02. Three Flowers

Sakha returned to his home, his main house in Telaga Waru Village. Several workers greeted shortly after seeing Sakha enter through the gate in a shiny black car. Sakha returned their greetings with a nod and a brief smile. The sun was still shining brightly in the sky; Sakha was sweating and really needed a splash of water to get rid of the stickiness all over his body.

When Sakha went inside, his wives who were sitting in the living room immediately greeted him.

“Mas*, you’re home!” Aisyah Safitria Putri, or as Sakha often calls Ria, was the first to greet him and immediately approached Sakha to kiss his hand.

“Yes,” replied Sakha briefly.

Ria is Sakha’s first wife, the beautiful woman immediately pulled Sakha into the living room. And Sakha did not refuse.

“You don’t usually come home early, Mas,” said Henia, kissing Sakha’s hand.

“Hm, I’m only going home for a while.”

Agistia, Sakha’s second wife was the last to shake Sakha’s hand. “What do you want us to cook for you? It just so happens that it’s lunch time.”

Sakha refuses with a smile. “I’m only here for a moment. You guys eat lunch first.”

“Mas, let’s just have lunch here together. Mas rarely come home in the afternoon, only often in the fields,” Ria interrupted, half whining, she was still clinging to Sakha’s left arm.

“Yes, but I want to take a shower first,” replied Sakha, while gently releasing Ria’s hand from his arm.

“I’ll help you to the room,” Nia replied, following Sakha into the room.

While Nia helps Sakha prepare clothes in his room, two of Sakha’s other wives go to the kitchen to instruct the household members to prepare lunch immediately.

Tia is the only wife of Sakha who can cook and often helps in the kitchen. For almost three years as Sakha’s second wife, Tia has been very familiar with what foods her husband likes. Sakha likes chicken stew with yellow yeast, so that is the menu Tia will make this afternoon.

While Tia is busy in the kitchen, Ria goes to her room and starts to dress up. Of the three wives of Sakha, Ria is the most beautiful and the most diligent in taking care of herself. Moreover, as the first wife as well as the eldest, Ria feels that she must always look attractive to get more attention from her husband.

“That Henia, that flirtatious woman is always rude, disrespectful. She should have respected me in the first place, instead of just snooping around.” Ria grumbled while applying makeup to her cleansed face. During this time, they always seem to get along, but secretly the three of them compete with each other for more attention.

Unlike Tia, who respects her more, Nia really does monopolize Sakha, not giving Sakha’s first and second wives a chance. As for Tia, that woman is always shy and puts Ria first when they are together. However, in hindsight, Ria knew very well that Tia was also competing with her, teasing Sakha in ways that often made Ria jealous. Tia is the type of woman who is very romantic; she cooks for Sakha, invites Sakha to dinner at a luxury restaurant alone, and always whines to go on vacation whenever Sakha has free time.

Even so, all this time, Sakha had always been fair to them. Sakha never treats them differently, and sometimes that is what irritates Ria. It would be better if Sakha treated her differently than when she treated her two young wives. Ria feels more entitled because she is the first woman Sakha married.

After finishing applying makeup to her face, Ria immediately left the room. Their rooms were always separate, either in this country house or in their main house in the city. That is another form of Sakha’s justice, even Sakha also gave them a house one by one for them to live in, but the three of them chose to live together with their husbands at the same time.

When Ria reached the dining room, she only saw Tia there who had also just arrived. The woman had finished cooking and also did a little makeup on her face just like Ria.

“Where’s Nia?” asked Ria.

“She has not come yet?” Tia asks back.

Ria’s previous annoyance is getting worse, but Ria doesn’t show it at all. “Wait here, I’ll call them.” Then Ria went from the dining room to the top floor where Sakha’s room was.

When Ria arrived at the door, she heard Nia’s giggling voice calling for Sakha in a spoiled voice. Ria knocked on the door on purpose, not long after that Sakha appeared, her face looked annoyed.

“Mas, lunch are ready,” said Ria, putting on an innocent face.

Sakha nodded. “I see,” but his expression still looked annoyed.

After Sakha left, Nia came out of the room. Ria immediately spit it out. “You pissed him off again?”

Nia pouted. “What’s pissed him off, Kak*? It was Kak Ria who had made him angry. We were making out, but you were bothering us.”

“You think I’ll believe it?” replied Ria. Because they all know how fair Sakha is to them. Were it not for the time of day that Sakha had set for them, Sakha would not have approached one of his other wives to make out. Moreover, tonight, also tomorrow, is the schedule for Tia, the second wife.

“Shh! Kak Ria doesn’t know. After all he’s a man, it wouldn’t be surprising if he made a mistake.”

“Don’t be like that, Nia. You have to take care of Tia’s feelings.”

Nia with her innocent face answered, “What do you really feel for Mas Sakha? Aren’t we all the same?”

That statement silenced Ria’s mouth, but it made her anger rise even more. “Watch your words! Or I will report this to Mas Sakha,” she said with a warning.

Nia was silent, looked down, and then walked away past Ria with an annoyed face.

***

After lunch, Sakha returned to the fields, leaving his three wives at home. During that lunch, no one noticed Sakha’s bad mood, not even Ria who knew earlier that Sakha was upset. However, Sakha is a man with high self-control; he rarely shows his feelings through facial expressions. In other words, he was a cold man with an expression that was always flat.

Even so, Sakha responded to all of his wife’s chatter one by one. Sakha was always kind to them like that, never discriminating.

After Sakha left, Tia immediately spoke up. “I heard rumors from those who work back there, they say Mas Sakha wants to get married again?”

Ria who heard that was very surprised, in contrast to Nia who looked normal.

“I’ve heard since yesterday. It’s true,” replied Nia.

Ria looks at her. “Who did you hear that from, Nia?”

“From village women who used to shop for vegetables in front. They don’t know yet that I’m Mas Sakha’s wife, so I pretend to be shopping while eavesdropping on their gossip.”

“Maybe it’s just a rumor, right?” said Tia.

“I’ve also called Galih, Kak. Mas’s future wife is the daughter of Head of the Neighborhood, who said he had a lot of debt and he probably couldn’t pay it off.”

“Mr. Jamal?!” Ria said in disbelief.

Nia nodded with an annoyed face. “That’s why we have to tease Mas often so that he stops having the intention to remarry. It has only been a year since I married; I still have hope of getting pregnant. Why should he rush to get married again anyway?”

Nia’s tirade that sounded sarcastic was ignored by Ria and Tia.

It is true, of the three wives of Sakha, none of them succeeded in having children. Not yet, to be precise. However, Sakha from the beginning really wanted a child to be the successor to his business; an heir.

It is a shame that until this moment his three wives were not pregnant.

“As far as I know Mr. Jamal has two daughters,” said Tia.

“That’s right,” said Ria, “two girls with the nickname the village flowers.”

“No wonder Mas is desperate.”

“Hush! Don’t be careless when you talk!” Ria warned because Nia’s words sounded rude to their husbands.

“I’ll ask Mas later tonight,” said Tia.

“Mas will definitely introduce the new woman to us before they actually carry out the marriage contract, like Mas used to do right before marrying me,” replied Nia.

Ria and Tia nodded in agreement.

***

*Mas: a word that means brother, used to address men who are older or respected

*Kak: a word meaning sister, used to address women who are older or respected