"I swear, I'm not crazy. I'm serious about this!

" Rangga leaned towards Lisa. The man slowly grasped the woman's tiny looking hand with his beautiful curved fingers. He wanted Lisa to feel the turmoil in the depths of his heart through that hand.

Lisa didn't brush or pull her hand from Rangga's hold. In fact, she also fell silent, trying to understand the sudden awkward situation that had just happened to them. This man was thinking beyond his senses!

The room became quiet and silent at once. Julian also seemed to have slept in his room. There was no sound other than the ticking of the clock on the wall and the faint sound of a car horn from outside.

Seeing that the situation in the dining room became very awkward and unpleasant, Rangga immediately broke the atmosphere by adding,

"Lis, you don't need to rush the answer. You can think about my request. When you're ready, you can come to me and tell me anytime!

"

The man looked into Lisa's beautiful dark eyes. The woman's eyes were very beautiful, radiating the deepest beauty of her heart. After years of not meeting his childhood friend, Rangga managed to express his feelings for her.

"I don't need a time to answer you,

" Lisa said, breaking the awkwardness.

"I can't be your girlfriend. We just can't! We've been close friends since we're both little, I think of you like my own brother!

"

Hearing Lisa's answer, which sounded steady and without a doubt made Rangga a little sad. The man was unaware of himself when he let out a heavy sigh, expressing his disappointment at Lisa.

Rangga then pulled his hand that touched Lisa's and cleared his throat. He turned his face to the ticking clock. His mind went blank. He was unable to express his emotions through words.

"I'm disappointed that you rejected me like this,

" he said softly.

"I mean, why are you refusing me so quickly. Is it because you still have Oscar in your heart?

"

Lisa fell silent. Hearing the word 'Oscar' was enough to upset her.

"I know you can't really move on from your ex-husband, right? No matter how bastard he is...

" Rangga added, now his tone was serious and firm.

"It's not like that! You have no right to talk about my ex-husband that way even though it was true what you said! No matter the situation, we can't date, let alone get married. We just don't match! You're my close friend, you've known me for so long and I consider you a brother. Even if I didn't marry Oscar, I still won't be able to date you,

"

Lisa noticed Rangga's expression when she said that. For a moment, Rangga's face, which had looked serious, turned sad and gloomy. Lisa rejected him with reasons that were quite logical.

"Come on. I've also been a close friend of yours from childhood. You must also find it really weird to be dating me, especially marrying me. I'm also a widow, so how will your parents and siblings see you marrying a widow? Aren't they ashamed to have a widow like me as their daughter-in-law?

" Lisa firmly added.

"Lis, I don't care whether you are a widow or not, as long as I'm comfortable with you and you're comfortable with me, I really don't care what other people say!

" Rangga replied firmly.

"Ugh, you can be very ignorant sometimes. Just because you're fine with that doesn't mean I'll feel the same way. Don't you realize? Come on, don't be careless like this. You have Maria anyways, right? Why don't you just go back with her?

"

After she blurted out that name, Lisa felt sorry. She should not have mentioned the name of the woman she had never met before her childhood friend.

Rangga immediately changed his face. The man frowned as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard from Lisa's mouth.

"How did you know about her?

" Rangga asked suspiciously.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to interfere with your personal problems, but I heard from your college friend Theo at Mrs. Wijaya's birthday party. All your office employees also said that you used to date a girl named Maria but you and her broke up all of a sudden,

" Lisa explained with a regretful tone.

The man lowered his head again. Lisa's words made his heart even more upset and confused like when she was with Maria. Rangga didn't want to bring up the past but it seemed that everything had begun to unfold.

The denial in his mind began to take over him. From Lisa's firm and straightforward words, Rangga knew that there was no place for him in her heart. Rangga wouldn't be able to be Lisa's life partner at any time. But this shouldn't end this way! Never! Rangga's struggle to approach Lisa so that the woman melted and succumbed to his seduction shouldn't be in vain.

However, on the other side of his heart, Rangga believed that if he kept trying to convince Lisa, that woman would definitely belong to him. He just needed to wait for the right time.

"Lisa, are you sure you don't love me?

" Rangga asked again with a face like a hungry puppy.

"Sorry, I don't love you as a lover. I love you as a brother. You have helped me a lot since I got divorced from my ex-husband. You have helped me to get a job at my company. You also helped my sister with her college assignments. Everything you've done to me is really enough... I'm not going to ask for more,

" Lisa replied sympathetically.

The man's expression turned grim. He was devastated by Lisa's words. Rangga stared at Lisa's pretty face again with teary eyes.

Lisa had never seen her childhood friend cry over such sentimental things.

"Rangga, forgive me, will you? I swear I can't be your girlfriend, let alone your wife…

"

The atmosphere became awkward and they both fell silent again. Lisa slowly touched Rangga's slender hand as a sign of sympathy. The warmth of the man's hand crept up her arm and into her chest.

"It's okay Lis, I can wait until you finally accept me,

" Rangga grabbed Lisa's hand and stroked it gently.

The woman pulled her hand away from Rangga. She didn't want him to drag on in her sadness for too long. Rangga must be able to accept this harsh reality!

"Alright, I will escort you back to your boarding house now,

" the man got up from his seat and walked over to Lisa, leading her to get up and go to the garage.

Throughout the trip, no conversation took place between the two friends. The car was traveling at a constant speed. Sparkling street lights shone on the dark night of the capital city that day.

Lisa just stared at the vehicles that passed by the car's window every now and then. She froze in silence. The atmosphere in the car was very awkward.

"Lis,

" Rangga softly called, breaking the silence.

"I just want to say again, thank you very much for taking care of Julian and helping me when I was in trouble. I know my love confession was sudden, but I'm serious about you. I hope you consider it. Once again, thank you very much,

"

Lisa just muttered in response to Ranggga's words.

Throughout the trip, the two were in a very awkward state and stayed silent. Lisa leaned her back on the back of the chair without saying a word to Rangga.. She returned her attention to the sparkling street lamps.