Forced Mate

A Daddy's Love

***

Alex entered a room that Ayu had pointed out. The woman just drove him to the front door, the rest he had to try alone. The gripping atmosphere at the dining table was still imagined by Alex, as well as the murderous gaze of Pandu who continued to cling to him. Fortunately, Bima was quite friendly with him.

The room contains a table and bookshelf was guessed by Alex as a workspace or her in-laws, Dwiki. Alex's gaze locked onto Dwiki who was sitting reading with glasses perched on her nose.

Dwiki closed and put the book to the table, as well as his glasses. He improved his sitting position, then allowed Alex to sit down. For a moment she looked at Alex and smiled at him. He tried to return the smile sincerely, though very hard.

Her beloved daughter is married behind her with a man Dwiki does not know at all. He was disappointed, of course. Ayu since childhood always clings to him. Whatever happens to Ayu, Ayu always tells Dwiki first than anyone. Although impressed very spoiled, but Dwiki was happy because he felt needed by his youngest child.

Dwiki wants to scold Ayu, also wants to show her anger at Alex like Pandu. He only tried to compromise on himself because he knew how hurt Ayu was when she failed to get married first. She was also injured back then, Arya's dream daughter-in-law according to her. Yes, he also felt betrayed and hurt, also lost face.

After Dwiki thought again, Ayu was right that Alex was a man who dared to take on great responsibility. It is very different from Arya. Dwiki just needs to make sure she doesn't hand her daughter in the wrong hands.

"What's your reason for marrying Ayu?" dwiki asked with a heavy voice and a sharp look at Alex.

Alex gulped, nervous, not knowing what to answer. In a crucial moment like this should be more diluted brain, not dead-end like this. Before entering he had already predicted that question would be posed by Dwiki. Unfortunately, now he Tidka can remember a series of words that he has designed.

To leave a good impression, Alex had to answer that question well. "I married Ayu because ...."

Not done yet Alex replied Dwiki cut it. "Enough! I don't care why you married Ayu at all!"

Alex's eyes grew bigger and his small open mouth closed. He silently looked at Dwiki who looked serious with his words. Alex could not understand with those words, is not it very important for a man's father to marry his daughter?

"For a man there are many reasons to marry a woman. But, whatever the reason is not at all important, as long as you can be happy and treat Ayu well." Dwiki.

Alex looked down for a moment. He agreed with Dwiki, the reason is not always important. If you choose a daughter Alex will also release her daughter to a man who can be happy and treat her well, not to a man who only loves her.

"I promise I will try to be happy and treat Ayu well" said Alex steady.

Dwiki shakes a little. "No, I don't need your promises and effort!"

Alex dumbfounded. What else does that mean now? Does Dwiki want proof? How does Alex prove that he will make Ayu happy?

"But your ability. If you can I won't stand in Ayu's way and try to cancel your weird marriage." Dwiki.

Alex nodded. "I can afford it."

Dwiki sneered. "Capable? Happiness is relative, how do you know you can."

Alex racked his brain to answer that question. Dwiki is right, well according to Alex is not necessarily good according to Ayu. Alex was completely at a loss to answer that trap question.

"Because I will give my best to Ayu," he replied trying to convince.

"What's the best? Expensive, branded or what?"

Alex shook his head. "together in joy and sorrow, support each other and also protect Ayu."

Dwiki nodded at a glance. "Ju is my only daughter. The most pampered and attentive. Me and my husband take very good care of Ayu. When he asked for one I always tried to give two. I might overindulge Ayu, it's because she's so precious."

Alex is doing well. Ayu's life since childhood must have been very fun, having parents and siblings who loved her very much.

Dwiki continued, "maybe you have a problem later, don't let Ayu cry."

Dwiki paused for a moment and seemed to wipe away her tears. "No, it's okay if she cries, she's very easy to cry for small things. Usually when he is very injured he rarely cries."

Alex could see the tears that kept dripping on Dwiki's face. Whether it's tears of sadness or happiness. Parents, especially on the Father's side is usually very difficult to release his daughter with another man, because Dad is used as his daughter's first love.

"Sometimes you feel unable to make my daughter happy, give her back well." Dwiki continued with a voice that started to cramp.

Alex's vision blurred, there was a sense of warmth in his eyes. She cried. Alex doesn't like to cry, he thinks men can't cry. Because tears are a symbol of weakness, seeing Dwiki cry makes him touched to melt tears.

"I'll keep Ayu by my side no matter what!" alex said after removing a drop of tear that escaped in his fertilizer.

Dwiki. She doesn't know Alex, but she's sure that her daughter-in-law isn't the bad guy who's going to make Ayu suffer. Even though the path they chose according to Dwiki was wrong, but it was not too late to fix it.

"So, are you seriously going to marry Ayu?"

Alex's forehead wrinkled and said cautiously, "I've married her."

Dwiki clucked in annoyance. "Married how? It's just legal, no ceremony."

Alex chose to close both of his lips. He did not want to argue with the in-laws he had only met a few hours ago with their conflicting theories. If desperate, tomorrow the letter of cancellation of his marriage with Ayu has been presented in court.

"What's the reason you guys are actually married by just signing a letter?" dwiki asked with a sledgehammer, she was not inexhaustible with the thoughts of Ayu and Alex.

"Because marriage requires a real commitment, not just a promise."

Dwiki exhaled violently. "Marriage means bonding. The state document was just to relieve it, a kind of bond that ensnared the body. While the akad and ceremony as a form of soul bonding, not just a promise and ritual is meaningless, also to tie two families into one. Getting married is only necessary for both brides, but you think Ayu was born directly like now. My mother and I raised him. Then you just tied it up with ink and paper."

Alex is nervous again.he feels as if a villain is seizing Ayu from his family. Despite feeling cornered, Alex does not deny that Dwiki's words are true. He and Ayu get married just like that, considering that the Ayu family still holds to the eastern principle and people who have religion, of course they do not justify the steps taken by Alex.

"I approve of you, but marry Ayu the way my family does."

Alex nodded and agreed to Dwiki's wish. Doing the wedding ceremony was not a difficult thing for Alex, he just needed to practice what he had to say.

"Ju failed to get married, you know?" Dwiki continued to interrogate.

"Yes, with Arya is it?" alex replied doubtfully.

Fortunately Ayu had time to mention the name of the man, otherwise he could have died of lice. The feeling of regret also melanda when starting to understand what Ayu racauan means when drunk first. Alex continues to think Ayu and Richard betrayed Tamara. She is wrong, and she must immediately apologize to Ayu about her misunderstanding.

"I always felt guilty for Ayu. Were it not for me urging them to get married, perhaps Ayu would never have been hurt." Dwiki recalled the time when he was sick to see Ayu hurt.

Dwiki had no idea that Arya had a fear of marriage. He already likes the man, and hopes to give up Ayu for him to take care of. Several times she blatantly told Arya that she wanted the man to be her daughter-in-law. That guilt also made him unable to blame Arya. He does not want to judge Arya as a coward, because no one knows what the man has gone through so he has experienced a deep trauma to marriage.

"Thank you for accepting Ayu. Even if you don't agree with my ways, I can't possibly cancel my daughter's wedding. For Ayu's happiness, I'm willing to do anything."

Alex could see the love in Dwiki's eyes. A moment of envy permeated her, she also wanted that love and attention.

"So, please take good care of my daughter. I know this sounds shameless, but I want all the best for my daughter in the future."

Alex felt a tight grip on his shoulders. He looked at the middle-aged man in front of him deeply. Dwiki does not need to beg for it, because since deciding to marry Ayu, Alex has promised himself that he will sellau keep and give Ayu all the best. She knows no household is truly perfect, but she will build a near-perfect household for Ayu.

Ayu is a stranger in Alex's life, and vice versa. They were just two travelers who were accidentally in the same time and place. Although without love, but they have a common thread intertwined on their ring fingers. Alex does not believe in the common thread and destiny, but Ayu comes and shows that there is something in power to set the human life scenario.

***

Ayu paced indistinctly beside the stairs. His hands squeezed each other, worrying about Alex who could have mispronounced his father. If Ayu's secret is revealed, the story is finished.

"Relax, Yu, I will not devour your husband" seduced Bima who sat on the second rung.

Ayu did not suppress the temptation of Bima. She still knows thanks to her brother, who is willing to defend her and Alex from Pandu's rampage.

Ayu's hand suddenly started to shake. Somehow lately Bima like a psychic, the last time he also managed to guess that Ayu is taking care of the completeness of marriage in the village. Now, her brother also can barely smell the awkwardness of Ayu's marriage with Alex.

"Mas, just shut up!" Ayu snapped for Bima to stop prying information.

"Today I was the same dad just from HP store. Said you asked for the latest iPhone, right."

Ayu, who did not want to mengubris Bima's words, suddenly attracted and approached the stairs.

"Dad bought it, he said he wanted to be given to you."

Ayu's eyes widened. "It's a lie again, isn't it?"

Bima shook her head. "Bec, Tata!" call Bima to his wife who happened to pass by with a bottle of milk in her hand.

"Yesterday me and Dad bought HP, right?"

Dita nodded and suddenly displayed an annoyed face. "Yes, he's buying another HP. The old HP is still good, you wasteful base!"

"Purchase HP for Ayu too, right?" ask Bima again to Dita

Dita nodded. "Emang hasn't been given to you, Yu?"

Ayu shakes. While Dita breezed in when she heard the screams of her baby.

"Well, Dad said you also asked to buy a bag. Father's shop that he said he wanted to sell it was sold, tomorrow already paid off, Dad wanted to buy the bag too he said." Bima is warming Ayu

"It's a lie, right!" Ayu is not easy to believe.

"Ask the same Ma'am Ira, Dad called Mbak Ira to buyin so Dad just transfer money he said."

Ayu pressed her lips. He should have postponed his family's meeting with Alex, so his father could've canceled giving him the bag and the new HP he wanted

"Your husband is rich, so now you are delicious do not need to ask the same father Mas Pandu as me too."

"His son, different dong Mas." Ayu's heartache disappeared replaced with spirit. Anyway Ayu Tidka might ask Alex for money. After all, Alex was only her temporary husband, only until the baby was born.

"Basar, if you talk about things, you are excited. Your husband must have been skinned by me by now."

Ayu sneered towards Bima. "No way, Dad's angry just can't, 'em!"

"Mas Pandu is also rarely angry, but see how? Patient people are more brutal when angry, can be psychopaths."

Ayu thought for a moment, she agreed with Bima's words. What if Alex misspoke, and I know the truth. Who knows what his father's gonna do to Alex? Despite Alex's irritation, Ayu thinks Alex is a good guy.

"Mas, kok nakutin!"

"Whoever wants to, I'm just talking facts."

Eaten by the talk of Bima, Ayu immediately stepped into his father's workspace. Initially only intended to eavesdrop by attaching ears to the door, but there was no sound whatsoever. So, Ayu decided to open the door slowly.

Ayu could see Alex and his father sitting on the sofa. Their conversation seemed to be so serious that it was unaware of Ayu's whereabouts at the door. There Ayu could already clearly hear the conversation of Alex and his father.

"...For Ayu's happiness, I'm willing to do anything."

Ayu just stared at the words of Dwiki. How sorry he was to disappoint his father.

"So, please take good care of my daughter. I know this sounds shameless, but I want all the best for my daughter in the future."

Ayu's chest was like being hit by a hard object. She was unable to hold back her tears at her father's pleas for a foreign man whom Ayu had only known for about two months. Ayu wouldn't have felt so sick if her father had scolded her and scolded her, because Ayu deserved it.

Seeing his father's love, it rips Ayu's heart. She knows Dwiki loves her very much, but Ayu never realizes that Dwiki's love is bigger than Ayu ever imagined. The loving man who gave her the perfect life, she disappointed him for the umpteenth time.

Slowly, Ayu opened the door and left the room. His pace was very fast as he did not want any of his family members to see him cry. He also did not make Bima's call as he was about to climb the stairs to his room.

Ayu dropped her body violently on the bed. His position was on his stomach with his body trembling. Occasionally, he heard a restrained left in his throat. Both of his hands squeezed the bed cover tightly. His feelings of regret, anger, and hatred for himself made his tears flow even more.

The knock on the door sounded a few times. Ayu answered briefly before getting up to open the door. He left the lights off so that anyone who came could not see his tears.

Ayu opened the door and there Alex stood with a face that Ayu could not read. Ayu immediately retreated so as not to be exposed to the lights outside the room, even Alex should not know he was crying.

"You're sleeping in the next room, Lex. I don't want Mas Pandu coming to break down the door and drag you out."

"You crying?" alex's question is out of sync with Ayu's words.

Ayu shakes. He chose silence and bit his lips so that his stuffing would not escape. He tried to hold back his tears, but still the water melted.

Alex pulls Ayu's body in his arms. He could feel Ayu's wet cheeks and the little stuffing of the woman.

"It's okay, just cry!" alex said while stroking Ayu's soft hair.

'but only tonight, because I will assure you that in the future you can only cry because you are happy.' Alex kept his words in his heart.

Ayu breaks away from Alex's arms after her tears subside. Alex wiped away the rest of Ayu's tears on both of her cheeks.

"Sorry, I should have thought longer that night, me .." Alex said in a heavy tone, but was immediately silenced by Ayu

Ayu shook her head while covering Alex's mouth with a finger. She doesn't want to hear Alex's apology, because whenever Alex feels guilty, Ayu can never turn on Alex. He always blames himself for being careless and stupid. Yes, he was aware that what was happening to him right now was the fruit of his recklessness and stupidity that did not think long and gulped down alcohol that he had never tasted before.

As Alex said, it was still fortunate that Ayu ended up with him, not a much more brash man. Although that Tidka justifies what Alex did as well.

"I want to sleep" said Ayu.

Ayu turns around and climbs onto her bed, pulling the blanket in hopes that when she awakens, the night has taken all her grief.

***

^^^ Sorry late UP. Still less fit, and even though the holiday still has to work...

And now I'm increasingly aware of finding hard money (veiled chat)

Hopefully the condition of the body can be more friendly and can BE UP before the year changed 😊

Thank you for all the votes and comments from the fans of Ayu and Alex. In this ****** I write a lot of stories, there are some that I stopped publishing and some that I deleted because I felt there was no motivation in the form of support.

But seeing the story of Alex and Ayu who continue to have support from all of you makes me very moved, it feels like I want to cry 😭

I don't know what to do but to continue this story until it's over.

You guys always make my day, 🥰