Alice

"Where's the pancakes?!" Someone shouted.

"OMG! Please wait! We still make the order."

Hello there, my name is Alice Ram, just call me Alice and ignore my surname. I had long since given up my surname, and lived as Alice alone. Right now, I'm busy with the crowds of customers who come to the cafe where I work. It was so crowded that we were all overwhelmed. "Alice! Don't daydream!" A menu book floated into my head. I winced in pain and threw the book back at her. "Aww! Hey, I'm your boss! Have a little respect why?" She said angryly.

"Sigh, I don't think of you as a boss!" I say lazy. That woman is my friend and owner of this cafe, her name is Seira Reika. The name of this cafe is taken from her name 'Seira's Cafetaria'. Seira has a chubby face and glasses, shoulder-length short hair, white skin and thick eyebrows. His body is full but not fat, a little taller than me, it feels soft when you hug her.

"It's very crowded!" The tall man sat in the corner after all the customers had stopped ordering. The man who complained, his name was Nonilo Bellamy. His face is handsome but unfortunately too childish. Of the three of us, Nonilo was the tallest. If we were standing at the same height, we would form three steps.

"Alice, do you have free time after work?" Ask Nonilo with a happily face.

"No!" Seira quickly replied.

"I asked Alice! Not you!" Nonilo was annoyed with Seira and a fight broke out between them. All the employees here are used to this kind of scene. Every day, there is no such thing as not fighting for the two of them, at every opportunity there must be something for them to fight. So often, we'd say "Well, they'll be fine in a minute." After the fight, they will make up in five minutes. But the next day there will be another war, continue like that until they are tired of themselves.

"Alice? My question hasn't been answered yet," Nonilo scowled, still fighting with Seira.

"No, why you ask?" I asked.

"Then, do you want to come to the painting exhibition with me? I have 3 idle tickets," said Nonilo excitedly. He took out 3 small pieces of paper and handed them to each of us. Nonilo again asked if we wanted to go with him or not, Seira excitedly answered yes. I still hesitant to join, on the ticket paper, it was written the name of the family I really wanted to avoid. "Hendrix," I mumbled quietly.

"Alice?" Seira asked who didn't hear my muttering.

"Never mind. Let's go there," I said with a fake smile. The two adults in front of me screamed with joy.

...****************...

After Nonilo and I finished our working shifts, the three of us went straight to the exhibition site by bus. Nonilo was constantly nagging when he found out how full the bus was. "Even though now it's not work time, but it's very crowded," he said annoyed at having to stand with the pressure of other passengers. Me and Seira lazily rolled our eyes, lazy to hear Nonilo's chirping like birds chirping.

"Oh, we stop here." Nonilo pressed the button for the bus to stop. With a happy face and occasionally humming, Nonilo went in first, followed by Seira behind him. I was still standing in front of the gold-painted building, and reading the nameplate on it. "Hendrix," I said wearily. I took a mask from my bag that I had prepared earlier, and put it on.

I went inside with an overwhelming sense of doubt mixed with fear. But that feeling instantly disappeared when i saw the contents of the building which was so luxurious. Just entered, I was greeted with a red carpet that stretched along the hall. Fountain in the left corner with vines on each side. The smell of the room was so sweet, like honey and chewing gum. But what caught my attention the most were the long paintings on each wall.

"This painting is similar to the style of that man's painting."

I walked down the hall while looking at one by one the paintings on the walls. My steps stopped when I saw a painting that was so crowded with visitors. Ahh, looks like that painting is the main topic today, I thought. Many reporters gathered there, even I myself could not see the painting clearly. Because I was curious, I tiptoed my feet to look at the painting. The painting contains a woman who have a beautiful and charming face. Her smile was wide and formed an eyesmile on her face. Beautiful, but so familiar to my eyes. It felt like I'd seen her somewhere, but didn't know where.

I put my feet back down and intended to look at another painting. But I didn't have time to look to the side, as one of the reporters with a camera walked towards me. Brakk. He hit me and I fell to the floor. He quickly gave his camera to his friend and helped me. Just as I took his hand, there was a hand grip that pulled me up. "Uahhh!!" I screamed in surprise. The reporter and I looked at the person who grabbed my hand earlier. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry," asked the reporter worriedly.

"Oh yes, thank you. It's okay, it's my fault," I said turning my head to him. The reporter apologized once again and continued his work. I turned my body to the man who had pulled me, "Ehmm, thank you earlier," I said while cleaning my clothes.

"You're welcome."

My hands stopped, I was surprised when I heard his low baritone voice. My eyes opened wide when I saw the face of the person who helped me earlier.bHis blue eyes met my brown eyes. His firm jaw made me gape in surprise. Suddenly all the things that I used to be hard to forget, now come back by themselves. My legs were weak, he immediately caught my hand when I suddenly wanted to fall.

Congested.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked worriedly. I hate his voice, his voice immediately filled my mind. "Devano?" I spoke softly, but he could still hear me. "This voice? Alice?!"

From what started as a soft grip, it turned into a firm grip. He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He stared intently at my face which still covered by the mask. "Alice, right?" he asked, he grabbed the mask I was wearing and took it off. "Alice!" He shouted, instantly both of us became the center of attention. The reporters started pointing their cameras at the two of us.

I hate cameras!!

"Let go!" I grabbed his hand roughly and ran away from him.

"Alice!!" Call him. He didn't chase. He couldn't catch up with me because the reporters had surrounded him. He just called my name and told me to stop. But I don't care, only security pays attention. They tried to stop me, but were blocked by Nonilo and Seira who came out of nowhere.

"Don't touch her."

"Thanks Nonilo!! Seira!!"

I don't want to see him again.

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