Tiba Khitbah
Suddenly Engaged

Instantly he turned to the wall clock, time had shown at 16:00 Wib, the time when his duty as a state servant was over.

However, for some reason today it feels like Zahra's heart is not calm, as if something is stuck, so it feels too heavy to step foot back home. But, inevitably disliked, he still had to go home because he did not want to make his parents worry.

With his beloved matic motorbike, Zahra returned home with a million grievances in her heart.

'Is there an event today?' zahra said in his heart.

Instantly this heart was shocked when he reached the front of the house, he saw that there were already many vehicles lined up, looks also familiar and people he knew gathered while joking with laughter.

"Zahra, are you home, son?"

Umm Fatimah approached Zahra who was parking her motorbike with a smile as soft as it was clearly reflected on the beautiful face of the middle-aged woman.

"Ummi, is there a special event today?" zahra asked with a confused face while looking around as if there was a big celebration in her house.

Umm Fatimah just smiled, she took the hand of her favorite daughter to walk to the room with a million happy feelings that she brought with her.

Zahra was more astonished and felt uneasy as people smiled kindly at her, as if she was a queen who was greatly adored today.

"Son, get ready, today the Ustadz Fahri family will come to propose to you officially, you two will be engaged."

"Wagged, Ummi? With that guy a week ago coming to our house?"

Zahra was shocked with her whole body shaking, Zahra tried to make sure that the man who would become her fiance was the man who had come to her house at that time.

"Yes, honey, Ustadz Fahri is a good and proper man to be your husband."

"Darling, after that your future fiance's family and his family will come, so be prepared!"

Umm Fatimah left Zahra with a beautiful smile that looked charming, the middle-aged woman was indeed expecting her eldest daughter to get married soon, so a day like this was the day she had been waiting for for a long time, even so eager to wait for the happy day, he forgot that the child did not want to marry the man he did not love.

Zahra realized, her age was very mature for the household, even her age friends had held their children. In addition, Zahra has always been a material for gossip and trending topics in his environment. They said offensive words and Zahra's feelings, ranging from insults, insinuations and even something that made Zahra's mentality crumble. Free just beautiful and successful but not married, free to have many girlfriends but only used as a game even to the death of marriage, even worse they say that Zahra is a woman who is very choosy in finding a partner. Yes, Zahra admitted that he chose the best man who not only became his priest in the world, but also became his priest in heaven. It feels very natural that a woman expects a good man to be her husband because God has also promised that a good woman was created for a good man and vice versa, good men are also created for good women, because the soul mate is a mirror of self and soul mate has been set because every person created by God was created in pairs.

Zahra's long, steep and winding journey of love has passed, but whatever the power, he is just a human being who can only try and pray, but God's final decision is decisive and God has not set the best time for Zahra to meet her mate. Not that no man came to propose to Zahra, there were even 6-10 people a year who volunteered to make Zahra his soul mate, but still Zahra's heart had not opened and trembled to accept it. Once Zahra forced himself to accept a proposal from a man he did not like because he wanted to run away from the question of when to get married, but whose name is not a mate, there is still a God's way to separate.

'Zahra, aren't men with a high religious understanding like Ustadz Fahri you've been praying for?'

The words churned in Zahra's heart, making the pretty girl's head feel so dizzy like it wanted to break. Yes, the little girl's heart goes against her way of thinking.

I wanted Zahra to hit this head against the wall so that she would have amnesia and not feel any more pain, she wanted to scream and curse very loudly, but she was not a woman who had no manners, she said, to humiliate himself and his family in public.

Ah, whatever the reason is still Zahra can not accept this matchmaking. Yes, this time his parents really have passed, how could he determine the day of the meeting without asking for his opinion.

Zahra's heart grew sicker and more broken until she wanted to die. The life that Zahra had was no longer his, even his opinions and wishes were no longer heard by his parents.

Zahra went into her room, slammed the door of the room, then threw her body on the bed in a state of raging heart and was very broken.

Zahra felt powerless, powerless to endure this pain alone, until this grief she poured out through the tears streaming down her round cheeks.

Zahra thought of various ways that this settlement could be canceled, but Zahra was in a dead end, where the abyss came to an end. If Zahra steps forward, then his family will be ashamed of face, if he chooses to accept the proposal, then he himself will be faced with a marriage that he did not want for the rest of his life.

Zahra is not an ungodly child who will break the hearts and feelings of his parents, because he thinks of his own feelings, because his paradise in the world is both his parents, because he is his mother, the blessing of God is on the blessing of both parents and the wrath of God is on the wrath of both parents. But however Zahra thought, still he could not perform the longest worship with a man he did not like. How could Zahra serve her husband in the future while she could not look him in the face, how the household she would build later while she herself did not have a very solid foundation to uphold.