The Tears of Shafira
Chapter 9

“What?” Shafira was surprised to hear the proposal submitted by Wulan. To him it makes no sense. He knew that the clothes worn by the woman were not arbitrary, whereas now he did not earn any income. How could he replace it.

“Not just plain tea water, it's easy to clean!” Shafira tried to explain.

“Do you know what clothes Aunt Lisa is wearing? Did you underestimate him, huh?” snapped Wulan, pretentious power, because he felt that he was the hostess there.

“Enough, Wulan! Let me teach him a lesson!” erick said while pulling Shafira's hand forcefully and quite rudely.

Erick pulls Shafira's hand through the kitchen, towards the open space at the back of his house.

“Do you deliberately commit carelessness to seek attention, huh?” snapped Erick as soon as it got there.

He grabbed his wife's hair firmly to the woman's head, looking back. Shafira grimaced with the pain and heat in her scalp.

“No! It wasn't me who did it but your second wife was the culprit!” shafira said she ventured to talk, because now there was only herself and her husband in that place.

“What? So now you want to slander Wulan again? It's obviously wrong still not knowing yourself!”

“Erick! I'm right .. I didn't do it! But it was your second wife who nudged my hand!”

“He lied!” suddenly a voice interrupts Shafira's words until Erick turns to her. Wulan was already standing with a waistline, at the back room door.

“You lied!” shafira exclaimed, with difficulty he turned to Wulan, because of the position of his head which was being held by Erik.

“Oh so you now dare to slander me? What is the proof?” yelled Wulan with a sigh, but he looked away hiding his dust face.

“Already, enough! I don't want to argue anymore about this, for you Shafira ... as the punishment, you can't eat anything else today! Do you understand? Wulan, let's go with mom and my aunt again!” erick said as he removed his grip from Shafira's hair until a few strands fell out in his hand.  

“You are going too far Erick! Do you have no heart? How could you forbid eating your own wife, I'm innocent!” shafira said she was still trying to defend herself.

Plaque!

It was not forgiveness and affection that Shafira got, but a slap for the third time on her cheek.

After that, Erick held Wulan's hand and returned to the living room.  

Wulan threw a cynical smile towards Shafira showing her victory.

Shortly after chatting and offering prayers, Lisa-Mirani's brother came home, to return to the country where he lived all this time.

Erick, Wulan went to deliver his aunt to the airport. Mirna remained there, for a while she decided to stay at her son's house. She refused to go home, because she was still upset with her husband Resno.

“Heh! Shafira, why are you there?” Mirna asked her daughter-in-law who was sitting quietly alone in the backyard, “Come! Here's Mama's pijitin! Fast!”

Shafira looked up as she wiped her tears, she saw her mother-in-law standing around her waist and glaring at her.

“Come quickly! Would you like to add more, huh?” mirna asked as she kicked Shafira's calf with the pointed end of her shoe.

“Good, Ma!” sahut Shafira standing up suddenly he grimaced and looked at his feet that turned bloody. But again, he ignored the pain.

“Have the guests gone home?” Shafira asked as they passed by the empty living room.

Shafira walks behind her mother-in-law, heading to the guest room, where Mirna will rest. He obeyed Mirna's orders to massage her body,  

“This you, just embarrassing! Do not repeat such actions again, you must learn how to glorify guests! That's my guest or Erick's guest! They're all classy people, understand?”

“Iya, Ma!”

“Are you pregnant?” suddenly Mirna asked beyond Shafira's expectations. He did not expect the mother-in-law to ask about her pregnancy, because he thought the family did not expect offspring from him.

“Are you barren? Damn woman! Regret I obey your mother to marry my son, if you are barren!”

“Later, I'll check first, Ma!”

“Review if you can't prove to give offspring!”

“Ma, does not the husband and wife have children or not it is also God's destiny?” Shafira does not feel that she can get pregnant, because she never enjoys her relationship with her husband. Erick was always rude and thought his body was an impingement.

“In order to know what you are about destiny?” mirna ketus.

Then, he said inwardly, no one can hear but himself, “If you can give birth and have children, it becomes proof that my son Erick loves you as a wife, be evidence before the law, and in the presence of the spirits of your father and mother, we are already responsible to you according to the agreement first!”

Mirna still kept asking for Shafira's massage, and she didn't stop for more than an hour. Eventually, her mother-in-law fell asleep.

That chance he used to go to the hospital, because the wound on his leg did not stop bleeding. Moreover, he felt his body troubled, a little dizzy and not feeling well. He went there himself.

“Bu Shafira, you should do the test because I suspect that this Mom is pregnant!” said the doctor who examined Safira's body.

He deliberately went to the general poly section only, because he only intended to treat the injuries on his body only. Coincidentally the reliever is painful and, the skin ointment to remove the scar is exhausted.

“But, what wound on my leg does not matter, Doc?”

“Actually it will be a problem if not treated immediately, if it is a little late, then this wound can be an infection! Mom, why is it like this? Looks like it's an old wound that hasn't healed yet but has been exposed to a new wound again?”

“Iya, right, Doc! I accidentally fell earlier!”

The doctor smiled in response, writing down a few prescriptions.  

Then, Shafira said goodbye after receiving it. He will immediately redeem the prescription at the pharmacy. He walked on with a shunt while tightening the thick jacket he was wearing. He was wearing winter clothes to cover his wounds. He also wore long pants, to cover the wound that had just been bandaged by the nurse, during the examination.

“Shafira?” call someone behind Shafira when the woman just came out of the pharmacy. He looked towards the source of the voice.

“Ardan?” he said after overcoming his surprise. He didn't expect to meet the man there.

“Why are you here? You sick?” Ardan asked attentively while touching Shafira's forehead with the back of his hand. It feels warm there. Moreover, looking at Shafira's two cheeks that looked reddish until she thought the woman was really in a worrying state.

Suddenly Ardan reflexively hugged her, his attitude was driven by the affection that appeared so deep in his heart.

Shafira immediately let go of the hug filled with fear, she was worried if anyone else or her own husband saw her being hugged by another man in a public place. Although the warmth he felt from Ardan's embrace, but with a heavy heart he had to reject it because he had to maintain his pride.

“Ardan release me!”

“Why? We're friends and we just hugged. Is that wrong?” ardan said looking for justification, letting go of his embrace.

“Ardan, our friendship is not wrong, but the wrong thing is that you hug me haphazardly, this is a public place! Aren't you ashamed?”

For a time, that was the only reason Shafira could reveal to Ardan. She could not have said the truth if she had been treated harshly by her husband.

“Shafira, I want you to be honest, what are you sick with? I care about you, and I don't mean anything! Helping a fellow friend, is it forbidden?”

“Not banned, but—“

“But what, Shafira?”

“Ardan, I know you care, but I don't know, how to return the favor .. My parents are no more! I have nothing left!”

“Then don't think of kindness as something to be repaid! Can't it?”