The Untouched Heart

Chapter 164 - Favorite Restaurant

I couldn't look back because he was standing right behind me. Nor can I signal Hendra not to say or do anything extreme to the woman. We are in public.

“Hai, Nora.” Mom touched Hendra's hand. My husband looked at his mother, then at me. I smiled at him. “You came here with your parents?”

“No. With my pals. Ever since I introduced this restaurant to them, they loved the steak they served. Thank you Aunt for bringing me here,” said the woman named Nora cheerfully.

“Sama-sama. This is Zahara's favorite restaurant. Hendra introduced this restaurant to me, and just like your friends, since then I also like steaks in this place.” Mom called a waiter who passed by. “You want to eat with us? There's still room for one more person at this table.” I frowned seeing Hendra smile.

“I have a better suggestion. Aunty and Om can join us at our table,”. Why is he standing behind me? Was he purposely so that I couldn't look at him? Ooh, I get it. She wants to be able to see Mama, Papa, and Hendra in person.

“Thank you, Son. I'll accept your invitation next time. Tonight we want to eat with Hendra and his family.” Mama smiled so sweetly. Too bad I can't see the expression on Nora's face.

“Good. Enjoy dinner, Auntie, Om, Hendra,” he said ignoring me and my children. A naive young girl. He wants to get Hendra but is not being nice to Hadi and Dira. Does he not know that winning the hearts of his children is one way of winning the hearts of his father as well?

“Pardon her presumptuous attitude, Zahara,” Mama said after the woman left us.

“Tante need not apologize on his behalf. The mistake is not the fault of Aunt.” I shook my head slowly. “Again I've heard insults worse than that.”

“I ask Mama no longer wish that I would accept such a woman to be my wife. My wife is only Za and I will never turn to another,” Hendra said firmly. Mama opened her mouth wanting to say something, but my husband continued, “I was never interested in women trying to separate my son from their mother.”

“I only think about what is best for you. There is no other way to get rid of gossip than to start a new life, Nak.” Mom looked at her son seriously.

That woman named Nora is great too. She can still get support from Mama even though her throat has been repeatedly revealed in public. Not just empty gossip, but facts with undeniable evidence. How did he explain everything to Mama and still be able to become the ideal son-in-law?

“We can finally have dinner together after a long time, do not be ruined with a tense talk like this,” Papa said. The waiter came to deliver the food. “Well, just in time!”

Hadi and Dira again became the main topic of our conversation thanks to Papa. Nora's troubles were momentarily forgotten. But I can still see the tension between Hendra and Mama. Was marrying me so bad that after all that happened, Mama still insisted that her son marry another woman?

If Mama's chosen woman wasn't that bad woman, maybe I'd have helped persuade Hendra to leave me and marry her. But the woman is evil. I won't let my kids be around him. Hadi and Dira have grown up, if my husband and I split up, then we will share time with them. Nora with my kids? That's calamity.

“Ma, what does a cheap woman mean?” ask Hadi when we were in the car. Hendra and I exchanged looks.

“It was a bad word to say, Hadi,” I replied slowly.

“Oh. I'm sorry, Ma.” He looked at me with regretful eyes. “Then why no one scolded the aunt earlier for saying a bad word?”

“When you are an adult, not all your mistakes are reprimanded in public. People who care about you will tell your mistakes when you are alone. Maybe the aunt had no one to scold, but people do not like it because it likes to talk that is not good,” I replied carefully choosing the word.

“I want to have many friends. I'll have a good talk,” said Hadi determinedly. Hendra and I smiled at him.

Keeping my promise to Mama, that morning Dira and I picked up Mama at home and we went to the hospital together. We visited other hospitals that were not our family members. After registering and getting the queue number, we wait our turn to meet with the oncologist.

Half an hour waiting, we were welcome to enter the room and meet a young man. Just like the appearance of the doctor in general, he was very clean, neat, and handsome. I hope that appearance is also in line with his skills.

I let Mama talk to him and discuss the symptoms as well as the results of the previous consultation with the doctor. They also discussed the results of network photos on the mother's body from the previous hospital.

“Many things can happen within a month. So before we talk about the next step, I can do USG?” ask the doctor politely.

“Bby, Doc,” replied Mama. He's looking at me. I nodded slowly.

“Good. Sister will help Mom to get ready.” The woman who had been standing by his side, invited Mom to follow him.

“You must not recognize me anymore, Zahara,” said the doctor surprised me. I was the one who was going out of the room to follow Mama and the sister stopped. I looked at him confused. “I was your classmate at SMU. Don't you remember my name?”

“Ah, forgive me.” I'm not close to all my classmates, so I'm not surprised if I don't remember him or his name. “Can we talk about this later? I want to accompany my mother.”

“Let them get ready. We'll be there soon too.” He pointed towards the chair I was sitting on. “So, Naava's mother is Vivaldo's mother?”

It seems like she didn't know that me and the man had long since broken up. His face was sincere with the question. Recent events have made it difficult for me to trust people I just met. Even if they were my old friends.

I looked towards both of his hands. There's no ring there. This is the kind of man I should beware of. I've had enough problems with Vivaldo and Dicky. Both of them were single men who somehow thought that I would choose them if they kept trying to get close to me.

“Not. Mama is my husband's mother, Hendra.” I decided to stand up and not sit back in the chair.

“Hendra? I thought you and Vivaldo were getting married. You were so close when you came to our first class reunion,”. I remember the reunion we attended. But I still can't remember him and his name.

“Are you not following the news lately?” many confused. He's laughing a little.

“I don't have time to just answer the incoming messages on my phone. Especially following the news, Zahara. My free time is more I use to learn about the field I take. You'd be surprised if I told you the number of cancer patients I have to deal with every day.” He raised both his eyebrows.

“News about me and my family lately happened massively, so I'm surprised you didn't know.” I looked towards the door. “Are we not able to get there yet?”

“Good. We're going there now.” He's laughing a little. “What's wrong with you? Are you worried about your mother-in-law? I always treat my patients well. You don't have to worry. Or are you keeping this distance because you're afraid of me?”