Chapter 2 – The Noise of Attention

The school cafeteria was louder than usual during lunch break.

Metal spoons clinked against bowls, laughter burst from different corners, and the warm smell of meatball soup mixed with the humid air left behind by yesterday’s rain.

I sat on a long bench, staring at a bowl of bakso in front of me. Steam curled upward, briefly blurring my vision before disappearing.

“Now that Rio has Instagram,” Dina said casually, stirring her soup, “we should take more photos, right?”

She smiled at me.

It looked effortless. Natural.

Like it meant nothing.

But to me… it never really meant nothing.

I paused for a split second, then looked down at my bowl as if I hadn’t noticed.

“Ugh,” Aryo cut in. “I’ve had Instagram for ages. But none of you ever want to take pictures with me.”

“That’s because you’re not aesthetic,” Teguh said without even looking at him.

“Shut up,” Aryo muttered, though he was already laughing.

I smiled along, but my mind lingered on what Dina had said.

Take more photos.

For some reason… it felt different now.

“Dina, don’t talk too much. Your soup’s going to splash,” I said, trying to sound casual.

She glanced at me and chuckled. “You’re so dramatic.”

I laughed too—but mostly to hide something.

The truth was…

I liked Dina.

Not in a big, obvious way. Not something I needed to confess.

Just… quietly.

At our school, relationships weren’t really a thing. People didn’t date much. At most, they liked each other in silence, or teased it without ever saying it out loud.

Everyone was too busy thinking about grades, exams, the future.

Feelings like this?

They stayed where they were.

And I was fine with that.

As long as nothing changed.

Ranti, who had been quiet this whole time, suddenly raised her phone.

“Hey—”

“Don’t move,” she said.

Her expression shifted instantly—focused, sharp, like she had already framed the shot in her head.

“Selfie.”

We instinctively leaned closer.

Aryo was still holding his spoon mid-air.

Teguh nudged me slightly.

Dina moved closer.

Too close.

Click.

The photo was taken.

“Again,” Ranti said.

Click.

And again.

A few seconds later, she lowered her phone.

“Done. I’ll send it.”

I nodded.

My hand reached for my phone beside the bowl. I was about to open WhatsApp, just to check if the photo had been sent.

Before the screen even lit up—

“Hey, let me see!”

Teguh grabbed my phone.

“Hey—”

“Hahaha!” He laughed loudly. “Rio just got Instagram yesterday and he already has… two hundred nine followers?”

I frowned. “What?”

Aryo leaned in. “Seriously?”

“Look!” Teguh turned the screen toward us.

The number was there.

I paused.

“That’s fast,” Dina said quietly.

This time, she didn’t sound like she was joking.

Teguh kept laughing. “At this rate, you’ll hit a thousand tomorrow.”

“Give it back,” I said.

But before he could—

Ranti had already taken it from him.

“Oh wow…” she murmured, her eyes lighting up. “This is actually really good.”

“Ranti—”

“I’m adding more photos, okay?”

She had already opened my gallery.

I exhaled.

Fine.

Honestly, I didn’t really care.

From the beginning, I hadn’t even wanted the account. Ranti had made it, and she clearly knew what she was doing.

As long as nothing bad happened…

it was easier to just let her handle it.

I went back to my food, finishing the soup that had already started to cool.

Every now and then, I glanced at Dina.

She was standing next to Ranti now, looking at my phone.

Focused.

Smiling slightly.

And somehow…

that was enough.

The bell rang.

We returned to class.

Footsteps echoed through the hallways, blending with conversations that slowly faded as everyone entered their rooms.

Everything felt normal.

Like any other day.

And maybe it was.

That night, I lay on my bed.

The lights were off, leaving only the faint glow from my phone.

I opened Instagram.

Not because I needed to.

Just… out of curiosity.

Or maybe because of earlier.

The screen loaded.

And I stopped.

532 followers.

I blinked.

“Five hundred…?”

It had only been a day.

My thumb moved slowly as I opened the follower list.

Most of them…

I recognized.

Students from school.

Juniors.

Seniors.

Faces I had seen in hallways, in the cafeteria, during assemblies.

People I had never actually spoken to.

But there were others too.

Names I didn’t recognize.

Accounts without profile pictures.

Or ones that felt… too generic.

I closed the list.

Opened my profile.

More photos had been added.

Of course.

Ranti had been busy.

She picked images from my gallery—some I barely remembered taking.

A few from the basketball court.

Some from class.

Even a couple of candid shots.

The comments kept coming.

“So handsome 😭”

“What class are you in?”

“Follow back pls”

“Why are you only showing up now?”

Likes kept increasing.

Endlessly.

I stared at the screen.

It felt strange.

I wasn’t exactly invisible before.

But this…

was different.

Too fast.

Too much.

I tapped into my profile again.

And then—

I paused.

My bio.

I read it slowly.

My full name.

My school name.

And—

my phone number.

My eyebrows furrowed.

“What…?”

Why would Ranti put that there?

My thumb hovered over the screen.

I thought about deleting it.

But—

I didn’t really know how to edit it.

And for some reason…

I didn’t do anything.

“Maybe this is normal,” I muttered.

I didn’t understand how this worked anyway.

Maybe this was just how people did things.

I exhaled softly and closed the app.

Placed my phone beside me.

The ceiling above me faded into the dark.

Quiet.

Still.

Normal.

Ping.

A notification.

My eyes opened.

The screen lit up.

I reached for it.

A message.

From an unknown number.

I stared at it for a few seconds.

Then opened it.

“This is Rio, right?”

I froze.

My heartbeat picked up slightly.

I didn’t reply.

Just stared at the screen.

A second message came in.

“I saw you on Instagram.”

My fingers felt colder.

I slowly sat up.

My eyes didn’t leave the screen.

The number—

had no name.

No profile picture.

Just digits.

I swallowed.

Slowly.

And for the first time since that account was created—

I realized…

maybe not all of that attention…

was harmless.

Some of it…

might actually be getting closer.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***