The next morning, the atmosphere in the house felt eerily quiet and tense. The dining table, usually a warm place for conversation in the morning, now felt cold. The only things set out were a plate of plain bread and a cup of untouched hot tea.
Raina hadn't come out of her room at all. The wooden door to the master bedroom had been tightly shut since last night, as though it had become an absolute wall separating her from the outside world that had destroyed her. She spent all her time on the bed, sitting motionless as she stared out the window or simply lying there in the thick silence.
Hadi, who had been pacing the hallway outside the room since dawn, looked deeply troubled. His face was haggard, and his eyes were red from lack of sleep. Every time he was about to knock on the door, his hand stopped in midair as he remembered how Raina had screamed at him to leave the night before.
When the bedroom door finally creaked open and Auntie Nyai came out carrying a tray of porridge that had only been reduced by two spoonfuls, Hadi hurried over to her.
"Auntie..." Hadi whispered, his voice filled with intense worry. "How's Raina? Did she eat?" Auntie Nyai looked at Hadi with a tired, cold stare. She set the tray on a small table in the hallway. "Ina only wanted to eat a little, Mas," Auntie Nyai replied quietly, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't cause a disturbance. "Her body is weak, and her mind is still a mess. Please, don't bother her yet. Don't go in unless Ina calls for you."
"But the baby... the fetus is okay, right, Auntie?" Hadi pressed, his fingers gripping the hem of his own shirt. The fear of losing Raina and the child inside her truly constricted his chest. "Did Raina complain of any stomach pain or dizziness?"
"I've been right beside her the whole time. You don't need to worry about that, Mas Hadi," Auntie Nyai replied firmly, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice. "What hurts most right now isn't her body, Mas. It's her heart. Just focus on taking care of whatever needs to be handled outside."
After hearing Auntie Nyai's words, Hadi stood there stiffly, lost in thought. He stared at the bedroom door, which had closed tightly again, feeling the bottomless chasm that now stretched wide between him and Raina.
Auntie Nyai let out a long sigh, her gaze shifting briefly toward the back hallway, where Ayu's room was. The firmness in her eyes softened into heavy pity.
"And I'll do whatever I can to take care of Ayu too, Mas," Auntie Nyai continued softly, her voice full of maturity and sincerity. "I'm doing it only for the child she's carrying. That baby hasn't done anything wrong."
Hadi caught his breath. His throat felt painfully tight as he heard the generosity of his late mother-in-law's younger sister. In the midst of such a massive betrayal, Auntie Nyai was still able to separate the parents' sin from the innocence of an unborn baby.
"Auntie... thank you so much," Hadi rasped, lowering his head deeply beneath the weight of his unbearable shame.
"I don't need your thanks, Mas Hadi," Auntie Nyai replied as she picked up her tray again. "I just want you to settle the rental or the construction of that house as soon as possible. So Ina can calmly await her delivery later."
With calm, dignified steps, Auntie Nyai walked toward the kitchen, leaving Hadi rooted to the spot as he stared at the tightly closed door to his wife's room.
Dragging his feet heavily, Hadi turned away from the master-bedroom hallway. He walked toward the corner of the back hallway and stopped directly in front of the tightly closed guest-room door. Hadi gently knocked on the wooden door. "Ayu... it's me," he called in a hoarse voice.
Not long afterward, he heard the lock turn from inside. The door opened a crack, revealing Ayu with swollen eyes and a face no less pale than his own. Fear, guilt, and awkwardness mingled in her sorrowful gaze.
"Mas Hadi..." Ayu whispered, opening the door a little wider so her husband could enter.
Hadi stepped into the unfamiliar room. It was quiet and dim. In the corner, Ayu's clothing bag still lay half-open on a small table, evidence of how hastily and unsettled her presence in the house still was.
Ayu sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped over her swollen lap. She stared at the floor, unable to look Hadi directly in the face.
"How is Mbak Raina, Mas?" Ayu asked in a trembling voice, almost like a stifled whisper. "I heard last night... I was so scared..."
Hadi let out a long sigh, then sat in the wooden chair across from Ayu. The weight on his shoulders pressed down so heavily that his body slumped with exhaustion.
"Raina's still weak. She hasn't wanted to leave her room," Hadi answered quietly. He glanced at Ayu's swollen belly for a moment, remembering Auntie Nyai's words from a few minutes earlier. "But Auntie Nyai said... she'll help take care of you here as best she can, for the sake of our child."
Ayu flinched. Tears slowly filled her eyes and spilled onto the backs of her hands. An overwhelming sense of relief washed over her, but the shame and guilt in her chest only grew more suffocating.
"Mas..." Ayu murmured hoarsely. "Should I just find somewhere else to stay? I feel awful about Mbak Raina... I feel so guilty being in this house."
"Don't go anywhere yet, Yu," Hadi said, stopping her in a firm but weary tone. "You're already eight months pregnant. It would be too risky for you to stay alone in a rental place outside. Today, I'll call the foreman and the workers to start building your house on the adjacent lot. Can you hang in there here for a little while? Don't overthink things. Think of our child."