Not a Choice
20
...*******...
...~The bitter past should indeed be forgotten, but there are times when it will appear in memory, to simply be a stumbling block in the future.~...
...~Arunika Pramesti~...
...********...
The whirling clink of the clock dominated the silence of the dark night. Someone who inhabits a room size 5x5 is still awake. His heart and feelings are filled with a sense of gamelan. I don't know why tonight the feeling is so unsettled.
The roar of the car engine that stopped in the yard, made the occupants of the room suddenly move. He walked to the window to see who was coming. Once again he glanced at the time pointer attached to the wall of his room. The time has shown at 01.00 WIB. Who would go to visit in the morning blind like that?
"Who is he?" Runa squinted both eyes. Sharpen his eyesight on someone who gets out of the car. Runa could deduce if he was a man. Seen from the silhouette of stature that he managed to observe.
The man stood beside the car while staring at Runa's house. The dim light of the garden lights did not make the man's face visible. Runa clucked bitterly at once in fear.
Panicked Runa immediately turned towards the nightstand where her phone was. He picked up the phone lying there, then returned to the side of the window. The woman intends to contact Sandy out of a whack of fear. The call to Sandy was already connected, but the look of the man who was now standing in a brighter place made the call void.
Runa hurriedly pressed the red button on her phone. He didn't call Sandy.
"Dol?" lirih Runa while frowning, “where does she know my house?” Not yet had he thought about the reason for the arrival of the man to his house, the sound of a bell that echoed made Runa choked instantly.
Not wanting to make Khan wake up with a loud voice, Runa hurried out of the room and approached Ata who was standing in front of her house.
When the door opened, Ata looked at Runa with an indecipherable look. Mixed feelings controlled his heart. Ata wanted to be angry because Runa had hidden Khan from her, but she also felt happy because Runa did not try to remove the seeds from the results of their love, even though the woman hated him very much.
"Ata, have you lost your decency? Meeting at a clock like this is not natural" Runa sneered in a sharp tone. Ata was choked to see the cold attitude of Runa. He realized that he was visiting at the wrong time.
While at the hotel, Ata tried to restrain herself. However, after a long time of inner struggle overpowered his heart, Ata's patience was unable to contain the curiosity about the truth of his son. Is it true what David said, if Khan and himself are so similar? Without fear Ata directly broke through the darkness of the night to meet Runa, and asked for her explanation.
"Can I come in?"
"No!" Runa refused Ata's request. He doesn't want any slander after this. However, others do not know if they have had a relationship before. Ata is a stranger.
"I want to ask you something, Run. It's important."
Runa scrunched his forehead. A little curious because Ata's face looks tense when saying this. "We're talking here" he agreed.
Runa closed the door of his house, then walked towards the guest chair perched on the front porch of the house. There were four empty seats surrounding a round table there, and Runa occupied one of them.
"Please sit!" he said he invited Ata, "sorry, there is no banquet for guests who do not know the time. I'll give you five minutes to ask, after I answer you can go straight from here" Runa said without seeing Ata's face.
Ata felt a deep pain looking at Runa's attitude. It's chilly. Even Dieng's cold air was unable to defeat the woman's cold attitude towards him. However, this did not make Ata's guts shrink in the slightest. Tonight too he should know about who Khan's father really is.
"Who's Khan's father?" In one breath, Ata immediately threw out her question.
Both of Runa's eyes were perfectly widened. He never thought if that question would be presented to him. Cold sweat began to seep in the pores of Runa. His nervousness and fear were a little obvious. Makes Ata keep a little suspicious.
"Answer, Run! My time is not long. You gave me five minutes, didn't you?" ata again. He was impatient, because Runa did not immediately answer his question.
"What are you asking that for? It's none of your business!"
Runa gulped his saliva in a cheek as Ata cornered herself like that. The distance of their faces that were too close made Runa's breath feel so tight. Runa just remembered, if Khan's face is a duplicate of Ata. He was so sorry, why didn't he prevent their meeting?
"Deliver!" Runa brushed aside Ata violently, and pushed Ata's body a little away from her, "that's just your feeling. Don't be too smart to be people. My son's face can't possibly look like yours!" refute Runa with a cynical look.
"I can't believe it, because I'll never forget that we did it, Runa. Even I still remember with******* your breath at that time. Your face that looks pretty when under my confinement. You seemed resigned at the time, but I liked it. I love every inch of your body, Run. I—"
"Enough! Stop that bullshit, Ata!" Runa could not bear to hear Ata's words about their terrible past. It was already Runa buried deeply, but easily Ata pulled him to the surface.
The bitter past is supposed to be forgotten, but there are times when it will appear in memory, to simply be a stumbling block in the future.
"What's that bullshit, Run? It's all real, we both feel it. I can't believe you've forgotten it either. I also don't mind if you want to reminisce about that time again." Ata smiled obliquely. A moment of freezing her heart saw her Runa look depressed once. Ata just wanted to make Runa confess.
“Jaga what you said! I didn't think you were this asshole. Do you think I'm that cheap, huh?” There was a flash of anger emanating from Runa's pretty eyeballs.
“Run?” Ata realized that her words were outrageous. He wanted to apologize, but he felt he should not be weak if he wanted to know the truth about Khan.
“Khan is not yours. He's my son. Only son. So stop that silly question. And get out of my house!” Runa threw away her face. He no longer wanted to see Ata's face.
"really? How about we do a DNA test? Do you dare, Runa?" Once again Ata cornered Runa, making Runa completely helpless.
“You are evil, Ta. Not satisfied that you hurt me? How deep are the wounds you want to cut? Does hurting me really become your hobby now?” The crying of Runa had already broken out there. Ata had succeeded in scraping his old wound, as well as sprinkling salt on it. So mean!
“Run.” Ata tries to reach Runa to get into her arms.
Runa. It doesn't feel like Ata touched it back, “remove, asshole!”
Ata relented, not wanting to make a scene early in the morning at the people's residence. “I just want to know the truth. Looking at your response now I'm sure, if Khan is mine. He's my son, right?”
Runa was silent. His face bowed. After so many years he hid and lived quietly with his new life, now the presence of Ata messed it all up.
“OK, if you don't want to say. I'll tell Khan if I'm his real father and I'll take Khan from you.”
“You can't do it. Khan is my son. You are not someone.” Runa's face was already flushed red withstanding anger.
“You know me, Run. I will not remain silent. I'm an ambitious man. I make sure Khan will be mine if you do not want to be honest about the true identity of Khan,” threatened Ata made Runa's guts shrink instantly.
Runa clenched her hands. He's weak. He could do nothing to protect Khan. He knows very well how Ata if he wants something. Anyhow, Ata must have got it. Of course Runa did not want to lose half his life.
"OK, yeah. I am indeed a foolish woman who renounced chastity for the sake of a cowardly man like you and Khan was a child born from my helplessness back then. Satisfied you are now?" raung Runa with an increasingly heavy patter flooded his cheeks, “so after this, never bother back my life and Khan because I really hate you so much now. You have hurt me many times. Enjoy my suffering, if it makes you happy. But remember, someday the laws of nature will work and you will reap what you plant.” Runa stared hard at Ata. After wiping away her tears, she went inside the house and locked the door.
Ata flinched seeing Runa's departure. His heart stopped beating and his breath felt tight. Guilt made his heart go wrong. Ata could not imagine how much Runa suffered back then.
However, behind his great regret, Ata still held an equally great anger. Why did Runa never say that she was pregnant at that time? Even the woman did not come when she was about to go to the other country. The question kept turning in his head.
...*******...
...to be continued...
