The Girl, The Knight, and The Sleeping Princess

15. Memories from The Past

After an amateur bicycle raced between a seven-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy, a friendship began. Maybe at first it wasn't exactly a tangle of friendship, because according to the initial agreement, whoever lost the bicycle match had to be willing to be the winner's lackeys for a week. 

That victory was not wasted at all by the boy, his name Kai Yahto, which means blue sea. So it's no wonder that this boy really liked everything blue. And even though he rarely went to the sea, but he really loved to swim. 

Kai, as he was called, never imagined that he would have the  little girl as his lackey who was very knowledgeable and pretentious. But somehow, because of that incident, Kai couldn't take his eyes off watching the girl's behaviour. 

It's not love, whatever it's called, because Kai's didn't undestand what love was. Perhaps this was more like a child's curiosity about a new toy. Yup, a new toy. 

"Hey," called Kai to the small child. 

Short hair, fair skin with rosy cheeks and actually smaller than seven year olds in general. Traumerei or who we knew as Troya heard the call. But because her name was not mentioned, and at this time she was not in a lonely place, which was in the schoolyard, so there could be any body else that the voice meant.

Kai snorted in annoyance that Troya didn't answer his call. Then he picked up a small pebble and threw it, hitting the girl right on the head. And of course, Troya immediately turned her head while stroking her head with annoyance. 

Upon seeing the face of the person who had threw a stone on her head, Troya's heart immediately began beating fast. Not only today the boy made her angry. It was almost a week she had been serving like a maid to this boy. 

As a child, she would forget her own words when challenging a race at that time. Maybe she would remember her own words, but her big brain would not understand the language "will do whatever the winner wants." 

Currently, Troya was angry that she was being bullied by the boy. She was very oppressed. But on the other hand, Kai knew that he's already done too much. He just felt he had to get what was rightfully his, got the prize of his victory. 

On Sunday afternoons, Troya had to come to the park. There she will not be invited to play immediately, but instead told to hold Kai's bicycle. While the boy was enjoying playing football. Although in the end Troya was also invited to play football. 

Then when Monday arrived, Kai picked up Troya at home. Not picking up like a romantic little lover, but Troya had to ride him on a bicycle from home to school. And it's probably about 500 meters away. Then when the break came, Kai would be already in front of Troya's class. The boy was going to take her forcefully to play soccer with him. Of course Troya wouldn't be playing at all, instead she would be only holding a drink bottle, a washcloth and snacks for Kai. If Kai was tired, she would massage his sore shoulders. Then when the school's over, Troya had to ride Kai back home. 

The incident lasted almost this week. So it's no wonder that Troya was very upset. She wanted to tell Mama, but she was confused about what to complain about. Told Mama that she was enslaved by the boy who was their neighbour? Mama wouldn't believe it, because if Kai appeared at their house, his face would be very sweet and polite in front of Mama. Of course Mama felt happy, because as a new resident in this area, she was very worried that her daughter would not have friends.

"Why are you throwing stones at my head?" scolding Troya walked over to Kai with her hands on her hips. 

She was ready to survive whatever attack the boy would make. 

"I'm thirsty, please buy me a drink at the cafeteria," said the boy lightly waving his hand at her with a wide grin. 

Troya frowned, she was anxious to refuse. But first she had to get back at this boy. 

"Where is the money?" she held out her hand. 

"Ah yes, forgot!" said Kai reaching into his red pants pocket and giving the girl five thousand rupiahs. 

Troya smiled faintly. Then without saying anything, she turned around and walked towards the canteen. There, she bought a bottle of mineral water and a chocolate bread. But after that, instead of returning to the field and giving it to Kai, Troya continued to go to her classroom on the second floor. 

There she enjoyed her free bread and drink with satisfaction. She didn't care what the boy was going to do when she didn't reappear on the field. Not long after, the school's break time was over. Troya was actually relieved that the boy didn't approached her to class. How she got home, she thought about it later.

*

It was Friday, school came home earlier than usual, which was half past twelve in the afternoon. Troya peeked through the door, feeling relieved, the boy's face could not be seen anywhere. Maybe fourth grade couldn't be disbanded because some students haven't finished taking notes, for example. 

After heaving a sigh of relief, Troya sauntered out of the classroom, her backpack behind her. The journey back down the corridor seemed to have gone smoothly. Until finally when she was about to get out of the gate, she heard the boy's voice calling her name. And from his voice, it sounded like the boy was mad at her. 

Without turning around, Troya speed up her pace. With a little panic, and the adrenaline pumping, made her clumsy, not seeing left and right before crossing the road. 

This school was located in a housing complex. The road in front of it was not too big, but there was an small public transportation called Mikrolet, that passed in front of the school. Because of that, this area was busy, both by public transport and by private vehicles. 

And as we know, in any area where there was a school in the city of Jakarta, dozens of motorised vehicles will surely be jammed, creating meaningless traffic jams, only making headaches to hold back the accumulated frustration. And also in some circles, to show off personal wealth to each other, that they were able to pick up their children using prestigious branded vehicles.

Little Troya dashed across this six meter wide street in a hurry. She didn't see that a motorbike was running fast, overtaking a car that was stopped to pick up the student. There was a deafening horn, and made anyone around there turned their heads to see what was happening. Even some women screamed hysterically without being able to do anything when they saw what happened. 

Fortunately, the motorcyclist still had a conscience, he stopped the vehicle, and got down to see the condition of the girl, who fell on the side of the road, with a boy hugging her body from behind. In that instant, many visitors around there immediately gathered. 

"Are you all right?" asked the driver who was a young man working in an office. 

His face looked shabby and very tired, but he prayed to himself that nothing happened that would make him had to pay compensation even though he himself was in desperate need of money. 

Troya opened her eyes and found herself in someone's arms. Her body fell on the side of the road, her hands and knees were scratched, but the rest, she did not get any more injuries. When she looked back, her face immediately turned pale when she saw who was hugging her right now.

"K-Kai!"[]