A Man from the Past
Woke up at my friend's house. The time was around 9.30. I was supposed to go to my campus to take care of graduation matters. And there's another appointment that I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Meeting up with my biological father. He wanted to treat me for my birthday.
The handphone was ringing when I woke up. It was him. He called to ask whether or not we're meeting that day. I told him that it was on (can't say no, don't wanna run away from him). Oh yeah, he called me a lazy bum for waking up so late. Ha ha ha, so what? I just passed my final exam. I think being lazy is a luxury I could afford for now. He was just joking. It was kinda strange, joking with him. Yet it felt natural too.
We decided to meet up at Plaza Senayan. Easier for me and him too.
I went home first since there were things that I have to submit for my graduation. Came a bit late to Plaza Senayan (I promised to be there at 1 in the afternoon, got there around 1.45).
The thing was that I wasn't looking forward to meeting up with him. What was I supposed to say to him? 'Hi, how are you? How's work? How's Wanda? She doing okay? How's Auntie Nona? Still in contact with her?' I don't know. I felt that it was going to be awkward talking to someone so familiar and yet so distant at the same time. And another thing was that my mom warned me to be careful with him. He may wanted to use me for his own end.
'Why now, after all this time? Why now, when you're about to graduate from UI? I think it's because soon you'll be making money, and money is what he always need.'
I wish I could just run away. And I almost did.
For some reason, my handphone's signal at that time suddenly turned very bad. Actually, it wasn't picking up any. Tried turning it off and turning it on again. Tried pulling out the SIM card and putting it in again. Didn't work. I couldn't contact my dad. And I thought that it's gonna be hard trying to find him without my cellphone working. Maybe the network was busted? I don't know.
I thought that it was a sign for me to give up looking for my dad that Friday. I thought maybe it was a sign telling me that I wasn't meant to meet up with my real father that day. I thought that maybe it was a good excuse for me to run away from the meeting.
And I did give it up for awhile. What I did? I went to Johnny Andrean to get a hair cut. It was nice, being massaged in the head. And a new hair cut, it made me feel good. It's been more than a month since my last hair cut.
Almost went home, but for some reason I felt that I should give it a try again. My cell still wasn't picking up any signal. I had no idea how I could find him in a place as big as Plaza Senayan. But for some reason, I kept trying to look for him. Eventhough I didn't want to.
Maybe it was logical thinking. Maybe it was pure hunch. But I thought that since we were meeting for lunch, he might be looking for me around restaurant areas. And the most obvious place was food court. I went there. He wasn't there. I wanted to walk away, look at other areas, probably went straight home and give it up. But still I waited in front of the food court.
A young man came up to me (well, he looked young) and asked whether he could borrow my cell for awhile. I told him I'd like to, but I wasn't picking up any signal. I showed him my cell and it was still not picking up any signal. He said that he was meeting up with someone but his cell ran out of juice and he couldn't make any calls to that person. I told him that I was meeting up with someone too and I also couldn't make any phone calls. He introduced his name to me (Boy) and I introduced mine to him. He said he's meeting his client (a bit strange, since he was dressed like an ABG), and I told him that I'm meeting up with Dad and that he's outside of town a lot (a bit of white lie).
And just like that, I saw my dad walking in front of me.
'I could do some telepathy, but only to your father. Once we were at Hai Lai's grand opening, your dad went to the front desk to choose a door prize number. I told him to pick up a certain number. He went to the front desk and soon was lost among the crowd. At that moment I suddenly had a strong hunch that I should choose a different number. I wanted to run to your father and told him to change his number, but I couldn't find him among the crowd. You know what I did? I tried telepathy. I whispered in my mind the number over and over again. Not long after that, your father returned and I asked him, what number he chose. He told my mother that for some reason, he heard someone whispered to him to change the number. And he did. And the number was exactly the same number as the number that came up in my hunch. And we won the door prize. That was one occasion. The other occasion was when one day I got a fever. During the night I tried telepathy again, you know, just for fun. I whispered that I was sick and I told your father to come in the morning. He did. When my mother asked how he knew I was sick, he told her that someone whispered to him during the night.'
I bid good bye to Boy and called my dad. Seemed like I couldn't run away anymore.
Maybe I really wanted to see him afterall.
Me and my eternal search for a father figure
'Tell your son, that he will never find his father in this world. He belongs to God. God is his father. You will also have to give him up to God.'
So, we had lunch at Kiyadon. And I did ask all those stupid (well, maybe not so stupid) questions.
My stepsister's doing fine at Electrical Engineering Department in Gadjah Mada University.
Dad hasn't been in contact with Tante Nona, my stepmother and his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Work was fine. Been getting a lot of orders and projects.
And he also asked a couple of questions.
Any girlfriends (none)
What to do next after graduation (get a job)
What kind of job (not banking, for sure, maybe become a teacher/docent)
We had a good chat. He gave me a million as a birthday present. Hey, I could use some money. But of course it made me feel awkward.
'Do you think he could read my mind?'
He went back to his office after the lunch. I went back home. It may seem like nothing, but to me facing him is something that I need to do. After all, he played a part in bringing me here to this world. I'm not running away. My mother can't protect me forever and I have to learn to face him.
I just hope that he's a better person now.
'His father is not of this world.'
My father uses the same network as I do (Satelindo). And there was nothing wrong with the signal on his cell during the lunch (I saw his cell and the signal meter was full). My cell picked up signal again after the lunch, when I got out of Plaza Senayan.
Woke up at my friend's house. The time was around 9.30. I was supposed to go to my campus to take care of graduation matters. And there's another appointment that I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Meeting up with my biological father. He wanted to treat me for my birthday.
The handphone was ringing when I woke up. It was him. He called to ask whether or not we're meeting that day. I told him that it was on (can't say no, don't wanna run away from him). Oh yeah, he called me a lazy bum for waking up so late. Ha ha ha, so what? I just passed my final exam. I think being lazy is a luxury I could afford for now. He was just joking. It was kinda strange, joking with him. Yet it felt natural too.
We decided to meet up at Plaza Senayan. Easier for me and him too.
I went home first since there were things that I have to submit for my graduation. Came a bit late to Plaza Senayan (I promised to be there at 1 in the afternoon, got there around 1.45).
The thing was that I wasn't looking forward to meeting up with him. What was I supposed to say to him? 'Hi, how are you? How's work? How's Wanda? She doing okay? How's Auntie Nona? Still in contact with her?' I don't know. I felt that it was going to be awkward talking to someone so familiar and yet so distant at the same time. And another thing was that my mom warned me to be careful with him. He may wanted to use me for his own end.
'Why now, after all this time? Why now, when you're about to graduate from UI? I think it's because soon you'll be making money, and money is what he always need.'
I wish I could just run away. And I almost did.
For some reason, my handphone's signal at that time suddenly turned very bad. Actually, it wasn't picking up any. Tried turning it off and turning it on again. Tried pulling out the SIM card and putting it in again. Didn't work. I couldn't contact my dad. And I thought that it's gonna be hard trying to find him without my cellphone working. Maybe the network was busted? I don't know.
I thought that it was a sign for me to give up looking for my dad that Friday. I thought maybe it was a sign telling me that I wasn't meant to meet up with my real father that day. I thought that maybe it was a good excuse for me to run away from the meeting.
And I did give it up for awhile. What I did? I went to Johnny Andrean to get a hair cut. It was nice, being massaged in the head. And a new hair cut, it made me feel good. It's been more than a month since my last hair cut.
Almost went home, but for some reason I felt that I should give it a try again. My cell still wasn't picking up any signal. I had no idea how I could find him in a place as big as Plaza Senayan. But for some reason, I kept trying to look for him. Eventhough I didn't want to.
Maybe it was logical thinking. Maybe it was pure hunch. But I thought that since we were meeting for lunch, he might be looking for me around restaurant areas. And the most obvious place was food court. I went there. He wasn't there. I wanted to walk away, look at other areas, probably went straight home and give it up. But still I waited in front of the food court.
A young man came up to me (well, he looked young) and asked whether he could borrow my cell for awhile. I told him I'd like to, but I wasn't picking up any signal. I showed him my cell and it was still not picking up any signal. He said that he was meeting up with someone but his cell ran out of juice and he couldn't make any calls to that person. I told him that I was meeting up with someone too and I also couldn't make any phone calls. He introduced his name to me (Boy) and I introduced mine to him. He said he's meeting his client (a bit strange, since he was dressed like an ABG), and I told him that I'm meeting up with Dad and that he's outside of town a lot (a bit of white lie).
And just like that, I saw my dad walking in front of me.
'I could do some telepathy, but only to your father. Once we were at Hai Lai's grand opening, your dad went to the front desk to choose a door prize number. I told him to pick up a certain number. He went to the front desk and soon was lost among the crowd. At that moment I suddenly had a strong hunch that I should choose a different number. I wanted to run to your father and told him to change his number, but I couldn't find him among the crowd. You know what I did? I tried telepathy. I whispered in my mind the number over and over again. Not long after that, your father returned and I asked him, what number he chose. He told my mother that for some reason, he heard someone whispered to him to change the number. And he did. And the number was exactly the same number as the number that came up in my hunch. And we won the door prize. That was one occasion. The other occasion was when one day I got a fever. During the night I tried telepathy again, you know, just for fun. I whispered that I was sick and I told your father to come in the morning. He did. When my mother asked how he knew I was sick, he told her that someone whispered to him during the night.'
I bid good bye to Boy and called my dad. Seemed like I couldn't run away anymore.
Maybe I really wanted to see him afterall.
Me and my eternal search for a father figure
'Tell your son, that he will never find his father in this world. He belongs to God. God is his father. You will also have to give him up to God.'
So, we had lunch at Kiyadon. And I did ask all those stupid (well, maybe not so stupid) questions.
My stepsister's doing fine at Electrical Engineering Department in Gadjah Mada University.
Dad hasn't been in contact with Tante Nona, my stepmother and his soon-to-be ex-wife.
Work was fine. Been getting a lot of orders and projects.
And he also asked a couple of questions.
Any girlfriends (none)
What to do next after graduation (get a job)
What kind of job (not banking, for sure, maybe become a teacher/docent)
We had a good chat. He gave me a million as a birthday present. Hey, I could use some money. But of course it made me feel awkward.
'Do you think he could read my mind?'
He went back to his office after the lunch. I went back home. It may seem like nothing, but to me facing him is something that I need to do. After all, he played a part in bringing me here to this world. I'm not running away. My mother can't protect me forever and I have to learn to face him.
I just hope that he's a better person now.
'His father is not of this world.'
My father uses the same network as I do (Satelindo). And there was nothing wrong with the signal on his cell during the lunch (I saw his cell and the signal meter was full). My cell picked up signal again after the lunch, when I got out of Plaza Senayan.
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