Paper Dove

WHAT IF...

I visited our main house to meet my mother. At that time mom was busy taking care of her plants, it seemed like she was ready for my arrival. 

I stand staring at him “ Mom, please don't _disturb my wife again”, I said straight to the point. 

“ Mom doesn't bother Juan, Mom just tries to make him realize that your world is different. Only it”, bright my mother relaxed. 

I smiled a little hearing that. “ what is our difference mom?”, I asked her. “ I am human, she is human, mom is also human”, I continued. 

Mom looks at me not like “ Juan, your caste is different. You should be with someone equal to you. How could you be with a girl who is just a High School graduate, an orphan and Oh my God likes to answer parents”, mother began to get angry towards me forgetting the plants that she had been working on.

I looked at my unchanging mother, still wanting her will over me. “ Mom I love her. What Jeni said was right, I was the one who asked her to get married.I was the one who started chasing her first, I was the one who was crazy about her”, I explained. 

“ What, Juan.. You must have pellet”, my mother said fucked up. 

“ No mom. I was the one who forced her to even threaten her into coming with me. Mom I'm happy with her, if mom bothers my wife again then I'll make a decision like Flits did. Do you know how happy Flits is now? He was even happier when he was outside home”, explained viciously. 

“ Juan...”, my mother wailed. 

“ Never interfere with my personal affairs mom, I beg”, I said sadly while looking at him then turned around without waiting for a response from him. Before coming out the door I had time to say “ Mom, visit Flits. Her son is very similar to Flits”. After saying that I left the house 

I walked out of the house and entered the car without looking back. Bella followed right up to the car. 

“ Brother I follow”, whining. 

“ Bella, I'm not going anywhere. I just had a fight with Mom, you were home. Come to my place if you want. And take care of mommy for me and Flits. You're a good boy, I promise you when you go to college you can have your own apartment. Okay”, persuade me. 

“ Oke”, Bella replied excitedly. 

After that my car drove out of the yard and left our main house. 

***

Bella told Jeni about the incident, the incident I decided to prefer Jeni than my family. Jeni came into my study and started arguing. 

“ Juan, why did you do that to your mother?”, Jeni asked one night.

I just kept quiet and didn't answer the question, I kept doing my job. 

“ Juan, listen to me. You'll be an ungodly child if you fight your mother. We are only married contracts. Soon you will divorce me. You have to make up with your mother”, Jeni is still nagging. 

I put my pen down and looked at it. “ My mother wants to match me with another woman. I don't like that woman. In addition, the contract is clearly written there should be no third person during the contract. Did you forget?”, I stood up from my chair. 

“ It . . . just a contract right?”, the answer stuttered. 

“ What if I really like you? “, I walked closer to him. 

“ Ha? Are you teasing me again?”, he asked with a stiff smile. 

“ No. What if I don't want to divorce you? What if I want you to be with me forever? What if I fell for you?”, I approached him leaving him cornered on the wall and giving a narrow distance between us. 

Jeni looked at me not believing her hearing. “ Don't joke like this Juan, I could have mistaken”, he said seeing me hesitating

“ I'm not kidding Jeni. I'm serious “, I'm staring right into his bead. I really like this woman. I want to be with her, but if she rejects me right now then I will let her go. I will not force my will as I used to. 

Jeni looked back at me deeply and for a long time she did not answer at all. But his face was red. 

“ Why didn't you answer me? “, I'm still staring at him. 

“ Juan... i.”, he's down. 

I was waiting for him to continue, maybe he hated me. If he doesn't want to be with me then today I'll let him go. I will let my love pass because maybe it is karma that I have to accept. 

Jeni looks at me again “ Juan.. My heart is pounding so hard because of what you said”, he continued. 

I looked at him trying to digest every word. Then I remembered my answer to the feeling of falling in love. The girl who first falls in love expresses her feelings by pounding. I smiled at him who was still babbling. 

“ Usually if you tease me, I just pound for a moment. But today my heart is pounding very fast like it's going to come out of ..”, he said plainly. 

 “ That's a sign you're in love with me. So how is your heart still safe in its place? ”, obviously. 

His eyes were staring at me. He then entered my arms, hiding his face in my arms. 

“ Don't look at me. I'm shy”, he said. 

I laughed at her words “ Well I won't see your face”, I said hugging her in a fit of anxiety. “ So today you are officially mine”, I continued. 

He nodded in my arms. 

***

We slept staring at each other from our beds. Like a teenager just in love, Jeni kept looking at me.

“ Juan, so this is how it feels to fall ? “, ask me. 

“ Hmm.. What do you feel now?”, ask him. 

“ I feel like the happiest in the world. Like butterflies flying in my stomach”, he replied. 

I smiled hearing his answer. “ Your eyes, like whose eyes? your mom or dad?”, my question.

“ My Mom. My mother's eyes are so pretty. Very gentle when looking at me”, she reminisced. 

“ Your eyes are also currently very pretty. I like”, I said. 

He smiled at me hearing me. 

“ Jeni can I ask you something?”, I turned serious. 

“ Yes, what do you want to ask?”, he is still looking at me. 

“ why do you never cry in front of others?”, ask me again. 

He was silent, taking a deep breath he changed his gaze towards the ceiling of the room. 

“ I used to be a whiny kid Juan, very crybaby.  When my mother and father died I cried. Everyone pitied me, not because of love but because it was just a pity to see a child my age had to be an orphan. Then I lived with my aunt and omku who became my adoptive parents. I'm still a whiny girl because Aunt Tina loves me so much. But when he went after my mom and dad, it felt like my world completely collapsed Juan”.

I was silent listening to her story. His voice was deep and heavy.

“ I .. disappointed for my life. A few months later he remarried, I knew it was his affair.My relationship with my new aunt was not good. Until he finally kicked me out of the house. After they took my grandfather out of the big family. I live with grandfather. I worked while in school to support myself, grandfather worked in a flower shop to finance our lives”.

“ So the florist is a gift of grandfather?”, I asked. 

“ No. It was my mother's legacy. The only thing I had, at that time I was a minor so grandfather took care of everything. Juan you want to know what my ideals are?”.

“ What?”, ask me in a soft voice. 

“ I want to become a ballet teacher and open a ballet school. But it was just ideals in my hands”, he said sadly.

“ Jeni, come here”, call me. 

He got out of his bed and climbed on top of my bed, into my arms.

“ So I never cry in front of others because I hate people looking at me with unnecessary pity. I can be strong for myself”, he whispered in my arms. 

I was silent at the thought of how much she suffered from her youth back then.

“ When you are with me, if you want to cry then do it in my arms. So that no one sees your face and only I hear your crying voice”.

Hearing that she tightened her embrace on me.

***