SET DUSK

Part 45's

"Da, you still don't want to come with me to Kuantan?" Burhan looked at Ida who had just placed a cup of hot coffee and a plate of fried cassava on the table before him.

"You're alone taking care of the kids, you're going to have a lot of trouble if I stay" Burhan continued.

Ida sat beside Burhan, looking at Burhan as if thinking of something.

"Fahmi still can not be trusted to take care of the delivery of goods to Kuantan, huh?" tanyanya.

"Yes, I lost more this month. But according to my calculations, the profit can be doubled. Kasian is also a farmer who sells his crops if it keeps on like this."

"I just feel bad about staying with Amak" Ida said.

"Ah you're still like everyone else. Didn't you see for yourself, amak loves you more than me, his son."

Ida looked at Burhan's face. The real reason he always refused to join Burhan to Kuantan Bay because he was a bit hesitant if he had to live with mak Halimah, his father-in-law. In her village, the daughter-in-law living with the in-laws is not commonplace.

In the Minang tradition of matrilineal lineage, usually after marriage, the son-in-law lives together in a female family home. Although mak Halimah treated him very well during this time, but the feeling of hesitation if you have to stay together is still there.

Then he thought about Burhan's condition which also had to take care of his work. Shouldn't she be a wife who helped reduce the burden on the husband, not the other way around as it is today.

"We're waiting for Salma to be three months old, yeah." Ida finally agreed to Burhan's request.

"Yes. Later I go to Payakumbuh just take the goods that are already in the warehouse. For the business of receiving goods, people in the warehouse can be trusted," Burhan explained.

"The kids haven't woken up yet, Da?" Burhan realized there was still no sound of his children being heard. Usually the house is never empty if Laili and Fatimah wake up.

"Yet, Ima slept late last night. Laili got upset because she was already sleepy, but Ima was still bothering."

"Haha ... The child is more and more his behavior," said Burhan, "that I feel a bit suspicious leaving you to take care of the children alone."

"Yes-yes ... I didn't pay much attention either, because he was with Laili and Mister more often when I took care of Salma."

Burhan took a sip of the coffee that was starting to cool from the cup. Take another piece of fried cassava that is still a few pieces left in the plate. His eyes looked as if he was thinking of something.

"Mr ...."

"Yes?"

"Ah not ...." Ida smiled clumsyly.

"What's? You just talk about it."

"It's just a matter of people talking in the stalls." Ida forced her smile.

"What are you worried about?" Burhan catches something troubling Ida's mind.

"Here it is, forget it ..." tepis Ida.

"You just tell me, rather than you keep thinking no-no."

Ida looked at Burhan. Since a week ago when he heard the scattered rafters from the mouth to the mouth of a neighbor, his feelings felt unsettled.

"She's a widow." Ida finally revealed what was troubling her mind.

"Then?" Burhan wondered why it would disturb his wife's mind.

"This has nothing to do with your desire to take me to Kuantan, right?"

Ida's gaze probed.

"What do you mean?" Burhan increasingly does not understand where Ida talks.

"According to the news that I heard, Ana divorced her husband because her husband knew Ana was still thinking about Mister."

"What does this have to do with me?" Burhan's forehead was wrinkled, he was getting more and more clueless.

"Master took me to Kuantan, not because he wanted to get close to Ana, right?" Finally Ida revealed directly what was disturbing his mind.

"Ahaha... Uhuk ... Uhuk ...." Burhan who was chewing cassava choked to the point of hearing Ida's question.

"There's just what you think, Da. Why should I wait for her to become a widow first, if I really intend to approach her."

Burhan coughed again, trying to pull out the pieces of cassava that made him choke.

" why? You still don't believe it?" Burhan looked back.

"Content ... I'm still trying to believe it" said Ida again forced her smile.

"Ah, you don't think a no-no, Da."

Just as Ida was about to speak again, there was the sound of Salma crying in the room. Ida moves into the room, leaving Burhan still confused with Ida's suspicions.

***

"You be careful, Da. Your husband still looks handsome like that, tek Piah also the person does not know shame. Your husband may be made to turn to his son Ana" said Bedar.

"I see that Piah tek often greets Burhan every time Burhan takes your kids for a walk" Titin said

All the words of the neighbors seemed to ring in Ida's ears. There's a little worry and worry.

"You're still thinking about what the neighbor said, Da?" burhan asked when he saw Ida staring at the vegetables she was eating.

Ida jerks. Making the vegetables in his hands scattered.

"Ah. Sir just surprised me," Ida murmured as she gathered the scattered vegetables.

"From the moment I was here, you didn't realize it."

"Master is hungry, huh?" Ida tried to ignore Burhan's question.

"No. Salma's awake."

"Oh ... Aye." Yeah." Ida left Burhan who was still looking at her in wonder.

Throughout the day Ida seemed like a lost person, often daydreaming, when called she jumped in shock.

***

"By. Don't think too much about what people are talking about. This day your work is more daydreaming. Sometimes like a sick chicken, I see."

"Ah, now you're calling me a chicken. You used to chase," said Ida who was breastfeeding Salma.

"Haha, that's not what I meant. You're too worried about people's talk, to the point that you don't look here today. Your mind goes everywhere" Burhan looked at Ida's annoyed face.

"Yes, but I still don't feel calm."

"I told you before ... If I had a heart for Ana, I would have married her a long time ago. I don't need to wait for you to linger. What else do you doubt."

Ida looked into Burhan's eyes, there was the earnestness he got at the glare of the eyes that were staring at him sharply. Thinking about what Burhan said, but she was just a woman with all her worries made any prejudices possible.

"Yeah, whose heart knows. You may not have feelings for Ana, but because of the Piah who continues to thrust her child, your heart may turn away."

Ida waited for Burhan's reaction. Burhan only scratched his head. His curly hair is falling apart. He frowned at Ida's words, confused about how to convince his wife not to worry about the words of others.

"It turns out that you're jealous it's hard to be assuaged, too" he said later.

"I'm not jealous" said Ida pouting.

"Yes, you're not jealous, just afraid of losing me, are you?" goda Burhan with a witty grin.

Ida's face is heating up. Burhan said, He was jealous. But what should make him jealous? It was obvious that Burhan seemed to ignore Ana. Why should she be suspicious of her husband.

"I'm sorry if it was all just my guess," he said later.

"No need to apologize, Da. I'm glad you're feeling jealous. I know how you feel about me now." Burhan smiled warmly, as usual, his dimples tracing deep on his left cheek as he smiled.

"Ah, why do I feel like a girl who has just fallen in love, when I have been with her for ten years" Ida muttered in her heart.

***

At the age of three months Salma, Ida left for Kuantan Bay with Burhan and his children. Leaving the house he had occupied for a decade in the small town located at the foot of Sago's mountain. A sense of sadness rippled in his heart, recalling the many memories of Yasir and Mila that had passed away, created there. Memories of when she began her new life with Burhan, her husband.

The car they were riding moved slowly northward, leaving the town of Payakumbuh which began to wriggle awake as the sun crawled up. Passing through the streets that had set the memories in their hearts.

Once again, Ida will start a new life in a place she never knew what kind of place she was going.