THE END OF OUR STORY

Love and Commitment (1)

Fasting as a nomad in a distant place with a very different time, weather, and atmosphere is a challenge for Clouds, Auroras, and Iqbal. Fasting in summer means a long fast of up to about 19 hours with a very short break and suhur. There was no crowd of sahur calls, no crowd of appetizer vendors, no crowds went tarawih together.

However, at a time like this they can finally meet many Indonesian friends from other campuses or families from one homeland who both live in Rotterdam. The open event together, which is carried out at night near 10 pm is certainly different from the same event that is usually done in Indonesia.

Due to the close intermission between the time of breaking and sahur, several times the Clouds, Auroras, and Iqbal finally sahur together and only slept soundly after the time of dawn passed. The clouds never absent call Aurora when it is time to tell Aurora not to fall asleep after Isya.

The Eid celebration which was followed by a friendly event organized by the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague gave a special impression for Aurora and Iqbal who usually celebrate Eid with their families. How the atmosphere of meeting with fellow Indonesians equipped with typical Hari Raya foods, such as ketupat and opor, was able to reduce the longing for the hometown.

Before the summer ended, Aurora with Saras and Singgih and accompanied by Awan planned a tour around Rotterdam by bicycle. The destination this time moved towards the South, crossing the Nieuwe Maas River that split the city. Their activities have been more concentrated in the north of the river, so it can be said they almost never cross the Erasmus Bridge or The Swan that connects to the south.

After passing the bridge they took a stop in the Kop van Zuid area and admired De Rotterdam building which is shaped like three interconnected towers and has a height of about 150 meters which is the largest building in the Netherlands, which is the largest building in the Netherlands, the place of office activities, hotels, and apartments. In this place they can also find Hotel New York, a historic hotel that was once the headquarters of Holland America Line, yacht companies from 1873 to 1970 carried passengers from Rotterdam to the United States.

Their final destination was Fejeinoord Stadium, known as De Kuip, the home of Feyenoord. Aurora and Saras, who are not football fans, have heard of Ajax from Amsterdam more often and only then did they learn the name of the club from Rotterdam. In order to satisfy curiosity and serve the will of Singgih who is a big fan of football, they also deliberately visited the stadium pride of Rotterdam residents.

Returning from cycling to the South, they returned across the Erasmus bridge, but steered the bike towards Markthal in the Blaak Markt area. In addition to taking pictures with the background of Cubewoningen or Cubic Houses are bright yellow and the shape of a sloping cube, they also intend to shop for fruits and vegetables in the afternoon, he said, who knows is lucky to get a correction or discounted price.

It was already evening when they returned to the apartment, but the sky still looked quite bright. They split up in front of the elevator, because Saras and Singgih chose to go straight back to their room, while Aurora stopped first to the Cloud room.

Aurora took a break to straighten her legs that just felt pagal after a day of pedaling a bicycle before then cleaning the groceries. The clouds were invisible because he had gone straight into the bathroom while Aurora was still busy massaging her pianist's feet. While waiting for the Clouds to finish bathing, Aurora washed the freshly purchased fruit and prepared it to eat with the Clouds.

The fragrant soap with a masculine scent instantly burst into Aurora's smell as the Clouds opened the bathroom door. The clouds look fresh and getting handsome is also tempting in Aurora's eyes with her wet, unkempt hair.

Aurora diverted her attention from the Clouds by pretending to be busy with the fruit she had prepared. “Jesus Aurora ... What do you think? Hush!” Aurora rebuked herself who started thinking everywhere just from looking at the Clouds with her wet hair.

The clouds turned on the television just to add background noise to their presence in the Cloud room. He sat on the sofa, looked at the television and said nothing just waiting for Aurora to finish and walked up to him. Aurora approached and sat beside the Clouds with a plate containing pieces of fruit that she kept on her lap.

The small talk surrounding their previous trip accompanied during their break ahead of the passing of the sunset. Not only enjoying the fruit alone, Aurora also feeds the Clouds so that they can both enjoy the fruit that they had managed to get at a discounted price. Their conversation came to a halt as Aurora stood up carrying an empty plate and moved towards the sink.

Sitting beside the Clouds, they both sat in silence with their eyes fixed on the television. There is a Hollywood movie scene with Dutch subtitles that are being aired there.

Suddenly from the middle of the silence between them, there was the sound of Clouds.

“Au...,” he stopped for a while, Aurora turned her head towards the Clouds, “if you think marriage is love or commitment?”

“Means?” Aurora wants to convince the direction of the Cloud's question.

The cloud repeated the question. “Iya, if you think marriage is the foundation of love, or marriage is actually a commitment?”

Aurora's silent. Tilting her head, her eyes and face showed that she was thinking hard in her mind. The mood is silent. The clouds only smiled faintly waiting for Aurora's reply.

After a while, Aurora finally opened her mouth. “Hmm ... I'm honestly confused, Mas.” His eyes were plainly staring at the Clouds.

Looking at Aurora's gaze, the Clouds widened her smile. “It takes extra time to think?” His smile now began to look ignorant and seemed satisfied because Aurora could not immediately give an answer.

Aurora laughs. Her lips then wrinkled and asked, “Mmm ... PR nih?”

The turn of the Cloud now let out its laughter. “Terasir ... may also be considered PR. Ready not ready, collected tomorrow!” it was like a teacher's order.

Aurora pout. “Pr thanks really hard, Mas!”

The clouds gently ruffled Aurora's bangs while smiling amusedly. “Yes, think first. Tomorrow we continue.”

The cloud looked at the digital clock on its HP then continued, “Night time also turned out. We rest, huh?”The clouds signal Aurora to return to her room.

Aurora let out her protesting voice while rising to her feet. “Where can rest if you are given PR!”

But soon he laughed and bowed before the clouds. “Good Mr. Teacher, I will rest and think about PR tomorrow morning only.”

The clouds that were anxious at Aurora's behavior immediately stood up and grabbed Aurora's head and carried her into her arms. He whispered in Aurora's ear, “Think of her PR yes, for our future stock.”

As soon as the whisper was finished he let go of Aurora and found Aurora looking at her questioningly.

Ever since leaving the door of Cloud's room behind her until arriving at her own room, Aurora kept thinking about the Cloud's question. “Wedding is love, or commitment? Why is it that the Clouds are suddenly? How come I'm so keder yes, feel like trial.”

While preparing for a restful sleep, the questions of the Clouds still ring in Aurora's head. His mind was busy pondering and he was trying to pry from the bottom of his heart, what exactly he thought about marriage.

At the age of 25, he never really thought about it. Throughout his life, the experience of seeing married life is also very limited. Aurora never met her father until she could not learn from the married life of her parents. The only thing he knew to be true was the married life of Om Heru, his mother's sister, and his wife. The rest seems to be non-existent.

Tired of thinking, Aurora was already drowning in her deep sleep.