Behind The Lies
Prologues

Jakarta, November 1995

Heavy rain continues to rain on the outskirts of Jakarta. Slippery roads and stagnant water on perforated streets make the village conditions dirty. Rain drops also penetrate the roof of a one-bed house. A man was sitting pensively on a bed of battered cotton, while a crying baby girl screamed next to him.

A few hours ago a great storm had struck the man's life. He never expected the person he had been fighting for to leave.

“Where are you going?” gusman asked his wife.

“I want to go all the way,” replied Dewi while moving clothes from the top of the rigen into her bag. “I can not live hard continue,” continued the woman while re-inserting her clothes.

Gusman's heart is breaking. Slowly his eyes looked at the sleeping baby. “Wi, if you leave, keep our child how?” The Goddess has often behaved and threatened him like that, usually Gusman thinks that the Goddess is just bluffing. However, this time the Goddess looked solemn.

“Sama you only. I can't possibly take him.”

“What do you mean?” Gusman approached and crouched down in front of his wife who was sitting on the bed while tidying up the items to be brought. “Why you? What's up, Wi?” gusman asked as he grabbed the Goddess' hand.

Goddess clucking. He threw his face away while breathing. “Siang earlier, I was like a beggar coming to your house to meet our son with his grandparents, but what?" The goddess looked back at Gusman. "They insulted me, drove me away and trampled on my pride. They threw money in my face. That's enough, Gus. I can no longer live like this.” The goddess cried.

“I've warned you, Wi, so you don't have to come there, we can take care of our own lives,” Gusman said.

Hearing Gusman's response, the Goddess grew even more heartbroken. He immediately distanced his hand from the man's hand, then reached into the documents from inside his bag. “Certify me,” he said while providing the document.

Gusman. “Ngak,” reject it while rising, then retreat slowly.

The white woman quickly got up and stood in front of the man who had only been married for a year and a half. “If you love me, you have to do it,” he said as he brought the document closer to Gusman's chest.

Gusman stared at his wife. He felt like he was struck by lightning in the middle of the night while the atmosphere was calm. “Why do you want to part from me, Wi?” lirih Gusmann.

The twenty-one-year-old woman turned her back to her husband. “I'm too young, I don't want to live like this, Gus. Restrained in poverty with you.” The goddess then looked. “I'm sorry to receive you,” he added bitterly.

The man who was also only twenty-one years old was rushing to hug the woman he loved. A thousand sorry it was not enough, he was guilty of having brought the Goddess a miserable life. Now he could only gulp down his own saliva, as if he had just swallowed the sorry word he should have said.

The phrase Goddess had actually pierced the heart of Gusman. “You yourself said that sooner or later my father would agree to our marriage, why are you giving up now?” ask the thin-moustached man. “We just need to fight even harder, Wi.”

“More hard? You already have nothing, even the status as a child of Ganjar Wijaya is no longer yours, Gus, you forget, your father even took all your rights as a child.”

Gusman. Dewi was right, her life became very difficult, all her facilities and rights as a child were revoked just because she married a poor woman like Dewi. The father's words were still clearly ringing in his ears.

“Married a poor woman like the Goddess, chances are only two, Gusman. Goddess who became like you, rich with all the facilities that Papa gave, or you who became poor like Dewi.”

Because of his father's pride and arrogance, Gusman got the second possibility, becoming poor like a Goddess.

The goddess herself was still trying to hold back the tears, she then turned her gaze away from Gusman, then looked at her little baby who was sleeping. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wants to hug her baby, she wants to kiss and apologize for not being a good mother. However, he was afraid of disturbing the sleep of his tiny baby.

“You take care of your child. Tell him I'm dead.” The goddess then stepped up. However, Gusman held his waist from behind.

“Wi, please stay here, never leave me, at least for the sake of our son,” please Gusman.

“If I had known from a long time ago that you only depended on your papa's treasures, maybe I wouldn't have been blinded like now. I don't have a problem marrying an ordinary man or a poor man like me, the most important thing is that he's responsible and hardworking, rather than a rich man like you, but doesn't know how to make a living, even to buy clean water is difficult,” said the woman. Her tears fell back.

Slowly Gusman's hand moved away from the Goddess's waist. Eventually all of those words awakened him. He felt like he was thrown deep into the edge of the sky and slammed into a foreign place that had absolutely no life for him. His heart was slipping and his chest felt tight. Gusman's body trembled, even feeling very cold when he heard the words of the Goddess' statement. “Sorry, Wi, I'm sorry,” hiss the man dropped his knees onto the cement floor in the chest.

The goddess looked up while breathing. He folded his lips in order not to let out of his mouth, seconds later he turned around. “Now you sign this. Untie me. Let me go because I am responsible for my own happiness.”

Gusman's hands trembled to take the ballpoint pen.His body felt cold goosebumps. Either how many tears he dropped in front of the Goddess along with the bitterness that howled in the middle of the sunyinya night.

Gusman signed the divorce papers. He did not want to make the Goddess of life suffer. If this is what Dewi wants then the ink streak on the paper has ended her marriage.

Just like the Goddess who felt deceived by Gusman's promise. Gusman finally realized that the Goddess did not really love him and only wanted his family's wealth. Now even that woman had ruined her life.

After Gusman signed the document, Dewi immediately seized it. Gusman's heart felt like it was being plundered and carried away by the night wind. Now he could only lament what had just happened. Without goodbye, without hugs, let alone kisses. The goddess left her and the tiny baby who was only six months old.