
Channa breathed a heavy sigh and bowed down full of regret, she knew Prince would definitely be angry over everything that had happened. And Chandara, the young woman just held tightly to the Father's arm, trying to calm him down.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything back then, I've been trying to find him everywhere, but he's lost to the earth." Channa ventured to speak with her head still down.
Prince rubbed his face violently, he really did not expect fate would bring him to this person.
"Do you know how much Mom suffered at that time? Almost every night my mother cried with regret. Do you know that, haa ...?"
Prince recalled when he was a child, he often accidentally caught the mother crying herself in the room.
Channa was getting bowed, her heart ached to hear Prince's words.
"My mother was not entirely guilty, but she had to bear all the burdens and sufferings alone for being dumped by her own family. This is not fair to her." Prince spoke in a high and emotional tone, his chest until the deflated flower held tight. Even her red eyes were getting wet. And his echoing voice made Queen flinch awake.
"Hey, watch your attitude!" chandara Bentak. He couldn't accept Prince speaking rudely to his father. "You can't blame Pa. He's innocent, he's been trying to find your mother. All these years she missed Khun Chaiyya, she was tormented as well. And now you're handing him the blame."
"Nong, already! Let Prince vent his anger. Pa deserves all this. Because Pa's not good at looking after his mom."
"Can't, Pa. He should have listened to Pa's explanation first, instead of getting angry and blaming Pa like this."
"Then, let's explain!" challenge Prince.
Channa exhaled heavily again, her neck choking. His chest was also a crowded terrace even though the air he could breathe as much. But her daughter was right, she had to explain everything so that Prince would not misunderstand her, even though he realized, Prince did deserve to be angry with his family. And because he was the only one left, so he was the one who had to endure the anger.
"I wasn't home at the time, I was heading to Jakarta. I don't know why I feel bad, I decided to go back to this village. But what greeted me really broke my heart." Channa bowed even more as she shrunk her wet nose.
Prince and Chandara both fell silent listening to the middle-aged man's story. Likewise with Queen, she also silently listened to Channa's words without everyone's knowledge.
"My mother was lamenting my father's stiffened body, she had just died of a heart attack. And from the rumors of the neighbors around me I heard, it was all because Chaiyya was pregnant with a man she did not know. At that time, he graduated from High School in Bandung. I immediately searched for his whereabouts, but he was nowhere. I tried to ask my relatives, and he said Chaiyya had left because he was expelled from this village. And three days after Dad's departure, I decided to look for him in Bandung, but did not meet. I got frustrated and had to go home empty-handed." Channa continued her story with a voice that shook withholding tears. Chandara rubbed his father's shoulders while occasionally wiping away his tears.
"So you didn't throw my mother out?" prince asked suspiciously.
Channa shook her head. "Where might I have the heart to throw away the sister that I so dearly care about. Even if I came on time, I wouldn't let Chaiyya go anywhere. Because I know she's not that bad, she's a good girl."
"Dad and my mother were disappointed and angry, they were ashamed. But I'm sure they're also worried about their daughter, they're forced to let Chaiyya go because of the villagers' insistence. Even my mother cried every time because she missed him, up to two weeks after the incident, Mother also caught up with Dad facing the khalik. I lost the people I loved." continued Channa who sobbed.
Prince closed his eyes firmly, the clear liquid falling unbearably again. Likewise with Queen, although not very understanding of what really happened, but without realizing the tears also fell down.
"And today God brought us together, fate is inexorable." Channa laughed bitterly as she wiped her tears.
"It's okay, you're not wrong. Every kid must react just like you."
"Mother just said she had an older sister and she was kicked out of her family for getting pregnant out of wedlock. It was because of a one-night mistake that I didn't know exactly what the story was like and Mom never told me much about what actually happened. Again forgive me .... Uncle." said Prince.
"That's it. Maybe he's hard to tell you."
"Yes, I always keep it to myself." Prince's face was getting saggy.
"How's your mother doing?" channa asked to switch the conversation to see Prince sad.
"Mother's good."
"Thank God. Is he married?"
"Mother never married, for years we only lived together. Mother raised me lovingly, she was willing to be a housekeeper to support me. But you never complained, though I know, that it must be hard being a single parent."
"My sister is a strong woman, she's great. I've missed him. I miss her so much." said Channa, whose tears fell down again.
"Ma ...." Chandara gently rubbed his father's shoulder.
"I regretted allowing her to go to school away from home, and I was too busy wandering around to not have much time to pay attention to her. While Mom and Dad are busy at work." Channa said.
"Why do you have to go to school in Bandung? Is there no school in this village?" asked Prince curiously.
"She got a scholarship to go to school there and one of her friends also moved there, so she hitched a ride in her friend's house. But when I looked for him, he wasn't there. And his friend said, he hasn't lived in their house in a long time."
"Why?" Prince knitted his brows.
"Eitherway. His friend doesn't know either, he just left."
"Mother's Pity. She must be very scared and sad."
"Hemm, this is all because of that asshole! I felt like I wanted to finish him off" infuriated Channa.
Prince was speechless with hardened jaws, all this time he also hated the man who had made him present to this world.
***