"I've had two ex-girlfriends. The first was back in high school, while the second was a girl from my university."
Keenan paused briefly, as though making sure no one would interrupt him.
"My high school girlfriend was named Sekar. The other one was Raina."
"What about the reasons for the breakups?" Alya asked, growing interested.
Keenan nodded slightly.
"Sekar and I broke up because she was too possessive. Our relationship gradually became toxic."
He rubbed the back of his neck, recalling the past.
"Just imagine. I had to keep her updated on wherever I went. Every week, I had to take her out to the mall. Even at school, I had to stay by her side all the time, especially during breaks."
Keenan gave a humorless laugh.
"At first, I could still tolerate it. I mean, we were dating, so maybe she just wanted to spend a lot of time with me. But eventually, I got tired of it. It felt like I had no personal space anymore."
He shrugged.
"So I finally decided to end the relationship, even though we'd been dating for a whole year."
"Wow, a year isn't exactly a short time," Rengga remarked.
"True. But what's the point of staying together if you have to force yourself to keep going?"
Rengga nodded in agreement.
Keenan then continued.
"My breakup with Raina was different. I broke up with her because she cheated on me with a senior named Bobi."
At that moment, Keenan shifted his gaze toward Riki.
"I can't explain everything in detail because Bobi is Riki's cousin."
The moment Riki heard his cousin's name, he immediately understood what Keenan meant.
He fell silent.
Memories of what had happened some time ago began flooding back into his mind.
When Raina was still dating Keenan, Bobi had once been caught spending time with her at Riki's house.
At the time, Riki had no idea that Raina was still in a relationship with Keenan.
As far as Riki knew, Keenan was the one who had cheated on Raina. The girl had even managed to convince people that she was the one who had been hurt.
But eventually, the truth came out.
The accusation had been nothing more than a lie Raina had fabricated to cover up her own affair and pave the way for her relationship with Bobi.
When the truth was exposed, Keenan and Bobi got into a fierce fight.
Riki, who found himself caught between them, had no choice but to step in and break it up.
How could he not?
On one side, Bobi was his own cousin. On the other, Keenan was his best friend.
The situation put Riki in an impossible position. He didn't want his family relationship with Bobi to fall apart, but he also couldn't pretend he knew nothing about what his cousin had done to his friend.
Ever since that incident, Riki had never allowed Bobi to bring Raina to his house again.
It wasn't simply because Bobi had started a relationship with a woman who had once been Keenan's girlfriend. It was also because Raina had manipulated the situation and made his friend take the blame for something he had never done.
To Riki, that kind of betrayal was no trivial matter.
Especially since he had witnessed firsthand just how furious and devastated Keenan had been when he learned the truth.
"Wow, now you've made me even more curious, Keenan!" Alya exclaimed, breaking the silence.
She leaned forward slightly, her curiosity growing.
"Come on, tell us why you broke up with Raina!"
Keenan merely offered a faint smile without answering.
Alya wasn't ready to give up.
"Besides, there used to be a lot of gossip on campus claiming that you were cheating with Laras."
Hearing her name, Laras immediately turned toward Alya.
"Even though that obviously made no sense," Alya continued. "In the end, the rumors were never proven true, either. So, which story is actually true? Why were you accused of cheating with Laras?"
Several pairs of eyes turned toward Keenan.
The question seemed to reopen an old story that not everyone had fully understood.
Yet Keenan remained silent.
He knew that Bobi, Riki's cousin, was at the center of the matter and was also a member of Riki's family. No matter how much everyone wanted to know the truth, Keenan had no intention of exposing the whole affair so casually.
More importantly, he didn't want to put Riki in an even more difficult position between himself and his cousin.
"I'm never going to answer that question. Not now, not ever," Keenan stated firmly.
The smile that had previously graced his face had disappeared.
"There are things that not everyone needs to know. So please, don't ask me about it again."
Alya fell silent.
Even Rengga, who was usually the first to crack a joke, didn't respond immediately. He could tell that Keenan genuinely didn't want to discuss the matter.
The lively atmosphere gradually faded into silence.
Only the sound of the night wind could be heard slipping between the trees, accompanied by the rustling of leaves swaying now and then in the breeze.
Laras glanced at Keenan before shifting her gaze toward the others.
Something about the atmosphere felt different.
It wasn't merely because of the questions about Keenan's past. Rather, the silence of the night had suddenly become unnaturally oppressive.
As though the forest itself were holding its breath.
Suddenly, Rico's attention shifted toward the trees in front of them.
His gaze settled on a tree standing directly behind where Alya was sitting.
There, among the shadows of the leaves illuminated by the flashlight, he thought he saw something move.
Someone.
The figure appeared to be peeking out from behind the tree trunk, watching them as they continued gathering and playing in the middle of the night.
Rico didn't react immediately.
He simply stared in that direction, his expression calm, as though trying to confirm what he had seen.
A few seconds later, the figure disappeared.
Rico finally turned his attention back to his friends.
"Relax. It won't bother us."
Several people immediately turned toward him.
"Who?" Laras asked.
Rico pointed toward the tree he had been watching.
"Maybe it's just curious about what we're doing out here at this hour. It's gone now."
His answer sounded so casual that his friends began to feel a little less uneasy.
However, not everyone was entirely reassured.
After all, they were on Mount Srinjani, a mountain that had been shrouded in strange and inexplicable incidents ever since the beginning of their hike.
Rico himself didn't seem interested in pursuing the matter.
He clapped his hands softly.
"So, what do you say? Are we continuing the game or not?"
Before anyone could answer, the sound of approaching footsteps came from the hiking trail.
This time, Rico wasn't the only one who noticed.