TWENTY SIX

"Ri, I'm going to make some hot tea first, you stay here and take care of Bening." I ordered Riri. She got up from her wooden chair and walked slowly to the dining room. She was still wearing her sarong comfortably.

  Meanwhile, Riri chatted with Bening playfully while singing.

  "My dear Bening wants to sing, yes, let's sing!" Riri exclaimed in a pleasant tone. Bening babbled happily at Riri's expression.

  "My hat is round! My hat is round! If it's not round, it's not my hat!" Riri sang while playing with Bening's hand.

  "Heh! Come here already! Bening wants to take a shower!" Kartika's high voice made Riri turn around.

  "Come here! Bening wants to take a shower!" Kartika exclaimed jutek. She was looking in the mirror attached to the wall while combing her hair.

  "Yes, ma'am." Riri replied and carried Bening who was in the stroller carefully. Actually, she was very annoyed with the father's wife.

  "Why does she always have such a bad attitude towards me. Heh!" Riri said to herself.

  Kartika grabbed Bening in Riri's arms.

  "Oh my God, be careful mba, Bening!" said Riri, feeling worried about Bening. Because Kartika immediately grabbed Bening violently.

  "Heh! I want to take a shower in Bening. Better now you help me cut tempeh in the kitchen. Hurry up there!" Kartika exclaimed with her nagging voice. Her face never really smiled.

  "But, Ma'am, how do you cut the tempeh, big or small?" asked Riri in confusion.

  "You just go to the kitchen. There's already an example! Hurry up!" Kartika replied then immediately turned to the toilet to bathe her son.

  Riri also walked to the kitchen and passed by the father who was sitting at the tomb table drinking tea.

  "Ri, come have some tea first! I'll buy you breakfast later," he pleaded with a smile after finishing drinking his tea.

  "But, sir ...." said Riri hesitantly. She really wanted to drink tea with her father and chat for a while. But she had to help cut the tempeh.

  "Well, you don't need to think about Kartika. You better drink some hot tea here first!" the father with his calm face continued to ask Riri to sit with him to drink a glass of hot tea.

  "Later, sir. Riri wants to help cut tempeh first. Later Ms. Kartika will be angry." Riri said and left for the kitchen.

  Father could only grunt in resignation. He could actually help produce his wife's tempeh chips. But his wife was very angry if he touched Kartika's goods.

  Father got up from his seat. He accompanied Riri who was cutting tempeh. Bapak sat on a small chair just like Riri.

  Riri's hands sliced the tempeh thinly. She tried to slice the tempeh as thin as possible according to Kartika's example.

  "Isn't this right, sir? Is it thin yet?" Riri showed the tempeh in front of her father's eyes.

  "Ouch, Ri, I don't know. Last time you helped slice tempeh, but you got a scolding from Kartika. She said your tempeh was still cut wrong, this way, that way. Finally, you're not allowed to help Kartika. You can't even touch her cooking utensils. Yasudahlah let it go!" said the father with resignation.

  "Hem, but if we help each other, we will produce a lot of tempeh, right, sir?" said Riri while continuing to slice the tempeh.

"Hey! I was told to cut tempeh instead of chatting!" snapped Kartika seeing her father and Riri chatting. She then immediately went into her room to dress Bening.

  Father shook his head with his wife's behavior that was always nagging.

  "Let's just have breakfast. Riri's beer will do the rest," Riri said with a smile.

  "You're going to work, Ri. At seven you have to be at your workplace," said the father, worried that his daughter would be late for work.

  "Yes, sir. just calm down, Riri will definitely go to work without being late." Riri replied confidently.

  "Yasudah, I want to buy breakfast first." said the father then went out of the house.

  Riri looked at some tempeh that had not been cut in a large container.

  "Duh, there are so many tempeh! Can I finish it all?" asked Riri in her heart. She hoped that Ms. Kartika would not tell her to cut all the tempeh in the big tray.

  Now Kartika has finished dressing and powdering her child. She carried Bening then met Riri in the kitchen. She wanted to see how Riri helped cut up her tempeh.

  "Ouch, Ri, that cut is too thick. I'll lose money if it's like that!" Kartika ranted in a high tone. She didn't care about the child she was holding.

  "So what, ma'am? Riri can't cut the thin ones yet," Riri replied in a desperate voice.

  "Here, stand up! I want to give you an example of cutting tempeh! You look carefully!" she pleaded naggingly. Then Riri stood up and grabbed Bening from Kartika's arms.

  "Here, look closely! Her eyes are sharp!" Kartika then cut the tempeh skillfully. She cut it as thinly as possible. The sharp knife cut the tempeh several times. Riri paid close attention to the way Kartika's hands cut the tempeh.

  "Now do you understand?" Kartika asked and stood up to grab Bening.

  "Now you sit down and cut all the tempeh in the container! Do you understand?"

  Riri frowned. She wondered how long it would take her to cut the tempeh.

  "But Ma'am, Riri wants to go to work," said Riri complainingly.

  "Finish this, then you can go to work!"

  "But Ma'am, you can't do that, Ma'am, work also has its hours. Riri could be late," Riri explained in a soft tone.

  "Eh listen up, you're here for a living, your father is here too, so it's up to me how I want to treat you!" snapped Kartika with her eyes nearly popping out.

  Riri could only stay silent and look down. She agreed that she was just living here. But that didn't mean Kartika could tell her what to do.

  Riri's mouth felt like rebelling, but maybe she could be kicked out of this house. She had no money to find a place to live.

  "Hurry up and cut it! Don't stay still!"

  Kartika then left Riri in the kitchen. Her eyes then caught her husband who had brought breakfast.

  "Bring it here, sir, the breakfast. Let's eat first! She said Riri wants to cut the tempeh. She doesn't want to have breakfast first," Kartika said with a lie.

  "Yasudah, let's just eat breakfast first. Mr. also wants to leave work early today. So he doesn't have to come back too late."

  The father and his wife are now at the dining table. While Bening was placed on the stroller facing the dining table.

  "Bening is so cute, watching the two of us eat," said the father while chewing his food. He saw Bening's very funny expression.

  Kartika just smiled sarcastically. Then her heart said.

  "You old fart! I don't want to have a husband like him!"