The Young Wife's Rhyme

1. Sudden Proposal

Sis, sis,

Mr.**Habibie once said,

True love sees weakness, then is transformed into an advantage to always love.

Brother,              *

Sayyidina Ali Bin Abi Talib also said,

Loving one person is common, but loving the same one person many times is amazing.

Sis, sis,

I'm not really Ainun's mother.

Neither was Fatimah bint Muhammad, the woman of heaven.

But Brother,

If allowed, I want to love you like Ainun's mother did to Mr. Habibie.

Also accompany you like Fatimah Az-Zahra who is loyal to Sayyidina Ali.

Sis, sis,

I asked your permission, though,

To love you with the pleasure of God.

To speak your name in every bow, in order to knock on the door of God to unite us in a holy pledge.

Greetings, Danisa Ainun Mahya.

Well, my cheeks are sore because I kept smiling. I was always like this when I wrote a letter to him, a man I admired.

This was the fifty-third letter, a letter I had written specifically for him, but I had no courage at all to give it to him. So what did I do with the letter?

Of course I keep it well until the time I will give it to him. When's? Don't know. So please pray that I make a match with that man. Narendra Errabbani's.

Brother Rendra is my senior at the college, already entering the final semester. He also played an important role as a teaching assistant. In addition, every two times a week he will teach tahfidz in a boarding school not far from campus.

I knew him when he accidentally had to deal with Mr. Jafran, a lecturer in Science Fikih, who apparently could not meet me at that time so he gave his duty to Kak Rendra. Thank you, sir, for being able to get to know this wonderful man.

Aye right. Rendra's amazing in my eyes. How not? He is a gentleman who never forgets the Creator. He was also polite, very appreciative of women, and always lowered his gaze. He was smart, at the age of just twenty-two years, he had managed to memorize thirty juz of Al-Qur’an. Do not forget to always achieve the highest GPA in his generation.

How can God create man with obedience and a brilliant brain?

Then what about me?

Of course, I'm just an ordinary woman. Not the smart one or the sholehah like Kak Rendra. Funny huh? I am like this, dare to dream of a man like Brother Rendra.

But it's okay, I never give up on my feelings.

I smiled again, propping my chin with both palms. I looked at the rhyme I wrote for Brother Rendra once again. Hope that later I will have the opportunity to give all these letters to him.

TOK!

A knock on the door sounded as I was dissolving into my delusion. Shortly after, Umi's head popped out from behind the door and smiled at me.

“Nisa, Umi same Abi want to talk for a while, can?” asked Umi in a soft and gentle tone.

Yeah, I always admired Umi. How she always spoke a subtle word to anyone, not only to her children and husband, but to everyone. She also acted as a good wife to Abi, treating Abi as a king.

Even to her children, Umi was always gentle. Never once made a mockery or acted violently, even though his children were sometimes very unruly.

“Good Umi, Nisa wear hijab first after it comes out,” replied I smile back.

Umi nodded and immediately closed the door to my room. I grabbed the pashmina I was hanging behind the door. Winding the long cloth to cover my hair that began to grow long to waist. Of course after first curling my hair so as not to scatter everywhere.

I left the room five minutes later. Along the way to the living room, I wondered what Umi and Abi would talk to me about, seeing the look on Umi's face that, despite smiling, I was sure that Umi was actually holding a problem.

When I arrived at the living room, there was already Abi and Umi who were entertaining a guest. I frowned at the stature of the guest, like I had seen him somewhere. A father who is half a century old, guess after seeing his gray hair poking from behind the skullcap he was wearing. The black mustache was thick, yet it exuded a friendly and authoritative aura.

I lowered my head politely and smiled faintly as the guest looked at me who was sitting immediately sitting next to Umi as soon as it arrived in the living room. Abi and the guest were still busy talking, while I threw a questionable gaze at Umi who was only slowly slid by him.

How strange. Why am I the only one called? Where are my other three sisters, Ghina, Nurul and Adnan?

“Night Deck Nisa, still remember me?”

Abi's guest smiled kindly, asking questions that I had to answer. I just smiled, a little bad to answer no because it might make the father embarrassed. Because honestly, I don't remember.

“Please go straight to the core of the problem Mr. Usman,” said Abi started the conversation.

I don't know why I feel a little uncomfortable. Is it possible because there aren't any of my sisters here? Surely it makes me think bad that this is all definitely just a problem for adults.

“So this is Dek Nisa, my arrival here is to convey the mandate of my friend, Mr. Darum who is looking for a mate for his son. Coincidentally me, your Abi and Mr. Darum were friends. I am helping him to choose a candidate who fits the right criteria as a prospective son-in-law of Mr. Darum. And when I showed you the photo of Dek Nisa, she agreed, so I came to submit her proposal.”

My brain seemed to stop for a moment when Mr. Usman conveyed his intentions and purpose here. I was trying to digest his long speech which somehow sounded buzzing in the ears.

The proposal?

I'm proposed?

How could I be proposed to by someone whose face I don't even know. Moreover, the man sought a soul mate through his father and his proposal was conveyed by his father's friend.

Wait a minute, I must have heard wrong. Aye, right?

There's no way I'm suddenly proposed like this. How could? As I recall, I just fought with a book and a ballpoint pen, writing wishful thinking for the man of my dreams. But within minutes, I was suddenly applied.

No. gabe. This must be wrong, right?

I looked at Umi and Abi's faces alternately, hoping that after this they would laugh and say that they were just pranking me. But nil, I only saw seriousness in both of their eyeballs. So, this is all serious?

O God, what plan are you really preparing for me?