I'm So Proud Of You

Ludwina didn't think that the historical novel she wrote would be getting such great feedback. This comforted her a little. She no longer had an account on social media, but she read numerous positive reviews on the internet and various articles praising her story. This made her even more excited to write.

After calming down in Italy, Ludwina decided to go to the Netherlands to research historical sources for another novel she was writing.

She was very interested in exploring Indonesia's history after World War 2, when around 300,000 Indos (biracial descendants of Dutch and Indonesian parents) were forced to leave Indonesia because they were considered part of the colonist, even though many of them were born and raised in Indonesia, and never knew the Netherlands.

When the Japanese invade Asian countries, they kicked out the European colonists from those countries and was considered the savior in early WWII.

The locals saw this as an opportunity to take revenge on the white people who had colonized and oppressed them for decades or even centuries. This, resulted in mass killings and excavation of white people and their descendants even though some of these descendants were half locals.

The Dutch government who colonized Indonesia for 3.5 centuries immediately registered these people as their citizens after WWII was over, gave them Dutch passports, and shipped them to the Netherlands.

After months of sea journey, they arrived in a country foreign to them but must embrace it as their new home.

Ludwina took a lot of medicine, but she still refused chemotherapy because she didn't want her family to know about her illness.

Her appearance after chemotherapy would be very obvious and she didn't want them to be suspicious because her body would become very thin and weak and her hair would fall out. Ludwina's tears were dried from lamenting over her predicament, so she couldn't even cry anymore.

Every day, she got up and wrote, then took a walk to see the flowers all around her. Spring in the Netherlands was always so beautiful and full of flowers.

She enjoyed sitting in the garden watching people enjoying the beauty of the world and being happy for them. She missed Andrea terribly, but she persisted in not replying to his emails.

She always looked forward to Sunday evening when the email from Andrea arrived, telling her how he was in London. She was happy to see that Andrea seemed like he was starting to adapt to the new city. Andrea also seemed to enjoy his job.

He followed Ludwina's way of doing it when she was away for three months and sent word every Sunday. The detailed contents of his emails made it seem as if Ludwina could see her husband's life in London.

[Near the apartment, there's a farmer's market. Usually, every Sunday, I stop by and buy vegetables and other food. The place is very crowded. It is always foggy in London and it rains a lot. I miss the weather in Indonesia and Singapore, which is always sunny. I really miss you...]

[I met Johann a few days ago. He was having a conference in London. Incidentally, Adeline suddenly came to bring Ronan to my office. She said Ronan always asked about his father and he became sad when he knew I am in London but I didn't want to see him. So, she took Ronan to come to my office to meet me. Please forgive me for breaking my promise to you. I couldn't refuse their visit. We then had dinner with Johann. I hope you're not angry...]

Ludwina almost replied that she wasn't angry. She even hoped that Andrea would see Adeline and Ronan more often.

She managed to stop herself and closed her laptop.

The hotel where Ludwina was staying in was very nice, and her room overlooked a beautiful little lake, but the girl couldn't enjoy it because her heart was dark and dejected. In the end, she only laid down all day and tried to sleep.

The doctor she met said that she was suffering from depression due to her illness, but doctors in the Netherlands didn't want to give her anti-depressants.

That's the thing doctors in the Netherlands were famous for: they didn't give medicine easily. People even say that the doctors there would only give you medicine if you're on the brink of death.

She had to force herself to finish her research in this country so she could immediately return to Indonesia and see a psychiatrist who would give her the medicine.

***

Andrea finally finished reading Ludwina's novel and he was very touched. He knew that Ludwina was very good at telling stories, and now, he could finally see for himself that one of the stories that his wife created could be published into a book. He felt so proud of her.

He took a selfie with the book on his chest and immediately emailed Ludwina to say how proud he was of her. It was Wednesday, and he usually emailed Ludwina every Sunday, but this was a special moment...

He emailed his photo only with the subject: I'm so proud of you.

***

Ludwina, who had just come out of a museum in Arnhem, Netherlands, was a little surprised when she read Andrea's email. Normally, Andrea would send emails every Sunday, but it was Wednesday and there was already an email from him.

When she saw Andrea's photo and how proud he was of Ludwina, a glimmer of happiness entered her chest. Even though tears were flowing down her face, she was smiling.

Ah, that means Johann brought the book for Andrea. That means that Andrea has also received the divorce documents.

Hopefully, Andrea understood that Ludwina had let him go, and was encouraging him to make up with Adeline and live together as a family with her and Ronan.

***

Andrea didn't know what to do with the divorce documents. He didn't want to separate from Ludwina... but until now, Ludwina still hadn't forgiven him and she even asked for a divorce. Every time he saw the documents, his heart ached. He didn't want to sign it.

It's been over four months and Ludwina still hadn't replied to his emails. On the other hand, Adeline and Ronan were now stopping by his office more frequently.

Adeline seemed to always find an excuse for them to come. She had a meeting near his office, Ronan needed to talk to Andrea about his job for the "Show and Tell" assignment at school, Ronan missed him, and so on.

After a while, Andrea got used to their presence. In the end, he gave up and the two of them began to accompany him to explore the city of London.

"Why don't you go anywhere in London? Come on, let me show you some of Ronan's favorite places," said Adeline one day.

They started hanging out with each other on the weekends, and Andrea felt a little comforted whenever Ronan was with him. He was even willing to take a picture with them in front of the London Eye for the boy's school assignment.

Andrea didn't expect that their photo would later be displayed by Adelina on her Facebook page, which caused many of their old schoolmates to think that they were still together and were now living in London.

"Wow... Adeline finally created an FB account too! How are you guys in London?"

"Wow, these are Adeline and Andrea from High School 7, right? You guys are still together even until now. Definitely relationship goals."

Adelina just answered with a smiley emoticon. She wasn't willing to explain anything, but Andrea understood that Adelina still hoped that one day he would come back with them.

In his heart, he only hoped that Ludwina wouldn't see the photo and read those people's comments. He knew that Ludwina no longer had a social media account, so she shouldn't be able to see the post.

Unfortunately, his hopes weren't fulfilled. Ludwina often checked Adeline's timeline lately because she wanted to see whether Andrea had started to spend more time with Adeline or not, and she had seen their photos with the London Eye as a background.

Ludwina felt dejected. She missed her husband, but she tried to cheer herself up and thought that her goal would soon be achieved.

She wanted to return Andrea to Adeline and Ronan, and she saw that it would slowly happen soon.

She'd be able to disappear from Andrea's life in peace.

With that thought, Ludwina could feel at ease.

***