I'M Nathasya Gustari
Heart-set

We cannot control the thoughts and speech of others. Being a widow and a neighbor's gossip can't be avoided.

Simply maintain an attitude and do not take heart what they say. Especially if what they are accusing is not true.

Like today. Caca, who had been waiting anxiously because it was night and his son had not yet returned home, went out of the house as soon as he heard the sound of a car pulled over in front of his house.

It looks like Tara is carrying a sleeping Mentari. Tara arrived at Caca's house at eight p.m. An exhausted mentor fell asleep on the road. They also waited long enough to buy food for dinner at Caca's house.

"Let me bring Mentari in, mas." bargained Caca who was near Tara.

"Work up if you move. You better take our dinner in the back seat."

Caca according. Take food and follow Tara to get inside the house.

"Where's the Dance room?"

Caca pointed to one of the rooms in the middle room. And passed to the kitchen to move the food into the dish. I also made coffee for Tara.

"He sleeps alone?" tara asked after joining the dining table.

"Since a year ago I slept alone. Be more independent." Caca keeps a plate that contains food in front of Tara who is immediately welcomed because she is hungry.

"But he's too small, Ca. You're just two of you."

Tara felt objected to her son sleeping alone at such a young age. Or because Tara just met her daughter. So everything felt heavy he saw in his daughter.

"That includes being big, mas. Many are smaller than Mentari and have slept in separate rooms from their parents."

Alright. He better trust his ex-wife how to educate their daughter.

"Ooh yeah. Mentari school dress where is mas?" his son was not wearing his school uniform when he came home. Looks like Tara bought her a shirt before they went for a walk.

"It's in the dance bag."

No more chatter came out as long as they spent dinner. Caca was also still a little awkward to be close to Tara like that.

"When do you want to go back home, Ca?"

"Eh?" Caca felt unprepared at the helm of such a question.

"Dari has started to accept my presence. So what are you waiting for?"

Caca. Playing food in front of him who lived half.

"I need to set my heart, mas. Not because I no longer love you. It's just that our past isn't something that's going well." There's a sad tone in Caca's sentence. Given how complicated their relationship used to be.

"I don't want to be a mistress anymore either. I don't want our relationship to be as stealthy as it used to be."

Tara got up and squatted on the Caca board. He pulled the woman to sit facing him.

"I'm not going to hide our relationship anymore. Mom and Dad knew our relationship. They also approve. So what else are you worried about?"

"I'm just not ready to re-establish a relationship" he said softly without daring to look at Tara.

***

"From tomorrow, I'll take Tari school" said Tara who had reached the front of the fence with Caca.

"Whoever is the best for me tomorrow morning." Caca smiled and nodded back.

"Neng Icha if it is suitable to get married immediately" said the mother of her front neighbor. I don't know when the mothers were standing there.

"We think Icha's a good guy. Every male guest is always received on the terrace except the ex-husband who came with his mother." said another middle-aged woman.

"But it's been nights alone at home for hours." Tara was there for no more than two hours.

"We didn't do anything about the mothers. Just dinner." said Caca in self-defense.

"Who knows if Neng Icha is honest or not. What else was Dance sleeping."

"Yes. We are both adults. You know what an adult couple does in a closed house."

"But we-" Caca's speech was interrupted with Tara's hand.

"You want to defend yourself like anything can never win against them. Because they believe what they think is true. Just close your ears and go in with our son to sleep."

Caca took a deep breath and exhaled. "But be careful on the road." Tara nodded.

"Excuse me mothers. I'm going in first."

"Young people today are told that they even care about it." Caca could still hear the sneers behind him. They were very good to him and Mentari. Some even offer to take care of their daughter if she is going to the MFA.

I don't know what made those mothers hate him. Or it is true that he who has crossed the line to let Tara into his house.

"His mother if you like neng Icha directly married only. Don't ruin a good woman." said the house owner's mother in front of Caca after Caca entered the house.

"I also want to marry her, Mom. A marriage just needs a process. Can't get the wedding done right away." said Tara very calm. Because it is free to face mothers with emotions. It won't be able to win.

"What a hard time staying married."

"I need an approach not only with Icha but also with her daughter. A mentor who has not been able to accept my presence will only make our household run bad. And I think Icha's personal problems are not the business of mothers. He has the right to decide his life."

"Eh mas! we only care about Neng Icha. And we don't want anyone to be perverted in this village either." the mother looks provoked by her emotions.

"If you've known Icha for a long time. You know she's not that kind of woman."

"Neng Icha is a good woman. But it could be that the good woman fell into temptation."

Tara felt stifled. Caca is indeed a good girl whom he has broken since youth. A girl who can't do anything inappropriate if she doesn't push her will first.

Forcibly snatched away the honor of a girl who cried in fear. Because the lust that dominates it ignores all the cries of Caca at that time.

They are caught in endless sins. The sin that he regretted at once he was grateful for successfully obtaining the heart of a Nathasya Gustari.

An adopted son who diverts his world from the house of his beloved ex-wife. Destine the little girl who now also helped divert his world. Mentari.

*

*

*