Mahram To Azira
Chapters 20.5

The next day Azira woke up late. Looking out the window, he found the sun rising soon.

"Astaghfirullah, I fell asleep!" Azira got off the bed and went to the bathroom to get some water.

Finished taking ablution, he took the mukenah and held a prayer mat facing the qibla. A few seconds later both hands were raised while echoing the first takbir in prayer.

A few minutes later Azira finished her morning prayers. Sitting limp on the bed is still sleepy. But he tried to survive because he had to finish the morning remembrance. Halfway through the dhikr, Azira was no longer strong. He dragged himself painstakingly up the bed to continue sleeping.

"Hum.. cozy." He muttered in the last vestiges of his consciousness before returning to explore the dream world.

*****

"So Azira hasn't come down yet?" Sasa asked Umi after putting the last plate on the table.

Last night he came home at 10 p.m. Coincidentally cross paths with Kenzie at the entrance of the house. Kenzie's going to the hospital because there's an emergency call. Before getting into the car Kenzie advised to keep an eye on Azira so as not to work too much. You see Kenzie noticed Azira was actually exhausted but continued to force himself to work.

Sasa listened and promised to watch over.

Today he went straight into the kitchen after the dawn prayer. Usually Azira is also in the kitchen at that hour, but until now the nose of Azira does not go nongol. Sasa recalled Kenzie's message last night and started to get anxious. Is his brother-in-law sick?

"No, Son. You go up to the top and call Azira. Umi was worried she was doing something about it last night her face was a little pale." Tell Umi to Sasa.

Sasa immediately agreed and immediately went to the second floor to call Azira.

Tok

Tok

Tok

"Assalamualaikum, brother Azira?" Sasa knocked on the door lightly.

But there was no sound or response from within.

Not giving up, he once again knocked on the door of the room and called Azira's name.

"Sir Azira?" There's still no answer.

Since there was no response from Azira, she finally decided to go inside the room.

Cclack

The door to the room opened. Not locked.

Sasa first poked his head peering inside. Looking inside the room until his eyes locked staring Azira on the bed.

"Sir Azira?" Call Sasa.

Azira did not listen. He still wanders freely in dreamland alone.

"Is my sister asleep?"

Sasa went inside and closed the room door carefully. As he approached Azira, he saw Azira falling asleep very soundly without having time to remove her cloth.

"Sir Azira, wake up?" Sasa shook Azira's arm.

Azira wakes.

"Hum?" He's still sleepy.

"Let's have breakfast downstairs. Umi and Abah are waiting for brother." Sasa said to his sister-in-law.

Azira is not hungry. He did not want to eat first because his stomach was still uncomfortable. Maybe the stomach acid is on the rise making him lose his appetite.

"Sir, I'm not going to eat breakfast today because my stomach is not hungry yet. Please give my regards to Umi and Abah for breakfast without waiting for me." Pinta Azira to her sister-in-law.

"Are you not well?" Ask Sasa worried.

Azira smiled amusedly. He naturally shook his head in denial.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just a little sleepy because I'm still sore." Azira makes assumptions alone.

He may be tired of working too much to the point of neglecting his own condition which takes time to rest. Sasa looked concerned at his sister-in-law. Her sister was worried before leaving last night, and Azira was sad.

"Oh... Then you want to drink porridge, don't you?"

Drink porridge?

It sounds interesting but Azira is not interested. At the moment he has only one goal: sleep.

"no need. I just need a little sleep." Azira refused.

Now Sasa was starting to feel strange. Why his sister-in-law likes to sleep rather than fill the stomach, but usually Azira's appetite is fine. Besides being as uncomfortable as Azira was before, she would definitely never miss a meal. So Sasa did not want to feel astonished.

"All right, then. Later if Azira needs something, just call me downstairs."

"Hum, deck."

After making sure Azira's body temperature was normal and her condition was fine, Sasa finally came out of the room and returned to the dining table. There Mona, Umi and Abah are waiting. They haven't touched the food.

"Where's your brother?" Umi.

Sasa explained.

"He's in the room, Umi. He said soy sauce so want to rest for a while. I also checked his temperature, which is normal. Maybe after a short nap he'll return to normal activities." After hesitating Sasa did not tell him the thing that confused him.

Maybe Azira is not fit to make him like to sleep.

"Poor brother Azira, he must be sad because Amara has returned to Indonesia." Mona's melancholic voice instantly made the dining table silent.

Mona bit her lips in embarrassment as she felt a burning gaze from everyone.

"What...did I just say something wrong?" Ask carefully.

Sasa's heart was panicked. He held his cousin's shoulder.

"You..what did you say? Amara's home? Who told you? Aren't you just talking about it?"

No one knows about Amara's return to this house. Both Azira and Kenzie never told anyone. Only Mona knows and that was not accidentally heard from Ayana talks with Fathir yesterday.

"I'm not talking about it. Ayana and Fathir's sister who said that. I didn't overhear them talking yesterday." Mona denied.

"Didn't you hear me wrong, son?" Umi asked was not good.

If it's true what Mona said then the trivial quarrel Azira meant last night could be related to Amara!

Umi is very upset right now and is eager to pinch her son's cheek that won't listen!

"Umi, I didn't hear wrong. Ayana and Fathir's sister talked. What I heard was Ayana feeling sorry for Azira. He said Azira's brother had to defend this household." At least that's what he heard.

Sasa and Umi looked at each other before turning to look at Abah. Unlike the concerns of the three of them, Abah just relaxed. I don't know since when the fried rice has been piled on the plate complete with chicken milk and beef eye eggs. While everyone was chatting in anxiety, Abah was busy feeding fried rice into her mouth.

"Change.." Umi's mouth twitched stifled looking at her husband who was very relaxed.

"Don't think too much. It's their household business. If Azira could face this test then God willing their household would not be easily swayed. By the way fried rice today is not too spicy, does Umi not put a lot of chili in it?" Abah frowned after taking a few mouthfuls.

Because of the tense atmosphere earlier instantly melted.

"I agree with what Abah said. Besides the exam for Azira but this is also for Kenzie. If he dares to choose that woman then I will never let that happen. He has to accept all my anger in this house." Umi said seriously.

His assessment of Amara has been very poor since Kenzie turned into a different person. According to Umi, Amara had robbed her son of happiness so she was not too happy to hear the name of this woman mentioned let alone to see her.

Abah suddenly laughed strangely.

"You like to imagine far away." His whisper shook his head helplessly.

*****

In the afternoon just as the Adhan was reverberating in the mosque, Azira finally woke up. The body is much tastier and not as clean as yesterday. He sighed comfortably and thought that sleep was the best medicine.

"Eh, is there a message from a foreign number?" While checking the time on his phone, he noticed a new chat from an unknown number.

Unsuspecting, he opened it.

Deg

Azira's heart returned pain upon seeing this from the message. Inside is a photo of Kenzie chatting with a woman dressed in green typical of a patient. In the photo, Kenzie still wears a nightgown and his brown coat. Azira deeply memorizes what her husband wore last night. Their seats were side by side, looking intimate and harmonious at the same time. In front of them was plenty of food. Maybe it's lunchtime because it's not all breakfast.

Azira breathed in cold air. The photo caption was very piercing the pain point.

The replacement is still a substitute. When true love comes, a substitute is no longer needed. Do you agree?

Azira squeezes her blanket shuddering.

Plop

He put the phone into a drawer and had no intention of replying to messages. The comfortable atmosphere in his heart instantly disappeared replaced by bitterness. For a moment her head floated thinking about her husband's bullshit before leaving last night.

"....What the hell are you talking about? Why do I have to go to Amara's place these nights? We're not mahram, remember?..."

"Haha..." Azira laughed a little. Shaking his head, he got off the bed and went to the bathroom to clean himself up.

But he stayed in the room long enough. Much longer than usual. Half an hour later, he finally came out. His eyes were red and his voice hoarse. She seemed to have just cried in the bathroom.

Standing on the prayer mat that he did not have time to fold after the dawn prayer this morning, Azira raised both hands echoing the first takbir sign of the start of the zuhur prayer.

A few minutes later he finally finished the Zuhur prayer. Fold the mucena and prayer cloth, then put it in its original place. After settling down, he exited the room and went downstairs to meet a lot of people.

"Son, how are you doing now?" Seeing her daughter-in-law coming down, Umi hurriedly approached her and took Azira to the dining room to eat.

Everyone had finished eating and only Azira in this house had not eaten.

"Thank God, I'm fine, Umi." Azira smiled warmly.

Umi is very concerned about Azira's situation. His face was still a bit pale but even so he kept smiling as if nothing had happened. Umi was depressed.

"Thank God you're okay. Lunch now? Coincidentally Umi today cook chicken porridge suwir your favorite. Wanna try?" Umi presses Azira's shoulder sitting on one of the chairs.

After that he was busy going to the kitchen to pick up a bowl of warm porridge for Azira. He still has no appetite. At first she does not want to eat first, but seeing Umi's attention to her, Azira changes her mind. Maybe eating a little is okay?

"Yes, Umi. Just a little." Azira sincerely asked.

But Umi still gave him a big bowl of porridge. Just seeing it from afar instantly reduced Azira's confidence, would she be able to finish this much porridge?

"Well, how's the smell?" Umi came and put the porridge in front of Azira.

Azira kisses. It smells a bit strange, not bad, not bad. His sense of smell may be problematic. Azira immediately knew that the problem came from himself, not from Umi cuisine. According to him, the person who is the most good at cooking in this house is Umi. It is impossible that Umi cuisine has problems. This must be because his sense of smell was wrong.

"Boy, Umi." Azira's lying.

Umi looks happy.

"Thank God that the smell is good. Come eat, if you want to add again just say the same Umi. Umi's happy that you eat a lot."

Azira smiled warmly. He just nodded his head, praying that he could swallow this food.

Under Umi's supervision, he survived putting a mouthful of porridge into his mouth. At the fourth bribe, Azira gives up. He could not force himself to swallow the porridge anymore.

"If you can't eat it then don't push yourself." Umi is very depressed to see the state of Azira.

Again he blamed Kenzie in his heart. If his son is more dedicated, choosing to keep Azira at home instead of going to work in the hospital or even getting in touch with the woman, then maybe Azira will not be this miserable.

"Sorry, Umi. I'm full already." Though not. He simply refused to eat the porridge.

Umi understands.

"It's okay, son. Seeing you eat the porridge Umi was happy. Here's the bowl, Umi will wash it in the kitchen." Umi reaches out her hand but Azira keeps the bowl out of Umi's reach.

"Let me do it." Reject Azira.

Umi disagrees.

"Son, don't be stubborn"

"Umi, Aunt Arumi in front wants to see Umi. He said there's something he wants to talk about." The voice of Abah's cry interrupted Umi's speech.

Azira immediately used this opportunity to let Umi go.

"Arumi's aunt is waiting for Umi in front. Go, Umi, this job is so trivial I can finish it myself." Azira felt grateful and could not stand the attitude of Umi who treated her like fragile porcelain.

He was very ill but still able to work. While the discomfort felt these few days is not a serious problem. He can still work or do a lot of things.

"Just put it in the sink if you're not feeling well. Sasa's gonna wash it." Umi still insists Azira should not wash the dishes.

Azira just smiled. He remained where he looked at the old back of Umi who was slowly moving away from his sight.

After Umi left, she washed the bowl and put it on the shelf. His stomach was a bit hungry, but he did not want to eat rice or porridge. But when he thought of fruits, his mouth involuntarily clucked.

Unable to hold back, he went to fetch some fruit from inside the refrigerator. For now he took two peaches, two green pears, some green grape seeds and one orange seed. Before eating it Azira first washed it in the sink and took it away.

Today the sky is cloudy. Not hot and comfortable enough to work outside. Carrying a plate of fruit, he went to the back garden. Sitting in a leisurely chair gazing at the green trees that were swaying gently in the wind. Still fresh in the memory that a few months ago, precisely in this lounge chair he had breakfast together with Kenzie on one plate. At that time he had not fallen in love with Kenzie and had not been close as well, but during the meal together his hands were sweating and his heart kept pumping from nervousness.

Come to think of it that day was so sweet.

"What the hell am I thinking?" Azira laughed bitterly at his ridiculousness.

I don't know, he suddenly felt that maybe he would leave this place. It's probable.

...*****...

"So, that patient came back looking for you." Kenzie's assistant once again informed him that the female patient who had visited earlier this morning was now at his office doorstep.

Kenzie was still focused on staring at the documents ahead.

"Leave it. Don't you see what I'm doing?" Kenzie's voice was indifferent.

The assistant also knew what Kenzie was doing but the woman was very stubborn and remained standing outside waiting for Kenzie to come out.

"I've said it." The assistant said it was a headache.

Kenzie nodded.

"Then don't mind anymore."