When Love Should Determine
Chapter 39

" if you've given me the same name as Terina, then why did you just put Larissa on me?." The old question has not been answered, but now a new question appears again in Larissa's mind. So many secrets I kept tight.

Larissa's mind raged. He did not pay attention to the ravings of Mbak Ira who enthusiastically told about his two sisters and his mother.

After a long conversation, Larissa came home. "Bak, you'll soon want magrib. I'll go home first, yeah!."

"Kok hurry!" said Ira's mother prevented.

"Yes, mom! I am worried that Hamzah will be home. It's not good if I'm not home yet" Larissa explained.

"Yes, no pa pa" Ira finally allowed Larissa to go home. "Oh yes, the day after I want to make aqiqah for my son. You're coming!."

A few months ago, Ms. Ira had just given birth to her second child, a girl. Maybe he was four months behind with Fatim's age.

"God, Ma'am, I'll come!." Larissa left Ira's house. Before he passed, he took the time to say goodbye to the other Aunts.

"Auntie's coming home, yeah!" tawar Bi Rina, he is Father's youngest sister.

Larissa nodded, not rejecting Bi Rina's offer. It just so happened that she also had to hunt for time before her husband arrived home first.

Long story short, Larissa arrived home before her husband came home. But there was something else that made Larissa tremble in fear. Mom caught herself while getting off Bi Rina's bike.

Previously Larissa had asked Bi Rina to deliver until the front alley only. But Bi Rina forced to drive her to the front of the house. And he has no power to refuse.

"Yes, remember the same name" said the mother who addressed Bi Rina. Larissa lowered her head. Fear of his mother's anger.

Aunty saw the fear emanating on her nephew's face. "You take it easy, son. Let Auntie face your mother" she said calmly. His hand rubbed Larissa's shoulder.

Bi Rina approached mom. He invited her to shake hands. "How are you, Ma'am? I'm sorry, I just drove Larissa home now."

Bu Ani did not return a helping hand from Bi Rina. He turned his face away from her. "I'm not angry to see you take my son. I'm just happy, you still consider my son a part of your family" he said coldly.

"Where might I disavow my own niece. Larissa is my sister's daughter too, meaning she's my niece too" Auntie argued.

"Thank God you think that. I'm relieved to hear it" replied the mother without turning her head towards Aunt.

Silent. They are both silent. "Then, excuse me. Next time I will come here again" Bi Rina opened her voice. "Please don't upset Larissa. He's innocent in this."

"Whatever I'm gonna do to my daughter is none of your business. To be sure, I won't hurt my own daughter!"

Bu Rina was speechless hearing the mother's reply which sounded very slender. He decided to go home soon after making sure Larissa was okay.

Larissa immediately walked into the house after Bi Rina passed. But the mother stopped her steps. "Stop, Larissa. I want to talk to you!."

Sontak Larissa stopped her steps and turned to face her mother. "What do you want to talk to me about?."

"i.yes, Mom. This is not my first time there" Larissa replied timidly.

"Why are you hiding like this? You even dared to lie to me."

"I didn't mean to lie to my mother. I'm forced. I have no other way of knowing anything about Dad than this."

"Mother purposely covered up all that stuff about your father for your own good. But you just deliberately opened the wound. You know, you've hurt my mother with this attitude of yours" shouted the angry mother.

"What should be angry is me, Mom, me! Mom's been hiding a lot of things about me. Why, Mom, why did you do that to me?" shouted Larissa.

"Don't mom say it. I'm doing this for your own good!."

"What kind of shit do you mean? Even all this time I've always received insults for this!" Larisa no longer held back the turmoil in her heart. Tears broke when I said all that.

"Mom knows, some even used to think of me as an illegitimate child because I didn't know my own origins" she continued, wiping away tears.

Momentarily, Bu Ani fell silent. She was shocked to hear her son's words. "So you want to know about your father? all right, I'll tell you everything now!."

Many times Bu Ani sighed heavily. He seemed to strengthen himself before opening the secret that he had been keeping tight. A single tear fell from his eye.

"Your mother knew your father when we were both working as TKI in Malaysia" Bu Ani began speaking. "As time went on, we agreed to get married because we were comfortable with each other. As he was about to marry his mother, he claimed to be a widower. Mother did not dispute her status because at that time she was a widow."

Bu Ani wiped away the melted tears on her cheeks. He was shaken, telling this was akin to opening up an old wound he tried to forget years ago.

"We got married in Malaysia with my sister who became a marriage guardian. It just so happened that he was working with us, too" he continued. "We lived happily after marriage. After a few months, I'm pregnant with you that further complements our happiness."

"When you are two months pregnant, we both go back to Indonesia. But at the airport, we split up halfway. She's coming home, mom's coming home."

"The truth begins to unfold. Turns out your father lied to you. He's not a widower like he claims."

"It's true that your father was a widower, and he also showed evidence of his divorce from his mother. But it was proof of divorce with his first wife."

"It turns out that mother is not the second wife of your father, but the third. And they were still officially husband and wife back then."

Bu Ani again wiped away the flowing tears. He sighed, trying to find strength.

"Mother was deeply hurt when she learned this truth. Your father had the heart to deceive the mother massively" Mom momentarily fell silent, deliberately pausing her speech. "And even more surprising, it turns out that your father's second wife is also pregnant."

Larissa was silent, trying to digest every sentence that was spoken from her mother's lips. It turns out that what Bibi told me the other day was true if the mother and mother of Ira's mother were both pregnant at the time.

One thing Larissa still doesn't understand. Why then did mom keep herself away from dad. Even impressed to cover his existence from father.