Substitute Mother

Chaptre 75. Evidences

The world turns out to be very narrow, huh? Judith. If he had known earlier that the lover Renatta had been hiding was Jeffrey, who happened to be the husband of Tyona's doctor, Judith would have forced her friend to let go of him. No matter if later Renatta will be hurt or angry with him, no matter if he meddles in the affairs of his best friend's romance.

As if being an affair is not enough, Renatta adds to the complicated situation with her pregnancy. Well, Judith didn't blame the innocent baby. It's just that her pregnancy was not right. For now, Judith decided to be on Tyona's side. Because after all the woman was the biggest victim, being betrayed by her loved ones was always painful and traumatizing.

“Judith.”

The woman raised her face towards Jeanno. “Ya?”

“Today Arman called me”

Jeanno's eyes took aim at how Judith's body gestures changed when Arman's name was mentioned. The girl was just silent stiffly, she decided to continue. “He apologizes for his treatment of you”

“Oh.”

“And..” Jeanno hangs his sentence. “She invited us to dinner as a formal apology. Because I also asked him to say sorry directly to you”

“But sir, if he met me, wouldn't it be bad? Arman will definitely recognize me”

Jeanno. “Instead we should play our role well when meeting him. Use that meeting as a testament to the fact that you're really Nayara, my wife. Not the woman he was looking for”

“Tapi—“

“Listen, Judith. We have one chance, if we manage to convince her that you are Nayara, then you will be safe from her. And our only threat will be gone”

Judith's shoulder went down, squeezed. Indeed, he was not sure whether the decision to meet Arman again was the right decision or not. For let alone theatricalize, just looking at that man Judith was already scared to death.

“Hey.” Jeanno stretched out her hand to scrape the back of Judith's soft hand. “Trust me, I will help you”

That smile, that shady smile with the scythe netra that had always been her favorite. Judith smiled back, at least she had Jeanno.

**

Jeffrey noticed an unusual sight when he returned home. Tyona greeted her as usual, asking how her day was, bringing her dirty clothes to the laundry room, preparing water for her to take a bath. But his gaze was sad and his face was puffy. There was no warm smile, everything Tyona said was cold with no life, no love. That fact made Jeffrey's chest ache. For the first time in years, Tyona looked at him flatly without any affection there.

“Anna.”

“The water is ready, you can shower now”

Tyona passed him by, saying that the woman's gaze was down on the floor, not on him. Jeffrey sighed, maybe his wife had a bad day at the Hospital. He decided to talk to her after the shower.

While Tyona, the woman tries hard to resist her turbulent feelings when dealing with Jeffrey. All the emotions mixed into one to look at her husband was not able to do. Afraid that suddenly the tears will flow uncontrollably. Afraid that his anger would overflow to hurt Jeffrey's self-esteem.

When she heard the sound of water from inside the bathroom, Tyona closed the door of their room and chose to sit on the dining table chair. Burying her face in the palm, Tyona again sobbed. Worrying about what decision he should make for a marriage that has been tarnished with treason.

He failed, he and Jeffrey failed.

“I have to how..”.

So long fall wake up with Jeffrey, build ‘rumah’ which is always the place they go home and share stories. Is it that easy for Tyona to choose to leave? But if Jeffrey was that easy to hurt, why would Tyona have to think a thousand times to give up?

Her crying stopped as her phone shook. Darren's name was on the screen. Tyona raised it after trying to normalize her breathing and voice so as not to sound raucous.

“Ya, Darren?”

“You okay, Anna? Listen. I want to apologize if my words in the cafeteria offended you”

Tyona's vision was again clouded by the tears that welled up. It was clear how Darren had tried to tell him about Jeffrey. Darren must have known that her husband betrayed her, but she chose to be quiet and respect Jeffrey's privacy. But on the other hand, Tyona is also his best friend, making Darren worried whether he should protect his best friend by covering up his secrets, or revealing the truth to his other friend?

“It's okay, Darren”

Silent moment. Until Tyona doubts whether Darren is still connected to her or not. “Anna, are you crying?”

Tyona will answer, but the response hangs because suddenly his phone has changed hands. Jeffrey, with his hair half wet after a shower, brought his phone to his ear.

“I know enough now that you call my wife a lot at this late hour, Darren”

“Isn't there no harm in calling my friend, Jeff? I think it's more natural than going out with another woman who's obviously not your wife”

“I didn't mess with my words just yet. Listen Jeff, I'll take Anna if you're not willing to take care of her again”*

Darren cut his line unilaterally. Making Jeffrey's anger even more so that he unconsciously made his wife jump in shock when he put—or rather throw his phone on the kitchen table.

“So like this? Every night Darren calls you?”

Tyona is tired, tired of Jeffrey's baseless suspicions while covering up the ulcers he keeps himself from smelling. The woman stood up, looking at Jeffrey lethargic. “I'm tired, Jeff”

“You haven't answered my question”

Tyona stopped her steps. Rotating the body and pointing at his cellphone which is still lying after being thrown by Jeffrey. “You can check my phone any way you want. There's nothing I'm hiding. So you can stop your baseless suspicions”

“That's not proof, Anna. You could have deleted your message or even your picture with Darren before it was discovered by me”

The hand was clenched, but there was nothing he wanted to take out of his lips. Like that, Tyona was tired. Both physical and mental. Her physical tired from the work that piled up at the Hospital, as well as her mental back and forth was shaken by her own husband. Tyona decided to continue her steps into the room. Decided that tonight was not the right time to talk about their household. At least he had to cool his head and his feelings so that his mind was clear.

**