To Mutia

The truth is hidden

Two days passed after Lamia said goodbye to go out of the city, but Azril never asked Mutia where her wife was. The man behaved normally, as if nothing was different in his daily life. And on the morning of the third day, Mutia started to get upset herself. He felt disappointed that Azril was being indifferent to Lamia. Even though they were fighting, Azril should not behave the same as Lamia. Abandon, and let the problem drag on without a solution.

Both pairs of eyes were simultaneously turned to the flat object on the dining table. Azril, the owner of the phone immediately grabbed the square object and immediately received an incoming call.

Mutia had no idea what the other person on the phone was talking about. But when he saw Azril's widened eyes and the man's face that now looked deathly pale, it was enough to tell Mutia that something bad had happened.

"A-what's up, A'?" Mutia could not help her curiosity when Azril had ended the call.

"I-My mother." Azril's gaze was unfocused, while his hands were clenched tightly on the table.

"What's wrong with Mother Aa?"

This time the clear crystal seemed to decorate the dark bead of Azril. "My mother died, Mutia."

...* * *...

After receiving news of his mother's death, Azril immediately made a flight to Bandung accompanied by Ghifar. At one o'clock in the afternoon they arrived in the city of flowers, along with the corpse of his mother who will be buried.

Regardless of the words of his brother who asked him to rest, Azril actually mingled with a group that would deliver his mother to the final resting place. Not only carrying a coffin, Azril even entered his mother's body into a hole while resisting the urge of tears that threatened to come out. The sclera turned red, but Azril finally managed to survive until the people finished stockpiling his mother's corpse with the ground.

Unlike his brothers who vent their grief with tears, Azril remained standing straight in front of his mother's grave, though his gaze was blankly directed at the gravestone bearing the name of the Mother.

One week before his mother's departure, Azril received a call from the woman who had given birth to him. His mother asked him to come home because he missed her. But Azril said he had already spent time off for the year, so he was forced to postpone his return next year. Azril did not know, that at that time his mother was lying critically in a hospital bed. The woman with five grandchildren forbade her other children to tell Azril.

And that now gives such deep regret to Azril. If only he granted his mother's wish, then he still had time to face and meet with the Mother. Azril smiled miris. After his wife, his mother left him. Why are these women so cruel to her?

"Azril, let's go home. You need rest." his eldest brother patted Azril on the shoulder, making Azril slowly turn a blank look at the older brother.

"No. I will help to prepare for the study later tonight, after which I will go straight back to Bali."

"What's? Going home?" Ghifar, who had been accompanying Azril in silence, now voiced his confusion. "Why would I go straight home? Aa should stay here, at least until the third day."

Because I need Mutia. I need his embrace right away to keep me sane. "I'm here without telling you where I work, because I'm in a hurry. So I have to go home and ask permission. I'll be back at three days' recitation of Mom's death."

...* * *...

Mutia turned surprised. His body staggered back, almost falling when suddenly someone hugged him for a second after he opened the door. If Ghifar had not moved quickly to him and held his back, Mutia was sure that he had fallen on the floor with fresh blood running down his legs.

"Mother go, Mutia. Mom left me forever." Azril muttered in the curve of Mutia's neck. He is currently in a semi-conscious state. Depressed by his mother's death, he was also tired of flying twice a day.

"If you don't remember this time you're mourning, I would have broken your brave arms around Mutia" Ghifar said, pulling Azril's half-conscious body, then dragged her into the room with Mutia trailing behind her.

"Be careful, sir. Aww.." -..." Mutia exclaimed with a grimace when she saw Ghifar lying Azril's body to the bed violently, to make Azril's head hit the head of the bed.

"Shut up, Mutia." Ghifar was still busy taking care of Azril and enveloping his sister-in-law, after which he turned to Mutia. "Come out. Go back to your room and sleep. It's late, Mutia."

"But..." Mutia glanced at Azril who had completely lost consciousness.

Following the direction of Mutia's gaze, Ghifar snorted. "Why do you care so much? Let it. Lamia Tea tomorrow will be home."

Mutia tried to sleep, but she could not. Therefore Mutia decided to go back to Azril's room to check the condition of the man she had considered her brother, because it was useless that he tried to sleep, while his heart was restless filled with worry.

"Mom, I'm sorry." as Mutia opened the room door, Azril's delirium was heard. He also walked closer to the bed. "I'm going home, Mom. Wait me. Please."

Found sweaty hairs filling Azril's forehead, Mutia reflexly stuck the back of her hand there. A second later Mutia snorted as she felt Azril's body temperature being so hot. Azril fever.

Deftly Mutia picked up the body temperature gauge. Clamping it in Azril's armpit, then out of the room to the kitchen take cold water with a small towel.

When Azril found the heat high enough, Mutia tried to wake the man up, but Azril did not open her eyelids and just muttered indistinctly. Mutia panicked, she wanted to call Ghifar, but could not bear to interrupt the young master's rest. Therefore Mutia decided to compress Azril only. If until tomorrow morning the heat of Azril does not come down, then he will ask Ghifar to take Azril to the hospital.

An hour passed, Mutia was still struggling with a cold towel to compress Azril. Until drowsiness was unbearable and made Mutia fall asleep in a sitting position on the floor, while her head lay on its side on Azril's bed.

...* * *...

After Mutia told him about last night, no more voices were heard. The two agreed to silence with a straight forward view. Currently they are sitting side by side on the bench of the complex park. Ghifar deliberately brought Mutia out of the house, in addition to keeping Mutia away so as not to hear Lamia and Azril's quarrel, also to hear the explanation of the woman.

"It should have been last night that I asked you to sleep, you obeyed it, so that this would not happen, Mutia." Ghifar commented without looking at Mutia.

"If I knew tomorrow I would die, today I would multiply my charity and prepare for my death. Unfortunately, me or anyone else never knew what would happen in the next second. So I hope you don't talk as if I did it on purpose." Mutia grumbled in disbelief.

Ghifar. Mutia's face now looked crimson with the woman's black bead staring angrily at him. Ghifar's breathing sounded heavy. "It was clear Azril was the one who brought you to bed. The question is, does he sleep in bed with you or not?"

Mutia looked down deeply, not knowing what answer she should give Ghifar.

"I worried about her all night and took care of her as a sister. Aa had just lost her mother, I'm sure Aa must have remembered the death of her sister, Hasna. I just don't want Aa to get worse, but in fact..."

"Wait a minute!" Ghifar. "Hasna's? Azril's sister?"

Looking at Ghifar who was also staring at him, Mutia nodded slowly. "She said, I reminded her of Hasna, her sister who died while pregnant."

"W-what?" for a while Azril was at a loss for words, then snorted and laughed discordantly. After that his attention returned to Mutia, who was now looking at him confused. "You're naive or stupid, Mutia. You may believe in Azril's deceit."

"I mean sir?"

"Azril was the third of four children. Both her brothers, as well as her sister who is currently in college."

Mutia was deathly pale, while her body was stiff like a statue. "Ti-impossible." she shrieked with her head in disbelief. "Then... I-His mother, is it true to have mental stress and must be treated in a mental hospital?"

This time Ghifar nodded.

There was a trace of hope in Mutia's dark bead. As he expected, Azril could not possibly lie to him. "And her mother was depressed because of her daughter's death, right?"

"Mutia, I told you Azril doesn't have a sister. Her mother was depressed, but divorced after learning of her husband's affair." Ghifar growled softly, annoyed that Mutia trusted Azril more than he did. "One year ago his mother was declared cured and Azril's eldest brother took care of him."

Mutia's body melted, as if all her energy was drained away. Tiringly Mutia leaned back and looked up, looking at the clear-looking sky with the sunlight that felt stinging to the skin.

A' Azril lied to me. But... why? Why did he make up such a story and make me believe it? He could even use his mother to convince me more. Oh my God... What else is going to happen to me?