Part 6
2452 Words
Today is really tiring me to death. Several times Marta and I get scolded by Mrs. Laras — our boss — for our lack of thoroughness in making reports.
We make too many mistakes in the reports of incoming and outgoing goods. Not to mention that our driver sent the wrong items, a cherry on top of my tough life today since Marta and I are also in charge of shipping goods.
“Anyelir, next time, please check first before sending it to Mr. Yoo. He’s furious because this is a famous brand,” snaps Mrs. Laras, while checking the email I sent to the big boss. Apparently, I made too many mistakes. I can only nod mutely in resignation.
Without her telling me, I already know that Victoria’s Secret is a famous brand.
I step out of Mrs. Laras’ room lifelessly. It is not entirely my fault, but it still affects my position. Marta is lucky since she went to the toilet when Mrs. Laras called me to meet her just now, so she doesn’t get to endure the scolding.
“Wanna have lunch outside?” Marta is already in front of me. She frowns seeing my lethargic face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m so tired of work,” I complain. “Every time things like this happen, I suddenly want to be a housewife at home. Take care of my children, my husband, and the house. It seems so easy, you don’t have to get scolded by the boss every day,” I continue.
“It’s what we get when we’re working with other people, Nye. Definitely, we get scolded if we make mistakes. But don’t let it be a burden. Mrs. Laras lashed out at us so that we’ll be more careful in the future. Keep making mistakes won’t do this company any good,” says Marta, trying to lift my heart.
I smile slightly in response to Marta’s words. We ride our motorbikes to a restaurant that has just opened near our workplace. Not because we are culinary lovers who like hunting for new foods. We decided to eat here because this wood-dominated restaurant is currently offering a 30% discount. For incomers like us, this is rare and delectable, too good to be missed.
We sit at a table near the entrance. At lunchtime like this, it is no doubt that the tables will be full of hungry diners. Moreover, this place is currently holding a big discount for promotions.
“Are you serious when you say you wanna be a full-time mom? Take care of dirty clothes every day and smell like onions,” Marta starts our conversation as soon as the waiter leaves after taking our orders. Her face looks serious.
We ordered the same menu, honey roasted chicken and iced orange squash.
"If my husband is kind, responsible, and loyal, I will sincerely become a full-time mom. Let my body smell of onions, as long as my house stays clean, my kids and husband are full,” I answer earnestly. “But in reality, my husband doesn’t even think of me, Ta,” I sigh softly.
Even though last night Adi and I slept together, literally just slept, I still doubt his sudden change of attitude.
“Be strong. Maybe Adi does need time to accept you. Hopefully, one day Adi can open his heart.”
“Amen to that.”
Our chat is paused when the waiter delivers our order. We quickly gulp down the orange squash, feeling it flow through our throats.
“By the way, did you tell Ferdinand about my problems?” I ask while enjoying my meal. Honestly, I don’t like Marta to tell other people about my household problems. Especially to that guy.
Marta stops moving the food to her mouth. Her face looks nervous, maybe she truly feels bad for me.
“Sorry, Nye,” she sounds regretful. “But I didn’t tell him everything though. I just said Adi has another wife,” she explains.
“Don’t ever do it again, okay? I don’t want my household to be tattled among people.”
Marta nods and we continue eating.
"Whoa, I’m stuffed. The portion is so big. I’m very satisfied, really.”
“Yes, the chicken is big too,” I say.
We are done eating. Marta is busy on her phone. I choose to observe the building of this restaurant, buying time. The atmosphere is still crowded, visitors keep going in and out.
The tail of my eyes then catches a familiar figure. A man and a woman are enjoying their lunch, laughing occasionally. Adi and Melati. I have no idea who came here first, me or them. What is certain is that I’m starting to feel uncomfortable with the view in front of me right now.
Adi hasn’t noticed my existence yet. The man lovingly strokes Melati’s cheeks and hair, which is flowing beautifully. Things Adi never did to me!
“Nye, what’s wrong with you?” Marta notices my sudden silence.
Not responding to her question, my eyes are burning up, staring at the couple. An invisible yet so excruciating pain visits me. I shouldn’t be this jealous. Adi is with his wife, not a mistress. Don’t get them wrong, Nye!
“Isn’t that Adi?” Marta follows my line of sight. “Be strong, Nye,” She grabs my hand, trying to lift me up.
Several minutes pass. Adi finally realizes he is being watched by us. He is quite surprised seeing my presence. Meanwhile, Melati is still unaware of my existence because she is sitting with her back facing us.
“I shouldn’t be jealous, right? Melati is Adi’s wife, too, after all. But it hurts, Ta. It hurts,” I point at the chest.
“Let’s just get out of here!”
We go back to the factory. This time, Marta is in the front, riding my bike.
I have mixed feelings. The place where we had lunch is close to the factory where I work. Adi should have also invited me to eat there, right? If he considers me his wife. But see?
Forgive me, Oh Allah for being too jealous.
*****
“Yes, Mom. I’m in good health. Yes, InshaAllah, I’ll come to visit next month.”
“...”
“Wa’alaikumsalam.”
Sadly, I look at the phone screen that has just connected me to the woman who had taken care of me since I was a child. I miss her so much. Even though Dad and Mom made me live this pathetic marriage, I still miss them no matter what.
Nine o’clock at night. I choose to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. I don’t care about Adi. I don’t care if that guy will come back here or not. Fortunately, I still stay in the sharehouse instead of listening to him and returning home. I will definitely return to being the third-wheel of the couple. And watch their romantic scenes live. Pathetic!
“Assalammu’alaikum.”
I have just lay down when I hear the voice of someone I want to forget coming from the door.
“Wa’alaikumsalam.”
Grabbing the hijab and wearing it, I finally lazily open the door. Without looking and greeting him I let the man enter my room. I choose to go back to sleep.
“Nye,” Adi calls from behind me, either sitting or standing. I don’t know for sure because of my position.
“Clean up first, then go to sleep!” I say coldly.
I hear Adi entering the bathroom and then a splash of water. I force my eyes to close but turn out that it’s not easy. The images of Adi and Melati this afternoon are still spinning in my head, making it hard to sleep, of course.
The bathroom door opens. Then, again, a hand snakes on my waist.
“Get that off of me,” I say, still with my eyes closed.
“Let it stay like this.”
"Di, let go!"
Adi didn’t move at all. Now, not only his hand, his breath brushes against my neck, which is still covered in a hijabin hijab.
“Di, enough!” I get up and slightly brush Adi’s hand off my body. Adi also gets up. We are now sitting facing each other with our eyes locked.
“What do you want?”
“What do IWhat I want?” Adi frowns. “I know that all this time, I don’t treat you right. Okay? So, I want us to start over.”
I squint, looking at him. The more I’m sure something is wrong with Adi. Sorry, God, I can’t help but being judgmental with this man.
“Do you know what is one of the conditions for polygamy?” Adi furrows his brows again. Only God knows what is inside his mind.
“To be able to be fair,” I explain, breaking his silence. “Now, let me ask you. Have you been fair to me and Melati?”
Adi’s face turns sour. Maybe he gets offended by my question just now.
“Not yet. Right?”
I see his eyes soften. Closing his eyes for a moment, Adi finally says, “You don’t know how it feels... when we are in love with someone but then forced to marry someone else." His voice is low, but somehow it is like an excruciating pain tearing up the heart deep down.
How lucky Melati is, to be loved by Adi this much!
Unmoving, I wait for him to continue his sentence. There, in his eagle eyes, I see a wound, a wound that may be as painful as mine.
Ah, I’m still the one who is hurt the most. Because all this time, Adi has always been smiling happily. Stubbornness now overrides me.
Adi is now changing his sitting position. Leaning against the wall, he stares straight ahead. “I love her. Melati is my first love. We love each other and were planning a wedding. Until... this matchmaking – almost – ruined our dreams.” Adi starts telling me stories.
The other side of Adi that I just found out. This man is fragile when it comes to love.
Adi turns his head, looking at me deeply. “I need time to accept you, Anyelir. Give me a chance to fix everything,” he says, reassuring me. Somehow I still doubt him, although to be honest, I’m a little flattered.
Taking a deep breath, I stare at him closely. “You better start with being fair. I want you to be fair. If you buy Melati diamonds, don’t buy me copper.”
“Copper?”
“You heard me. Should I say gold instead? Too impossible, isn’t it?”
“Whoa – wait. The dowry I gave you was also pure gold. Don’t say it’s impossible, I gave it long before you asked,” says Adi, refusing to accept it. His face looks irritated.
“This is just a metaphor, Adi. Okay, I’ll use a different one. If you buy Melati steak, don’t buy me tempeh. It must be the same.”
Adi seems thinking. “Yeah yeah, I’m sorry for everything in the past and what happened at the restaurant earlier.”
It turns out he can be mindful, too, apparently.
“I just don’t want people to think negatively about our household. My friends, besides Marta, don’t know that you get married again. With you having lunch there with Melati, people will have different assumptions. And ....”
“Okay, I get it. That’s enough. No need to talk about it again. Now let’s sleep.” Adi lies down and closes his eyes.
“We’re going home tomorrow. I can’t get a good sleep without AC. It’s so hot in here, Anye!” he says again.
*****
The next day after having breakfast together with the nasi uduk I bought in front of the sharehouse, we leave together. For the first time in our marriage — in six months — Adi drives me to the office.
I rejected him at first because it feels awkward to be with him for too long.
“What time do you get off work?” he asks after parking his car in front of the factory.
“At four.”
“Wait for me then. We’ll go home together.”
Ah! Again, he renders me speechless.
“Wanna come with me to the cafe?” he asks, looking at me, who is still not getting out of his car.
I shake my head quickly then immediately get off. Don’t ask me or how my heartbeat suddenly races. For sure, I’ve tried not to get carried away by Adi’s attitude. But what else can I do, women like us are indeed destined to get carried away even by mere attention that’s worth a clipped toenail, right?
*****
As expected, as soon as I come out of the gate, Adi has already parked his car there.
“It’s rarely for Adi to pick you up.” Marta turns to me, demanding an explanation.
“Actually, Adi slept in my sharehouse for two nights.”
“Seriously?” Marta can’t hide her surprise. “And you just told me now? Alright.” Slightly irritated, Marta looks away.
“It’s not like that, I’ll tell you tomorrow. I have to go now. Bye.” I rush over to Adi, who is already waving his hand, and gestures to me to get into the car.
Marta just nods.
I leave Marta, feeling slightly guilty for not telling her earlier. She must have felt that she is being sidelined because I hid such an important thing from her, about Adi’s sudden change.
Continued.
- Writer
