Aji was still stuck in his room, trying on all his clothes. The yellow ones, green ones, white ones… all of them. Going back and forth to the mirror. And now, with the blue checkered shirt, he didn’t even recognize himself in the mirror. Who is that? He thought it was ridiculous. Because it looked different. So cool! Meanwhile, Lupus, who was annoyed waiting outside for so long, couldn’t wait and peeked his head through the window. And he was dumbfounded seeing Aji not blinking, admiring himself in the mirror.
“Dude… you’re just staring at yourself like a clown in the mirror. It took you so long, I’ve been waiting!” Lupus cursed.
“Annoying. Almost done here. Jealous if I look cool?”
“Hurry up, we need to leave. We have to go to Hai first to borrow a small tip.”
Aji nodded and quickly grabbed his camera. He had an appointment with Lupus to interview a rising singer. So cool. That’s why both Aji and Lupus were really taking care of their appearance. They didn’t want to disappoint.
After taking out his slightly expired pickup, Aji and Lupus headed straight to the Hai office. They handed their identification cards to the cool receptionist and went straight to the third floor. The atmosphere there was still the same. Busy. Some were doing morning exercises, while others were struggling to find inspiration. All the members were present, except for a few who were forcefully kidnapped to work on a new magazine.
Lupus went straight to his seat. And there, he almost stepped on little Tia who was busy flipping through magazines on the floor. Damn, this kid is really tiny. Especially when she’s squatting like that, almost disappearing behind the pile of magazines. Her father was so mean, making her work at such a young age. But if you tease her like that, she gets angry and immediately pulls out her ID card. Everywhere she goes, including when she wants to watch movies for ages 17 and above, she always brings her ID card. So that people believe that she’s already quite old. Because she’s often denied entry to the cinema, not allowed to watch movies for adults. Instead, she’s told to go home, wash her feet, and go straight to bed.
But there’s a perk, she’s really resourceful when going anywhere. She can stand without bending even when the minibus is crowded, she can easily sneak under a table when playing hide and seek, and so on. And wherever she goes, she always brings food and a plastic thermos for drinking. Just like a kindergarten kid. But she’s a good person. She likes to share food with others. Especially if you jokingly compliment her like this, “Hey, you’ve gotten taller, huh…” Oh, you’ll immediately be given chocolate. Try it. But she’s most afraid of sitting at a table. Because once she was sitting comfortably, someone tried to buy her. They thought she was a decorative doll. It was so funny.
Yeah, that’s a little story about little Tia. Just to give you an idea, so you can imagine that she’s actually bigger than your big toe.
After preparing everything needed, including getting free movies from Mbak Sri, Lupus slonong boy went off. And he briefly stopped by Mas Wendo’s desk, who has been missing lately, who knows where. His desk looked as usual. Messy. Competing with his hair. And Lupus visiting his desk wasn’t because he missed him, it’s been a while since he saw his boss, but because there was a bag of fried tofu on his desk. Maybe he could snag some, you know.
“Hey, Mas, long time no see. Busy taking care of TV dramas, huh?” Lupus sweetly greeted, while his hand sneaked into the bag of tofu. Mas Wendo has been active on television lately. Teaching little kids how to write poems in a pretentious serious style, making scripts for some TV series. Like ACI. But the difference is, he’s more humble than Michael Landon – who is also known for his TV series. Mas Wendo is more than happy to just be the school bell ringer…. hehehe. (Hey, don’t tell him, he might get mad…, or maybe he’ll like it?)
“Who are you going to interview, Lup?”
“Oh… a weightlifter,” Lupus casually answered. Because if he honestly admitted that he wanted to interview a cool singer, Mas Wendo would insist on joining. It would be a hassle to handle later.
Lupus immediately left. The result of his visit to his boss’s desk was pretty good. He managed to grab some fried tofu and other light snacks to fill his stomach. And down below, when he just left the office complex, he bumped into Gun Saratoga. The young photographer from Hai who was snapping cool school kids from his racing bike. He’s really into young leaves. He even dates a junior high school girl. And his talent for snapping pictures has been evident since he was young. At the age of 10, he was already snapping dragonflies with rubber bands; then at the age of 15, he upgraded to snapping mangoes with slingshots. And now, he can proudly snap pictures with a real camera.
That’s Gun. After hanging out (not promoting, though!) with him for a while, Lupus and Aji zoomed off to the artist’s house. It was quite far. Outskirts of town. Kinda rural.
And now Lupus and Aji were standing in front of a tall gate. The house looked so big. And on the front gate, it said ‘Beware of aggressive dogs; don’t stand near the gate!’ Lupus immediately jumped back. He’s the most scared of dogs. That’s why he never dares to jog in his housing complex in the morning. Too many dogs. Because he’s skinny. Dogs think he’s bones.
“You go in, Ji!” Lupus commanded.
“No way. Am I the sacrifice? Let’s just ring the bell. Can’t be that there’s no bell, right?”
“Yeah. Besides, there might not even be a dog. Maybe just trying to scare us!”
Finally, after saying Bismillah, they pressed the hidden bell behind the climbing plants on the gate. They heard a dog barking from behind the gate. Lupus immediately jumped back.
“Calm down, Pus. A journalist being such a scaredy-cat?” teased Aji.
A few moments later, a head appeared from the tall gate.
“Hey, kid, what are you doing there? Wanna play with the bell?” he barked angrily.
Lupus was annoyed at being accused of playing with the bell.
“I’m a journalist, you know! I want to meet Evita Fanny. The singer artist. Isn’t this her house? And this is my friend Aji. He’s a professional photographer!” Lupus replied loudly. The person looked at Lupus from head to toe. Seemed skeptical. Also about Aji being a professional photographer. He was suspicious. How come a photographer only brought a fully automatic camera? One click and it’s done, without changing the distance, aperture, etc. Well, something must be fishy.
“Evita is out! She’s always busy. Come back another time!”
“Oh, that’s a lie! I already made an appointment with her over the phone. And she’s at home!” Lupus lied. Because honestly, he didn’t know Evita’s phone number. But he was sure Evita must be there. He’s used to being lied to like that. It’s common, rising stars tend to act all high and mighty. But journalists are important, you know, for boosting their careers.
“But she’s about to leave. She has a recording session at the studio!”
“That guy is at it again.”
“Do you know what we have in common?” Lupus retorted.
“What is it?”
“We’re both liars. That’s why liars like us shouldn’t lie to each other!”
“Damn, so you’re a liar too? You definitely aren’t a journalist! Why do you still look so young? Where’s your press card?”
Lupus immediately reached into his pocket. But… oh, God! The card was actually left on his desk at the office. What a stroke of bad luck!
“Oh, I forgot to bring it. But I swear I’m a journalist!”
The person smirked.
“Well, kids, if you just want an autograph, send a letter. Now you can go home…” he replied and disappeared behind the gate.
Lupus quickly shouted, “Hey, wait! I really am a journalist, I swear! If you don’t believe me, just call Hai magazine. Seriously!!”
But the person had already vanished. Leaving Lupus and Aji staring at each other.
