Only I Love
Chapter 9

"How, Son? Tired?" Ala's mother-in-law appeared to turn her head to look at her daughter-in-law's condition.

"Oh, no ma'am. It's common for Ala to do it herself."

"Good job!" said someone who sat on the driver's seat but seemed not interested in the conversation of the mother with his wife.

"Qiaq? Why did you let your wife lift this heavy thing by herself? Should you help?" said the mother who looks a little upset over the behavior of the son.

"Ekhem ...." Syauqi only cleared his throat and leaned against the seat, both hands that had crossed behind his head.

Ala's mother-in-law shook her head in annoyance. He turned to Ala who was staring at the nanar through the trunk of the car behind. The hijab-wearing woman clasped tightly onto Ala's sting, looking guilty.

"He was like that, son. If you believe in this marriage, you must be patient? The rock is hard. But, the soft water, slowly can still make it hollow."

Ala nodded softly at the advice of the in-laws. Then, they both closed the trunk door and entered the vehicle.

Her mother-in-law had already told Ala to sit on the bench next to Uqi who was driving. But Ala refused. He chose to sit in the back, sitting with his mother-in-law.

Ala looked out the window waving her hands to loved ones. "Ala will be diligent to play here really," he said again.

The vehicle left the house he had been in since birth. There was sadness and loss of course her heart. Her mother-in-law caught it even though Ala didn't say it at all.

"Always don't be sad. I feel so guilty as if forcing you to come with us." Her mother-in-law rubbed Ala's arms, gently.

Ala still doesn't talk much. He smiled wryly nodding his head. She is self-aware that she is now the wife of a man who is completely unknown in her disposition.

Ten minutes away, they entered a pretty nice residential area. Each house has the same shape, only some parts there are that add or change the shape of their homes.

Uqi turned on one house that resembled each other. The house there consists of two floors. And, when it arrived, Uqi descended just like that without saying anything towards the door.

Meanwhile, the mother shook her head for a moment. He rubbed Ala's arm gently again.

"From today, this house is the home of both of you."

Ala looked at her mother-in-law with a big question mark. "Our two houses? Mom and Dad don't live with us?"

The mother-in-law smiled faintly shaking her head. "Mom lives at home with Dad too. Syauqi still has a younger brother who is in college. And, there's no way we're interrupting the life of this beautiful newlywed."

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At night, they were completely left behind. Ala was busy moving the contents of her suitcase into the closet. Meanwhile, the husband was sitting on a second-floor balcony, talking to someone on his cell phone.

Ala has finished moving her luggage. He moved himself towards the kitchen to clean up the leftovers that were only ordered through an online application. Ala only eats alone with her in-laws, her husband eats alone on the second floor.

After the dining table and kitchen were clean, she wanted to have a good talk with her husband. Ala stepped up the stairs one by one. Increasingly, there was a warm voice of a man talking to the interlocutor who was in his phone.

"Will you move out? I've recommended your name as a princess-only cabin instructor. Although restricted, at least we are still one location. We can still meet often when there is a meeting between the teachers of the cottage."

"...."

Ala could not hear her husband's voice anymore. He chose to wait for the husband and the person in his phone chat to end.

"You don't worry. Once we're close, I'll propose to you. You don't mind being my second wife, do you?"

Ala was stunned, this time she held her chest leaning against the wall. All the questions of his cold attitude towards her had been answered all along.

"....."

"Although you will be the second wife, I make sure that you are the only one in my heart. Every night I would say your name in my prayer. May God unite our love in the formal bond of menunu jannah."

Unknowingly, the clear grains, falling one by one down the reddish white cheeks of the beautiful Muslim girl.

"Him? No way! I'm not gonna love him. He's just a troublemaker that comes between us. And, if she objected to our marriage, she would definitely ask me to divorce her. After that, there's only the two of us."

Ala sat down to hear her husband's words. His body was stiff, he seemed to have forgotten the plan to be carried out, covering his face in both palms.

"You must not feel guilty, Eazizaa (my dear in Arabic). My heart has locked your name, no more loopholes to a new name. May God bless us to be together."

Ala could no longer hear the contents of the husband's soft chat with other women he did not know. Ala decided to go down and into the room locked herself.