Different Way Of Love

Chapter 10

Empty Seat

Usually, at school, I never feel bored at all. Every day I am always entertained and teased by Sifa's pranks. But today the comedian did not attend the lesson, making me not enthusiastic and cheerful when listening to every lesson. Today I only think about Sifa's condition who is lying in the hospital.

I did not listen well to the lesson what the teacher explained today. Even though the lesson I was taking was history which I waited for every week.

The teacher called a student who was sitting in the back seat.

"Zuba! Try moving to the empty seat in front!" called the teacher.

Zuba got up from his seat, approached the table and sat beside me, filling Sifa's seat.

"Mes, is it okay if I stay here for a while?" asked Zuba to make sure he got permission from me.

I nodded, allowing him to take Sifa's seat. Some of his close friends cursed and mocked him jokingly as he sat down. "Play Zub! Play!" whispered his close friends.

Unlike me who only has Sifa as a friend, Zuba has many friends and circles in class and other classes.

The students at school usually call him Zuba, his real name is Zubair Shidiq. Every day he always sits at the back of the school unless there is an empty seat in front of him, like now. He sits alone not because of his personality, which always wants to be alone or is anti-social, but because the number of students in our class is odd.

"E-eee… Mes, today you look gloomy. It must be because of Sifa, right?" asked Zuba.

"He'eh Zub, you know that I'm with Sifa all the time," I answered.

"I know, I see you and Sifa are like siblings, Mes. You must be worried about her," said Zuba.

"How does it feel to sit alone at the back from the first school year until now, Zub?"

Zuba joked and acted with his words when answering my question. "I'm sad Mes, sob... sob.... Every second, hour, day and month I sit alone with no one to accompany me." He pretended to cry with his nerdy face.

"Every day I pray and hope that a new student will enter our class, introduce himself and sit at the same table as me, sob..." he joked like a srimulat player.

Suddenly the teacher called out while throwing a question. "Hey Zuba! Sir, you've been busy chatting all this time! It's also my fault that I transferred you." The teacher snapped. "You're not wrong, sir." Zuba joked, still living his role as a srimulat player.

Suddenly the students in the class laughed at his joke.

"Did you pay attention to what I explained earlier? Try to answer, when did World War III break out?" asked the teacher.

I knew Zuba wasn't paying attention to his lesson and the page of his book was different from what the teacher explained. I gestured and showed Zuba the answer in my book.

"E-eee... 1939, sir!" Zubair answered proudly after seeing my index finger pointing at the book.

The classroom atmosphere returned to normal after she answered the teacher's question correctly.

"Isn't it the balloon that burst, Mes?" Zuba joked while singing my balloon song softly.

I smiled at the role of Srimulat and her jokes. Zuba knew how to cheer up her friend who was feeling down. Maybe she was as troubled as Sifa. Because of that joke, I was a little cheerful and didn't think too much about Sifa's condition.

The school bell rang for recess. Most students went out of class to rest and relieve stress. Today's recess I just wanted to stay in class thinking about Sifa, I didn't feel like doing anything.

"Mes, I want to ask you to buy some food so I can go to the canteen," asked Zuba.

"It's rare to find such a kind person, thank you Zub," I answered while giving her money for the food order.

"I'll be right back, stay here and don't go anywhere!" Zuba concluded.

I opened my cellphone to make sure if there was any news about Sifa. There were several messages that had not been opened in the chat application, they were from Mirai.

"Meske, honey, just now Mom came home to tell me that she met you at school, then she said Sifa was sick," she said in the chat. "Later, we'll see Sifa after you get home from school, okay?"

"Come on Sis, Meske wants to meet Sifa, Meske is worried." I answered in the chat.

Now my curiosity about the news about Sifa was slightly satisfied. Not long after, Zubair returned to class followed by his two friends, Nada and Fahri. He gave me the food I ordered from the canteen. During break time they joked around and the main character in their chat was Zuba. He was like a clown who could show off his comedy in front of his friends. I watched and laughed occasionally when he directed his jokes at me.

This was the time when I learned the style of each boy hanging out and joking with his friends. I thought there was nothing wrong with having another close friend. A friend who could entertain me and be a place to confide when I hit a dead end in friendship problems.

Maybe another time I will invite Zuba to have a more serious chat about friendship. Or maybe invite him to play with me and Sifa, enter our circle of friends.

The bell rang again, signaling that the lesson would start again soon. Now Zuba moved his bag and school equipment to my desk without waiting for the teacher to call him to move his seat. The lesson went by like the previous lesson until the end of the lesson.

I immediately rushed to meet Mirai who was waiting for me outside the school gate. Zuba greeted me by saying goodbye and waved his hand as I was about to leave to meet Sifa. "Mes, be careful!" We waved back.

"Wow, who's that?" asked Mirai.

"My classmate, Sis, Zubair," I replied.

"Not bad, handsome." He concluded.

We arrived in front of the inpatient room, with a door sign that said Orchid Room 1.

"You go in first, I'll follow you with Mom!" said Mirai.

There were only two inpatients in that room. Across from Sifa's bed was a coma patient, the nurse said he had been unconscious for four days. I opened the curtain where Sifa was lying weakly.

I looked at Sifa with pity, she looked so pale with an IV line in her arm. "Hi honey, how are you, I miss you"

Sifa was lying there raising her arms straight asking for a hug from me. I hugged and kissed her forehead, and so did Sifa. "I miss you too."

"She's getting better now honey, hopefully this afternoon she won't have a fever." Sifa answered.

"Surely my seat in class was taken by Zubair, right?" Sifa asked.

"Of course, honey. He's a substitute for an empty seat."

"Is he a comedian, just like me?" Sifa asked.

"Hahaha... worse, honey"

We chatted and joked around about spending the remaining limited visiting time. I still felt sorry for her current condition and didn't dare to ask her frankly about our relationship status. I had no choice but to wait and hope that Sifa would get better soon.

***

Note:

Srimulat: one of the comedy groups in Indonesia