Dual Cultivation Bahasa Indonesia

Di sebuah acara kumpul-kumpul kecil bersama teman-teman, suamiku, Charles Gunandi ditanya teman baiknya dengan bahasa Prancis, “Wanita simpananmu sedang hamil dua bulan, kamu mau gimana tangani?” Bibir Charles melengkung, sambil dengan penuh perhatian mengupas udang dan mengambil sayur untukku. Lalu dia menjawab dalam bahasa Prancis, “Jenny tidak suka anak-anak, aku akan menyuruh Shinta melahirkan anak itu dan membesarkannya di luar negeri, agar bisa punya ahli waris.” Aku sambil memakan udang, air mata mengalir di pipiku. Charles bertanya dengan panik, “Jenny, kamu kenapa?” Aku menghapus air mataku dan menjawab sambil tersenyum, “Saus udangnya terlalu pedas.” Tapi saus udang itu jelas-jelas hanya kecap asin, air mataku menetes karena aku mengerti bahasa Prancis.

Noong tinanong ako ng aking ama kung sino ang gusto ko pakasalan para sa kapakanan ng alyansa ng aming pamilya, iba ang pinili ko sa buhay na ito. Hindi ko na pinili si Leonardo Vittorio. Sa halip, pinili ko ang nakatatanda niyang kapatid, si Ivan Vittorio. Mukhang naguluhan ang ama ko. Alam nga naman ng lahat sa Chicago na lumaki kami ng magkasama ni Leonardo. Sampung taon ko siyang hinahabol. Bilang nakatatandang anak na babae ng pamilya Lucien, matagal ng nakaukit ang pangalan ko sa tabi ng kanyang pangalan para sa listahan ng mga arranged marriage. Naniniwala na ang pagsasama namin ay nakatadhana. Habang inaalala ang nakaraan kong buhay, pinilit ko ngumiti ng mapait. Dati, pinakasalan ko si Leonardo tulad ng matagal ko ng hinihiling. Pero makalipas ang aming kasal, hindi niya ako ginalaw kahit isang beses. Ang akala ko may sakit siyang hindi niya masabi at nagpakahirap ako na pagtakpan siya. Sa ika-anim na anibersaryo ng aming kasal ko nalaman ng buksan ko ng hindi inaasahan ang kahadeyero niya. Sa loob, may maayos na litrato niya kasama ang ampon na babae na nagmakaawa ako sa ama ko na ampunin. Sa mga litratong iyon, may dalawang taong gulang na batang lalaki din–ang anak nila. Masaya silang pamilya ng tatlo. Doon ko napagtanto sa mga oras na iyon. Hindi sa may sakit siya. Hindi niya inisip na asawa niya ako. Para mapalayas ako, nagplano sila ng ampon kong kapatid para ako’y patayin. Ngayon at nabigyan ako ng ikalawang pagkakataon, pinili ko na ibigay sa kanila ang blessing ko. Pero noong naglakad ako sa simbahan suot ang aking wedding dress, habang nakapatong ang braso ko sa braso ni Ivan, pumasok si Leonardo bigla ng may dalang baril. Mukha siyang baliw at wala sa kontrol. “Madeline!” Paos ang boses niya at halos maputol. “Ang lakas ng loob mo?”

Oliver Harding and I are on our way to get a divorce when a truck rams into our car, making us turn turtle. Before I lose consciousness, I hear him say, "If I get a second chance at life, I'll definitely accept Zara's confession. Living a life of excitement with her is what I truly want." When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the day I got engaged. As in my past life, Zara Cox stands before Oliver with a bouquet and asks him whether he wants to be with her. He doesn't even spare me a glance as he drops to one knee before her. He holds out a ring and says, "I love you, Zara. Will you marry me?" Brilliant. He must have been reborn, too. I give them my blessings, and he and Zara live the exciting life he wants. But later, he falls to his knees before me. Tears stream down his face as he asks whether I can marry him again.

When my father asked me who I wanted to marry for the sake of our family alliance, I made a different choice in this life. I no longer chose Leonardo Vittorio. Instead, I chose his older brother, Ivan Vittorio. My father looked confused. After all, everyone in Chicago knew that Leonardo and I had grown up together. I had chased after him for ten years. As the eldest daughter of the Lucien family, my name had long been inscribed beside his on the list of arranged marriages. Everyone believed our union was destined. Recalling my past life, I forced a bitter smile. Back then, I had indeed married Leonardo as I had always wished. But after our wedding, he never once touched me. I thought he had some unspeakable illness and went to great lengths to cover for him. It wasn't until our sixth wedding anniversary that, by chance, I opened the safe in his study. Inside, neatly arranged, were photos of him with the orphan girl I had begged my father to adopt. In those pictures, there was also a two-year-old boy—their son. They were a happy family of three. It was at that moment that I finally understood. He wasn’t sick. He had never thought of me as his wife. To get rid of me, he and my adoptive sister plotted my murder. Now that I have been given a second chance, I chose to give them my blessing. But when I walked down the aisle in my wedding dress, my hand resting on Ivan’s arm, Leonardo burst into the church with a gun in his hand. He looked deranged and completely out of control. "Madeline!" His voice was hoarse and nearly breaking. "How dare you?"

After an earthquake, my sister and I help to rescue the victims. I save a wealthy woman who adopts me as her daughter. I become the sole heiress to an astronomical fortune. My sister saves a regular person. All she gets as thanks is a few thousand dollars. She thinks life is unfair and drags me to die with her. When I open my eyes again, I'm looking at the debris from the earthquake. This time, my sister rushes to save the wealthy woman. She says smugly, "It's my turn to be a rich heiress!"

Despite a decade of marriage, Simon never once shared my bed, claiming that he had pledged himself to ascetic practices and that it was beneath him. I thought that he suffered from some shameful ailment and guarded his secret like a devoted fool, until my birthday, when I came home to find him entangled with a brothel worker before the floor-length mirror. When I lunged forward in rage, he drove a shard of that broken mirror straight through my heart. When I awoke, I was gripping my phone, its screen illuminating a message Simon had just sent: [I’ll still give you a lavish wedding, but the marriage certificate? That belongs to her.]

When I was reborn, Horace was pressing me down on the bed. His phone rang with a piercing ringtone, interrupting him from undressing me. After seeing the caller ID, the desire in his eyes instantly disappeared. Throwing a random bath towel on my body, he said, "Leave. My new girlfriend doesn't like it when I smell like someone else." Without another word, I got dressed and left without any complaint. In my past life, I wasn't willing to leave, and clung onto him, throwing away all my dignity, and I even became crippled after saving him during a car accident. As I wished, I became his wife, only because he said, "Let's have a baby. Then, even if I was no longer around, our child would be able to take care of you." I endured several life-threatening medical crises during my pregnancy, but then I overheard him talking to Vivian, "Vivi, you'll be saved once the kid is born." "But that's you and Rose's child, isn't it? Wouldn't she get mad if she knew?" Horace's voice was ice-cold. "I only let her live because she could still give birth. Did she think that I'd fall for a cripple?" In my anger, I pulled out my oxygen tube, and both I and my baby died. Now that I was reborn, I would never walk the same path once more.

My fated mate, Alpha Cullen, fell for the lies of his first love, Donna, and planned to kill me. But in a twist of fate, we were ambushed by rogues and died together. But with his last breath, he whispered another woman's name: Donna. In that moment, I knew the truth—it had always been her, his real love. When the Moon Goddess gave me a second chance, I was reborn on the day I first met him. One look at the hatred in his eyes, and I knew: he had been reborn, too. So before he could speak, I rejected him in front of the entire pack. Years later, when we met again, he sneered that I was nothing more than a pathetic rogue who tinkered with flowers. But he didn't know I had found a new mate: Orton, the Alpha of Alphas. It wasn't until our son ran to me, wrapping his little arms around my leg and crying, "Mommy!" that Cullen's façade finally shattered. He grabbed my arm, his voice cracking as he begged, "This can't be happening! I'm your fated mate! You still love me… right, Juliet?"

My best friend, Emily Summers, who had always been terrified of dogs, suddenly told me she was planning to buy a pet dog. That’s when I knew that she had been reincarnated too. In my previous life, I bought a pure white toy poodle from a pet shop. From the moment that little dog came into my home, everything in my life turned around. Morgan Hale, our manager who had always been at odds with me, suddenly offered me a promotion and a raise. Even the client I’d been struggling to win over for months personally requested to sign the deal with me. But the most unbelievable change of all? Silas Sullivan, the company’s tall, rich, and handsome CEO got down on one knee and proposed to me after a party, saying he wanted to marry me. I had said yes and even invited Emily to the wedding to witness my happiest moment. However, driven by jealousy, she stabbed me to death on the day of the wedding. "Why should someone like you get to marry a CEO while I’m stuck working three shifts a day like a damn slave?" The next time I opened my eyes, I was back at that moment, standing beside her, at the pet shop, looking at dogs…

My husband only married me for a family alliance, but his heart was always with his first love. To please her, he even threw her a grand wedding. He forced me to play the wedding march at their ceremony. When I hit a single wrong note, he stood by as she drove steel needles through my fingers. “Weren’t you so proud of being a pianist? Then I’ll take that away from you.” “This is my revenge for forcing me into this marriage!” Later, I got pregnant. However, Yaron Hayes, my husband, left for an extravagant trip abroad with Ellie Jensen. When he finally returned and saw my swollen belly, he immediately assumed I had cheated. He locked me in a closet, forcing me to endure a brutal childbirth alone—one that cost me my life. Yet when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the Hayes family arranged our marriage. This time, I let go of my foolish devotion. I booked a flight to study abroad in half a month. “The sky is vast, and birds are meant to be free. It's time for me to follow my own path.”