The Substitute Bride

Chapter 14 (Five Steps from Home)

The story outlines traces of past steps that once strung together beautifully, multiplying a sense that is very difficult to erase. The longing was never extinguished, waiting for the brilliance to shine back to greet the moon.

But it is only the sky, which is silent to listen. Busy suppresses the tremors of his heart throbbing incoherently. He hates it, really. He hates having to be involved in letting go as a bridge to reach the very high expectations hung up.

My Lord, what is this?

For weeks he waited for his ark to depart from the pier but it seemed he had to be patient and wait even longer. Maybe the wind will take us across the waves that roll and land the ark in the harbor of dreams.

Tami closed the mini album strung with dried roses on the cover. Then grab a round circular white object with a small diamond on it. His eyes stared at the object for so long, recalling the Adam who had left it to Eve. Again his heart throbbed. There is discomfort from both sides that ransacked and shook his determination and choice.

He swore he would never see that damned thing again after this. Tami tied the thing to a diary book strap. Then close it nervously. He promised that this would be the last. His round eyes glanced at the wall clock. The clock indicates three o'clock in the morning. Rushing he keeps Alvin's mini album and keeps his old diary in a suitcase. Wudhu water becomes an arid soul freshener. Calming a turbulent heart.

The silence of the night accompanied him contemplating the fate of his ark. Then share the story to the Lord of Heaven about the sense of the heart that is now not necessarily the direction because the captain is reluctant to move from the past that torments the heart. God meets two people who have been separated for a long time, but unfortunately the two souls and hearts have not been able to unite because they are bound by other souls and hearts. Where then is the end of the thread wrapped around her husband's heart now? He needs to immediately break it down in order to release the bondage of love that is tightly curbed.

"Have you prayed, Ta?"

Tami closed her prayer by rubbing both her hands against her face. Answer Alvin's question.

"No, Mas. The dawn prayer has not yet been observed. Tami prayed tahajud." he said. All the heartbreak was gone behind her charming smile. Tami was too solemn to confide with her Lord to not realize when her husband got out of bed and took ablution water.

O heart, who does not tremble to see the aura of righteousness? Beautiful smile, and twinkle eyes that show shade even though his behavior is collapsed and his mouth is like a string firecracker. Alvin wants to be the half-hearted owner of a girl who has been his rightful wife, but the word love is like a chain that constrains him. His heart and soul were too disappointed because of women. He is not a man who puts his heart on a woman. Even his love for Karina is a sense of love as a brother who unconsciously turned into love in adulthood. He had never laid a heart on another woman before and after what Karina had done, could he knit another thread of love? He doubts that. Too deep a sense of love she has for Karina. Perhaps slowly the tightness will be replaced by the fragrant flowers that bloom in the garden of the heart if the sincerity of the destiny outlined by God can look at the heart to replace all the pain and disappointment. I hope this time he doesn't love anymore. I hope your love will fall on the right heart. So he no longer needed to feel such excruciating heartache.

"Mass?" call Tami. "Mas, would you like to pray tahajud?"

Alvin immediately took his eyes off Tami's face. Unconsciously, he had been staring too long into his wife's face. Trying to bring a sense of vibration drowned in disappointment. He knew it would take some time, maybe a long time but maybe not at all. I don't know, life has to go on with or without love.

"Eh, yes. What was that, Ta? I didn't hear."

"So Tami nanya.Mas want to pray tahajud?"

"Yes, deh. Than to sleep again. And then the dawn prayer also reverberated."

"Yes already, mas pray first. Tami wants to finish the gold goods in the closet continue to enter the suitcase. May it?" tanya Tami asked for approval.

Alvin smiled wryly looking at Tami, then nodded his head.The sign he agreed to Tami's question. Alvin looked at his wife who was agilely moving from the top of her alphabet and packed all her belongings into a suitcase. Questions swirled in Alvin's mind.

Does Tami take this sacred bond seriously?

Does Tami think of herself as a wife and Alvin is her husband?

And one of the questions Alvin wanted to ask the most was, Does the heart behind the face have an owner?

But all those questions are only able to ask Alvin in the heart. His two compact lips tightly closed from making a sound.

Tami closed the last suitcase zipper after packing all the items in the closet. Today she and Alvin are moving into a new home that her in-laws gave her as a wedding gift. And his duty is to build the house into a jannati baili, my paradise home.

The ignorant idea of flirting with her husband just flashed through Tami's mind. He realized that since then his movement did not escape the attention of Alvin who almost made him careless. The man's eyes kept on looking at him without moving from where he stood. I don't know what he's thinking. Maybe he was giving an assessment of himself who is sometimes adult and sometimes like a child.

"There's no buoys?" tami asked with a twinkle of ignorant eyes.

Alvin's two eyebrows are linked, astonished and confused by the question asked by Tami. Why did he ask this early morning buoy? After all, their house is in the middle of the city, not off the coast that needs a buoy to float.

"Campaign? For yuu? Make what?" Alvin asked, astonished.

Tami giggled slightly holding back her laughter that wanted to immediately air. The question Alvin asked was really tickling his stomach.

"Not for Tami, but for Alvin's mas."

Alvin was more confused by the bouncing answer Tami said. Did he drag a sea ghost to the nyari buoy in the morning blind like this?

Tami walked up to Alvin, then stood on her tiptoes whispering something in her husband's ear.

"But be careful. If not bring a buoy can mas drown, sink to the bottom of Tami's heart if you watch it at that time."

Alvin just gawked at the absurd chatter of Tami. While the girl had already darted into the kitchen. I don't know which movie the girl copied. Alvin immediately put up his peci and coco shirt, then spent his time on the prayer mat to meet his Rabb while waiting for the morning sun to rise drying the morning dew.

.....

Tami took off both of her joints, then walked on the wet grass while greeting the morning dew that perched on the leaves. He really likes the morning dew and the smell of plants that burst through to his chest room. He ran while running around the park like a girl who was busy playing in the rain. Alvin who was sipping black coffee just smiled at the childish behavior of his wife. Like de javu, his mind seemed to wander in search of the truth that he had seen the same thing but nowhere. The sight before his eyes he would never see if his bride had not fled. Tami is a carefree figure of childishness, as it is, as well as adult at one time. In stark contrast to the figure of Karina who is graceful and jaim in front of her. Two brothers who have opposite attitudes to each other.

Tami stopped her footsteps and stood there, the cheerfulness on her face instantly disappearing with a tremendous amount of shame. I don't know how long Alvin's been sitting at the kitchen table with his chin up and watching his behavior.

Oh naw. His inner. Why did that man have to be there. Although Alvin's bead eyes look the other way but Tami finds out that her husband just doesn't want to add to the embarrassment he's suffering. Pretending not to see her figure was the best option at the moment. Tami settles in with a little tiptoe step past the only entrance from the direction of the kitchen. Like a ninja, even half of his face was covered under his khimar. Laughter Alvin stuck at the end of the throat saw his wife's silly behavior.

Suddenly all over Tami's body froze, the cold from the floor seemed to spread through the soles of the feet to the crown. Alvin's right hand was almost perfectly circular at his waist. For the sake of mamang duren in front of the complex, what other nightmares will happen now.

Oh God, help your servant. Guard your servant from all dangers and deceit. Do not let the damned devil rule over souls who are weak in faith or strong in faith. Aamiins. Tami rubbed her face with her two palms, accepting the prayer she had just said.

Alvin pulls Tami's waist, but as hard as he can, the girl maintains her position. Alvin relaxes his embrace on his wife's waist. It was used by Tami to escape. Instead of being able to escape Alvin's grip, Tami fell on her husband's thigh. It turns out that she has been caught up in her own husband's trick of deliberately relaxing her hands to let Tami off guard. Suddenly the temperature in the room felt stuffy and cold, like sharing oxygen from the same tube. The nervousness surrounds the two, especially Tami who feels all her joints are squeezing for a moment. He seemed not to have enough energy even just to change the position of his fingers.

The faces of the two were so close, Alvin's bead of eyes as if slashing grabbed his two sense of sight.

"Stay like this, I love it. Sweet and shrouded in innocence and cheerfulness."

Alvin whispered with a charming smile. Make all the fine feathers Tami bristles. Water, where's the water? Right now he needed a bucket of warm water to flutter his body. Tami pulled both corners of her lips in doubt, forming a line of smiles.

"You're lollipop." he bargained while brandishing a round lollipop with white pink striped lollipops. When nervous earlier accidentally his fingers found a lollipop in his pocket.

Alvin's laughter exploded instantly. The nervousness is clearly depicted on his wife's face, maybe not only the face but all over Tami's body was flushed to hold back the nervousness. Tami hit Alvin's shoulder furiously. He was really upset because Alvin kept playing him.

"Ih, Tami kelas same mas Alvin. After Tami, Tami doesn't want to talk to Mas Alvin!" tami exclaimed in annoyance. His fist incessantly landed on the shoulder of Alvin's field.

"What are nervous? Your face just blushed so." seduced Alvin.

Tami immediately covered her two cheeks with a palm. If he had felt cold, his body temperature had suddenly soared. His heart was beating abnormally, as if pounding on his chest space. Huh, it seems like he should get his heart checked out to doctor Hafshah before it's too late.

Bugh

Tami turned to see who was the one who was stricken. Tami hurried down from Alvin's lap then approached her sister-in-law who was struck by the kitchen door.

"Alya!" tami cried with a worried tone. Actually the worry is more appropriately said to cover the shame of being caught in the morning. Tami rubbed Alya's forehead which hit the door.

"Look a lot better, Ly. Thank goodness you were a wedding party. So Mamah does not need to require a grandchild immediately from, Mas." said Alvin.

Tami glared huffily at Alvin. His embarrassment was many times thicker because of Alvin's words.

"Alya went up to the room first, yeah. Brother Tami same mas continue again deh mesraannya."

"That was fighting again, Ly, not friendly" Tami said trying to explain the real situation. His head was dodging unbecoming.

"Not going up, Ly. Who knows you'd want to see more of that." Alvin glanced at Tami. The girl looked at him with an annoyed look. I don't know why, but he likes to see Tami who is wrong.

"No, ah. It's still single. Afraid it'll be just mosquito repellent."

Alya ran up the stairs with setoples of snacks in her hands. An anxious pinch Tami presented to Alvin.

"Tami's ashamed to know!" annoyed.

Alvin just laughed crisply in response to Tami's annoyance. But before long Alvin put on a gloomy face, he felt so guilty to Tami.

"I'm sorry Tami hugged you, I can't stand it, I miss Karina so much." muttered Alvin alone.

.....

"Ta, what's the stuff in the trunk?"

Tami looked at the astonished face of her mother-in-law. Is there any question as to why he did that? Wasn't it his mother-in-law who had given him a new home and Alvin would live in.

"Can move, Mah. Time yes stuff should Tami pelvis get to the house?" tanyanya. "Not strong, Mah. Could have cracked a thousand Tami bones"

"It's not shouldered either, Ta, it just needs to be dragged around."

Tami is confused by Rafika's mother's words. What now the price of bbm has gone up again until his mother-in-law told him to walk.

"Where is his house, Mah? It seems so secret. The key is not yet given" said Alvin. The man was busy stuffing his suitcase containing a book on the bench in the middle of the car.

"Here, come with Mamah."

Tami and Alvin throw views at each other and walk in the footsteps of Rafika's mother across the street. Not until two minutes all three have arrived at the whitewashed house. A simple wooden house with a feel that is so attractive to Tami. The material comes from wood painted white.With a small fence and two leafless trees on the right and left of the house.

"Fell in love with Tami." Tami. Her heart was in flowery as her dream home was truly manifested before her eyes.

" Tami likes his house?" ask Rafika. Tami nodded enthusiastically.

"Like it, Mah." replied Tami without taking her eyes off the house. It's like someone who falls in love at first sight.

"Then, from today on this house belongs to Tami. This house is specifically given to Mamah's daughter-in-law dear Mamah" said Ms Rafika while giving up the key to the house.

Tami gawks receiving a bunch of keys from Rafika's mother's hand. He did not believe that his mother-in-law gave a house as beautiful as that for him.

"This house, Mah? Five steps from the house of in-laws?"

"Yes." replied Rafika ma'am steadily.

Tami was still stunned for a while. Looked at the house and the face of her mother-in-law. After two minutes Tami jumped happily and hugged her mother-in-law tightly and presented her with two kisses on the cheek. Alvin just shook his head to see his wife's behavior. Maybe if Tami is smuggled into Junior High no one will notice her considering her small body and childlike behavior.

"Thank God, thank God that you gave one more favor to your servant" Tami said gratefully. "Thank you a lot, too, Mah. Maa shaa Allah, Tami seneng really can be as good in-law as Mamah" said Tami terlu. Even her two tears slid down her cheeks.

"Then thank the others for this gift not only from Mamah, but also from your parents and special design by your people, Keenan and his partner, Arsa."

Shortly after, the Tami family arrived. Without babibu Tami immediately greet and hug both parents as well as the mas, except Arsa of course.

"Ih, Mas Keen really good to make a home for Tami" said Tami sincerely. His hands were coiled around Keenan's body. He hugged his arm so tightly

"Mas just rummaged a little doang nih home. The previous owner of the house was Temen Mas. He's an architect too, so from the beginning the house is beautiful emang" said Keenan meredo.

"Just so, my dear Mas Keenan." Tami took off her embrace.

"Mas, engh mas ...." Tami painstakingly remembered the name of Keenan's colleague, he forgot because he was too happy.

"Arsa, my name is Arsa."

"Yes, Mas Arsa thank you very much for making the house as beautiful and as good as this for Tami."

"Yes are the same."

After Tami stepped aside from Keenan, Alvin greeted his brother-in-law. When shaking hands with Keenan, Alvin can feel the threat code that Keenan addressed to him. As if to say be careful, if you hurt my sister then be prepared to be a patient in the hospital. Alvin just smiled in response.

"How are you, long time no see" asked Alvin when greeting Arsa. Arsa was his partner also during High School, just like Keenan. But Arsa is more often with Keenan now because they work in the same office.

"Good news, Vin." she replied warmly. "I don't think you married Karina, uh didn't know her sister."

Alvin smiled wryly.

"The story is long, Sa. I told you a story."

.....

Everyone was gone, Tami and Alvin looked at the tiny house. A happy smile unceasingly spread on the face of Ayu Tami. Their family allowed the two to look around the inside of the house.

"Come." take Alvin with you while holding Tami's left hand. The girl looked up, wanting to see her husband's expression. But the man's face was flat, unlike his who was already blushing.

"Assalamu'alaina wa'alaa ibadillahish shalihin" the couple said as they first entered the house.

Their hands were released because Tami was more enthusiastic about exploring the entire house. The girl glorified every inch of the house. Simple house in shabby chic style with ivory white floor. Pastel colors blend perfectly with the small flowers dominating the sofa, curtains, wall hangings to a round carpet under the table. Home furniture is more dominated by wood. On the first floor there are two rooms in the same style and a simple kitchen overlooking a small garden. But there is something strange from both rooms because there is no bed. Only on the second floor did Tami find a bed of considerable size in a room somewhat larger than the one downstairs. There is a place to relax with a pair of small halls. At the top is a layer of clear glass that can automatically open and close, so you can see directly towards the view of the flickering of thousands of stars and the twinkle of moonlight. In front of him were three long windows facing the street in front of the house.

Alvin was quite satisfied with the gifts given by his family. Although it looks real that the house was deliberately made solely to please his wife who really likes the house in the style of shabby chic like Tami's room in her in-laws' house.

Tami glanced at Alvin who folded his arms around his chest while smiling at him. In her little heart there is prayer and hope that Tami proposes that there will be a time when the cry of the baby will be heard and the carefree smile of her children with Alvin. May Allah grant

her request.