Substitute Mother

Chapters 120. Saddest Truth's

“Good day Jeanno..today what is your lunch menu? If my lunch is rice, stir-fry broccoli, then bacon. One of the suppliers was having a birthday, so he sent us some boxes of rice. That's fine, right?”

“Jeanno, soon your birthday. What do you want to ask for gifts? But not the expensive ones, because I have not been able to buy you hehe. But still, tell me what you want. As much as possible, I will try to fulfill it. Origin Jeannoku happy”*

Monologue Nayara came to a halt when the shop door opened, showing Mark walking toward her. Just contact Nayara ended his voicemail after saying closing greetings.*

“Kak Mark, I think who”*

Mark's gaze descended on Nayara's cell phone. “Still send him voicemail?”*

The girl nodded lethargicly. “Yes.I want to stay connected with Jeanno even if we don't communicate. At least that way he knows that I'm fine”*

Nayara smiled, but somehow it made Mark concerned. “Did he ever reply to your voicemail?”*

“Until now. But maybe he did not have time to open mobile”*

Mark took a long breath. “Why are you so nice to her, Nay? Even after he hurt you”*

Nayara smiled sadly. He was tired of pretending to be strong, at least in front of Mark he was no longer hesitant if he had to cry. She let tears run down her cheeks.*

“Jeanno once said that she will continue with me. I keep my promise, brother. I believe whatever happens, he'll come back to me. So. until I hear myself from his lips that he does not want me, then I will not give up”*

Mark drew his body closer, embracing Nayara whose prank was getting more and more swift. The girl he had not known for a long time, yet had been considered like his own sister. Mark loves Nayara, and doesn't want her to be hurt like this. Especially by his own cousin who does not know himself.*

“You want to see Jeanno?”*

Nayara looked up, she nodded quickly. “Mau”*

“Come. But maybe I can't bring you to interact with him. So we see from afar it's okay, right?”*

Of course it's okay for Nayara. Seeing her Jeanno after nearly two months of not meeting, was more than enough to treat her crazed longing. Any minute is okay, the important thing is that Nayara knows Jeanno is healthy and fine.*

With a light step he followed Mark to his car, then speeding through the streets of the capital.*

Here they are. Nayara and Mark sat at the table of a classic Italian restaurant in a one-sided glass-clad building that can only be seen by visitors inside. While from the outside, people could not see the situation inside. Their table was parallel to the no less luxurious restaurant across the street, which was also clad in double-sided glass, where they could clearly see the contents of the restaurant.*

“What I know is he has a lunch schedule with a client there. Maybe in a minute until”*

Nayara's heart was pounding. The effect of the longing that rises when he, in a matter of minutes will meet his beloved. And sure enough, the familiar shiny sedan stopped. Displays a person getting out of the passenger seat, walking authoritatively into the restaurant.*

Jeanno Alexander's. Jeannony.*

Nayara's feelings warmed, Jeanno looked healthy and many times more handsome than the last he saw. His tall and strapping body was wrapped nicely in formal attire. Impressed more mature and charismatic. Jeanno approached the table occupied by one man and one woman, then shook hands politely before sitting down. Nayara guessed that they were business associates that Mark was talking about.*

Seeing Jeanno from afar, Nayara gave thanks many times. Looking at Jeanno who looks healthy and fine even without her. It's okay, Jeanno will definitely come back if the time has come, right? And Jeanno will definitely explain his absence all along, then apologize to Nayara for ignoring him. Then they will be together again like before.*

The series of beautiful imaginations made Nayara smile wider. His eyes could not be separated from Jeanno across there. Mark realized that this girl loved her cousin half-dead.*

*

“Mother called me and apologized for her treatment all along. And promised to come to the wedding. I'm so happy, baby. I even cried all night so happy”

Judith smiled, hugging Hannah briefly as a sign that she was happy. “Thank God then. Finally your mother's hard heart is also”

“You know what makes Mom finally melt?”

Judith shakes. “Because what?”

“Because Mark went to my house and kowtowed for blessing. I didn't know he was leaving, I thought that morning Mark said goodbye to work as usual, then went home in the morning. I guess it's because of the work he's done because he's going to take a leave of absence. But it turns out that he took a morning flight to land in the big city closest to my village. Then it takes almost three hours from the airport to rumah”

“I don't know what I've done in the past, so I get a would-be companion like Mark. I'm so lucky, Judith”

“Ya.. eum, Renatta.. have you heard?”

Ah, that woman. Neither Judith nor Hannah knew how Renatta was now. Where she is, how she is and her pregnancy. The complicated situation that happened lately made the two not have time to find out. Plus Renatta himself was the first to cut off communication, it did not help Hannah to tell this happy news.

“I feel guilty. We are friendly anyway. There was only one roof for five years. But in the end like this, being on each other's path. I want you to be my bridesmaid. My best friend who was always there when I was hard”

Judith smiled sadly. “Nobody thought it would be like this, baby. Rena must have had her own reasons why she chose this path. Perhaps she was embarrassed after confessing that her lover was the husband of people. I don't know, we just pray that he gets a happy ending”

Hannah nodded. As the seconds leading up to his sacred day, one by one happiness comes to a complete complement. But Renatta is like the last puzzle piece that Hannah could never find to complete her wedding day.

**

“I saw your car in restaurant”

Mark kept his phone. “Yes, I was there”*

“Since when do you like Italian food?”

“Not important. At least I can accompany Nayara to see her stupid lover from a distance”*

Jeanno's hand movements that were removing the tie suddenly stopped. “What did you say?”*

Mark leaned his back, feeling sore from a day standing in front of the computer. “I think your hearing still works so well that I don't have to repeat my words again”*

“You can't do this, Mark”*

“Why?” Mark's chin lifted, ready to challenge Jeanno.*

“You can harm it”*

Mark smiled cynically. “Omong empty. You keep saying that without ever giving him any news, or any certainty. He sends voicemail every day, telling her his day. I guess you must have heard it?”*

Jeanno turned around, took off her tie and put it down just like that. “Yes, I heard it”*

“And you don't bother to reply? Really dickhead. I thought you'd changed, but it turns out you're still the old Jeanno. I'll look after her if you don't become her lover. I'll keep Nayara from the jerk who wasted it. If I had originally done so because you asked, then from this second on, I would have looked after it because of my own will”*

Mark gets up near the exit, too long here can be crazy made.*

“Papa threatens me, Mark”*

Without turning back, Mark's steps came to a halt.*

“Papa threatened me to hurt him if I was still in contact with Nayara. I had to follow his will. You know what my papa looks like. At least he's fine as long as he's away from me. Until I can find a way out of our relationship”*

Mark chuckles. More towards ridicule. “You've hurt him”*

“You mean?”*

“Ah, you definitely don't know huh?” Mark turned the body. “Nayara expelled from campus. The bee was stopped for no apparent reason. Not enough, he was also expelled from the dormitory. Nayara could not rent the flat because her savings were not enough to pay the deposit. To be able to take shelter, your lover sleeps in a shop with a thin mattress. But he never told you because he wanted you to hear good news about him! Not a misery that he had been craving for himself. He needs you, asshole!”*

“You shouldn't have approached her, Jeanno. You're destroying a girl's dream. Ah not only the dream I guess, but also his heart. The heart you've taken and she hopes you'll keep it well. Instead you crumple it in your hands”*

Jeanno is still sculpting. His body froze and his face was pale. But that didn't make Mark feel sorry at all.*

“I'm a nobody, I'm just an outsider who happens to know that you guys are lovers. But even from my point of view I can judge that you, you Jeanno, are inappropriate for Nayara. He is too valuable to you”*

“I'm gone. Meet me when you've returned to your sanity”*

Mark closed his greetings with a bang on the door. After Mark's death, Jeanno's body squeezed until he was unable to support his body stand. Jeanno collapsed, beating her chest tight due to deep guilt. So all this time.. Nayara suffered so much, suffered so much but patiently covered it up? from a cowardly lover like him?*

***