Thorny Love

*Chapter 3

Rama did not respond to what his mother had said. He even continued his daydream that had stopped due to the arrival of his mother.

Feeling neglected, Sinta looked at Rama with a gaze full of questions. He was looking for something wrong with his son. However, he did not find what he was looking for.

"Rama, what the hell are you doing? What's the matter until you ignore your mom?"

"Sorry, Ma. I did not ignore my mother. I was just thinking about Zia's behavior that felt a bit strange today."

"Surprisingly, why strange?"

"Ziana was kind of weird talking to me just now, Ma. I feel like there's something he's hiding from me."

"Don't think about your first wife's attitude, Rama. Maybe, now you just realized that your first wife was a strange tone."

"What do you mean, Ma? Ziana is not strange, Ma. It's just that I might miss him too much, so I feel like there's something else from Zia."

"Cih, miss you said. Why also you miss a wife who can not give offspring for your household. Think of Laila, your second wife. Wasn't she pregnant young? He needs a lot of attention from you, Ram."

Rama remained silent. He thought of Ziana at this moment, not Laila. After her marriage to Laila three months ago, she is haunted by Ziana's immense guilt. Every night before going to bed, he was always haunted by fear. Afraid that Zia would learn of the betrayal she had committed.

In fact, he deeply regretted what he had done three months ago. When she accepts her mother's offer to marry Laila, the village girl who saved her mother's life from an accident.

To be honest, he did not really love Laila, his second wife. More precisely, the wife of the series he married without Ziana's consent as the first wife. The marriage took place only because her mother forced Rama to marry Laila.

Sinta continues to force Rama to marry Laila, arguing, he wants Rama to avenge his life debt to Laila. Also, because he wanted a grandson from Rama. Meanwhile, Ziana, as the legal wife, could not bear children to complete the family's integrity.

Inevitably, in the end, Rama agreed too. But on condition, Sinta should not bring up the matter of grandchildren to Zia. She did not want Ziana to feel sad because she could not bear children for the wholeness of their family.

During this time, Rama has been trying hard to make Zia feel happy by saying that he does not want to have children first from their marriage. Under the pretext, they are currently still equally busy with their respective jobs. In fact, far from the bottom of Rama's heart, he really wants a baby as a complement to their love.

But how else, when he saw a letter contained in the drawer of their room, Rama was destroyed, as destroyed. However, he tried to stay strong by lying to Zia. He loved her so much that he did not want to see Ziana grieving for not being able to give her a child.

Seeing Rama who continued to be washed away in his daydream, Sinta patted Rama's cheek gently. While calling Rama's name with a rather loud tone.

"Rama!"

"What, ma?" rama asked in shock.

"You why the hell? Daydream again, daydream again. Nothing else but daydreaming?" ask Sinta annoyed.

"I'm so worried about Zia, Ma. I'm scared."

"I'm afraid Zia knows what I've done, Ma," Rama said as he looked straight ahead.

"You should be afraid anyway, Rama. If Zia knows, yes, let it go. Your man is the leader. There are so many women out there who share their husbands with other women. They can live happily together. You don't have to think much about your fear," said Sinta casually.

"Good mom said it. What if Zia couldn't accept that she had betrayed me? What if he can't accept that I'm polygamous, Ma?"

"Yes, you just divorce her. Easy right?"

"What the hell, Ma! Didn't you know I love Zia so much. I followed my mother's request because of Zia. If it wasn't for Ziana, I would never have married Laila. Mama understands!" rama said in a high tone.

After speaking like that, Rama immediately left Sinta alone. He did not want to listen to anything else Sinta said. For him, the more days, the more calming the mother, in fact, the more chaotic her feelings become.

"Rama!"

"Rama, you're the same mama!"

"Rama."

"Ih, you son don't know your manners, Rama. The long life of parents when talking just like that," said Sinta very upset to see Rama ignore himself just like that.

"Ih, it's really upset. It's all because of Zia. Zia again, Zia again. Rama dared to ignore me just for defending that Ziana. Ah, it turns out true what people say, fruit will not fall far from the tree. Mothers are the same child, the same. Both are annoying and make my heart ache," said Sinta as she hit the sofa cushion many times.

On the other hand, Zia was talking to Restu at the cafe not far from her apartment. Because it feels bad to accept Restu into the apartment. Zia chose to bring Restu chat in one of the cafes around her apartment.

Although her eyes looked swollen from crying, Zia did not care. He stays out of his apartment. With a slightly messy appearance he invited Restu to sit on one of the chairs in the cafe.

"Sir, is mbak okay?" tanya Restu was worried.

"I'm doing fine. As you see it today."

"I don't see that Zia is doing well right now. I even saw Zia instead. Tell me, what's the matter," said Restu attentively.

"There's nothing, Restu. I'm just being sapped. You know I just got back from abroad. So it's only natural that I look like this."

"Sir, I know who Zia is. Ma'am was not once out of his country, mbak. Many times already."

Ziana fell silent. Her intention of meeting Restu here was indeed to ask for help from Restu to investigate her husband. But, he could not talk to Restu about the household and the betrayal of the husband to others.

"Restu, it's okay. If there are any problems, it is about your personal life. I'm sorry, I can't tell you the same."