Giving Birth to My Brother
63. Gonna Caged?

Elin does not want to regret when the next day he woke up without finding Ariel by his side. He blinked slowly and then roughly restored his hair to gather his consciousness. Elin looked at Ariel's back. Obviously the man had just finished his bath and the sun was still hiding in the eastern horizon.

Elin wanted to get up too, but she broke her intention when she realized Ariel was calling someone facing the window. Ariel was probably looking out into the distant ocean there, thought Elin. And now, Ariel is calling someone, maybe Sinta.

Elin, who was still sleepy, tried to sharpen her hearing. He was very curious how Sinta's reaction if he knew he had spent 2 nights with Ariel, he even made love with the heat with Ariel, their husband both. However, of course he could only hear Ariel's goal-wishing voice.

"I'll be home" said Ariel.

"What time?" ask Sinta across the street.

"Maybe at home in the afternoon. The ship's schedule is still a little afternoon" replied Ariel.

"Elin isn't papa? She's going home?" ask Sinta again.

"Yes. I've managed to persuade Elin, she'll go home with me. Don't worry. Um, the baby's fine, too" Ariel said.

On the bed, Elin chokes. He began to wonder in his heart whether Ariel asked him to make love last night just to persuade him to come home, or because Ariel really wanted him?

"The baby's a girl, Elin's been checking her womb here" Ariel said.

"Seriously?" ask Sinta. "That's our baby, isn't it, Mas? We'll take care of the baby, right?"

Elin saw Ariel's restless gesture now. The man looked down and then looked out the window. "There were some changes in the agreement, so maybe .. I want Elin to stay near the baby after birth."

"What's? You mean what?" ask Sinta in shock.

"I can't separate the baby from his birth mother, honey. I'm sorry, but I don't have the heart" Ariel said carefully.

Ariel heard Sinta's bitter laughter across the street. "What Elin did to wash your brain, Mas. Don't forget our purpose in doing all this. I'm sure you're sleeping with another woman to get a baby. But what do you want? Keeping the baby's mother by our side?"

"Elin could be a good aunt for our baby. It might have been hard for Elin too, but she was still her mother. You know for yourself what it's like to lose a baby, so you should understand what Elin would feel if we separated the baby from her" Ariel said.

Sinta was silent on the other side until Ariel did not know what to say anymore. He also felt a dilemma. On the one hand, he did not want to hurt Sinta with his second marriage. On the other hand, he also could not make Elin more injured.

"From the beginning, Elin wasn't the baby's mother, Mas. You know, Elin has more feelings for you! Is that why you want to keep Elin? Are you in love with Elin?" ask Sinta to be angry.

"No! You misunderstood me, dear. I just .. I just love you. But I can't hurt Elin either. So, just accept it. I'll be nice to both of you, I promise," said Ariel.

"The divorce .. I don't know" said Ariel. "Let's think about the next 5 months until the baby is born. After that, we can think again."

"I don't want to keep getting mixed up, Mom!" hardik Sinta's.

"I understand, Honey. I'm sorry" Ariel said regretfully. I don't know which one he regrets more. Suffering Sinta or hurting Elin. "Let's talk at home again. It's dawn, I want to pray. You also pray fast."

"Take good Elin. Don't let him run away again, Mom. You brought him home to our house, didn't you?"

"Of course, hon. After this, I want to keep Elin tighter. She can't leave the house anymore" Ariel said before turning off her phone.

Elin closed her eyes when she saw Ariel flipping towards her. He went back to pretending to sleep for minutes even though his heart was not beating normally. He did not know what Sinta said on the other side, but he heard clearly Ariel's words.

Ariel wants her to stay close to the baby. That nice. However, Ariel won't let him go out of the house again. Well, that makes sense. Soon her stomach will bulge, the neighbors will suspect if they see her pregnant and one day the baby is never with her.

What about Sinta? If she's going to take the baby, of course that goes for her too. Sinta won't be much out of the house again and suddenly in 5 months, she will announce the birth of her baby. Elin squeezed her blanket tightly, it was a bit scary to imagine. He'll probably be locked up in that house.

"El," call Ariel. "Elin, wake up."

Elin felt her arm being patted several times by Ariel, then she opened her eyes lazily because she was pretending to sleep.

"Wake up, you have not prayed at dawn" said Ariel while rubbing Elin's tangled hair.

"Yes, I'm gonna take a shower. Brother want to get breakfast?" ask Elin senatural maybe. His heart was still agitated due to the chatter he had overheard unintentionally.

"Ehm, look for coffee below" replied Ariel. "Wake-up hunt. Today we go home. We have to get to the port so we don't run out of tickets."

Elin nodded. He had agreed to go home with Ariel, but he did not want to go home if he would only be locked up later. He has no freedom anymore. Should he run away again?

Elin sat on her bed with a blanket covering her body when Ariel was out of the room. He has a chance to escape now. However, if he left now without any preparation, he would also still be caught by Ariel. He needs more cash and he doesn't have it anymore. If he takes the money at the ATM one day, it's the same he'll be tracked.

Elin felt she had no chance of escaping. Until finally when he took a bath, he suddenly thought of Galang. Maybe he wanted to help her hide. Galang certainly can help him, after all Galang never liked it.

"No, I can't take care of Mr. Galang. Do not forget, El, now Mr. Galang already has a girlfriend and you should not involve Galang in your personal affairs," said Elin who felt that this was a stupid idea. He had offended Galang, how shameless he would be if he ran to him just to ask for protection. "I have to take care of myself."