A Reason for Being Life English Version

Two

Nur's pov back to 13 years ago

Gray clouds covered the sky today. Murking sounds begin to be heard from a distance. It seemed like it was going to rain here. The houses were neatly arranged, but there was not a single human voice here. The habit of modern society is to get used to each other's business. Maybe they think life is just about collecting as much money as possible. They don't care about socializing with their neighbors. They had all closed their eyes to see the state of the humans who lived next door to their own house. Maybe their principle is "if you are not profitable to me, what is the importance of you to me."

Every day, the houses are quiet. The People used to only socializing when they need to, as opposed to the general public, who like to congregate and chat. Indeed, this can minimize conflicts between neighbors, but I think this way feels more like living individually. Nothing sense of caring for your fellow neighbors. It's not good to take care of other people's business, but being too indifferent is also not good.

Both of My mother and father  work for a private company, and I am the eldest of three children. When my parents go to work, my two sisters and I live with my aunt, who is none other than my father's sister. Her name is Maya, but I usually call her Aunty. The aunty's house was near from my house.

"Assalamualaikum Aunty, I'm home"

"Wa'alaikumussalam, Aunty is already cooking chicken and vegetable soup in the kitchen. You give your sisters something to eat. Don't forget to eat too. Your mother will be angry with you if you don't eat".

"Yes, Aunty"

"Oh, don't go out to play before your two younger siblings sleep, Aunty gets dizzy when they whine and have trouble sleeping."

"Hmmm..."

My aunt only has one child. My aunt does not work, while her husband is a Pertamina employee whose salary is quite large. Just look at their house, which is about as big as this building. But, my house is bigger than it.

Today my aunt's husband is free from his work. my uncle is very kind to me, often takes me for walks, buying the toys, ice cream, and uncle often invites me to play at my house, but I don't understand what the game we play I just an innocent kid, so I just followed him.

" Aini! come on, let's go for a walk with uncle!" Said my uncle.

At my home, my family call me Aini, because my name is Nur'aini, so you won't to be confused in the future. Like other families in general, they prefer to call their child's name by his last name rather than his first name.

"Didn't we invite Resti here, uncle?"

" Resti is sleeping, so we'll just " uncle said.

"Come on, uncle"

In uncle's car

"We're going to your house. Have you brought your house key?"

"Oh yes, uncle, Aini brought it, here is the key"

"Here we are, let's open the door"

"What are we going to do at home, there's no one at home uncle"

"We play as usual, you like it, right?"

"Oh but um..."

"Come on!" Uncle is carrying me to the room.

.....

"Shut up, don't make a sound. someone will hear you later, and what time does your mother get home?"

"My mother comes home at 5 pm uncle"

"Don't tell your mother or father about our game. You'll be the one who gets scolded by your mother, and I don't want you to be scolded." Replied uncle.

"Yes, uncle, but I'm tired of playing this way. It hurts."

"Just hold on, and watch if your mother and father find out."

"But, uncle, what will I say if Aunty asks me where I'm from and what I'm doing?" I asking to uncle.

"You just said, you were playing with uncle, you invited uncle to play."

***

The wind blew hard and flew the white hijab that Nur is wearing. This heavy wind is calming, and it also reminds me of the sound of Nur's story, because it makes the story seem more epic to listen to. The sky of Palembang today also seem friendly to Nur. In fact, there is absolutely no sign of rain clouds that will disturb Nur's story.

Nur looked at the old man, seeing if he was really listening to the story she was telling. When she saw the old man's eyes, his pitch-black eyes seemed to emit a gleam of sincerity. This made Nur believe that this man really wanted to hear her story. Then Nur continues the story.

"I don't think I needn't to tell the detail about what game we played, do I? You must have understood. I had no idea what that evil man had done to me at the time, and if I had known, I wouldn't have let the tips of his nails touch my body. To be honest, just thinking about it again disgusts me, let alone having to do it. But I guess this burden will be a bit less if it's shared right?" Nur said to the old man, who was looking at Nur with pity.

"I understand how you feel, my child. Regret is the hell of life. Maybe that regret always tortures you every day, imagining why you didn't tell your mother or aunt about it before, but it can't help, everything has happened, nothing can change the past. " The old man replied to Nur's words. 

"Yeah, I know, that's why I wanted to jump earlier. I'm tired of regretting every day because of it. Oh, never mind, even if I finish this story, you'll respond with the sentence "Never mind, everything has happened, nothing can be changed," Nur said angrily.

The old man, wearing a shabby black shirt, laughed at Nur's words. He felt he had managed to calm this sweet girl with the sad eyes' heart a little.

On the other hand, Nur saw the man laughing and became annoyed.

"Are you laughing at me? It's just a bit of a story, not a complete one and you're already like this! I know it's half a story that wouldn't make sense if it was the reason I committed suicide, but never mind, I don't want to tell anymore! You suck!!"

"Hey, you've heard the saying that never do anything half and half, or if someone wants to propose to you, he'll cancel it." The old man smiled

"Ah, that's all bullshit. After all, who wants a girl with no future like me?"

"My child, does your big house haven't glasses? If haven't, I will lend it to you, so you can see yourself clearly. You are beautiful, your body is perfect, you have 10 complete fingers and toes, your eyes are not crossed, your nose has 2 holes, you can pronounce the letter R fluently. Then what's the problem with other people doesn't like you?" replied the man jokes.

"You bastard, isn't that enough to get people to propose to me?"

"Hmmm, if there really isn't a man in this world who wants to propose to you, there's me, if you want to know I'm still single, and my ideal type of woman is exactly like you".

"Ugh, you're a pedophile too? You know I'm only 19 years old, you want to marry a child?"

"It doesn't matter if the little child is as beautiful as you. " said the man

"But it would be a big problem for me to marry an old man like you." Nur continued.

"You said no man in this world would marry you, instead of you being an old girl, you'd better be with me"

"Um, it's a little illogical if I want to marry someone I just met an hour ago," Nur continued.

"It's only logical if that person is convincing you that life will be better with him. " The old man in shabby black clothes convinced Nur.

"It's true what you said, old man."

"Old man? I know what you mean. You offended me by saying that I'm old, haha. Yes, I realize I'm old. How could a young person like you want to marry an old man like me?"

to be continued...