The True Love
for the first time

Towards evening, Aunt Nis asked me to walk around the tenement of twenty rooms. Residents of tenement houses consisting mostly of factory workers, seem busy with their respective activities.

Some women seem to cook on the front porch of the room they conjured into a tiny kitchen. Little children fuss over playing in the courtyard while others scream in tears as they are forced to bathe in one of the bathrooms shared by the rest of the residents.

Some rooms seem deserted, maybe the occupants came home late because of overtime work.

Suddenly my eyes fell on the face of the face I once knew. Pure! The glimpses of the past appeared so smoothly and orderly in my head. I have known Pure since childhood, even we grew up in a gap of time almost simultaneously. Maybe I'm too melancholy to describe our past circumstances. We grew up in an orphanage until one day a woman claiming to be Pure's mother came. Purely left with the woman and disappeared without news. Shortly after Murni's departure, a family raised me as a foster child and I began new days that I felt were very happy.

The warm loving days of a family longing for the presence of a child.

Pure, curly-haired little girl who is always cheerful even when the night before her will hide her longing cry to the mother who gave birth to her. Despite having parted twenty years past, I was still able to recognize carefully that the posture belonged to Pure. However, since when did he live in this tenement house? Where was the mother who picked him up? Or.. do they both live here? Unable to hold back the questions that were piling up on her head, I hurriedly asked Aunt Nis for permission to meet Pure in her room.

"Assalamu'alaikum's chat... Mur, do you still remember me?" my reprimand was excited while shaking his body.

"Mur, I'm Anik, your friend at the orphanage remember, right?"

Purely did not answer my greetings and looked at me from head to toe. Her eyes looked foreign as if she was stripping my Muslim clothes. Maybe he still doubts that I'm a friend who was with him in his childhood.

"Mur, when you forgot, anyway?" I started to get anxious about his senile-like attitude. I shook his arm again.

"Then, my bed is next to yours and we have a similar vang favorite, which is reading a fairy tale book. We once scrambled over a fairy tale book until my head hit a wall and... "

"And, I'm the one being blamed by the orphanage attendant," he cut suddenly. "You don't have to introduce yourself to me anymore, Nik. I still know you well. We are both outcasts. But the difference is, you're always luckier than me" he continued sharply.

His cold words and jumping far from my expectations when reprimanding him earlier, made me feel bad.

"How are you doing now, Mur? Have you lived here long? With mom?" I was struggling, trying to brush off all the bad prejudices that suddenly settled in part of my brain.

Pure looked back at me indifferently then quickly shrugged her shoulders.

"As you can see. I'm alive and well. O yes, reportedly now you have become a fighter, huh? Great you! Both from the orphanage, but your jump is so far. You've always been luckier than me, Nik."

"don't say that, Mur. We're just doing our part..."

"And your role is always better than mine, isn't it?" cynical cut.

"Mur, you should be grateful that I. hirnya you found your mother's love. As for me, until now I never even knew who the woman who had made me on this earth"

Pure shook his head and kicked the porch divider in front of the room violently. Despite trying to calm down, I was also surprised by his rude attitude.

"mother and her love for me? I'm sorry I prayed to be reunited with my mother, Nik Believe me, you're still luckier than I am. Oh, forget it, forget everything. I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," she said before then.. The Brakl Door in front of me was violently closed and Pure disappeared behind it.

I let out a breath. Something suddenly stuck in my airway. Suffocate. Actually, I was eager to hug her when I greeted her for the first time. I also want to talk about a lot of things. For so long we were separated by a message of fate that be.da. A glimpse of my childhood at the orphanage tempted me to share a story with him. But alas, my so biting miss was drowned by Pure's cold attitude towards me.

"Anik, you don't pray maghrib first?" aunt Nis' voice surprised me. Buru\-hustle I got up from the front of Pure's room and ran a small approach to Aunt Nis. My feelings were still muddled when Aunt Nis asked me.

" How's Nik? You already know some of the residents of this tenement house, right? Well, your job later is to collect their rent and control it once a week. It's easy, right?"

I only nodded small though I did not know for sure the meaning of my own nod.

"God willing, Auntie.

"Tante always believed in you..."

I tried to smile at Auntie Nis' praise. The Maghreb was empty when we prayed in a small mosque some distance from the tenement.

At night, I lay with a sad feeling. I tried to close my eyes over and over again, but it didn't work. The shadow of the past with Pure in the orphanage came back to cross my mind. Every orphanage resident I thought always had the same yearning. The desire to kiss with parents who have been the intermediary was born in this world. So too with me and Murni. After praying, we always pray together so that we will be reunited with our parents. And, I still remembered the small twinkle in Pure's eyes when a woman claiming to be his mother picked up. Of course after going through a series of tests to prove that the woman was indeed a Pure Mother. And my longing for the family warmth was also slightly healed when a family picked me up shortly after Pure left.

In addition to sending me to D1, my foster parents also taught me to do business. Starting from trading fabrics, ceramics, bags, and shoes. Due to my diligence and tenacity in learning business, Aunt Nis, the younger sister of my foster parents, believed I held one of the minimarkets. Even now, I was trusted to keep an eye on one of his tenement houses. And, in that tenement house, I met my little friend who had become a stranger in my eyes.

Ah, Pure... Pure... What the hell has happened to you? Why have you changed now? Shouldn't you be happy to have met your real mother? Various questions disturbed my mind. Makes me more agitated on the bed. The wall clock ticked twelve times and I still struggled to close my eyes by reciting remembrance.

Today, I began my job of overseeing tenement houses by charging her monthly rent. Aunt Nis gave me some notes about payments as well as information about tenants who were a bit difficult when billed. And Pure is on the list of people who are difficult to collect. Maybe this will make it a little difficult for me to remember our first less pleasant meeting.

Suddenly my heart was pounding when I knocked on the door of his room.

"Assalamu'alaikum..," my greetings between beats However, there is no say. "Assalamu'alaikum..," I repeated my greeting. The lights in his room were on, but it was quiet. Where the hell is he? Haven't you gone home from work yet?

"Pure Nyari, Ma'am?" someone's head suddenly poked out from the next room and slightly startled me.

"Yes Sir. Where to, huh?"

"Well, Murni ndak of course, Mbak.i Sometimes noon has come home, sometimes night, or even morning," replied the father with a thick Javanese accent. "His name is also boss..," he continued to jolt me.

"Boss? Where do you work, sir?" manya curious.

The man scratched his head and laughed a little.

"Yes, working as a boss. His company is everywhere" the father's laughter is breaking now.

"I mean Father?"

"He became the boss of beggars, Ma'am. It's been an open secret. Everyone knows it too. Purely gathering tramps to begging, "it made me even more jerked as if stung by a scorpion. "Come in the morning if you want to call him. Usually, he leaves by noon."

I just nodded at the father's explanation. After greeting, I hurriedly left. My mind is getting messed up. On the bus that brought me home, the words of the father came back. Pure beggar boss? Tramp drivers on the street? Ah.., I want the father to lie with his words. May it not be the Pure I know, comfort my heart then.

At the big crossroads of red lights, I went down. I want to cut the road by taking a metromini to get home quickly. Maybe I better talk about my problem with Auntie Nis. I'm sure Auntie Nis has a way out.

I was just about to wave my hand to stop a metromini when my eyes caught the figure of Pure across the street tugging at the hand of an old mother. Out of shock and curiosity, I slowly stepped closer to Pure's place while taking cover behind the passerby.

"Where is the money today? Let's give!" hardiknya while searching the entire clothes of the old woman.

"Today I have only seven thousand and I gave them to you, Myrrh" answered the woman.

"lik! You were a liar once! A fraud! A useless woman!" litching Pure while continuing to tug at the old woman's clothes until almost naked.

When the woman looked up, I could exactly stare at her face clearly even though it was a little blocked by the passerby. Suddenly my heart was racing. Paras that woman as I once recognized. Isn't he.. Ah, I must have seen it wrong. I rubbed my eyes many times. But, a shadow appeared loudly. Wasn't that woman the one who picked up Pure all those years ago? The woman who claims to be her mother? But.., ah!

I was still busy with my thoughts when the arrival of a truck came to Pure. As fast as Pure lightning dragged the woman into the truck which then sped up. I'm riveted. My chest was pounding to the point of creating a gig that shook my body. When a metromini flashed in front of me, alu limply waved and jumped into it.

The next day, with almost the same shock I returned to the tenement to charge Murni. Last night, after a hard thought, I canceled my intention to tell Murni about Aunt Nis. Anyway, I should know for sure before I tell Auntie Nis.

"You gonna charge me, boss?" pure Syndicate was cynical when I approached him.

"I'm just doing my job, Mur..."

"Officed as a master? Ha.. ha. ha. ha. cut it while laughing out loud. Suddenly my blood rippled. Little by little anger flowed through my joints.

If only I could take some distance from him, maybe it would be better. However, it feels impossible because it is my duty to meet each head of the residents of this tenement and collect the rent. It seems, we are in a place that is bounded by a ravine and cannot be found. In fact, given our childhood growing up together in an orphanage, it felt like we didn't want this to happen.

"You must have heard of me and the other residents, right? That's me now, Nik. The boss of the bums. Ha. ha. ha..," her voice was accompanied by a discordant laughter

I looked at the face in front of me with a painful chest.

"Stop dreaming to feel the love of your biological mother, Nik. Maybe we were born of stone or even of animals?"

"Mur.., you.." I began to be unable to bear his increasingly harsh words. I don't know what to say to my past friend.

"If I were as lucky as you, maybe I wouldn't be like this" he said, then a little soft. Stareawed. "But the mother I had always hoped for her arrival and her love was destroying me. I was made a street beggar by her and when I grew up I was made me. I was a whore!" Purely stopped his words. His eyes seemed to light up due to the angry outburst. I still heard it with my heart almost dislodged and it was as if a powerful bomb had exploded over my head.

"Lantas.., if I now make that woman a beggar too, am I overreacting? Isn't that even?"

The deg! My heart stopped beating. The image of Pure-drawn woman last night flashed swiftly across my head. Is this the answer? O Allah, strengthen the servant...

Beyond my expectations, Pure suddenly smiled and handed me an envelope. Hold my hand tightly.

"Anik, maybe the rent I gave you is not halal money. However, at least I have fulfilled my obligation to pay the rent. Look at me like you're looking at me right now Don't look at me like little Pure in an orphanage just yet...."

We looked at each other for a long time. I can't swallow, let alone speak. My hands felt heavy when I received the envelope from Pure's hands. For a long time we were silent and preoccupied with our thoughts.

"Go home, Nik. My heart hurts to see you. I remembered a lot of things I wanted to forget, " said Pure later. He sounded weak and wailed. His eyes look hollow.

I reached out to her body and I buried her in my arms. I know, Pure is still my old best friend. Only circumstances have changed it. Drizzle down slowly as I say goodbye to Pure. I held the envelope tightly before I put it in the bag. Shut up I sobbed.