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It had been a couple of weeks since the fight at the rooftop had happened, and despite having hundreds of questions in his head (that Ridwan Bahri—the senate member, wouldn’t and couldn’t answer), Sancaka had to carry on with his life just like nothing had happened.
After a while, everything had gone back to normal. The market was being rebuilt, Sancaka still had trouble sleeping, Wulan still gave him a stink eye whenever he asked her why she wore a skirt, and Teddy was still Teddy. The only difference was that he had a brand new job and Ridwan Bahri got him a new suit that didn’t stick between his butt (“Rasanya kaya nggak pakai baju, Pak,” was what Sancaka had told him when he wore it to the first time, and Ridwan Bahri only rolled his eyes).
Also, he got used to Wulan barging into his room, dragging Teddy by the arm and just dropped him off there without saying a word. Sometimes Sancaka would wake up to find Teddy—already in his room, sitting on the chair, staring at him intently, and Wulan was no where to be found. Sancaka did give her a spare key to his room, in case of emergencies like thugs attacking or other scenarios, but babysitting was never what he had in mind.
“Mbak Wulan harus ke pasar pagi-pagi,” Teddy said, his eyes still glued on to the old radio Sancaka had fixed, “Kata Mbak Wulan, kalau Bang Sancaka udah bangun, suruh ke pasar juga.” Sancaka only wiped his sweaty face with the red towel slash blanket and nodded. He was still tired from chasing some thugs last night, but he knew Wulan would be furious if he disobeyed her order. Teddy would definitely turn on him by telling Wulan if he ignored and went to sleep again anyway, that’s Teddy for you.
“Aku mandi dulu entar kuanter kamu ke pasar,” he said, sleepily.
“Mandi sama nggak, Bang Sancaka nggak ada bedanya kok.”
Kurang ajar.
It wasn’t hard to find Wulan amidst the crowd. Her deafening voice was more than enough of a clue to find her. And true, they easily found her yelling at a thug who had accidentaly made the wrong measurement of a wood plank for one of the market sellers. Yes, after everything that had happened, apparently some of the thugs had been employed to help around rebuilding the market. Sancaka didn’t even know why, but he wouldn’t question extra helping hands, especially after Wulan kept insisting him to become a member of market protection squad or whatever. Between keeping his night job, his other night job, and that, he just didn’t have enough time.
“Lan, Wulan!” Sancaka had to practically shout to defeat all her yelling. Wulan turned her head to him, quick enough Sancaka was scared she’d snap her neck. Sancaka was hoping she would calm down now that he’d done her order and brought Teddy here, but she didn’t. In fact, she walked towards him with furrowed eye brows
Aduh, salah apa aku.
“Lama banget sih, molor mulu!” she snapped at him, but her expression softened when she looked at her brother. “Teddy udah makan?”
He answered with a shake of his head, and Sancaka could feel Wulan’s stare piercing him. “Ya udah, kamu ke warnas si Mbok yang di pojok situ, beli nasi bungkus, bilang dibayarnya sama Mbak Wulan ya?”
Teddy, like the kid he was, was too happy to hear that and left them with an eager run. “Teddy jangan lari-lari! Entar jatuh!” Wulan said, but in this crowd, Teddy couldn’t possibly hear her.
“Gimana pasar?” he opened the conversation, hoping it would take some burden off her shoulder.
She sighed, it sounded tired, and Sancaka couldn’t help but to feel sorry for her. “Ya, gitu deh, seperti yang kamu lihat, pembangunan sedang jalan,” she answered, waving her hand around, “Tapi lamban banget gila! Sumpah ya, preman-preman ini kerjanya nggak becus!” she continued, loudly, definitely on purpose because she said it with a smirk on her face. The thugs who had heard her only threw a glance before continuing with their work. Sancaka really wondered what did Ridwan Bahri pay them that they would volunteer like this.
Then again, how was he so sure that it was Ridwan Bahri who had sent them here?
Asking more questions won’t guarantee an answer, that was something he had learned, so he decided to throw it away from his head. He didn’t care anyway.
“Lumayan juga loh, belum hampir sebulan udah segini,” he said, glancing around the place. While it was true that some remains of the ash and burn marks on the building was prevalent, they had done a great job rebuilding the important parts.
“Itu sih di sini, bagian yang lain masih ancur banget, sini aku tunjukin,” she said, dragging him by the arm.
Sancaka would’ve blushed if he didn’t feel like he was a boy about to get detention from his teacher. Wulan was never one to be gentle anyway.
While Wulan was busy giving him detailed explanation about how everything should be rebuilt, a cheerful voice took them by surprise.
“Wulan, Mbak Wulan!”
It was a woman, maybe in her 50s, with a wide smile on her face. “Oh, Bu!” Wulan answered with an even more cheery tune, something Sancaka hadn’t heard for days, and it made him smile. The woman turned out to be one of the market sellers whose stand was burnt in the fire, Wulan and the others managed to salvage some of her goods, and she was ever so grateful of that. Not to mention the ongoing restoration actually helped her getting a better location for her stand.
“Mbak, buat tanda terima kasihnya, nih Mbak Wulan boleh ambil gratis!” she said, cheerful as ever.
Normal people would be estatic to hear that, and without a doubt, Wulan was too. Before she had realized what the nice lady was selling.
Undergarments.
Sancaka blushed, and without saying anything, he took a step farther away from them. What a situation.
A quick banter took place, some basic ‘Aduh ibu, nggak usah repot-repot’, followed by a ‘Loh, nggak repot kok justru saya maksa Mbak’, and another ‘Aduh nggak usah bu’, and a ‘Saya maksa nih Mbak, kalau nggak saya ngambek’ and again, and again, and again, until...
“Kan lumayan, Mbak, bisa minta bantu suaminya pilihin!” she said, smiling at Sancaka who was five feet away from the stand because he didn’t want to be an inconvinient.
Sancaka almost choked and Wulan did too.
“Eh, nggak, dia, anu...” Sancaka could swear he saw Wulan blushing.
“Hehe, Ibu ngerti kok, Ibu juga pernah muda, loh!”
“Anu, Bu, dia itu—”
“Hush, udah ayo sini Mas, bantuin Mbak Wulan pilih! Kan lumayan toh?”
“Nggak Bu, saya bukan—”
“Bantuin.”
“Hah?”
“Bantuin... Pilih...” she said, staring at him for help, with the deadliest puppy eyes Sancaka had ever seen from anyone ever. Even at her most embarassed moment, Wulan somehow was still so threatening that Sancaka had no idea how to say no. He walked slowly closer by her side, and just stared at the piling garments before him. Sure, Sancaka was a grown man, though he wasn’t familiar with this view, stil it wouldn’t deter him. Rather, it was Wulan right next to her, quietly tugging at his shirt as if saying ‘Buruan pilih satu biar kelar!’
“Buat pasangan muda, yang ini aja Mbak,” the woman said with a knowing smile, handing them a black laced bra.
“NGGAK!”
Wulan’s voice almost threw both Sancaka and the Lady off guard. Sancaka, wanting to help and save both of them from further embarassment, stared at the colorful garments. He had no idea how bras work.
“Yang ini aja,” Sancaka said, grabbing a tan color bra, tilting it so he could read the label. “32B, kan?”
“Hah?”
“Apanya hah?”
“Itu... 32B.”
“Iya, 32B, kan?”
“Kok... Kamu bisa tahu...?”
.......
Sancaka couldn’t possibly tell her that sometimes the wind would bring her laundry stuck on his window and it wasn’t in one or two occasions that it was her bra that had somehow landed there, could he?
“Ng... Anu, itu loh...” he tried to find the right words.
“Apa...?”
He shifted his eyes between the bra he was holding on to Wulan’s face, and to the bra again, and he had never wanted to run more than any moment in his life than right now.
“Aku...” he gulped, “Aku sering, nggak sengaja lihat—”
“APA?!”
It was rather awkward how they later had to explain to Teddy why Wulan was choking Sancaka with a bra.