The End of Hope
58 Eps. The Gentle Stepmother

Naya let out a loud sigh while leaning her body on the door,

"Ahk.." glanced at his co-worker helplessly.

"So you know, why don't you ask for her phone number, Nia?" Asked Naya lazily.

"Let's go dong." said Nia while grumbling into the house of Naya.

"Hey, who told you to come in? out there. What if my husband comes?"

It seemed like Nia would not give up before she got what she wanted. He looked at Naya with a face full of demand.

"Naya, I know that Mr. Ares often nitip his little boy with you, right? There's no way that you don't have his cell phone number."

"But I won't give you her phone number without her permission" replied Naya.

"Hey, you are this. Now just send her a message if you give me her phone number."

"So. I'm ashamed" said Naya, pulling Nia's hand to get out of there, she was already very tired. He wants to rest.

"Tomorrow, okay?" naya finally gave up.

"Promise, huh?" nia said as she passed and held out her little finger.

'Ih, just like a child'

Naya nodded and smiled. Just as he was about to close the door, he was again surprised by the appearance of Ares in front of him.

'Kok, can he be here?'

" Mr Ares?" naya said with her surprised face.

"Yes, i. Why, shock? I was there, didn't you see?" ares said as he pointed one way with his chin.

"Sorry, sir. I can't accept guests now, my husband isn't around" Naya said of Ares.

Deceiving is like a lie, but it is not a lie. This method can be used for people who must do it without sin. Because deceiving can make people fooled without a fraud. It is often used as a tactic in war.

This was once done by the Prophet when he (in a story) sat on a branch of a tree lying on the road, he was about to return home from a journey. As it passed by a man who was running in a hurry, it appeared that the person's face was very frightened and in need of help.

As a prophet, he knew that the man was avoiding something. Then, after the passing man was no longer visible, he moved to a sitting position on another tree branch.

Soon a group of horsemen came to a stop as soon as they saw the Prophet sitting on the road they were passing, they asked, saying,

"Did you see someone passing by on this street?" said one of them by mentioning the characteristics of the man who passed earlier.

The Prophet Muhammad Shallallahu Alaihi Wasallam answered,

"Since I've sat here, I haven't seen the man you call that."

Answers that can be deceiving, but not deception, the Prophet managed to trick them into making them believe.

"Yes, I know your husband isn't here because he's at his house, right?"

Deg. Naya's heart beat faster.

'What if he knows the truth about me? Oh Allah...'

"But this is my home, I'm free to ban anyone" Naya replied, again closing the door.

"Are you leaving because of me?" Ares finally immediately spoke to the core he wanted to ask. Make Naya stop her movement.

Naya looked at Ares for a glimpse, and she found that the man's eyes were in his eyes. Naya nervously replied,

"It has nothing to do with the father." turning his eyes away.

Hearing Naya's words, Ares frowned at her mark of disbelief. Indeed, Naya's problems began a long time ago, since her mother-in-law demanded the presence of a child from her, until a meeting with Ares yesterday that made the problem seem to be at its peak.

Until when he was at the top, he could not maintain the balance of his body which made him have to fall from his place, with a state full of injuries. No matter how he decides, he will still be hurt.

He survives will remain wounded, and when he decides to retreat he is wounded as well.

"Why father, is he here?" tanya Naya switched the conversation.

"I'm working, in that company across the street, you don't know?" the backflow asked.

Naya almost forgot about it. Because Ares' personal affairs are not important to him, let alone to memorize where he works.

"Oh.." Naya nodded.

"I just finished overtime, there was a bit of a problem earlier," Ares said casually.

'I didn't ask, go there'

"If you don't have any more business, I'm sorry to close the door, I need a break" Naya said, literally closing the door this time, without waiting for Ares' next word.

Naya inside her boarding house, still standing behind the door, makes sure Ares really goes from there.

While Ares outside is still amazed to try to digest what actually happened to Naya. He had expected a few things but he could not ask Naya at that moment. With his curiosity and guilt, he leaves Naya's boarding house, conjectures and questions raging in his head.

-

On the way to the bus terminal, Naya will visit her father in one of the suburban villages. He took a stopover to the department store, bought a parcel for his father and his new family that they had just built three years ago or exactly a year from the death of his mother.

At that time Naya saw Rudian and Yola were also shopping, this is a coincidence right? Naya was able to see the state of her ex-husband after a few days she left, according to Naya They look fine.

Naya smiled wryly, what she expected, shouldn't she be happy because her husband is also happy?

Naya is not trying to lie to herself, if there is still curiosity and longing in her heart, to Rudian. But he just wants to look okay so he doesn't complain about anything he's done to others, to the point that he's in his heart,

"There is a desire to meet, when silence shows a sharp fang piercing the soul, there is a wind that continues to fly, towards the direction of seeking answers is still longing It's mine? though all things were only pseudo-breathing, this sense of turmoil burned my confidence, so logic refused to realize that your love had faded for me."

The sense of loss will be very sad because something that is lost or that is detached, is something that is possessed in such a way, is something that is possessed in such a way, it even depends on him so much that when something is lost it seems as if part of him is lost.

Because most people are accustomed to something or very fond of something, until when what he has is lost, it will take a long time to get back up and back to normal without it.

Naya tried to shake off her bad thoughts by closing her eyes for a moment, then she continued shopping quickly and immediately left the place to the Bus terminal according to her original intentions.

Actually when her stepmother called, the woman told Naya to go with her husband Rudian. Because when riding a motorbike, the journey can be faster. Using a bus can take longer than a few hours. Naya is not forthright about her condition because she does not want to hurt her parents.

On the bus, Naya checks the remaining amount of her savings through her phone. He had plenty of time during the trip to calculate how much money he would spend to go to the coastal areas of the city and how much money he could use to survive.

Because he only needs living expenses to be able to pay for shelter and food. He needed nothing more after that, another wish became meaningless to him while living alone.

Even all the belongings he had since he started work, he just left it at his house with Rudian. There was a sense of unwillingness indeed but he did not know whether to bring it or not, because in this small room carrying these items is very unlikely.

Who is it, who is willing to leave behind household items and also eating utensils, the price of a set can reach hundreds of thousands of it? Moreover, it is a famous brand in this country, it seems that all the other housewives also know. Even though he got it in installments while still working and paying from his salary, still the goods are his and not Yola's

Naya woke up from her sleep after almost reaching her destination. Kenek bus warns that he is close to his father's hometown.

Naya gets off the bus quickly to a modest house, where she used to live with her mother, father and siblings. The house is still the same as the last time he visited a few months ago.

Many memories that occurred in the house, especially with his mother, suddenly he remembered his dream a few weeks ago in the dream he clearly remembered the words of his mother, he said,

"You're going to have a marriage until death that separates the two of you"

But what she faced this time, even she had to be a widow. His tears had dripped, but he hurriedly removed it because the door of the house suddenly opened.

A gentle-faced woman looked at him with a smile then said,

"Naya, are you finally home, son?" the woman looked behind Naya, making sure no one else was with her. Naya just smiled.

" You alone?" nuria asked as if she was not sure that Naya was not with her husband. Naya nodded.

"Where's Rudian?" said again.

" It's home, aunt. Again busy," answered Naya as she kissed her stepmother's hand and entered the house.

"Tante, how are you?"

"Thank God, be healthy all but your father" Nuria replied.

Naya could never call Nuria, her stepmother. Nuria was a gentle woman and stepmother. For Naya the figure of a mother can never be replaced as well as any woman of choice who became his father's wife after his birth mother died.

The figure of a mother, however she may be, will never be replaced in the eyes of a child.

"Where, dad?" naya asked as she walked into the area of the house and checked the contents, going to the kitchen to store the fruits of her hand.

"May...!" there was a raucous voice coming from one of the rooms, it was his father's voice.

"Dad, why is it sick? Therefore, take care of yourself dong, father.." said Naya nagging. He approached his father Budiman while kissing his hand and smiling.

"You're your father sick even diomelin," said Budiman pouting.

Naya patted her father's hand, giving the man the spirit to heal quickly. He prayed his father with the prayers he used to recite when he looked at the sick, giving positive and pleasant words to his father.

It's just that Budiman saw something different so he asked curiously,

"Why do you look thin, do you not eat, pale again, your eyes are also swollen do you often cry?" said Budiman while sitting from his sleep.

Naya took a deep breath and then looked at her father with a hard-to-understand look, then she said with a smile, saying,

" My father is fine, " said Naya.

Naya is still thinking whether or not she will be honest with her father about her circumstances. He was worried that if he told the truth while his father was still in a state of pain, then his father would not be cured immediately or it would aggravate his pain.

"But what I see you're not good are you lying to me? asked Budiman with a serious look at his son.

" Already, already, let's eat first. I happened to cook a sweet sour fish" Nuria said as she patted Naya on the shoulder.

Naya led Budiman's hand so that he could quickly make his way to the dining table.

"It is not necessary to be led I am fine still strong if to walk to the dining table, " said Budiman.

" Yes, yes, I believe Dad is still strong. That's why it heals quickly. Dad's not working? what if my salary is cut? poor Auntie, " said Naya while sitting in one of the chairs to eat together.

" Your father, rarely sick, rarely leave work, yesterday it was overtime for days until he forgot to eat, finally became sick like this," nur Ya said while taking food on Budiman's plate.

" Daddy's often overtime, Auntie? Don't force yourself if you are tired, you're not as young as you used to be" he said, scooping his rice.

Age and strength are usually closely related to health. As time goes by, humans will become weak on their own. As strong as he maintains the vitality of his health will not be able to resist the circumcision that has become his nature.

" I'm fine, I'm sick of this let you come here, look at your father. If I'm not sick you must be hard you want to come here, right, " said Budiman while bribing food into his mouth.

Distance, time and busyness that make the reason for the rare meeting between parents and children. A reason and also a fact that makes Family Bond relationships become tenuous because of it.

But some people will refuse, if it is said that their love for their parents, has diminished because they rarely come.

But in reality, the love of a child will not be able to sow the magnitude of the love of parents to him. Parents will miss their children and usually for busy reasons even a child does not have time to miss their parents.

Except for the reason of devotion and the depth of religious knowledge of a child that makes it difficult for him to work as much as possible, busy and at least free time, he will still try to visit his parents regularly.

"I'm sorry, dad. Rarely look at home" Naya said as she finished her meal.

"Stay a long time, have to stay one house with until your father is healed" Nuria said.

Naya thought for a moment, she was reluctant to linger or stay at her father's house because there was Hasan, Nuria's son from her first marriage. Hasan was a man who in fact was not his muhrim so he never lived long in his father's house. It was too awkward for him to have to live in one of the teenage children's homes even though he was still in school but still he was someone else for him.

-

Naya has been living in her father's house for two days and Budiman looks better. They were chatting on the porch of his house when the phone rang from Naya's cell phone.

Naya immediately took and received the call which turned out to be from Nha's mother and said that she had to get back to work quickly, her energy was needed there.

After Naya finished calling, her father asked, saying,

" Why don't you call Rudian, not even your husband called you. Do you have a problem or are you fighting?"

With a heavy heart, Naya recounted all the events she had experienced. After all, his father was his master's man who still had to know what really happened. But, no matter how well Naya hid this matter sooner or later if Allah willed her father would also know Someday.

" Well, what's next.Do you intend to stay here or do you want to go somewhere else, to your mother's village for example?"