Porcelain Doll
1818 Words
"The number you have calling is not active, please try again in the few minutes."
Soraya stared at her phone screen desperately. After Diana refuses her invitation to go spend time with her and Kimberly who can't be reached.
"Aaagh... what should I do...?" She shouted. Soraya started to go crazy because she didn't know what to do now.
Kerry Smith only asked for 30 minutes, but for Soraya 30 minutes seemed long, when she didn't know what to do.
Soraya looked around her, she screamed like a madman earlier on the side of the road like this where there were a lot of people passing by. She should just have to wait in front of the dormitory until Kerry and her boyfriend finished talking. But somehow she managed to get near the shopping center which was a kilometer from the hostel.
"Okay, what can I do Since I'm already here, I better go somewhere and buy something." She thought. Several sketchbooks and drawing tools crossed her mind. Soraya just remembered that she needed some new drawing tools.
As her feet were about to cross across the street, Soraya saw a man wearing a black coat getting out of the car and looking like he was about to enter the antique shop in front of him.
Soraya froze, observing the familiar man. The tall man with broad shoulders, black hair and always a straight expression was none other than someone she had been thinking about a while ago.
"Mr.Robert? What is he doing here?" She muttered.
Soraya saw for herself as Robert William Stanley walked into the antique shop casually as if it was not the first time he had entered the place.
Driven by a very strong curiosity, Soraya's footsteps unknowingly led her to the yard of the antique shop.
"Geez, what am I following him like this?" She thought. Soraya blamed herself for always losing because of her high curiosity.
Not daring to enter the shop, Soraya tried to peek at the situation inside the shop through the shop window glass. She hoped that Robert didn't catch her peeking like that time.
Inside the shop, Robert was talking to a middle-aged woman wearing a black blouse who looked friendly. But what caught Soraya's attention was the object that Robert was holding in his hand. A porcelain doll in the form of a little girl with brown hair and wearing a white dress.
"Is that a porcelain doll?" Soraya was sure that the object in Robert's hand was a doll that looked very beautiful.
The woman who was talking to him left after talking for a few minutes, leaving Robert alone with the doll in the form of a little girl who couldn't escape his cold and slightly scary gaze.
Suddenly something quite surprising happened, Robert whom Soraya knew as a mysterious lecturer with minimal expression, suddenly smiled softly at a doll. Yes, an inanimate doll.
"He-he smiling? He was really smiling just now, didn't he?" Because it was too hard to believe, Soraya had to convince herself time and time again that she wasn't seeing anything wrong. She actually caught a very rare strange appearance, namely the smile of the lecturer who was famous for his amazing talent.
Meanwhile in the shop, the woman who had previously left Robert came back to him while giving him a large cream colored paper bag.
The woman seemed to want to give the bag, but Robert refused. Moments later, Robert walked out of the shop with a porcelain doll with him.
"He's coming out! I'll die if he catches me here! Aaagh... I have to hide!" Realizing that Robert could be caught peeking, Soraya refused to be called a stalker anymore. In a state of panic, Soraya looked for a safe hiding place behind the walls of the building.
From where she was hiding, Soraya could see Robert coming out of the shop and walking towards his car which was parked not far from the shop. Robert got into the car and took the doll with him.
Robert's car drove out of the shop down a long highway. After confirming that Robert was really gone, Soraya came out of hiding in a cold sweat all over my body, just like a thief trying to run away.
"Thank God, he's gone. He almost saw me following him!" Soraya sighed, she felt very relieved.
But that feeling didn't last long, as a far greater curiosity rose in her heart and mind. Soraya decided to go into the antique shop to get information about the mysterious super lecturer.
"Excuse me!" She exclaimed as she walked into the shop.
The woman who had spoken with Robert approached Soraya with a smile on her face.
"Welcome? Can I help you?" Asked the woman.
Soraya wasn't sure that she wanted to buy anything in this place, considering that this was an antique shop, one could be sure that the items sold in this shop were quite expensive.
"Um no, I just wanted to ask about do-doll-" Soraya wasn't sure to talk about it. She was afraid that this woman would think she was a stalker or a spy.
"Doll?"
"Ah...that, I mean earlier I saw a man come out with a porcelain doll. I thought the doll was really pretty, so maybe-"
"Oh yes, I see. Did you see the man earlier? He was a frequent visitor to this shop, you could say he was a regular customer for two years. If you don't know him, maybe I can tell you. He is Robert William Stanley, the famous painter whose works are widely displayed in art galleries and purchased by painting collectors."
"I-Is that so? I-I think I know." Her speech is clumsy. Soraya wasn't sure how to tell this woman that she was one of Robert's students studying at the university where she taught. But Soraya thought that it would be better if she didn't say anything.
"Robert is a collector of porcelain dolls. He has collected many antique and rare dolls and all of them he bought at very high prices. I didn't expect that such a great painter would choose such a unique and wonderful hobby. Don't you think?"
"Y-yes, I think so!" Soraya gave a clumsy smile.
Although she confirmed that the hobby of collecting porcelain dolls was a unique hobby, Soraya's mind was instead on one of the articles from the mysterious website.
One of the articles on the website clearly says about the odd hobby and habit of Robert William Stanley who is very fond of porcelain dolls in the form of girls.
And oddly enough, the article also shows several photos of the neatly arranged collection of porcelain dolls that are mentioned as one of Robert's most prized collections.
***
"This is absolutely impossible! How could the author of this article know this much? Is he a stalker? Or could he be an acquaintance of the professor who has a bad relationship with him?" Soraya muttered to herself under a tree.
She kept re-reading the article to confirm the rumors. Soraya felt strange, because it seemed that she had to admit that she cared so much for him.
"What are you doing here?" A woman's voice was heard along with a tap on her shoulder.
Soraya immediately turned her head, she was very surprised to see someone she knew suddenly approached her like this. Seeing her funny face, Kimberly immediately laughed.
"Hahaha... you're so funny! You should have seen how cute your face is!" Kimberly said. She was giggling and she seemed to be serious about Soraya's surprised expression which looked so cute.
"You startled me!" Soraya breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she thought that it was Robert who caught her standing here and patting her on the shoulder.
"What are you doing here? Are you on an appointment with someone? Oh I know, you must be waiting for David, right? I thought you were leaving for the weekend, but today is still Wednesday right? Afraid I want to come?" Kimberly asked suspiciously. It was very clear from her demeanor that she found it very difficult to trust other people.
"No, you're wrong! I wasn't waiting for David. I was just taking a little walk, nothing important."
"Oh really? If you want to go out why don't you take me?"
"I've tried to call you, but your phone number is unreachable and Diana, looks like she's been very busy today."
"You're right, my phone battery ran out. I really didn't notice!" Kimberly said while checking her phone which was not active because it ran out of battery.
"So you're alone, what are you doing?"
"I went to the bookstore, there's a book I want to read."
"Oh yes?"
"Are you curious?"
"Not too-"
"You bastard! You're getting more seems like Diana. I'm going home now! Do you still want to be here?" Kimberly got up and started walking.
"No, I'm going home too!"
Soraya walked behind Kimberly with all the strange thoughts running through her head. Robert William Stanley, mysterious websites, strange rumors and porcelain dolls. Soraya kept thinking about it.
"You seem confused, what happened?" Kimberly asked. Her sharp eyes glanced at Soraya who walked one step behind her.
"No, nothing. Can I ask you something?"
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Uhm... what do you think if a grown man likes porcelain dolls and collects them. Do you think that's normal or-"
"I don't know!"
"Hum?"
"I don't know if it's anyone else, but if that's the case I think that kind of person is absolutely ridiculous. Especially if he's a grown man who isn't married and has kids."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I guess you don't need to cover it up because you're not a hard person to guess, Soraya!"
"W-what do you mean?"
"I mean the one you're talking about is Robert William Stanley. Isn't that right?"
"Huh? Th-that-" Soraya stammered. She had no idea that she was so predictable like this. It was a shock to her.
"From any point of view, it's clear that you have a huge crush on him. Even your sketchbook is starting to fill up with pictures of his face." Kimberly continued to give frontal and very frank arguments to Soraya who couldn't even lift her face because she was too ashamed of what Kimberly thought of her.
Seeing Soraya who stopped walking, Kimberly thought of doing the same thing considering her words just now seemed to make Soraya feel a little confused and confused.
"Just forget it!"
"W-what?"
"Everything I said, forget it! Alright, we better head back to the dorms now!" She said as she walked away again.
Soraya still didn't move, her heart was beating very fast. Many questions suddenly popped into her head after hearing what Kimberly had to say about herself and her feelings.
"Am I really in love with him?"
***
- Writer
