That night, eight years ago, heavy rain poured over the spacious yard, where only a single house had just been built. The patter of water striking the roof tiles blended with the roar of the strong wind outside.
From inside the bedroom, Raina, eight months pregnant, heard the rumble of a car engine she knew all too well pulling into the garage. It was her husband Hadi's car. He had said goodbye before leaving on a three-day business trip out of town.
With one hand braced against her lower back to support her bulging stomach, Raina stepped out of the bedroom. A sweet smile curved across her pale lips. An overwhelming sense of longing and relief greeted her husband's return. In the kitchen, Auntie Nyai was preparing warm ginger tea to welcome Hadi home.
The front door opened. Raina stood in the living room, her smile ready to bloom. But it slowly faded when her eyes met Hadi's.
The man did not step inside with his usual warm smile. Hadi stood frozen in the doorway, his clothes slightly damp from the rain blowing in. His face was filled with fear, profound anxiety, and worry he could not hide.
"Hadi? What's wrong?" Raina asked gently as she slowly approached her husband.
Hadi swallowed with difficulty. Instead of answering, he shifted his body slightly to the side.
The movement revealed the figure of a woman who had been standing silently behind Hadi. She kept her head bowed, her hands clutching the wet coat covering her stomach—the same size as Raina's.
It was as if the world stopped turning that very second.
"Raina... this is Ayu." Hadi's voice trembled violently, nearly swallowed by the thunder rumbling outside. "I'm sorry, Raina... forgive me..."
Raina fell silent. Her eyes stared at Ayu, then dropped to the woman's stomach, and finally returned to her husband. Her head rang violently. She was still trying to process the absurd sight before her.
"What... what do you mean, Hadi?" Raina whispered, her voice so faint it sounded like a fragile thread.
Hadi closed his eyes for a moment, holding his breath before those cursed words left his lips. "I... I got married to Ayu in secret without you knowing. She's pregnant, and she's about as far along as you are."
An unbearably tense silence suddenly crept through the entire room. There were no screams. No curses. No objects flying through the air, no fury erupting from Raina's lips. The woman simply stood frozen in place.
But a few seconds later, Raina's body began to tremble uncontrollably. The joints in her legs lost all their strength. The air around her suddenly seemed to vanish, leaving her chest terribly tight.
"Raina!" Hadi's panicked cry split the silence of the house. He dropped to his knees without caring about the pain, catching his limp wife before her head could slam into the wooden floor. Raina's face was deathly pale, cold as marble.
"Take her to the bedroom, Hadi! Quickly, take her to the bedroom!" Auntie Nyai cried out in a choked, panicked voice, dropping the tray of hot ginger tea onto the table and sending water spilling everywhere.
In the front doorway, Ayu remained frozen. Her body was soaked, her hands gripping the coat over her own swollen stomach as she stared in horror at the scene before her. No one paid any attention to Ayu at that moment; the entire universe inside that house suddenly revolved around Raina's thin, ragged breaths.
Hadi lifted his pregnant wife into his arms. His steps were hurried and unsteady, and he nearly tripped as he carried her into the master bedroom. He laid Raina down with the utmost care on the bed draped with white curtains.
"Auntie, get some warm water for a compress! Please watch Raina for a moment!" Hadi ordered, breathing hard, his hands trembling violently.
Without waiting for an answer, he ran out of the bedroom toward the house phone in the living room. With cold, sweaty fingers that would not stop shaking, he dialed the number of the family's private obstetrician, practically shouting as he begged the doctor to come through the storm that night.
The next half hour felt like hell to Hadi. The doctor finally arrived and checked Raina's pulse, blood pressure, and the fetal heartbeat in her womb. Fortunately, the doctor said the fetus was still holding on, though the severe shock Raina had suffered was extremely dangerous and could trigger premature contractions if she remained under stress for too long.
After the doctor left and Auntie Nyai escorted Ayu to rest in the guest room at the far corner of the back hallway, silence swallowed the master bedroom once again. Hadi pulled a wooden chair up beside the bed.
He sat hunched over, resting both elbows on his knees and burying his face in his palms. The ticking of the wall clock and the roar of the rain outside sounded like torture peeling his heart apart.
When Raina's cold fingers moved slowly over the blanket, Hadi immediately jolted. He looked up.
Raina's eyelids slowly opened, blinking weakly as they adjusted to the dim bedroom light. Her gaze was blank and empty, fixed on the ceiling with not a trace of emotion remaining in it.
"Raina..." Hadi called in a hoarse voice, roughened by the tears of regret caught in his throat. His hand hesitantly reached out, trying to take his wife's pale fingers. "You're awake? Does anything hurt, honey?"
But the moment Hadi's fingertips touched her skin, Raina slowly pulled her hand away, rejecting his touch without saying a single word.