mrs. Bariyah." Yes, the seller's name is Bariyah.  The seller of the moor stall that Jihan subscribed to. Not only is it delicious, but Mrs. Bariyah is also good.  He often gives food to Jihan, if there is still leftovers.  Of course, the food is still decent.

"You know the address?"  Damian asked.  Jihan exhaled a long breath, because Damian was so fussy. 

***Meyyis***

"Someone gave me this." Damian handed the woman a piece of paper.

"Okay, I'll accompany you. I don't need that.  Already know her home, Grandma Pohan." The woman walked ahead of Damian, so that Damian also followed her from behind.

"Where are you going?"  Damian asked.  The man continued to tail Jihan, who walked fast like a shore crab.  Jihan exhaled a long breath. The woman rolled her eyes. The girl stopped, so Damian hit her back. 

"Please, I have to give the rice to my younger siblings first.  Don't worry, I won't break my promise. I'll accompany you."  Jihan walked over, Damian still followed him.

"You're just  here. I'll be  here later." Damian frowned.  He thought, if Jihan would lie to him.  He didn't believe in  the woman.

"No! I have to come with you. You  will definitely run away again." The woman  turned to Damian and shone her eyes sharply.

"I'm not a con artist.  Okay, it's up to you. You are always deceptive!"  Jihan chanted his last sentence.

"What?"  Jihan just straightened his shoulders.

Peace followed  the  woman from behind.  The man frowned, as they went down the small passages.  Sometimes  it was muddy, so Damian had to tiptoe.   The two had already come to the small alleys  and arrived at the slums.

"I told you you were waiting in front of her stall, Mrs. Bariyah.  Although you said you are not a rich man, but you still look clean and well-maintained. You must be a new poor man." Damian swallowed his hard-earned saliva.  Don't let the disguise be exposed, or all will be messed up.

They came to the  riverbank. The woman  lives on the riverbank  right in the burial area. "You live here?"  Damian asked.  He couldn't believe that the burial grounds would be home. 

"yes, so what? Here  also pay, instead of free. Which kind of person do you know?" Damian just  scratched his head, he looked confused.  In fact, the area is not worth living in.

The woman opened the door of her house.  The house is really uninhabitable.   The house is made of cardboard and some plastic as a  coating. One blow from  rainwater alone, can dull the walls. By swallowing his saliva very hard, Damian tried to save his concern.

After the door was opened, there were five  children there.  They pulled the girl's hand  to enter the house. "Don't have  such  a face? I don't need to be pitied." Damian just  kept silent, not daring to comment.  Jihan pulled her out of the house, her sister didn't make any comments either.  Jihan walked out of that door, after his five younger siblings had eaten rice.  He was still carrying a pack.

"Your sister has five, why do you only buy three?" Damian couldn't help asking.

"I  can only afford three packs of food today. Then why?"  Jihan lifted the package and gave it to Damian. The woman knew, if it had stopped  the man from eating just now. 

Damian closed his eyes. The woman  is indeed very different.  Although he has always been arogant, but his heart is noble. "Give it to your sister, we will buy the rest again. You haven't  eaten' either, right?" Damian told Jihan to  give the package  to the younger brother.

"You don't have to buy it anymore.  Thank you." The woman     re-entered  the cardboard house. Damian paced back and forth, he was confused about wanting to help the girl but didn't know how not to  get caught?   He has a reliable assistant,  inwardly has the  impulse not to expose his identity to the girl, but on  the  other hand he wants to help her immediately.

"For a while, leave it like this." Damian  took a deep breath.  He recalled, sleeping comfortably on  a soft mattress and eating full with a menu of choices.  The man  closed his eay’s. He will let the girl share the food with her younger siblings for the time being.  Later, we will think about the next step of how to help him.

"Is it done?" Damian turned his head, when the girl came over.

"Already, we can go to grandma's house." Damian nodded.

"Your younger siblings go to school?"  Damian asked.  Jihan laughed wryly. The woman  did not answer  Damian's  question, but it should have been an impossible question not born from her mouth.  Let alone for school, just to breathe is very difficult.  Although it is said that  the school is free, but in practice it is not as it  is said.  It takes a uniform to be able to sit in  school.  In addition, dues in  the name of school dues. Not turning a blind eye, all of that is prevalent in  educational environments. There is a Javanese saying  "Jer basuki mawa bea" who wants to be  noble must be willing to spend money.

Jihan reached into the pocket of  the jeans jacket.  He issued a  two-bill bill with a picture of a female dancer of Gambyong, a typical dance from Central  Java. The money  has a nominal value of five thousand rupiah.

"That's you have money?  How much?" Damian asked the nominal of the fractional money taken out of the pocket  of  the woman's jacket.  Jihan did not answer. The woman just  showed it.

"Today, I only have ten thousand dollars left.  Tomorrow too I get the  money again. I'll pay off. This is enough to take  our angkot to Bantar Gabang.  Go home, you pay for it yourself. I'll stop the freight truck." Damian  was again sliced through reality. The woman, had already entered  into his mind. No, not the  woman but her suffering. If  the ten thousand money  he used to pay for  the city transportation, what about the dinner of his five younger siblings and himself?

"You haven't eaten yet'?  That's to just buy food.  Let today I pay.  Take it easy, I'm just lending, not free." Damian tried to negotiate. The woman  has a high self-esteem.   He will never receive asylum or compensation from anyone. If he hadn't taken care of his self-esteem,  his  five younger siblings would have  ended up in the  orphanage.

"yes, I know. You loan shark!" The girl walked in front of Damian.

"Wait!"   Damian shouted.

"What else is there, anyway?"   Jihan said.

"I  don't know yet, what's your name?"  Jihan sharpened his gaze.  Even though there have been several times that Mrs. Bariyah and also her neighbors have crossed paths and greeted her, but....

"What do you know my name for? You already know my house, there's no need to know my name either', right?"  Jihan walked again, but this time he walked back.

"What if you run away?"  Jihan turned around, he walked forward as it should be. 

"Where can I escape  ? I'm not a  conch that just needs a new shell."   Jihan tiptoed,  the woman  really likes to  touch the  things she encounters. Damian is like remembering someone. 

"That style?"   Damian's inner. Damian slammed his mind away. "No way."  

 "i'm hard to say your name the girl still just went from there

"Hey, Jihan!"  shouted a man carrying a  cart full of things. It seems, it is  the garbage collected.

"Hey, Mr. Sardi.  Have you gone home?"  Jihan paused slightly, helping  the man push the  cart into the   location of his house.

"Already,  where are you going  ?"  the  man asked  after they had successfully landed the cart.

"Get used to it, sir."  Such is  the interaction of the two people. Damian just smiled inline and nodded his head, a sign of respect for the person.  The two had come to a  big road after  traveling a few meters through the narrow alleys.

"Hi taxi, taxi...." The taxi stopped right in front of them. However, Jihan lowered his head and apologized  begging for  the taxi driver to  leave.