[Author's Note] Ten!

Before I finally wrote these last chapters, I was worried of whether I'd be able to explain about the progress in Uco and Eka's relationship. And when I read this chapter again before posting, I feel relieved that I can seem to do what I expected.

Honestly I wrote this story because I want to pair Uco with Rama so much, which did not happen obviously in the movie (like, of course). But the more I wrote, especially because I already decided that the genre is family and friendship, the more I explored about the brotherhood between Uco and Eka. In the movie, I also admire their "brotherhood" which did not end happily, and that is why I am glad to bring it to this story.

But will it end happily here? We'll see :D

Please do not hesitate to review!

The Raid 2: Berandal © PT. Merantau Films

Secrets © OneRepublic

Uco was totally stunned of what he saw in cafeteria. Eka had lunch in one table together with his rivals, Isa and Bowo. He already understood that he could not stop Eka from participating in election, but he had no idea why he gathered with his rivals.

As he failed to hold back his curiosity, he walked to Eka's table. That afternoon, he had lunch alone because Alicia promised to have lunch with Dwi earlier.

"Hey, is it empty?" asked Uco as he arrived next to the said table.

Eka, Isa, and Bowo turned their heads. Uco knew there was an empty chair beside Isa and he only asked for courtesy.

Isa was a cute girl with soft long curly hair tied into a ponytail, and she was wearing eyeglasses. Meanwhile, Bowo looked more like a friendly neighbor yet he was actually a furious judo club member.

"Oh," replied Eka as he got excited, "Yes!"

Uco took a seat and started to chew his grilled chicken. He kept eating until he realized that those three Student Council President candidates did not say anything since he joined them. He quit munching and looked at both of them, who stared at him jointly, as he thought that they might want to say something to him.

"Just go on with the talks," he finally said after a three-seconds waiting, "Don't mind me."

"You're that so-called sectionals badass, right?" asked Isa eagerly, "The one in the headline."

"I feel so sorry that you have to encounter such thing," said Bowo regretfully, "Disciplinary Committee staff should've been doing something back then, instead of just hanging around the school building and Student Council Office."

Right after Bowo finished his sentence, Eka glanced and smirked meaningfully at Uco before he continued eating. Uco winced and passed two seconds before he pictured clearly in his mind of what Eka meant with that meaningful glance.

The current Student Council did not have monitoring and supervising systems to avert bullying in unexpected places, and that was what Eka wanted to change if he was elected as president.

"Don't play too hard, Seniors," said Uco without looking at them, "Eka is already too busy."

Eka chuckled to hear it. Uco had acted beyond his expectation, since he knew that interfering anyone else's business never crossed Uco's mind before. Meanwhile, Isa and Bowo were both amazed.

"Actually I should be the one who's afraid with him, Uco," said Isa as she glanced at Eka, "Most people achieve their best in one subject, but he achieves his best in study, club, and Student Council."

"Your words should've been directed to Eka," teased Bowo, "He makes me remain in second place since we were all first-graders," he said.

Both Eka and Isa laughed, but Uco only chuckled. Deep inside he was relieved to know that Eka was that competitive and none of his rivals underestimated him.

"So, when's the debate? The speech?" asked Isa.

"Like…two weeks before mid-test," replied Bowo, "If I'm not mistaken, the debate and speech would be on the same day, right?" he asked. Eka nodded.

"Correct," he replied, "And the voting day would be on the next week."

"Okay," said Isa, "Gotta go to the lab, I seem to leave my book there. See you and…oh, you are Eka's cousin, right, Uco? You're so cute, worrying about him," she teased before she left the table.

Eka and Bowo chuckled, while Uco tried not to blush by sipping his mineral water.

"Well, I'm off," said Bowo as he stood off his chair, "See you, Guys!" he left the table as well, leaving Eka and Uco alone. They did not talk right away. Eka finished eating his meal, while Uco was texting with Rama.

"So, where's Alicia?" asked Eka, "You usually have lunch with her."

"She's with Dwi," replied Uco. Eka chuckled.

"Oh, with Dwi," he said.

Uco sighed and smirked, "I understand why you people laugh about Dwi," he said, "And it's not unrequited, no?"

"I don't really know about it," replied Eka, "Even so, there's nothing they can do for now."

"I know," said Uco, "They're still student and teacher, so I don't think Dad will allow them to-,"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Eka, "It's not bad. Uncle Prakoso had been all alone for quite long, even since I came to your house," he smiled.

Uco shrugged, but he was startled to see Benny had just walked passing them in a quite short distance. He looked at the gap between their table and the others and it was short, so that it would surely bothersome to be crossed.

Suddenly anxiety crept into Uco's mind. His heart could not be stopped from beating fast.

"…Co."

Uco kept punching the sand sack with both his fists, and the sharper he stared at Benny, the harder his fists punched the sand sack.

"Uco!"

"Huh? What?" asked Uco as his hand prevented the sand sack from bumping into him. He found Rama stood behind him, apparently had something to talk with him because he looked curious. They were still on intensive training, while the other members were on the physical training.

"Coach Prakoso called you," replied Rama, still looked curious, "Briefing for sectionals."

"Oh," Uco woke up from his daydream, "Yeah," he followed Rama to the corner of arena, gathered with the other members who would participate in sectionals. Not long after Uco and Rama joined, Prakoso explained some things related with sectionals. Uco only heard the beginning, because when Benny came a little closer to him, he could not keep his eyes off. His heart kept pounding everytime he watched Benny.

"Did I make myself clear?" asked Prakoso.

"Yes, Coach," replied everyone except Uco. His eyes kept wandering around Benny.

"Uco," called Prakoso. Uco was startled.

"Yes?" he asked, "What?"

Prakoso winced, "You didn't listen to me, no?" he asked.

Uco shook right away, "I-I listened," he lied.

Prakoso winced again, but instead of interrogating Uco, he only dismissed the briefing afterwards because it was already 5PM. Uco exhaled. He watched Benny again when everyone started to walk off the arena.

"Hey, hey," Rama waved his palm in front of Uco's eyes, "Are you watching Benny?" he asked.

Uco was stunned. Rama looked at him curiously with his two clear eyes, and Uco had no idea why it made him speechless. His heart was still pounding, not less hard than when he watched Benny, but he did not feel the anxiety anymore.

"No need to feel jealous about him, you know," said Rama after a useless waiting for Uco's answer, "He can't compare you," he walked off the arena. Uco was still speechless. He was still thinking of Benny's attitude, yet on the other side something else crept into his mind.

Something else let him know how Rama always cared about him.

The next day, Uco and Alicia walked off the laboratory in second floor. They were heading to the lockers to put some books before they went to cafeteria for lunch. When waiting for Alicia arranging books in her locker, Uco looked around the first floor. There had been some posters of Student Council president candidates on the walls, with their vision and missions written there. When Uco walked closer to a wall to read Isa's missions on a poster, someone stood on his way.

"Hey, Headmaster's son."

Uco was shocked and he looked at that person right away. Benny was standing in front of him, smiling mischievously. Uco saw how Benny did not hide the curiosity in his eyes anymore as he felt a cold wind blew behind his neck.

Benny was still staring at him.

"Huh?" Uco played dumb, "You talk with the wrong person," he tried to speak nonchalantly as he was used to, but he even felt his voice shivering.

"Chill, Man," Benny chuckled, still mischievously, "What's wrong with that? It shouldn't be a secret, no?" teased him. Uco tried to stay cool, no matter how hard his heart pounded. The reason of his anxiety started to arise.

"Uco, come on," Alicia pat Uco's arm, surprising him, "Oh, you-,"

"You're Alicia, right?" Benny smiled, not anymore mischievously, "Boys in my class mentioned you nearly in each conversation. The badass beauty, they said," he said. Alicia smiled.

"Thanks," she said, "Come on," she pulled Uco's right arm, dragging him off the school. Uco exhaled a relieved breath. For a moment he was glad for being saved from Benny, as on the other side he finally saw how cold Alicia acted towards a guy that she did not know well.

But he shoved his thoughts about Alicia, because it was more important for him to find out how Benny knew he was the real Headmaster's son. He also knew he needed to do something before Benny spread it to the whole school, even though he had no idea why Benny must do that, because he worried that it would affect the election process.

The election where Eka, the known Headmaster's son, participated.

Uco was sitting on his chair as he knocked his phone on his desk slowly. He and Rama had just finished dinner and they were doing their homeworks. While Rama still looked busy with his books and calculator, Uco had finished his homework since fifteen minutes ago but he had not stood off his chair. He was thinking deep about Benny.

"Hey, you finished?" asked Rama from his own desk. Uco was startled before he nodded.

"Can you help me?" asked Rama again, "I'm so over Math, can't handle this," he sighed.

Uco stood off his chair and walked towards Rama. He looked at the problems that Rama was working on, which were his class assignment some days ago so that he already knew how to solve them.

"Here," he wrote the formula with Rama's pencil on the blank page of Rama's notebook. As he was writing, he felt Rama stared at him, but he continued with mixed feeling. He had been used being stared by people, but when it came to Rama, things never seemed to be the same.

"Hey, Uco," said Rama, "You…really resemble Headmaster, huh?" he asked.

Uco quit writing as he felt his heart stopped beating. Another cold wind started to blow behind his neck again. He gulped before he continued writing.

"What's with that?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could be, "We're relatives."

"I know," replied Rama, "I just think you really resemble him. Your face, jaw, hair, eyes, and…skin color. Instead of Senior Eka, you resemble Headmaster more. Oh, but, I don't mean anything with that," he added, "But Senior Eka even has darker skin than Headmaster's and yours."

"Yeah, and then?" asked Uco as he finished writing, "Rather than asking, you better finish it," he left Rama and went back to his desk to take his phone before he sat on his bed. He almost texted Eka to ask him to meet, but he held back.

He did not want to break Eka's concentration on the election.

"You look gloomy again," said Rama after he finished his homework and arranged books on his desk, "What's going on? Don't tell me it's Benny issue again, I've told y-,"

"What would you do," said Uco, "If you…had something important to tell Senior Andi, but you don't want to break his concentration?" he asked. Rama blinked twice.

"What?" he asked.

"Like maybe he had important championship. Nationals. Whatever. But you need to tell him about this matter," explained Uco. He sighed.

Lately he had been feeling strange to find himself started to open in front of people. In the past days, he would never want to ask for anyone else's opinion about his problems. He would always try to solve them alone, no matter how hard they were to be solved.

"Um…usually I'll wait," replied Rama as he lied down on Uco's bed.

"What if this matter was potential to affect his championship result?" asked Uco again.

"Then I'll tell him right away," replied Rama. Uco winced and glanced at Rama.

"Even though it might break his concentration and make him lose the game?" he asked.

"Well, that's a difficult option," answered Rama, "But maybe, if I could, I'd solve the problem without my brother needs to know. So, he can go on with his championship and I'd solve anything that might stand on his way there."

Uco rolled his eyes as his mind tried to process Rama's answer. He looked at his phone and suddenly he got an idea that he would carry out by tomorrow. He exhaled a relieved breath.

"What's going on, anyway?" asked Rama again, "Is it between you and Senior Eka?"

"Pretty much," replied Uco as he smirked at Rama, "You're really a good kid, huh?" he teased.

"Shouldn't it be addressed to you?" asked Rama, and Uco winced, "Senior Ryuuichi told me you suddenly entered his class and asked Senior Eka to leave the election. He said you never looked so serious before, and he said it was because of me. I don't understand the last one, though, but I think you're really a good person. You worried about Senior Eka, right?"

The next day, Uco spent half of his lunch time in computer laboratory. He was browsing the internet there, because he did not bring his laptop to the dorm and his phone was too small for massive research.

He browsed Putih Abu-Abu homepage to search for Benny's data. Sometimes he checked if there was anyone entered the laboratory, but nobody came around until he read Benny's educational history. He winced as he read the middle school part because he found that Benny spent his first year of middle school in Tirta Angkasa Academy Junior High School, the same middle school with him and Eka. But he did not remember there was a student like Benny back then, although at least he finally knew why Benny always stared curiously at him and Eka, it must be because he ever saw them back then.

Uco closed the browser tab and turned off the iMac before he walked off the laboratory. He closed the door.

"Hey-,"

"SHIT!" Uco yelled right when he saw Benny's face before him, "You shocked me, Idiot!" he snapped. Like of course he was shocked, right after he researched about Benny, the person appeared.

But Benny looked neither surprised nor sorry for shocking Uco. He even smiled mischievously.

"What did you just do?" he asked, "How unusual, somebody spends lunch break in lab."

"None of your concern," replied Uco nonchalantly.

"Or did you just research about me?" guessed Benny. Uco was shocked, but he kept cool.

"You're an overconfident person," he mocked, "Who do you think you are?"

"Soon you'll see," replied Benny, "But until that day, you better pay respect to me because I can ruin both your life and the Student Council Secretary's-,"

BAM!

Uco grabbed Benny's collar and pushed him to the wall. He stared wrathfully at Benny's eyes as he did not give any damn to some surprised students who passed them.

"You can do whatever you want to me, Asshole," he growled, "But leave Eka alone."

"Oh," Benny chuckled, "So, he's your card? The fake Headmaster's so-,"

Uco covered Benny's mouth with his right hand before Benny finished his sentence. Something suddenly crossed his mind, as if he had ever been in such situation, but he could not figure it out.

"Shut the fuck up," ordered Uco, "If you ever speak such a nonsense again-,"

"Hey, hey, Uco, what is this?" asked someone as Uco felt his body was pulled off Benny.

It was Eka coming. He gulped. He looked at Benny and saw him grinning.

"Don't fight around," said Eka as he released Uco, "Sectionals is close."

"…okay."

Uco walked away, leaving Eka and Benny. He knew it was the best thing he could do, because if he kept standing there, Benny might spill more about Eka who was not the Headmaster's son or he might had no choice but to let Eka know about everything and break his concentration on election.

BWAK!

Uco was thrown to the floor with Benny's strong kick. Everyone in pencak silat club was shocked to see it, since they knew that Uco should be stronger than that. They had technical training, and each member had a one on one fight.

"You okay?" asked Benny as he passed his hand to help Uco stand up, but Uco could see his mocking eyes stared at him. He ignored Benny's hand and stood up alone instead before he threw a fist that Benny could shove easily. He kicked, and Benny shoved again. Uco nearly lost breath. Benny was stronger than he thought, and that one on one battle made him more anxious. They ended the fighting with Uco being slammed again.

He completely lost.

He stood off the floor to walk out the arena, but Benny had grabbed his arm before he reached the exit door.

"You're still that weak rascal," said Benny in lowered voice, "I'm disappointed."

Uco was startled. He warded off Benny's hand and continued walking off the arena. He was right, Benny ever saw him when they were in middle school. But the more Uco tried to recall when and where he ever saw Benny, the more he only got more anxious. He could not remember anything. He always hated everyone before, so that he never remembered anyone who came into his life, except the closest people with him.

He stood before his locker door without opening it. His mind was busy recalling about Benny.

"Hey, you okay?"

Uco was startled before he turned his head. It was Rama there, with his brother Andi. They looked concern.

"Oh," replied Uco, "Yeah, I'm…okay," he said.

He saw Rama still has not changed his silat uniform into school uniform. When he looked at Andi in his school uniform, he remembered he saw Andi standing around Prakoso during training. Third-graders were no more allowed to be active in club activities, except the heads of the clubs, due to the upcoming final exam.

"Really?" asked Rama, "You lost to Benny. What's going on?"

"Nothing," replied Uco as he opened his locker door and took his school uniform, "As you said, he participated in sectionals back then. He's strong, no wonder," he closed the locker door.

"You're right, he's strong and skilled," said Andi, "But you can't lose to him easily. Just so you know, your opponents in the toilet incident were nearly as skilled as Benny, they've been trained since middle school too," he explained.

Uco did not respond. He did not know about those people's history, but deep inside he was quite surprised to know how easily he defeated them back then.

"There must be something in your mind, right?" asked Rama. Uco was startled.

"Huh?"

"Maybe you don't need this, but if you want to share whatever in your mind, you know where to go," Rama smiled sincerely as he pat Uco's arm before he walked to the male dressing room.

Uco did not move. He somehow felt warmth at the place that Rama touched.

"My brother worries about you, you know," said Andi, "He's really a good kid. So, if there are things that burdened you, you can really count on him," he added. Uco smirked.

"Yeah, it's crystal clear," he said.

The next morning, Uco walked to school alone. He woke up a little late because he could not sleep at night, still busy recalling when he ever saw Benny in middle school. When he entered school building, everyone stared at him as they whispered with each other. He winced. It was very unusual that people suddenly cared about him when his face was not wounded or bruised. He continued walking until he arrived before the big board nearby Student Council Office. A lot of students gathered there, so that he became curious and walked closer to the board to see what was written there.

He glared as he was shocked to see what was taped to the board.

His heart stopped beating.

There was a copy of his bio there, where his full name and his parents' names were highlighted in yellow. And next to his bio, there was a copy of Eka's birth certificate where his biological parents' names were also highlighted in yellow.