Arana always feels that she is not as perfect as other people. She always felt ignored, just because she didn't meet the beauty standards of Indonesian women. She is not tall, has tan skin, has many scars on her body, wears glasses with thick lenses, and is quite stocky. Arana didn't mind at first, but everything changed when she couldn't find a place in people's hearts; it turned out that beauty privilege exists even after all she had given.
When she is next to other girls who "meet the standard," she only looks like a shadow that people don't care about. Arana always tries to accept the fact that she is not as beautiful as her friends, but it can't be denied that it really hurts her chest. She just wants to get a place and be considered there. Arana is often used as an object of comparison and ridicule. She gets strange nicknames, and what's even more disgusting is that she is only considered when they have difficulty with assignments.
In her first semester of college, she met a boy named Sky, who had a tall, well-built body with broad shoulders, thick eyebrows, and lean skin. Sky is one of the most popular guys on campus, with a cool demeanor that's hard to get. I don't know how many beautiful women he has ignored; he just acts indifferent to all women. Arana always cursed herself---how could she, who incidentally has many shortcomings, fall in love with her senior? She took a deep breath. She had never been in love or expressed her feelings to anyone. Feelings like this were very foreign to her. She can't have it because the sky must be seen as the sky.
Arana wakes up at five in the morning; she feels that she has overslept even though class starts at nine in the morning, but she needs a lot of time to get ready. After taking a shower, she will be confused looking for clothes and remain silent in front of the mirror. She repeatedly tries to convince herself that she has "enough" beauty this morning.
She was broken by her mother's screams; her mother repeatedly called her to hurry up and have breakfast together. But she refused to eat breakfast and ended up drinking a glass of milk and eating a piece of wheat toast.
   "Eat more, dear." "I'm afraid you'll get sick."
It's true that Arana always tries to go on a diet by not eating rice, skipping dinner, and doing strenuous exercise. Because of this, she is often hospitalized with stomach problems, but he doesn't feel tired.
   "Dad's child is already beautiful; don't think you're feeling insecure all the time, dear," is Dad's best word every morning to encourage her.
When she arrived at campus, she rushed to class, where she quickly sat down in an empty chair next to her best friend Carina. Carina had a sweet face, a slim body, and white skin---the typical woman that men like. For some reason, they can be good friends. Besides Carina, she felt like a shadow, but she was grateful that a beautiful woman like Carina wanted to be friends with her.
She is a typical butterfly student; she doesn't join any organizations, and she will go home quickly after class is over, not without reason, all because she feels inferior to other people. She rushed to say goodbye to Carina and immediately left the classroom. Her steps stopped in front of the classroom door. She was called by a group of popular boys.
   "Your name is Arana, right?" said the man she knew named Triton; her eyes accidentally collided with Sky, and she immediately looked away. Arana nodded in response. If her name was indeed Arana, then why did they bother to confirm the truth of her name?
   "Ahh, so this is Arana," Triton said in a teasing tone as he looked Arana up and down and was greeted with laughter by his friend.
This made Arana a little embarrassed. Why did her seniors make her the object of a joke? Arana rushed to say goodbye and immediately left them. When she wanted to go out again, it turned out that it was pouring rain outside, even though this morning the weather was very sunny and she felt tired. She had to wait for the rain to stop because she didn't bring an umbrella. It had been about thirty minutes since she had waited for the rain to stop, and the campus, which had originally been busy, now had only a few students left.
The rain has let up. She decided to run to the bus stop, but her steps suddenly stopped. Sky seemed to be chasing and balancing her steps while carrying an umbrella that was meant to be used by the two of them.
   "It's raining; just go home with me." Sky spoke without turning toward Arana.
She tried to refuse Sky's invitation kindly, but Sky was still pulling her arm. He opened the car door without waiting for an answer, or he really didn't need her answer. She was confused; she only looked out the window, and Sky only asked about her address. After being answered, there was no further conversation. They only filled it with music from the radio. But wait, he just remembered that her house and Sky are not in the same direction; why would this popular guy bother to take him?
When she arrived at Arana's house, she quickly thanked her and rushed out of the car; the way Sky acted was so unpredictable that she didn't know what she should do other than say thank you.
After that incident, she was often talked about by other students, whether they were classmates or even seniors. It seemed that she was not aware of his position. Sky rejected many beautiful women, but she approached. If she had not agreed and refused Sky that day, perhaps she would not have received negative or other hurtful words. But somehow Arana felt happy---happy that a popular guy on campus wants to take her home. Sky steals glances, follows her from behind, pulls her arm to go home with her, and on several occasions, she intentionally sits in front and eats at one table in the cafeteria. Sky's focus puzzled her; Sky didn't say anything on purpose and seemed to only want to accompany someone who was alone; was this out of pity?
However, this made the issue of Arana spread even more, and she felt even more uncomfortable being the subject of conversation on campus. She tried to weigh whether she should tell Sky not to get close to him by sending a message, but her thoughts were interrupted by her mother, who called and said someone was waiting for her. She was confused about who was looking for her at this time of night. Especially because she had no friend, she quickly came out of the room, but there is Sky, who was sitting in the living room; why did he come?
After they met, her mother left them. Sky invited her to take a walk to the residential garden; she asked herself why she was walking around the residential garden at eight in the evening, but even so, she still followed Sky's words; whatever Sky said, it was hard to refuse. During the trip to the garden, Sky was silent. She remembered that she wanted to talk about Sky's attitude recently. They sat on the garden swing just looking at the moon, and she tried to work up the courage to speak.
   "Sky," said Arana. Sky immediately looked up.
   "Why, just say it; don't be afraid," he said firmly.
Arana tried to explain Sky's recent behavior, particularly the many negative comments she received and how she was accused of using black magic or other things. She thinks Sky should stop everything immediately. She doesn't want to get nasty comments all the time. She wants to be praised for being beautiful, praised for being smart, or just to get a place like the others without feeling inferior. She always tries to be better, but maybe she really can't be as good as the others; she knows she's just a speck of dust. But Sky's attitude made it even heavier for her; she found it increasingly difficult to deal with people's reactions, especially in light of recent events. She felt like everything was happening so fast that she didn't know the purpose of everything that was happening.
But instead of the answer, Sky asked her back, "Why, when you mention the lack, is your voice really loud?" Arana's reflexes replied, "I really have a lot of shortcomings." "How about your strengths?" Sky asked, shaking her head. Arana was just silent. "When you ask to mention your strengths and you think a lot or are silent, you may forget, Arana, that small things can be advantages; when you respect your elders, you like to help old people cross at crossroads or do street activities like feeding every morning," Sky continued. Sky knows that beauty privilege is real, but he wants her to pay more attention to the small things that are actually strengths, not just the big things that she feels are hard to reach. He wants her to appreciate all the achievements that she makes because everything starts with herself.
She was perplexed as to how Sky could notice small details in herself that she couldn't---ahhh, butterflies in her stomach. Sky is right---all the good things start with herself.
Their short conversation last night made her realize many things. It turns out that the problem lies in herself; she always looks up. It's not that she's ungrateful, but she constantly compares herself to others who are closer to her, or it's because of the beauty privilege she doesn't have; she hurts herself, but she's happy knowing Sky.
The closer they got, the more intense their bond became. The icy-cold Sky now became warm, and Sky lavished attention on her to make her completely fall for her charms. Until Sky confessed her feelings for Arana, he said Arana made him comfortable. With Sky, Arana really doesn't need to be perfect; with Sky, she can be herself, and Sky also makes her accept herself more.
One week passed, and now their relationship is known by many students. People who were sneering now are starting to appreciate Arana, not without reason; it's all because of Sky's influence. Sky's friend Triton also congratulated her. But it sounded strange that Triton's words appeared to mock. She didn't care about that because Sky told her to stop worrying about what other people said.
When Arana passed the room, she heard that Sky had won the bet and got the car that Triton was using. Arana was petrified; in fact, all this time Sky had only been acting and making him the object of a gamble. He immediately left the campus feeling disappointed. Arana turned off her cell phone; she didn't want to be disturbed, so she lay down and cried. It turned out that Sky was only Sky; she was too tall to reach, and she herself didn't have anything special to make her whole. Sky made her realize that just because they were together didn't make her special. No matter how good you are, you can always be replaced.
Sky, on the other hand, tried to contact Arana; she wanted to tell the truth about the "bet," and she didn't want any misunderstandings; Sky wanted a right relationship with nothing to hide because he felt he had completely fallen for Arana's charms, but Arana was difficult to contact. Sky decided to meet Arana at her house. Arriving at Arana's house, he found Arana with puffy eyes, wondering what had happened to her. Before he had time to ask, Arana had already called his name.
   " let's be a stranger again, Sky " she said softly. Sky was stunned, trying to understand Arana's words. This was not what Sky wanted.
Arana already knew about the bet made by Sky and his friends, but after thinking that it was inappropriate for Arana to feel angry, she thinks that falling must hurt, so to fall in love, she must be prepared to get sick, whatever the consequences, but no matter what, she should be happy, because Sky managed to make her confident even though she was also hurt.
She felt that time with Sky was fun, but she was more sure that Sky would be happier without her, she wanted them not to get to know each other like in the beginning. Sky obviously made her happy, but she would not ask for more. Having Sky was a dream, but now it's time for her to wake up; This is the last page; she wants to begin a new chapter, but our role is to be strangers. It's time for Sky to find a new star. So far, she is grateful; they have a lot of good stories, but this ends here, and she really says thank you for her Sky.
Sky was silent; it was true that he was late, and she had asked to close the story even before Sky started.
