Today was the exact day my future mother-in-law, Aria's mother, would be leaving for umrah, escorted to the airport by her children. Aria was the only one missing from the photo I saw posted on the green-logo messaging app on my phone, a photo taken by Aria's older sister, Leli. My heart was pounding. Why were they smiling so happily when my mother and I had waited for Aria's mother to arrive last night, only to be treated as if we didn't matter? Did none of them approve of my marriage to Aria? If Aria hadn't fought to get us this far, I honestly wouldn't even want to continue with a wedding that would only make me unhappy. How could I survive in Aria's family when they clearly didn't like me? They couldn't even respect my mother over something as minor as unilaterally canceling their visit to my house.
I tried calling Aria to find out where he was and why he hadn't gone with his mother to the airport. "Hey, Babe, where are you? Are you okay? I saw Leli's status earlier. She took Mom to the airport, but you weren't in any of the photos she posted," I said to Aria.
"Yeah, Sweetheart. I'm at home. I just didn't feel like going with Mom because I'm upset that nobody told me ahead of time that she was staying at Bima's house before leaving today. I've been looking everywhere for her since yesterday, and it turns out she was at Bima's house without telling me," Aria said, sounding annoyed.
"Oh, I see. It's okay, Babe. Maybe Mom and Bima forgot to tell you because things were rushed with her departure for umrah coming up. We'll just wait for Mom to come home, and pray that she stays healthy while performing her umrah in the Holy Land," I said, trying to comfort Aria.
I went back to my incredibly overwhelming workload at the office while thinking about when Aria's mother would return—two weeks before my wedding ceremony. Would she have enough time to come and deliver the rest of our wedding money? My family and I had already planned to buy all the things we'd need for our wedding and pay for the food catering, which my own neighbor would prepare.
I planned to use the ten million rupiahs Aria had given me earlier to pay the down payment for the bridal makeup artist who would get me ready for the marriage ceremony. I'd already paid one million rupiahs upfront as a booking fee. I felt so stressed having to think about all this by myself. If I told Mom, she'd only be disappointed again, and I'd have to answer so many questions. But if I discussed it with Aria, it would only add to his worries and distract him from his work.
Waving goodbye, Aria's mother entered the departure gate that would take her to the Holy Land. "Pray for me, everyone. I'm leaving now. Take care of your health, all my children, and wait for me to come home," she said, her words marking her farewell to her children.
"Take care, Mom. If you get the chance, send us an update from there, and make sure you take care of your health too," Leli replied to her mother's farewell.
Once their mother had entered the departure gate, Leli and her siblings left the airport and went home to their respective houses. Their job of escorting their mother was done, and they'd even managed to hide her at Bima's house without telling Aria. What a strange family. Why had they done that when they knew Aria's mother was supposed to come to my house yesterday, on Sunday?
"Leli, we finally managed to stop Mom from coming to Raina's house before leaving for umrah," Bima said to Leli.
"Yeah, Bim. Besides, why should we go to Raina's house to deliver the rest of Aria's wedding money? It would be better to use that money for Mom's umrah expenses. Then none of us would have to ask anyone for contributions to cover Mom's spending money, right?" Leli said with a satisfied chuckle.
When Leli got home, she sank onto the living room sofa and asked her child to bring her a drink. She hadn't had even a sip of water at the airport to soothe her dry throat.
After drinking, Leli busied herself preparing the cake orders that would be delivered to customers who had ordered her homemade cakes. Leli was Aria's second-oldest sister, after Eda, his eldest sister. Every day, Leli sold cakes ordered by neighbors and regular customers to help meet the family's needs, since her husband only worked at his own auto repair shop. That was why Leli sold cakes while helping her husband.
Leli also set aside some of the cakes she'd made for Aria. Since their mother had left, Aria would often go to Leli's house to eat or have coffee. Aria loved Leli dearly. To him, she was like a second parent after his mother, always helping him whenever he had a problem or needed advice. Never suspecting anything bad about Leli, Aria often helped her without my knowledge, such as lending her money even though Leli never paid back what she borrowed. Aria didn't mind; what mattered to him was being able to help Leli willingly. But whenever Aria borrowed money from Leli, she would always rush to demand it back, coming up with one excuse after another, even though Aria always repaid whatever he borrowed from her.
Sometimes I really didn't understand my fiancé's attitude. Why was he so good to his siblings when they could be so unkind to him? For a moment, I even wondered if Aria was only an adopted child, judging by the way he treated his siblings.
I actually had no problem with the way Aria treated his siblings. I just sometimes got irritated because his entire family loved meddling in Aria's and my affairs, as if Aria were a little boy who needed to be accompanied in everything he did.
And Aria didn't mind his siblings' behavior at all, even though he always told me everything whenever we talked about things together.
Aria was a good man in my eyes. That was why I accepted him as my husband. Besides being hardworking, he always tried to make me happy, even through little things like buying me my favorite food. I loved eating and trying new foods, and I was always asking Aria to come with me in search of delicious things to eat.
After Aria's mother left, I hoped everything would go smoothly. All I could do was wait for her to return so we could discuss our wedding date and all the preparations. I hoped there would be no more problems and that Aria's mother would return on time, especially with my wedding ceremony with Aria drawing closer.