When Hamzah Met Alifa
Caring

It had been almost half an hour Hamzah waited in front of the gates of the Alifa campus. However, the woman he was waiting for did not come.

Hamzah became agitated. Several times he dialed Alifa's mobile number but was completely inactive.

Then Hamzah contacted Haida to ask if Alifa had returned home or not. But the answer from Haida made Hamzah more agitated.

Because from the words of Haida, Alifa has not reached home at all. He had contacted Alifa several times but none of the phone calls were picked up by Alifa.

Hamzah bit his lips with a chaotic mind. He put the phone back in his jacket pocket.

Just then, Hamzah saw the woman Hamzah knew as a close friend of Alifa. Hamzah recognized her because he had seen a picture of the woman in Alifa's room.

Hamzah approached Caca who had just exited the gate and was seen waiting for an online taxi.

"Assalamualaikum" said Hamzah.

Caca looked over and answered his greetings. Then he examined Hamzah's appearance from top to bottom.

"What's up, Mom?"

"You're Alfa's friend, right?" Hamzeh asked.

Caca nodded. "Yes, what's wrong, Mom?"

"You saw Alfa, didn't you?"

Caca's forehead shriveled in confusion. Then, he shook his head slowly.

"Alifa's been home since this afternoon, ma'am."

Hamza took a deep breath. His heart raced fast and his mind immediately thought where Alfa had gone.

"Where do you think Alifa went?"

"No, Mom." Answer Caca whose forehead is getting confused. Then he asked back. "Who is this?"

Hamzah only smiled briefly. "I'm Alifa's family."

"But I've never seen this one? Though I have often played to the house of Alifa you know," muttered Caca while continuing to pay attention to the look of Hamzah's face.

Caca tried to remember the members of the Alifa family and remember the face of the man before her.

Feeling uncomfortable to be noticed by Caca, Hamzah was resigned to leave. Caca intercepts Hamzah.

The woman squinted her eyes suspiciously. Then he said, "Mas asked me. Now it's my turn to go all right to Mas."

Hamzah sighed. He did not want to serve the woman in front of him because his mind continued to worry about Alifa.

"Yes, what do you want to ask?" hamzah said at the end.

"Respond honestly. Is this actually Alifa?"

Hamzah once again took a deep breath and she said, "I'm her husband."

Caca was stunned by Hamzah's reply. Even he stood there and could not dwell.

"Huh? Is Alifa married?"

*

*

*

Alifa was crying in the back seat of the car. He did not care about the taxi driver who several times glanced through the rearview mirror.

The look on the taxi driver's face was anxious, because the woman who had been his passenger since then continued to cry and did not tell the destination.

So the driver asked, "Sir, where is this going to stop?"

Alifa looked up and looked straight ahead. He just realized that since then he had not told the destination.

However, Alifa herself did not know where she was going either. She massaged her temples that felt dizzy.

Just then, Alifa saw there was a city park that looked quiet and felt right to be a place to insinuate.

So Alifa asked the driver to stop at the park. Alifa got down, and walked down the park. Then he sat on one of the benches.

Alifa stared blankly at the tulip flowers embedded neatly. Alifa continued to sit there not caring about the surroundings.

Even he did not care about the raindrops that slowly began to fall and wet his body.

Feeling no longer strong enough to withstand the cold rain, Alifa pulled over and shaded into a building that turned out to be a mosque.

Alifa sat in the courtyard of the mosque hugging her knees while looking up at the gray sky.

Suddenly a hand slapped Alifa's shoulder. Alifa turned her head and she found a woman smiling at her.

"Mr, the clothes are wet. Why not replace it, Mother? It will hurt" said the woman very kindly.

"I don't bring a change of clothes" Alifa said expressionlessly.

"I happen to be wearing long clothes. You can wear my shirt first if you want."

Alifa thought for a moment. Then he agreed too. She and the newly-acquainted woman walked into the women's toilet in the mosque to change their clothes.

Then the woman invited Alifa to pray together. Alifa who felt helped, did not feel good if she refused.

Then he complied. He prayed in the mosque with several other worshippers.

"Sir, thank you for being kind to me" said Alifa after finishing praying. "But why would you care about me anyway? Don't you know me?"

The woman just turned her head and smiled sweetly at Alifa. "I care because that is what the Prophet taught. Be kind to anyone even to people we don't know."