[Author's Note] How many centuries have passed?

LOL just kidding. I know it's been too long since the last time I updated this story, and you know what? When I meant to update it two days ago, in the first day of this month, I could not log in! Damn this web, why stopping my good faith?

Alright, that was overrated. Well, in short, I could finally log in in the third day, which is today.

Honestly, all this time I was facing writer's block. I already knew how this story would go in a big picture, I know how this would end, but I don't know how to connect all those puzzle pieces to become one big story. And it took me too long, I know, I realized. I have been telling myself to write, but nothing came up in my mind. Even I dreamed about Arifin Putra many times in my sleep and woke up knowing that it must be a message from God for me to continue writing. Okay, that was a joke, but the dream was fact. Really, still, after he visited me in some dreams I could not find what to write. Until someday I found a fanpage in Facebook, which is Iko Uwais Fanpage.

Like a light at the end of the tunnel, the photos I saw in that fanpage were exceptionally adorable and inspiring. All the casts made adorable poses and it looks like they really are friends who are having a lot of fun, just like Uco and Alicia do with all their friends in this story. A photo of Iko and Arifin sitting on the same table with Julie Estelle and Yayan Ruhian, probably in a restaurant, enlightened me. Well, how did it not, since this story is about culinary?

The story draft itself has reached the 7th chapter now. Hopefully I won't stop writing anymore, because even myself can't wait to see what's going to happen with the four main characters.

Well, what's more to wait? Hurry read and review!


The Raid Saga © PT. Merantau Films

Like A Fool © Keira Knightley


Very kept crafting the caramels while Alicia continued baking her pound cake. Scent of vanilla from the oven tempted him as well as it reminded him that he did not have breakfast before morning class. He prayed that there would never be any weird sounds coming out from his stomach, but it did not seem to come true. Alicia was startled to hear it while Very started to blush as he cursed silently.

"You're hungry?" she giggled, "Wait a minute, okay?" she pulled out her pound cake from the oven as the vanilla scent got clearer. Even from the scent, Very could tell that the cake tasted good. But instead of saying a thing, he just continued crafting a small horse with the caramels.

Another thing that he worried about approaching the twins was that he was actually a shy kid. He was socially awkward, so that he still have not find friends to gather with yet.

"Maybe it can't help your hunger, but do you want to try this?" Alicia gave a piece of her vanilla pound cake on a small plate to Very.

"Eh?" Very was surprised, "But…it's for Chef Bejo, right?" he winced. Suddenly he felt bad for letting his hungry stomach make such a sound when someone was exactly baking.

"Um…yes and no," replied Alicia, "Yes because I'm still practicing, so maybe I won't give him anything today. No because I'll be happier if my cake can help a hungry person," she smiled, "Come on, take this," she took Very's right hand from the caramel and put her cake on it, made the younger guy's heart jump.

He did not know which one impressed him more, Alicia's sincere smile or a kindness that she showed within her words. He wondered whether she really was the same girl who wielded dual claw hammers hungrily last night.

"Uh, thank you," and that was the only words he could find before he bite the cake and chewed it. As he expected, it tasted not less good than the ones sold in patisseries because the vanilla was spread balanced at the entire cake, even the texture of the cake was soft for pound cake. He glanced at Alicia who was also eating her own cake but she did not look satisfied.

"Not yet," she shook, "Not this one. Sigh…," she whined. Very chewed all his cake and rolled his eyes, wondering what might not satisfy Alicia but he did not find it.

"What's going on?" he tried to ask. Alicia glanced at him before she shrugged.

"I don't know why I never bake a quite good one," she replied as she leaned on the edge of her table, "I'll only embarrass myself in front of Chef Bejo with this cake," she sighed again. Very winced.

"What do you mean?" he asked, "This is good."

"It's because you're hungry," she giggled, "Here, have some more," she cut some slices of her cake again and gave them all to Very, who was between too hungry and too amazed of her kindness to resist. He ate it slice by slice and still did not find any wrong things with the cake, even when he started not to feel hungry anymore.

"No, it's…good," he said after he ate all the slices, "Thank you."

"Anytime," she smiled.

Very started to feel guilty, not to mention that his heart skipped a beat when Alicia smiled. He started to doubt his mission to approach her in order to find her weakness, so that it would be easier to knock down her father's gangster. As he started to craft again, he cursed of why it should be her.

Why it should be a girl with an angelic smile.

"Hey, why don't we have some brunch?" she looked at her watch after cleaning up her table, "I'm kinda craving for some chocolates, I think Chef Andi's dark brownies in the café sounds good. Come on, I'll treat you!" she pulled Very's hand, surprised him.

"Wait, but I-I'm still-,"

"Okay, clean it up quickly, I'll wait for you," she looked at her watch again, "If you don't finish in three minutes, I won't give you second chance," she giggled.

Even though Very knew Alicia only teased him about not giving second chance, he somehow did not want to waste any longer time. He cleaned up his table and wrapped his crafted caramels. He could not miss a chance to finally approach her in an easier way than he thought.

Or maybe I just can't resist her? he wondered.


Uco kept staring at his front right side at advanced ferment theory class in bread department building. He still had no idea why Eka took a class that he was not required to take, and worse, he took it together with Ryuuichi who has surely already passed it with grade A. They were sitting side by side while Uco was some rows behind them.

He snorted. He was still pissed off about last night battle, when a stranger suddenly punched his head harshly until he lost consciousness right away. Moreover, he was also irritated to know that all this time Alicia already found out that he grew feelings on Eka without ever mentioned it in front of him until yesterday. He was irritated that she told him to confess to Eka but at the same time she teased Eka about Ryuuichi.

Uco took some notes again on his textbook before he fixed his eyeglasses. The lecturer was boring, but he realized he needed to master this subject in order to be a certified baker, which was his dream since he was a kid. He expected Goto to teach, but only a junior lecturer appeared in the class. He loved being taught by Goto both in theory and practice, not only because his Japanesse breads inspired him, but also because Goto's teaching method was fun and encouraging. His absence in class lowered Uco's mood down below the earth.

When the clock showed 12PM, Uco stood off quickly and walked out the class without responding when Eka called his name, because he did not want to be more irritated when seeing him together with Ryuuichi. He did not want to feel more defeated to know that Eka admired a person like Ryuuichi, whom he knew well since they were all kids, even before Eka was brought to his house.

Ryuuichi was not a kind of someone he could beat easily, because he got the look, the brain, and the talent. He got the highest Grade Point Average (GPA) among students in his year, and what Uco hated most was he must admit that he loves Ryuuichi's pies.

"Shit!" he cursed when someone suddenly bumped at him. They were both pushed behind.

"Oh, sorry, I-,"

"Are you blind?!" yelled Uco as he glared at someone who was bumped at him. It was a boy who was shorter than him. He has soft curls on his hair and clear eyes, and Uco barely smelled a scent of dark chocolate from around him.

"I'm sorry," said that boy, "Uh, you-,"

"What?" snapped Uco, "Still not satisfied with bumping at me?"

The other boy winced before he chuckled. Uco was surprised since he expected him to yell back at him, because usually other people would be irritated when he started to act harshly.

"You're too tense," said that boy, "Do you know what you need right now?" he asked.

"Huh? Wha-,"

His question was interrupted when that boy threw something right at his opened mouth. He chewed it as he recognized right away that it was an almond infusion. As the chocolate melted between his teeth and tongue before it reached his throat, he felt his temper slowly gets back to normal.

"Chill, grumpy kid," that boy chuckled, "Take it as an introduction gift. I'm Rama, third year from chocolate," he raised his hand to shake Uco's, while Uco was spacing out.

He never found anyone being friendly towards him after he got mad before, but this boy, whose name was Rama, whom he never even noticed before, seemed to know how to handle him.


"Tck, dammit!" Uco put back his chocolate glazed choux to the table. After choux and éclair baking class in chocolate department building, he still did not leave the kitchen because he was pissed with Andi's comment on his choux. Andi said he would never make a baker if all that he can do is only baking breads.

"Then what should I do, son of a bitch?!" Uco banged the table angrily. First, he was sick of Andi's attitude towards him, and second, deep inside he already knew his weakness without knowing how to overcome it.

Andi was right, he could only bake breads without mastering the others. He could not make soft filling cream , not even to make shiny glazed topping. He did not know how, because all this time he was only focused on baking soft but strong-tasted breads. He knew how to bake nearly all worldwide breads, but he was terrible at the others.

He sat on the table, taking off his neckerchief and eyeglasses before he ate his own choux. He chewed and snorted when he tasted the rough chocolate glaze on the choux. But suddenly he somehow remembered what happened at the past 12PM. Suddenly he felt as if the almond infusion was still in his mouth, as he was reminded of a picture of himself shaking Rama's hand. The infusion was a little bitter because it was made with dark chocolate, but its sweetness in disguise tickled his interest.

"Dammit, how the hell did he—SHIT!"

Uco swore right when he looked at the kitchen door and saw Rama there, who looked shock as well. They both were shocked, apparently because they did not expect there would be anyone else staying in or coming to the kitchen since it was already 4PM when nearly all classes were finished. Especially Uco, who happened to be thinking of Rama right before he appeared.

"What the hell are you do-,"

"That should be my question," Rama interrupted as he entered the kitchen. He was wearing chef trainee uniform as well, and there were some thin books in his arms.

"Huh?" Uco was startled, "You think you own this place or what?" he started to feel irritated.

"No, but I'm a chocolate student and you're baking…," he glanced at Uco's table, "…choux in chocolate department building. If I'm not mistaken, you're bread student, right?" he put his books on a table next to Uco's. Uco winced.

"Yeah, and since when chocolate department building is only made for its students?" he returned. Rama sighed before he chuckled and heated water in a pot.

"You're a difficult person," he teased, "I bet my infusion was not enough to calm down your temper, and so was your chocolate glaze because it looks terrible."

Uco glared and stood off the table, "What do you want, huh?" he pushed Rama's shoulder without neither fear nor reluctance even though he knew Rama was older than him, "You suddenly came around from nowhere and mocked my work, who do you think you are? A chocolatier?"

But instead of responding Uco, Rama only smiled before he chopped a chocolate bar into small pieces, which made Uco speechless. Not only because Rama did not respond his anger, but also because he could chop the chocolate bar skillfully. All this time Uco always tried to do the same, but he could only chop bigger pieces, which made the chocolate was harder to melt.

"Are you here to bake or to watch me chopping chocolates?" teased Rama as he glanced at Uco for a second. Uco was blushed for getting caught, so that he only ended up snorting before he started whisking eggs to make another choux.

They were both busy with their own works for some minutes until Uco finished his choux dough and started to chop chocolate bars. He suddenly felt embarrassed after seeing Rama chopping that well, so that he glanced at Rama and was amazed of what he saw.

Rama was tempering the chocolate smoothly.

"Holy shit…," he murmured. The other person that he knew could do tempering perfectly was Andi, someday in basic chocolate baking practice class in his second semester. He knew even Bangun could not do tempering because his specialty was worldwide gateau, especially the ones from Indonesia.

"You must have studied about what tempering is for, right?" asked Rama as he still enjoyed tempering, "Then why don't you do the same now? It will shine your choux topping," he said.

Uco felt his temper started to calm down as he heard Rama, "Well, I—I'm not…,"

"You can't melt chocolate?" asked Rama. Uco was blushed before he shrugged.

"I can, but it was always rough," he replied, "I can't even chop it into small pieces."

"Maybe the chocolate that you chop was still frozen," said Rama before he took his leftover of chocolate bar and handed it to Uco, "Try with this one."

Uco took the chocolate bar and started to chop it. He was surprised to see how easily he chopped it into small pieces because the chocolate was not frozen. He still could not chop as fast as Rama, but he really learned a new useful knowledge that evening.


"Co, you ready?"

Eka suddenly appeared at Uco's opened bedroom door right when Uco had just put his white tee on. It was already 7PM and everyone was getting ready at home, because this night they would go to Menteng area again to check whether there might be some assaults to the guards.

"Yeah," Uco put on his dark brown leather jacket before he left his bedroom in the second floor of the house. He walked downstairs as Eka followed.

"Everything's secure by far?" asked Uco while they both walked to the garage.

"I haven't received any phone calls about that, so I assume it's secure by far," replied Eka. Before they headed to an Audi R8 Coupe, somebody walked through the gate and waved when he saw Uco and Eka.

"Hey!" he said, "Looks like the twins are splitted again," he teased. Uco snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, say whatever," he said lazily, "Take care of my sister, Idiot, if anything ever happened to her I'll make sure my bullet slips through your brain, Kei."

Keiichi, that boy, laughed hard. He was Goto's youngest son, a second year student in pastry department. Like the other kids, he also received orders from his father to maintain areas under Bangun's control and that night he would be partnered with Alicia, while Uco was with Eka. He was Uco and Alicia's childhood friend. Meanwhile his older brother, Ryuuichi, did not appear because Fruitful and Delight was terribly crowded this noon, so that his favor was needed in the shop.

"How dare you say such a thing," he laughed, "You fainted first in the battle yesterday!"

"I don't want to hear it from someone who didn't appear in the meeting and the fight because of additional practice in advanced bread class," mocked Uco, "Come on, Ka," he and Eka got in the car and they both left the house, leaving Keiichi who was blushed because of the additional baking class.


Eka was driving while Uco turned on the radio to find out about traffic info before he checked his GPS. He hummed through a song played on the radio as he checked traffic jam location.

"You two really never changed," said Eka suddenly, "In the end, you both can't be in the same battle because you always worry about each other," he chuckled. Uco glanced at him.

"Yeah," he looked away, "If you want to laugh, just go ahead."

"Why would I do that?" Eka laughed, "You've always been a cynical person," he pat Uco's head. Uco felt his heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered that he kind of missed Eka's friendly pat that he (and Alicia) always received since they were all in middle school. Lately he always tried to keep off Eka because of Ryuuichi.

"I've trained my heart all these years not to explode whenever I saw you two hurt," said Eka as he was still driving, "But I can't. Yesterday I didn't even have enough heart to stay longer after driving you both home, so that I and Ryu went back to Chef Goto's house soon," he explained. Uco winced.

"You're being overrated," he said, "What is that for?"

"Look who's talking, someone who fainted because of losing focus when his sister was beaten," teased Eka, "I was just being in your shoes, Uco, because since I was brought to the house and saw you two, I've deemed you two as my real brother and sister. And it never changed," he pat Uco's head again.

But Uco did not feel delighted with that pat. He did not say a thing as he tried to see the truth, that Eka only saw him as a brother. Deep inside he already knew about it all this time, but he kept being spoiled of Eka's kindness and thought that it was all special until one day after a class in his first year he caught Eka looking at Ryuuichi in a way that he refused to describe.

You're wrong, Al, he took a deep breath as he watched the street, confession is not necessary.


Rama and Very had just walked out Le Ciel's underground chamber. They got in a black Volvo S80 with Rama at the driver seat before they left.

"So, according to the plan," said Rama, "Since our faces had been seen by the twins, we'll only watch the men from a distance," he turned on the radio as he continued driving. Very, who was sitting next to him, only nodded.

Rama chuckled. He already understood his partner's passive traits since he was taken care by Bejo when he was still in middle school. Back then, Rama was still in his last year of middle school and he was only a pencak silat teen athlete. As he drove, his mind was blown into his childhood.


It was drizzling at the graveyard. Rama was staring at his parents' graves, where they had just been buried. They passed away because of an airplane accident when they were on their flight to Switzerland for a research about processing of cocoa beans in order to expand their chocolate shop, Morceau de Chocolat. It was a small but well-known chocolate shop that only sells processed chocolates, which was why Rama's parents, who were both chocolate artists, wanted to expand their business by learning about processing chocolates from scratch.

But before it ever came true, they were already gone, leaving Rama who was still a second-grade student of middle school, and his brother who was still in his first semester in a baking academy.

"Ram, let's go," his brother embraced his shoulder and brought him away under an umbrella.

"Brother," said Rama, "Can we do this alone?" he asked.

His brother glanced at him yet did not respond until they arrived in front of a car which would bring them back to their house.

"Yes," he replied, "As long as you promise to always stick with me."

"I promise," said Rama, "I have nowhere else to go."

"Good," his brother pat his head, "But first, we need to say farewell to the shop."

Rama was shocked, "What? Why?" he asked, "Then…how will we live?" he was panicked.

"Don't worry about that," replied his brother, "I promise I'll get the shop back someday. I promise I'll rebuild Morceau de Chocolat from scratch as well as I'll study about processing chocolate from scratch, like what Mom and Dad dreamed of."

Rama could not argue. His brother stared straight at him, and by that he knew that his brother would hold on to his words about rebuilding the shop, so that he had no choice but to trust him and to always stay with him as he promised.