The Sweetest Harsh
Episode 47 - Reply

Helmia rested her back on the headboard of her spacious bed. One hand held his temple, trying to ease the endless throbbing dizziness, stabbing him with thousands of blows of pain still imbued with his heart that felt uncomfortable. Perfect fit for this late night with such circumstances to fall asleep. Helmia could not do it. Both of his eyeballs asked to immediately clench, but, everything that was still lodged in his wishful thinking became a magnet for his eyelids to stay open.

Helmia is no longer caffeine. Even so, for some reason he could bear to wake up on long nights. His body is prone to headaches that make him avoid as far as possible bitter drinks that used to be his friend almost 18 years.

Under these circumstances, it would be nice for the woman to take a small sip of the fragrant aroma of coffee that became opium for her. For a moment his gaze was directed forward, where Jonah was still busy with papers strewn across his desk. There was little time for the man to take his eyes off. Keep going and keep going he buried almost every night to work hard to finish this and that business. Helmia seemed to fold her lips. Oh, how long has she not paid proper attention to her husband who is now aging with wrinkled skin and hair that begins to be overgrown by white. The physicality of the man has changed. However, not with her stamina which is still the same as when she was young. Jonah who was always disciplined and obedient at that time was like there was no fatigue working.

Slowly Helmia sat her body on the edge of the mat and stuck her feet on the floor. He must calm down. The unpleasant incident earlier in the night when he met with Gani and Fera really could not make him calm and just keep thinking about Alfa. He saw the wall clock clanking quite loudly in the silence that surrounded him and her husband. At 10:20 p.m.

Jonah, who saw Helmia standing from a glance, looked at her completely and asked, "Where to go?"

The woman looked at her husband for a moment. "I have to do something so that the annoying thoughts about your son will soon be gone and I will soon be able to sleep" he replied with a denouncing look. "Don't forget that I'm going to carry out my plan soon. You also have to prepare," he concluded with a puzzle, then walked towards the door of the room and closed it again.

Jonah sighed. The screen of his laptop closed instantly and appeared in his eyes a desk calendar full of irregular red and black ink streaks that suddenly became the center of his attention.

Tomorrow is the weekend? Very quickly time changes until without feeling he has been reunited with the end of the day. Slowly follow the base of his nose with one hand. Feel his brain that has been filled with various burdens of the mind.

He exhaled a long breath to give a little pause to his hard-working body. Remembering Helmia who had said of Alpha, Jonah's memory goes back, remembering the last time he met the boy. His memory was rolling rapidly, retreating to some time ago that was recorded in his brain. However, it escaped the old face again when at the end of it he could no longer remember the time.

His busyness has driven him almost mad because he continues to be immersed in his never-ending work. He is like a robot who continues to be driven to do business activities and put aside his private affairs that are secretly abandoned.

Jonah looked at the calendar with an eagle's gaze. He will keep his promise to himself this time in the last few days. Maybe tomorrow is the right time. For a long time he did not meet his only child.

Yep. Tomorrow he will visit Alfa in his spare time.

******

Helmia sat herself down on the clearie bar stool located in front of a small bar table in the kitchen set area of the kitchen room in her home. In front of him was a cup of bitter coffee that still reflected hot smoke from the top of the black color. Forcibly, he finally repeated his youthful moments where he was both with porcelain cups filled with caffeinated beverages. His mind was heavy and his chest was full of discomfort, and the only way he could do was to sit still while enjoying the hot sips of bitter taste that was very thick felt in his throat, ignoring all the side effects that would be felt later. To be sure, after disposing of the tired spoiled in his brain, he could immediately fall asleep comfortably.

Helmia glanced at the cell phone beside her arm. With a slow movement, he pulled the phone until now he had held it. The woman opened her screen and searched for the name that had been on her mind. He pressed the green button as a call requestor, then attached the phone to his left ear while waiting for an answer. The woman had jumped in shock when without her guess, the person she contacted immediately raised the call on the first ring on this late night.

"Auntie? Auntie hasn't slept? What's up?" Ask questions at the beginning of the conversation. However, his tone of voice was more towards worry.

"Not Karina. You alone? What are you doing at this late hour answering my phone?" Ask with a frown.

Helmia muttered to hear the young woman across the phone. "I'm interrupting?" Regretfully. Feeling guilty about having contacted you at the wrong time.

"Of course not. I'm glad Auntie called me. I feel less alone tonight" he said with a smile that can only be seen by himself now sitting at the Toalet table.

Helmia is too. He felt a little relieved by the slanted smile that appeared on his face. "You've considered carefully, not my advice from a while ago?" He asked by directly focusing on the core of the conversation that had been neatly arranged in his brain.

Karina raised an eyebrow in order to hear Helmia who directly pointed at her with that annoying question. Honestly, he was very happy. Got an amazing offer from a big lady like Helmia to marry her only son. However, even though her life had taken her sanity for the heartache she had once felt, it did not mean that it made her go crazy and shameless by arbitrarily seizing people's husbands.

Alfa is married and Helmia has a daughter-in-law now. Is Helmia pretending to forget, despite all the strange problems that are plaguing her child's domestic relationship?

Slowly, Karina answered hesitantly. "I'm so happy Auntie, if only I could have someone I could rely on to share my heart with. But-"

"I can't wait anymore" she cut him off quickly. "This question isn't as simple as you think Karina is" he said.

"Aunt-aibi"

"Don't you know that only Alfa is naive with all her folly to refuse to be the successor to the family company? I can't ... I can't be like this continuously. You have to help Karina! Where is your gratitude as someone I have helped to pursue a career so far? Where?!" Her screams made Karina aghast. The jolt managed to inject a tremendous dilemma in his heart.

Should he return the favor this way? Being a fox woman who suddenly came as an antagonist for the life of Tiara and Alfa who did not come in contact with her at all?

Karina knew that Helmia was a good woman. The proof, he wanted to be with open arms to help him to raise the popularity of his career with the power he has, even though Helmia knows that she is no one, only a talented girl mediocre with the capital of perseverance. However, it has become the character of the old woman to be selective at will to the end, Karina must be trapped in this very unpleasant debt-gratitude drama.

Karina did not think. What is the relationship between Helmia and Berta who became colleagues in the business world of modeling property that is now becoming besan?

He saw his cell phone screen. The phone connection is still connected until it points to the number 15 minutes 34 seconds. Just as Karina was about to say, Helmia had first cut off the conversation, making Karina's words swallowed back into her chest that was beating violently. Cocktail it with increasing tightness.

Karina throws her phone violently onto the table. His tired expression now turned into a hard face flushed with anger.

Should he return the favor in such a vile manner?