05. Future Husband

That night, Galih comes to the house and talks to Jamal.

Airin wanted to go outside and hear what the man had to say for herself, but Yuniarti forbade Airin instead that she would convey her greetings to Galih and Mr. Sakha.

Airin didn’t want her mother to do that.

Yuniarti also understands the feelings of her eldest daughter. Even though Airin agrees to marry Sakha, Yuniarti can see very clearly that Airin doesn’t like Sakha. Yuniarti’s guilt is getting bigger.

So Airin calmed her mother by saying, “After a while, Ririn will definitely fall in love, Mother, with Mr. Sakha.” Airin actually wanted to throw up when she heard those words come out of her own mouth.

For a long time, Airin had closed the door to her heart and often thought that her feelings for a man other than her father had died. Airin is biased towards that kind of feeling. Because the only thing on her mind from the start was her family, until now that is the case. Airin is too busy working to think about love problems.

Her friends will be surprised to hear that Airin is getting married.

While waiting for Galih and her parents to chat in the living room, Airin lay on her bed, thinking about the responses of people in this village later. Maybe many people would pity her, but there would be more swearing at her too, calling hera thief for someone else’s husband and all that.

Airin’s bedroom door creaked open. Light from outside entered the dimly lit room.

“Kak Rin?”

A soft call was heard from outside.

“Come in, Mawar,” said Airin.

Mawar Cantika Jamal, Airin’s first litte sister, opened the door wider and entered the room.

“Turn on the light!” Airin ordered.

When the light was on, Airin saw that her sister looked confused. Her eyes were still puffy, her nose was red, her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was tied up in an unkempt manner and looked sticky. Mawar is Airin’s little sister who takes care of her appearance the most even at home. Melati is also the same, but not as serious as Mawar, who has to use a little lip gloss when sleeping.

Mawar did not immediately approach Airin after turning on the light. She leaned back against the door with her head down, staring at the floor. Mawar couldn’t bear to see her sister who was lying on the bed in pain, but still willing to sacrifice for her.

“I have heard from Mother, Kak.” Mawar’s voice sounded weak and hesitant.

“Hmm. But why are you standing so far away? Here, please! Sit here.” She gently patted the edge of the bed.

Mawar stepped closer and sat on the edge of Airin’s bed.

“Don’t get too close to me, okay, you’ll catch a cold like me if you do.”

The tears that had been welling up in Mawar’s eyes finally fell and rolled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Kak,” she said quietly.

Airin smiled weakly. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“Because of me, you have to marry that man.”

“It’s okay, Mawar. After all, I am 23 years old; many of my friends are married and even have children. Perhaps it is time for me to follow them.”

After hearing Airin’s explanation, Mawar lifted her face and looked at her sister’s pale face.

“But Kak Ririn should be able to get a better man! Not like Mr. Sakha, he … he’s been married three times.”

Compared to Mawar, Airin certainly knows more about it, but Airin didn’t say anything.

“You want to go to college, right?” asked Airin suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“I will try to get you to college next year.”

Even though Airin said it weakly, the tone of conviction was very clear there.

“Don’t worry about the cost. You can repay it by studying diligently and then achieving your dreams. You and Melati, must be successful people and live happily.”

“Kak-”

“At least with that … I will feel that everything I have done so far has not been in vain.”

Mawar’s lips trembled, unable to say anything.

Airin … is always this good. Mawar could never understand what her sister was thinking. Mawar’s cry grew louder even though Airin had tried to calm her down.

And with Mawar’s arrival tonight, Airin is even more sure of her decision. Whatever she will face in front of her, the reward will definitely be worth it when she sees her family happy.

***

Several days passed, Airin still didn’t know what Father and Galih were talking about that night. When Airin asked Mother, she did not answer much.

Moreover, strangely for Airin, lately Mother has been very keen on asking her to take care of herself. Every day Airin is forced to drink herbs, various types of herbs, from sweet to very bitter in taste.

Airin was also forced to use skincare. The various types of skincare that Mawar and Melati have are used by Airin at the coercion of her mother as well.

Airin understands, they must hope that when it’s time to get married, Airin’s face will be more beautiful.

Airin admits that her face is not as beautiful as Mawar and Melati, but Airin feels that she is not that bad either. Airin has long straight black hair, thick black eyebrows, dark black eyes framed by long and curly eyelashes, Airin’s skin is actually white but becomes slightly brownish due to too much sun exposure, Airin’s nose is sharp, her lips are full and reddish. Her face shape is also perfectly sculpted.

Airin so far just doesn’t care. She never bothered about facial care and wearing any kind of makeup when she left the house.

Take a bath twice a day. In addition, the only skin care she does is scrubs. Because Airin herself doesn’t like it when the dirt accumulates on the surface of her skin after a day of working in the fields, under the hot sun and dust.

It’s been a week, Airin routinely uses beauty products that her sister has. Airin’s face does look brighter, though a little.

However, instead of feeling more confident, Airin was actually embarrassed. People will definitely notice Airin’s changes, and news about the Head of Neighborhood’s daughter getting married to Mr. Sakha has also spread everywhere, it’s just that no one knows for sure which child has been proposed.

Airin wore more closed clothes when she was about to go to the fields this morning. She covered her head with a scarf and wore a black mask that partially covered her face. Then after that, a wide hat that put her face in the shadows covered her head. Airin also wore more layers of clothes and socks with flip-flops.

When they arrived at the field, many asked whether the rumors were true or not. Airin tried to dodge and answered casually.

Airin works as usual. This time she was assigned to help the gardener harvest apples, which are already harvest time. This should have been yesterday’s work, but somehow Mr. Sakha delayed for a day for the apples to be picked.

While Airin was focusing on filling her fruit basket, she heard a slight commotion coming from the front of the garden. Airin lifted her hat a little so she could see more clearly. A second after that Airin regretted. Because what lay ahead was a sight that Airin did not want to see and did not expect that she would see it today.

Sakha and his three wives came to visit.

Airin walked deeper into the garden to get away from her gaze from there. Then she started to focus again on her work. However, Airin’s mind wasn’t really focused on the apple tree.

Airin wondered. Did Sakha know that his future fourth wife was here now?

The man most likely knew, but surely in order to protect the feelings of his wives he did not approach Airin. After the decision to marry the man Airin took, she never once saw him again, not even in the fields.

Sakha seemed to have disappeared.

Airin hoped that she could see her future husband even for a moment. Because Airin felt the need to assess how his character and attitude were before they got married. Airin will do this by watching him from afar.

Isn’t it natural to be curious about a potential husband you never knew?

Even so, Airin’s hope of not getting involved in any events with Mr. Sakha is greater. She still avoided Sakha as before. It’s just that Airin often wonders about his presence and hopes to watch him from a distance, like now.

It’s only natural that during this week Mother was so adamant about forcing her to take herbal medicine and perform treatments. Because Sakha’s wives are all beautiful. But Airin wanted to tell Mother that the beauty of her future husband’s wives was not obtained from traditional treatments like Airin did. They are born beautiful. Moreover, they carry out more sophisticated and modern treatments, which are also very expensive.

Good, Airin thought. Since she would be Sakha’s ugliest wife, it was highly likely that the man would ignore her and might as well choose to divorce her after a while.

Airin’s eyes sparkled again. Oh, how lucky it was if what she thought actually happened.

***