Antara Darah dan Hati: Dream Reality English Translation

Chapter 28 Part 4 "The Decision of the Candidates for the Throne"

POV Karim

I wake up from my sleep, perform the non-obligatory midnight prayer then go to the mosque which is near my house, perform the dawn prayer there, ask Allah to soften my father's heart so that he will negotiate the advice that I will give him, then return home and carry out my morning activities like usual.

When the clock showed that 10 a.m has arrived, I took my smartphone that was lying on the living room table, swipe the screen, unlocked the screen, opened my smartphone's WhatsApp contacts and called my father. The ringing sound of the outgoing calls continued and finally stopped when my father answered my call.

"Assalamualaikum, father?" I said to him giving my greetings.

"Waalaikumussalaam, yes Karim, why are you calling? Are you calling because you have already decided which route to take?" he asked.

"Father. I called you because, I wanted to tell you about my decision about the choice that you gave me." I was silent for a moment, took a deep breath and then exhaled while saying bismillaah in my heart.

"I, I don't want to be both, I prefer to continue my calm and peaceful life, I don't want my life to be disturbed by various dangers due to the political activities that I do or such." I said to my father.

"Huh?! Why?! You have a choice that gives you the opportunity to become a king or a rich person in which the money that you have can be used for the good of many but, why do you even refuse it all?!" said my father, replying to my words by yelling at me.

"Because, my father himself said that the Sucilangkung Palace was already controlled by evil people and he himself rejected the throne of the Sucilangkung Sultanate even though if you accepted your position as the Sultan, you could also try to fight for justice to be established in this city but why did you refuse that chance and gave me those two life choices just to make me a pawn who fights alone to uphold the justice that has been lost in the Sucilangkung City while my father himself takes refuge in his own house, hiding in safety like a coward?" I said to my father in cynical tone.

"Karim! You?!" said my father again, yelling at me.

"What? Insolent? Yes, I admit I was being Insolent and I apologize to you for my impudence earlier but, why does someone have to follow someone else's orders to do something when the person who told him to do that thing didn't give the same example?" I asked my father still in cynical tone.

"But I..." said my father then I cut him off.

"But what? If you want to give me the reasons about why you don't want to be the Sultan, I don't care because in reality, the reason you don't want to take that position is because you have given up on the situation and prefer to live quietly while watching crime and destruction going rampant in the palace so, why it's wrong if I choose to do the same thing?" I asked my father still in a cynical tone.

"Ki Hajar Dewantara once said, 'ing ngarso sung tulodo, ing madya mangun karso, tut wuri handayani' (Those who are in the front setting an example, those who are in the middle building enthusiasm, those who are behind giving encouragement), and my father himself as my parent who is also the successor to the throne of the Sucilangkung Sultanate has never once given me an example of how to properly manage the government of this city or how to fight so that justice could be established using the power of influence and wealth that my father has just like what Cokroaminoto did, so how can I carry out my role as a leader and enforce justice in this city using the instrument of influence and wealth if my father himself as the candidate for the throne for the Sucilangkung Sultanate does not carry out his role to give me a similar example that I can follow?" I asked my father, trying to make him understand about the reason of why I said all those words that sounded insolent to him.

Silence filled the phone line between my smartphone and my father's until, about 3 minutes later, my father gave his answer.

"Okay, Karim, I understand what you mean by saying this. Yes, I will take on my role as the Sultan of Sucilangkung City, thank you Karim for your help in making me realizing my mistakes but, since I will take the position as the Sultan, I hope that you are willing to help me establish justice in this city with the wealth that you have after you become a successful Muslim entrepreneur, assalamualaikum." said my father, ending his sentence by bid me his farewell.

"Yes Father, I will. Oh one more thing, I hope you are willing to give a visit to your little brother and try to forgive him. You said that your little brother is still being treated in the hospital because of his cancer, so if in the near future his time in this world is over, at least if you forgive his mistakes, the sins that he received for hurting you will be forgiven by Allah." I said, making my request that my father would try to forgive his little brother.

"Yes, Karim. I will try, assalamualaikum." said my father granted my request then said his goodbye, closing the conversation between the two of us.

"Waalaikumussalam." I said answering his goodbye then hung up my phone with him.

I leaned my back and head on the back of the sofa then exhaled and rubbed my face with both of my hand palms while saying the hamdalah sentence. Mevrow Sofia, who had been sitting next to me and listening to my conversation with my father also rubbed her hand palms over her face, showing our gratitude to Allah for the help that He had given for us in by softening his heart so that we were able to help my father to realize his mistake and to convince him to stop being a coward and take on the role that he had been avoiding all this time so that both of us didn't have to bear the burden of leading this city alone.