“Coz I can love you more than this.” One Direction - More Than This

https://open.spotify.com/track/0UAB340gAcSMk3r0a8PTag?si=yTxrqdE9TNSU76HZW4a47w

When Julius reaches Haven’s apartment, her unit is dim and cold. She’s nowhere to be seen, but Loony lingers around the balcony —so he guesses she must be there.

She looks so… defeated.

Julius doesn’t see any tears but that just makes it worse. For the time he’s known her, Haven usually cries easily —even for the silliest little reason. He soon learned that she never shed tears when it came to big heartbreaking event; she just stayed still with hollow eyes.

“Ven?”

Haven turns her head when she hears Julius calls her name. “Hi, Jules.”

“What happened?”

“A lot.” Haven drinks from her glass —Julius knows already what’s inside coz he can catch the smell of alcohol from miles away. “I’d rather not say, I’m sorry. But I just can’t be alone tonight.”

He sighs before he stands up to bring a glass for himself, and fill it with Haven’s favorite whiskey. He sits beside Haven; both stays in silence, while staring at the busy road of Jakarta in front of them. The cars look like a thousand blinking lights from above, seem rather small and insignificant.

“Inget nggak pas kita masih SMA lu pernah diskors gara-gara ngecover gue yang bolos kelas Mandarin cuma buat tiduran di UKS? Your mom was mad at you but she was thankful to me. Lucu banget, kalau diinget-inget. You’re always the good kid, and I was the messy one.”

Julius smiles; years of their high school days flash inside his mind. “Lu jaman SMA jamet banget, inget nggak? Kenapa ya, gue mau temenan ama lu.”

“Gue juga bingung. Juara umum versus tukang bikin onar.”

“Look at her now, tho. She’s an amazing art director. Untung lu ga dengerin omongannya Bu Kinar pas beliau bilang lu gedenya palingan ga kuliah tapi nikah ama preman Kampung Melayu.”

“Either that, atau beliau bilang ‘kamu sama Gala nih malu-maluin sekolahan aja’ padahal yang gue dan Gala lakukan cuma ngempesin ban beliau aja sih, abisnya punya mulut kayak gapernah sekolah. Guru, lho.”

“Kalau era sekarang kayaknya beliau udah kena cancel culture, deh.”

“Bukan cancel culture lagi. Keknya udah dipecat plus disuruh buat permintaan maaf, trus gubernur sampe turun tangan buat pulihin nama baik sekolah. Ada yang bikin thread di twitter soalnya, yang ngelikes sama quote sampe puluhan ribu.”

“Good old days,” timpal Julius sambil menyesap isi gelasnya. “Those days were easier.”

“Pulang sekolah yang gue pikirin cuma lari ke toko buku beli Miiko. Sampe kelar kuliah juga belom lulus SD dia.”

The talk of the past and the liquor somehow bring up some kind of feelings that Julius had buried deep down for the sake of friendship. He looks closely at the girl in front of him —and suddenly he feels a pang in his heart. He should’ve realized sooner that she’s the one he wants. Always have been, always will be.