Aster Veren
Episode 51

- Ansel

After finishing visiting the tomb of mother and Helen, I went to the house of bi Siti along with Aster.

Arriving at the house bi Siti, we were warmly welcomed by a married couple who were already aged.

Aster seemed happy to meet them, and the bi Siti referred to by Aster was also just as happy when she saw my daughter coming to visit. They look like harmonious grandmothers and grandchildren.

"Papa I want to play behind Siti ya bi." He said before running away from the living room followed by bi Siti's steps behind him.

"So ...." The voice of the middle-aged man before me surprised me.

"Ansel, my name is Ansel Aster's father." It was obviously me who understood the confusion that the man felt.

"Ah nak Ansel is Aster's father. My name is Zaenal her husband Siti her mother's best friend Helen." He introduced himself.

"... thank you for taking care of my daughter when I wasn't there." I'm ashamed of myself looking this useless and pathetic.

"No problem, we're happy to take care of Aster for the rest of our lives. I also felt good to see Aster meet his father. She looks happy now, and I'm relieved to see her back as cheerful as ever." Mr. Zaenal said before reaching for a cup of tea in front of him.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure I could be a good father to him, especially since I've never been around. I feel like I'm the worst person right now, but I'll try my best to raise him." Obviously I cannot look into the eyes of Mr. Zaenal who is enjoying his tea.

"I'm sure you can be a good father to your daughter. Even if you've done something wrong in the past, that doesn't mean you have to punish yourself by impersonating yourself in front of others" he said after keeping a teacup in his hand on the table.

"You should say proudly that you are Aster's father and will raise him well, no matter what your past. Isn't it important now that you can meet your daughter?" The next made me slightly flinch and directly stared at the warm look in his eyes.

I never thought anyone would say something this good to me when I thought maybe everyone would mock me, thinking ill of me and looking at me as trash for abandoning my child and wife, then returning when my wife was gone.

Really bad, isn't it? But it's all true, and I don't want to defend myself for what I did.

"Take advantage of your time together before your daughter grows up and wants to marry the man she loves, the girl grows up faster." Continue again with a warm smile to me who is still frozen listening to the warm words.

It feels like my little heart misses my father's presence now, if he is still alive .. Maybe he will also give me advice, just like Mr. Zaenal is doing right now. My mind feels the look of the father figure in Mr. Zaenal.

"Father is right." My words immediately returned her warm smile along with my mood slowly improving.

... It feels like all my burdens just disappeared after talking to Mr. Zaenal.

***

After talking for a long time, I decided to follow Aster in the back yard of Siti's house, following in the footsteps of Mr. Zaenal who guided me to Aster and his wife.

"Auntie I want that!" Aster's voice while pointing at the ripe guava fruit hanging on top of the tree, along with the arrival of me and Mr. Zaenal.

"Well aunt can't pick it up, the jam's too high." Bi Siti muttered sounding disappointed as well as Aster.

"What's wrong?" Ask Mr. Zaenal ahead of me.

"It's Aster wants that guava, but it's too high so I can't take it." Clearly bi Siti while pointing at the guava she meant.

"Then let me get it, can I climb the bamboo tree?" I immediately took the initiative to climb up, however I could not ignore my daughter's disappointed expression.

"Ah, sure. Be careful." Said bi Siti allowing me.

"Pa–papa can climb?" Aster asked in surprise when he saw me climbing up quickly.

"Of course you can." My answer is that I have climbed high enough while picking the guava that Aster wants.

"Uwaah papa is great!" His shout was so excited, I unconsciously smiled to see the funny behavior that had jumped up in excitement while laughing loosely.

"Hahaha, your papa is great huh." Furthermore, Mr. Zaenal also laughed at the adorable behavior of my daughter.

"True, my papa is the greatest in the world hehe ...." Aster said so proudly to me, and for the first time I felt a little embarrassed to hear the praise of a little boy like him. Even the laughter of bi Siti and pak Zaenal is increasingly becoming.

"Then try picking up more to take home." Said bi Siti slightly shouting while looking up at me after being satisfied to laugh.

I who was still a henchman sitting on the branch of the guava tree could only watch them silently from above.

"The second one is a lot of papa!" Shouted Aster repeating the speech bi Siti, somehow the more noticed I feel more anxious to see her expression.

Then without wasting any more time, I also resumed the work of picking guava fruit requested by Aster while listening to their conversation below.

My hand could not hold all the crests, I murmured as I took off the ash suit I was wearing and used it to wrap all the guavas I managed to pick. Then I quickly descended from the top of the tree after feeling enough to pluck some large guava.

"So this is enough?" I asked while showing the results of my quote to Aster.

"... uwaah the beard is big." His murmur was so focused on all the guava in my hand with its sparkling eyes.

"Give me, let me wash it before it's wrapped, you get the package ready." Said bi Siti immediately grabbed all the guava in my hand and brought it into the house followed by Mr. Zaenal who was asked to prepare a bouquet by his wife.

"Thank you papa" Aster said with a big smile at me, making me smile at him.

"Papa's here, down!" Next ask me to bow down. I don't know what he's planning, I can only obey his will and kneel with one of my legs to equalize my height with him.

"What's wrong?" I asked while looking down along with her tiny hands that immediately grabbed my head and made me surprised.

"Can." He said while removing the dried leaves from ... my hair?

I wasn't done thinking, suddenly my daughter's little hand grabbed my face and immediately gave her warm kiss on my cheek.

"This?" I muttered so shocked while holding my right cheek, for the first time I felt a warm kiss from my own daughter. Though usually I secretly kissed her forehead while she was sleeping and I happened to visit Arsel's house.

Of course Arsel didn't know I was doing that, if he knew he wouldn't stay put. Moreover, recently he said useless things want to stay with Aster forever.

"Thank you, hehe... Aster dear papa, very!" His words smashed my daydream with his warm embrace. I hesitantly returned his embrace with both of my hands.

I'll take good care of our daughter Helen. My mind is reminded of my wife's beautiful face when she is smiling sweetly at me.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading...