The Marrying Bet

Early Trouble

The woman headed to the nearest minimarket, she bought a box of cigarettes as well as a gas match. He has never felt as furious as he is today. He needed a cigarette or two to calm his mind.

He walked to a fast food restaurant that was open for twenty-four hours. He sat down at one of the tables where his friend was waiting. They kept quiet without saying anything. The woman opened her cigarette box, while her friend was busy chewing on fries.

He lit up a cigarette, sucked hard, made red coals burn on the tip of his cigarette. Then exhaled a puff of smoke from his mouth, staring blankly at the puff of smoke floating in the cold night air.

He felt a little calmer, cigarettes became one of his tranquilizers when he felt tired. Not that he is an active smoker, he only makes cigarettes as an escape.

Why did trouble suddenly come so close to him?

Is this really his fate?

"Vara, what's the matter?" santika asked towards the woman named Vara who was still busy pouring cigarette smoke into the air.

Santika knew his college friend was smoking cigarettes if a lot of problems burdened him. It was Santik who taught Vara to smoke if there was a big problem to just calm down. 

Santika remembered the first time Vara learned to smoke, which was eleven years ago, when they were still in college. Vara even coughed furiously when she first swallowed her cigarette smoke.

"There are so many problems for me, San," Vara replied with a glare in her eyes.

"You are, like you have a problem" Santika sipped her soft drink.

"My parents want to go home, San," said Vara.

"Why?" santika asked while taking a cigarette from her box.

"I refused the matchmaking they did," replied Vara.

"Seriously? Wow, you're really crazy!" exciting Santika. "What age do you think you're at right now until you refuse an arranged marriage from your parents?" santika continued after lighting her cigarette.

"They were angry and embarrassed, finally decided to go home" replied Vara. "How are you?" ask Vara.

"I'm sad that my youngest sister is getting married later this year" Santika replied, exhaling cigarette smoke.

"Well, are you being overstepped again?!" Vara stared at Santika.

Santika laughed bitterly on the sidelines exhaling cigarette smoke. As the eldest of the four siblings of course this is a very big problem for the woman.

"So, are you coming home, Vara?" ask Santika.

Vara turned off her cigarette butts in the ashtray. 

"That's impossible, San! What about my job? I'm trying to be a full-time employee at the company I work for! Seven years I've been fighting for permanent status! Yes, I have to go home?!" Vara sipped a glass of fruit-flavored tea and chewed on her fries.

"I don't think I can be the subject of my extended family's gossip, Vara," said Santika full of bitterness.

"You think I can hear every day the nagging from my mother who's so bothered by the neighbor's gossip? My father even sold our house for living capital in the village!" vara told me the problem. 

"So where are you going to live? Planning to spend?" ask Santika again.

"My parents didn't allow me to live alone! They want me to get married so they can calm down!" replied Vara while massaging her forehead.

"I think I'm going crazy! How can I get married until the end of this month? Boyfriends don't have any!" lamented Vara.

"You are, it's good your parents betrothed you, you can refuse! We're thirty-two years old, don't pretend to be twenty!" chirps Santika.

"Hey, do you know what kind of guy my parents betrothed me to? A man who has not even been my husband but has demanded that I stop working and focus on being his maid! While I am still pursuing my goal of becoming a full-time employee! After all, women never want to rely entirely on men! Especially in this day and age, so is infidelity! Wife left cheating husband can only sing 'crying imagine, how cruel you are over me'!" cerocos Vara's.

Santika laughed again, but what Vara said was true. Today's financially independent woman will be luckier than the woman who depends on her husband's income. Indeed, the windfall is regulated by God, but a woman's financial independence is one step to minimize the risk of women not being treated arbitrarily by her husband.

"So, Vara, what are you going to do now?" ask Santika.

"Of course look for someone who can play the part of being a husband!" answer Vara.

"You want to go on a blind date?" santika asked while rekindling the second cigarette.

Vara put his shoulders together, he didn't know what to do. In the bottom of his heart he certainly crave a marriage, but he still wants a career, especially he still targets the status of permanent employees where he works. It feels, he is so fond of releasing the work that has been so enjoyed in the span of seven years. It is very unfortunate, because he did not get a promotion to be a permanent employee.

Visual

Varada (Vara )

Viceroy (Roy)

Vivaryo (Ryo )

Ozy

Santics

Virdas

Rico

Barrels