Chapter 05

Luckily, Lanton is not in any of my classes, which is a huge relief to me. I manage to concentrate in class just fine, but right at the end of class, I see him again when I see the driver already standing in front of the school with that ridiculous flashy limousine, the driver, one of Lestari's gangsters, is standing there, waiting in a robotic way, probably regretting joining the mafia. I bet if he had known before that he would be babysitting the boss's son, he wouldn't have joined.

But I had already called Aris before, who is waiting for me in a nearby square, so obviously I'm not going home with Lestari.

"Hey, Luk!"

I turn around, only to find Haris coming towards me, running. The boy is a one-of-a-kind beauty, his wavy, blond hair swinging in the seeing and even that ridiculous uniform looks good on him.

"Haris. What's up?"

"Me and the guys are going for a walk around, you up for it?"

I look over Haris' shoulder and see his friends, Martina, Fauzi, Eli and the strange Dimas, who looks at me in a murderous way. I admit I even considered going with them for a second, but just that killer look from Dimas made me change my mind.

"Ah, I'll have to say no today. I'm supposed to meet a friend of mine," I say as I force a smile and nod to the crowd, who nod back to me (except Dimas).

"Oh, too bad. I wanted you to come. The guys really liked you," he says, smiling at me.

"How about tomorrow?" I suggest, trying not to shake too much at that cute smile he sends my way. "We can go for a walk around."

"Sounds good," he replies, stretching his neck. "I think Lanton Susanto is waiting for you..."

I turn around and see that Lanton is already coming towards me again, he is definitely not going to leave me alone. Lanton is smiling at me, the same way he used to smile when I used to pick him up at school when we started dating. It makes me angry just to think how stupid I was.

"See you tomorrow, Haris," I say to my newest friend and start walking, staring straight ahead and forcing myself not to look at Lanton.

"I thought you-"

He starts to say, but I walk straight past him, because I don't want to chat. I'm really angry, but it's still Lanton. He makes me nervous and I don't know how long I can resist him; so I decide right now that I'm going to focus one hundred percent of my free time on finding some way to send Daud to jail and put an end to this charade that is the Lestari Family.

"I'm going home by bus," I say as I approach the driver/gangster.

"Sir, I can't-"

"You can let me handle the big boss later," I continue, turning my back and not expecting an answer from him.

I cross the street and walk just two blocks to reach the park, the biggest park in the city. There is a large lake nearby, where I arranged to meet Aris. When I arrive, she is already there, sitting on a bench very close to the side.

"I thought you weren't coming anymore, I even got here before you," she already starts off by complaining.

"For God's sake, I literally walked out of the school right now.

"And what is this ridiculous thing you're wearing? Is that a uniform?" Aris stands up and starts laughing loudly, making the people around stop their things and look at us. God, how embarrassing!

"Will you stop smiling?", I mutter as I walk towards her and wrap our arms around her, getting her out of there as quickly as possible. "It's the damn new school uniform."

"It's terrible"

"Yeah, Aris, thanks for the touch, I swear I didn't even realise I'd been wearing that disgusting thing all day, seriously."

"That stuff Lanton was wearing when you were picking him up?"

"What part of 'it's the damn new school uniform' you don't understand?"

"It's just that I don't understand how it can look so good on Lanton and so ugly on you."

"Is it serious?" I ask her, making a frown, "I'm suffering because of this fucking mafia family and you come and help me by telling me he looks better than me in this uniform?"

"One thing has nothing to do with the other," she concludes, raising her hands and continuing to walk.

We decide to get a pizza. She tells me how our friends reacted when they heard that I am now studying at the most expensive school in the state; according to Aris, the vast majority expressed envy, wanting to find out who my mother's new rich husband is.

"Hm, they asked me to ask if you could call us for a get-together at your new house," Aris says with his mouth full. "They said that now that you're studying in an expensive school, you should be living in an expensive house too."

"Oh, that's good!" I exclaim loudly. "For sure I'm taking everyone to the Lestari house. To the house of a wanted mobster. If I give you the location of the house, will the police arrest him today? What do you think?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you. You know he can't be arrested, right?"

I look at her immediately. What kind of absurd information is this?

"What are you talking about? What do you mean he can't be arrested?"

"I asked my father," Aris' father works as an investigator. "He said that although Lestari's list of crimes is long, he's been absorbed of all charges and the list has disappeared from police records. Like," she swallows her piece of pizza "there's nothing you can charge him with now."

"What the fuck are you talking to me now?", I exclaim loudly as I take myself away. "He's fucking Daud Lestari! Everyone knows he's the head of the fucking Lestari Family! They run the whole town, from one entrance to the other, Aris!

"I know, I'm not an alien in this town, Lukman! And stop yelling at me, I'm just giving you the information.

"And how do I get rid of him now?

"Ok, look, Lukman. I understand your anger, like, your mother marrying a mafia boss and all, but there's nothing you can do about it. Daud Lestari is untouchable and not even my father or his friends can do anything against him. Besides, he has many policemen on his payroll, and judges, prosecutors and many law and justice officials. So, unless you shoot him in the chest, you can't do anything against him. As you said yourself, the Lestari Family controls the whole city. Do you really think someone like you can stop him?"

She finishes speaking and I grow thoughtful. She's right, I know Aris is completely and utterly right about everything. But I can't just think about giving up, I have to do something about him or my mum will never leave him, since she's so in love with him.

"I have to try at least," I say. "I won't give up, I'll think of something."

I took the bus back home some time later. I got off in the richest part of town, where the big enviable mansions are, where everyone wants to live. Sure, one day I really wanted to live here too, but not like this, not through my mother's ridiculous marriage. Seriously, in what world did she believe that marrying a mobster was a really cool thing to do? She didn't even ask what I thought of it, she just came in one day and announced that she was marrying Daud fucking Lestari. The day my nightmare officially began.

"Mr Lukman," greets the gangster doorman. Another one who I know bitterly regrets joining the mafia.

He opens the iron gate and I enter through the garden, up the stone steps to the back, where I can see a group making out excitedly under a parasol. they're smoking and wearing ridiculous suits, like they're straight out of The Godfather. Do they really think they're on fire?

I roll my eyes fearlessly as I walk past them, they're probably really angry with me, but I know they won't be able to lay a finger on me or Daud will get back at everyone, of that I'm totally sure, since he does everything for her. Well, at least I have that as an advantage for me.

"Where were you?" my mother starts shouting when I get to the kitchen and see her making sandwiches for Lanton and Devi. Really? She's never made me sandwiches! "Do you know how worried I was?"

"Would you stop overreacting? I was with Aris," I reply, rolling my eyes.

"You know things have changed now, you need to be careful. Next time, tell Aris to come here, okay?"

"Are you going crazy?" I ask, surprised. "I can't believe you suggested that, honestly!"

"Why not?"

"Do you really think I'm going to bring Aris to a criminal's house? Stop being so fucking clueless, for God's sake!"

I can't hold that conversation any longer, all the more so because Lanton is standing there, though he's quiet. And also Devi, who always looks like she's going to stab me at any moment. She doesn't like me, but that's OK because I don't like her either. I lock myself in my room straight away, my mother doesn't make me a sandwich and doesn't ask if I want one either. Deep down, it upsets me, but I just let it go, like all the other thousand things I've let go.

I like to spend at least an hour under the water in the bathtub, which is one of the perks of living in a mansion like this. I have a huge bedroom, a private bathroom, and a gigantic bathtub that Daud had installed for me when he knew I'd never had a bath. I soak for a long time, then I just put on any clothes and throw myself on the bed to start my homework. I feel my stomach rumbling, but I'm not going downstairs.

Someone knocks on the door after eight and I'm lazy to get up so I just allow them in. I roll my eyes and take a deep breath when Lanton opens the door with a smile on his face.