Uti checked the complicated address Marcell had sent her. This was the third time Uti had checked it, perhaps he had seen it wrong, perhaps Uti had been so eager that she had made the wrong move. However, even after several checks, Uti knew that she was not mistaken at all.
"This is the address, there's no mistaking it." Uti stared at the large, tall building in front of her. "This is Novan's house, where he lives."
After Uti decided, she entered the yard of the house. Next, Uti got off her motorcycle and decided to knock on the closed door.
One thing that surprised Uti was that this large house looked very quiet, as if it were uninhabited, empty, and abandoned. It was really very quiet. Usually, big houses like this have a housekeeper, a maid, or a gardener. But Uti couldn't find any of those tents there. In fact, she had knocked repeatedly on the door, calling Novan's name. But what Uti got instead was silence. Uti's arrival was greeted by an unmistakable silence.
"Is this a haunted house or what? Why is there no one there?" Uti chuckled softly, a bit annoyed, actually. She was so tired, not to mention that she almost ran over a cat on the road just now. Fortunately, Uti immediately swerved while breaking impromptu. And what made Uti feel relieved was that she was fine, she survived, she didn't fall off her motorcycle, fortunately, it didn't collapse; and there were no scratches on the body of her motorcycle.
Shaking her head to shake off the incident, Uti chose to focus on what was in front of him right now. Uti knew that Novan came from a wealthy family. Although she never asked directly, Uti knew it herself. From his appearance alone, the boy already reflected that he came from a wealthy family.
And now? It was proven. Uti could tell and confirm it.
"Is Novan still sleeping or what?" Uti muttered softly, followed by an even louder knock on the door. Never mind if she was being a nuisance, Uti had held her patience longer than anyone would have guessed.
"Novan! Hello? Is anyone here?" Uti said loudly, and the girl even tried to look inside the house through the window. Unfortunately, the window was closed by a curtain, so Uti's view was blocked.
Again, Uti just let out a long, harsh sigh. "Am I not in the wrong house? But really, I checked Marcell's chat, and it's true that this is where Novan lives." In fact, Uti even checked it once more. And of course there was no change in Marcell's message.
Uti glanced around, then noticed the doorbell, which surprised her. Then, Uti carried a faint smile as she looked at the object on the wall.
"Why didn't I see it earlier?" Uti shook her head, realizing how stupid she was. Of course, rich people's houses always had doorbells.
Perhaps the sound of the doorbell was more effective in attracting the attention of whoever was inside the house. Uti pressed it three times, pausing for three seconds before she did it again.
However, what annoyed her was that she didn't get anything. Uti let out a long, tired snort that irritated her even more. Uti had no idea where Novan was, whether he was still sleeping or out and about. Or, most annoyingly, Novan was deliberately ignoring Uti.
Feeling that her head was getting dizzy, Uti sat down on the porch. She looked at the screen of her cell phone again, this time more precisely staring at a series of addresses that Marcell had typed for her.
"Is it possible that Marcell made a typo? But that's impossible, Marcell has been friends with Novan for a long time, there's no way he could have typed it wrong."
Uti quickly dismissed this absurd thought. She had tried to contact Novan again and again, and it had all ended in growing disappointment. Uti was tired, the day was getting later, and it was already nine o'clock in the morning. And now, her throat felt very dry.
If Novan appeared in front of her later, Uti would be sure to get angry with him. Novan was playing with her emotions, she was really getting too upset.
Uti would wait here, she set a time limit of one hour from now. If Novan didn't show up within that time, Uti decided she would go home, and she would rather do her own work, her own thinking, and her own work. No need to think about Novan. Leave it alone! Uti would explain everything to Mr. Hockey. Surely this assignment would be accepted even if it were done by himself. Mr. Hockey would understand.
Uti was still kind enough to give the boy time. And here Uti was, the girl sitting and waiting for time to move.
Five minutes later, nothing had changed at all. Until, after ten minutes, a taxi pulled up in front of the gate, making Uti squint her eyes. Uti stared at the taxi, until, as the seconds ticked by, she could now see it very clearly, Novan got out of the taxi and was walking towards her, no, Novan was walking into his house.
Uti immediately stood up from her seat, her gaze now fixed on Novan. Uti could see that surprise colored the boy's face. So, Uti swung her legs toward Novan.
Then, Uti arrived. Now standing half a meter away from Novan, Novan and Uti's gazes clashed.
Uti tried to extinguish her anger, which was rising like a storm ready to blow down any building.
With her hands clenched in anger, Uti asked, her voice heavy, just hissing. "Where have you been?" Uti's voice was so harsh, Novan knew it.
"I-"
"Don't you know that my patience is running out? Do you know that I've been trying to contact you since this morning, but it's all for naught?"
"Uti."
"Do you actually remember that we promised to do that damn assignment together today? Did you forget? Are you deliberately ignoring me? Or what the hell? How?"
Novan swallowed, looking at Uti, who had exploded in front of him. The girl's eyes were wide, filled with anger that was ready to spill out. And Novan knew that this would happen, he had predicted it, so he wasn't surprised. But to be sure, instead of feeling frightened by Uti's tantrum, Novan felt very guilty. It was his fault, Novan knew it. He doesn't know how many times he swallowed harshly.
"I'm really tired, what's going on? Why are you so hard to contact? Where have you been? Where's your phone? Do you know that I've sent you tons of messages? Do you know that I've called you hundreds of times? Are you deliberately ignoring me or what?"
Uti was out of control at this point. She had been holding everything in.
"Actually—"
"I'm really tired, seriously." Uti looked down as she took a deep breath, her eyes now closed tightly. The intonation in her voice had weakened. "My patience is really running out, I even asked Marcell for your home address, and you know what? I almost hit a cat when I got here, and you didn't show up. You—" Uti shook her head. Really, this was the first time she was angry at someone else, even though Novan was technically her classmate. That boy was like another person to Uti, or more precisely, still a stranger.
Uti nailed Novan's face again, "I almost want to break this group assignment, if you know, I want to make the assignment myself."
"I know I was wrong. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it." Novan wetted his lips. "You have the right to be as angry as you want, you have the right, you can just scold me all you want, your actions are not wrong. I'm the one in the wrong here, and I deserve the things you want."
"Of course I'm angry with you, I feel like I'm being played, you're so hard to contact, Novan. Meanwhile, we haven't started anything! And the others? Weeby and Marcell? Look, they're already done! Even if we haven't started anything, I'm sure our other friends have already done so. We're the only ones who still haven't touched the task. We're still at zero percent. And I want to blame you."
"Yes, I'm wrong. I'm to blame. I'm sorry, I went to my mother's grave, I haven't been there for a long time, I wanted to clean my mother's house. And I'm happy with that, but because this is very detrimental to you, I feel very guilty. I shouldn't have gone to my mother's grave, I should have chosen another time." Novan expanded his smile. "Let's start now, it will be today." Novan said confidently. "Come on, let's go inside the house first."
Even though he said that, Novan, of course, couldn't stop. He just followed his father, not knowing where his father was going. Then, when Jonas took Novan to his mother's final resting place, Novan was so happy and touched. Honestly, he hadn't seen his mother in a long time.
Novan then moved his hand, telling Uti to follow his lead. "Come on, you look really tired, let's rest for a while, you need peace. Then we can start."
Instead of following Novan's lead, Uti was frozen in place, as if her feet had just been nailed to the ground, leaving her unable to move anywhere. Uti let out a long sigh, it seemed like she was wrong, and the guilt was now choking her even more.
Why did he have to get angry with Novan like that? That was too much! Uti was overcome by anger. This was not a big problem, Uti should have been able to control his temper.
Now, Uti was the one feeling guilty. She should have been a little more patient and listened to Novan's reasoning. And what did he just say? Novan had just returned from his mother's grave, his biological mother, the mother who raised him and cared for him.
It felt so strange, so wrong, and so stupid when Uti scolded Novan like that. Uti only realized it now. Scolding Novan for coming to his mother's resting place was a big mistake, and Uti now held her breath. She swallowed repeatedly.
Uti was too angry to keep her emotions in check. Uti's gaze did not move away from Novan's retreating back. Uti knew what action she would take. Uti wanted to apologize for what happened earlier, Novan wasn't entirely at fault, and the boy's actions in ignoring Uti were unjustified, but blaming the boy also felt wrong.
Uti bit her lip, she was ashamed that she had gotten so angry with Novan earlier. Yelling so loudly in front of the boy's face, and Novan, instead of defending himself, was silent and apologized. Something made Uti dumbfounded. Novan should have fought back, defended himself, that's what Uti wanted, but Novan didn't do that. Not at all.
"Uti, why are you silent? Let's go to the house first, let's discuss the assignment now. We don't have much time."
Novan's shout brought Uti's focus back. Uti nodded briefly and took a deep breath before taking a cautious step. Uti tightened her grip on the strap of her bag.
Uti had now caught up with Novan, standing right behind him as he opened the door. Then, Novan turned around as the door swung open.
He looked at Uti, "Come in first," he said quietly.
"Hold on, my shoes." Uti was already preparing to untie her shoelaces, before Novan's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"There's no need to take them off, you can just bring them in."
But Uti chose not to obey, she didn't want to listen. She had already taken off her shoes and socks. And now, Uti was barefoot.
Novan, who saw this, did not argue. "Well, whatever you want. Let's go!"
Novan opened the door wider. Then, both of them started to enter. Uti was greeted by a wide, large, and fragrant room. Novan's house was really very luxurious, Uti was amazed and really very impressed. Uti even gawked at how nice the house was.
Uti had rarely been to a place where rich people lived like this, and even when her feet stepped into Novan's house, it felt very strange and wrong.
Novan glanced at Uti, who was looking around the living room. "It's quiet, there's no one here. Just the two of us," Novan said.
"Eh?" Uti was startled, then hastily nodded. "Yes." Then Uti's mind drifted back, it was only fitting that when she knocked on the door or rang the bell, no one paid any attention. Apparently, the house was empty.
Did that mean Novan lived alone? If his mother was dead, where was his father? For some reason, Uti was suddenly very curious about that. But there was no way she could ask him outright, Uti knew herself. Besides, it was none of her business, even though she was suddenly curious about it.
Okay, Uti's only purpose in coming here is to discuss the work that needs to be done, which is the most important thing right now. Beyond that, it wasn't important at all.
"You sit down first. I'm going to my room for a while, then I'll come back."
"Hm." Uti said yes.
Then Novan left Uti alone in the living room, the boy was climbing the stairs because his room was upstairs. Uti continued to stare at Novan until his body disappeared from her sight.
Uti then sat down, her eyes never ceasing to stare at her surroundings. The furniture in this house even looked very luxurious and elegant. Then, not long after that, Uti saw Novan come downstairs, the boy's clothes had changed.
Novan smiled as he approached Uti. And, seeing the look on his face, Uti made her swallow her own saliva. Now, guilt has undermined him.
"Novan, I'm sorry." Uti spoke softly.
And Novan was actually surprised by Uti's statement. Why was she apologizing? Novan was confused, so he took one more step, now very close to Uti.