Chapter 14

This morning was not like usual. Orlyn woke up a little late and did not have breakfast with Cein. Orlyn came out of her room all dressed up and ready to go to work, while Cein himself sat in the living room staring blankly at the TV he had left on.

"I'm going to work first," Orlyn said without approaching Cein.

"Yes," Cein said briefly.

Orlyn, still angry with Cein, said nothing more. Orlyn left the house without looking at Cein again. Cein only turned her head when she heard Orlyn closing the door. Cein sighed heavily and rubbed her face.

"I have to go to work too," Cein monologue and then got up from her sitting position.

Not long after, Cein was ready to go to work, but her footsteps stopped because her cell phone rang. Cein looked at the screen and saw Sahla's name. Cein seemed reluctant to answer the call, but Cein couldn't just ignore Sahla. Cein pressed the green button and then put the phone to her ear.

"What is it, Sahla?" asked Cein.

"Oh, are you okay? Okay, I'll meet you at the office," Cein said and then hung up.

Cein put her cell phone back in her pocket, Cein then walked away from her house and Orlyn to go to work.

***

At the cafe, Orlyn was completely unfocused. The few times he got his work wrong, Orlyn groaned in frustration and messed up his hair randomly.

"Why does my heart feel so uncomfortable? It's not like I didn't want Cein to be my husband before, so why am I getting jealous now that Cein is too worried about Sahla?"

Orlyn monologue, wondering to herself. Then Orlyn took her water bottle and drank half of it. Then Orlyn looked at her cell phone, which was lying on the table and whose screen had remained black since this morning.

"I really want to call Cein now. Was I too hard on him? But wouldn't he be happy to get away from me? He can take care of Sahla, who is always so spoiled," Orlyn muttered, still managing.

Then Orlyn sighed again and shrugged.

"I really don't want to think about it. Cein's busy too," Orlyn said and then concentrated on her work again.

Outside of Orlyn's thoughts, Cein was now lying on the bed in Orlyn's room. Instead of going to the office, Cein had come to her in-laws' house. Cein didn't have the energy to go to work today, so Cein lay down and just stared at the ceiling of Orlyn's room.

Shortly after, Cein took a sitting position because of the sound of knocking at the door of her room.

"One moment," Cein said, then got out of bed and went to open the door.

Cein was a little surprised to see her father-in-law at the door.

"Dad," Cein greeted him politely.

"Are you asleep?" asked Papa Orlyn.

"No, Papa."

Cein shook his head slowly.

"Well then, can you come in?" asked Papa Orlyn again.

Cein smiled, and then slowly nodded his head. 

They both sat down in the chair in Orlyn's room. Papa Orlyn seemed to look at Cein briefly and then smiled slightly.

"Did you and Orlyn have a fight?" Papa Orlyn asked.

"Yes," Cein replied shortly.

Cein hid nothing from Orlyn's parents. If Orlyn's husband had a problem that Cein thought was serious, he preferred to go home to his in-laws and tell them everything.

Cein, who has no parents, feels that her in-laws love her more than her parents. Papa Orlyn smiled at Cein, who couldn't hide anything.

"So that's why you didn't go to the office and instead slept in this room all day?" asked Papa Orlyn again.

"Yes, father," Cein answered again.

"Can you tell me why you fought? Is it because you went to Bogor?" Papa Orlyn tried to guess the beginning of the quarrel between his two sons-in-law.

Cein looked at Papa Orlyn doubtfully. Cein's head nodded hesitantly.

"The boy is still immature," Papa Orlyn said.

"I was wrong too, Papa. I should have given Orlyn priority, but Papa knows why I can't refuse for Sahla?" said Cein, who didn't want her in-laws to blame Orlyn.

"Lah, you always defend Orlyn and are not willing to blame her. Have you explained it to Orlyn? I think you should also tell me about Endo so that Orlyn can understand your position," Papa Orlyn said.

Cein smiled and shook his head slowly.

"No need, Papa. I'm afraid it would worry Orlyn. Didn't you promise not to tell him about Endo and me?"

"Yes, Papa promised, but if Orlyn continues to misunderstand Sahla because of it, what then? You said yourself that you can't just refuse Sahla's will, right?"

Cein paused and looked at her father-in-law, her head nodding slowly. A moment later, Cein took a deep breath and smiled at Papa Orlyn.

"I will learn not to obey Sahla's wishes anymore, father. She's an adult too. I'm sure if Endo were still around and knew about this, he'd be furious as well. Endo would never want his sister to cause me so much trouble that I have to hear my wife ask for a separation because of Sahla," Cein said.

Now it was Orlyn's father who was surprised. He thought that Cein and Orlyn were just having a normal argument. It turned out that his assumption was wrong.

***

Orlyn had just entered the house. Orlyn frowned even more, confused because Cein was really not home. The door of the house is still locked, so Cein hasn't come home yet, because usually Cein doesn't lock the door of the house when he's just looking for dinner, because he's afraid that Orlyn might come home suddenly.

Orlyn looked at her watch, which already showed 8 pm.

"Is Cein working overtime? But why didn't she tell me?" asked Orlyn, monologuing.

Then Orlyn reached into her bag and took out her cell phone. Orlyn was a little surprised because there were repeated calls from both her parents' number and Cein's number. Orlyn had left his cell phone on silent because he didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. Orlyn was worried because his parents rarely called back and forth like this.

Without thinking, Orlyn left the house and quickly locked the door. Orlyn thought that his parents must be in some kind of trouble.

"Pa, Ma."

Orlyn called when he arrived at his parents' house. Orlyn's mother quickly ran out of the kitchen and approached Orlyn. She put her finger to her lips to keep the noise down. Then she slapped Orlyn's arm as she approached.

"Quiet!" she said.

"It hurts, Mom! What's wrong? Why have you been calling Orlyn so often? Is Dad sick?" Orlyn asked back and forth.

"It's not Papa who's sick, it's your husband," Orlyn's mother said in a whisper.

"Cein?" asked Orlyn, confused.

"Who is your husband, Orlyn? It's you."

Orlyn's mother looked annoyed at her daughter's answer.

"This morning Cein seemed in good health," Orlyn said, remembering a bit. Although actually Orlyn didn't know if Cein was healthy or not, because Orlyn wasn't even close to Cein.

"Tsk, you just don't pay attention to Cein. She doesn't go to work and is here all day. Now she has a high fever. She doesn't want to eat, she says her tongue is bitter. Papa is worried now that Cein is in her room," said Orlyn's mother, pointing to Orlyn's room.

Orlyn looked at his room, Orlyn sighed deeply and realized that Cein must have a lot on her mind to get so sick. Then Orlyn went into the kitchen.

"Orlyn, where are you going? Didn't you see Cein first?" asked Orlyn's mother as she followed her daughter.

"Uh, what's wrong, mom? Mom said Cein doesn't want to eat. How can you take medicine if you don't eat the sicker she gets? I want to make the food Cein usually eats when she's sick," Orlyn grumbled as she went into the kitchen.

Orlyn's mother just curled her lips to say O and followed Orlyn into the kitchen.

***