Bu Marni returned home feeling disappointed. Her hopes of helping her youngest son had gone unheeded by Raka. After all, she had just told Dimas and Selvi that Raka usually did whatever she asked. Besides, Bu Marni felt that she had never asked Raka for anything since her eldest son lost his job.
“How did it go, Mom?” asked Selvi, Bu Marni’s favorite daughter-in-law.
Bu Marni merely shook her head, signaling that her attempt to persuade Raka had failed.
“Then what happened to your promise yesterday, honey?” Selvi asked. “You said you wanted to open a laundry business. You said your brother would definitely fulfill your request. But look at what happened now.”
“You know how it went, don’t you? I already asked Raka. Mom also stepped in, but Raka still refused to give us the money,” Dimas replied.
“This is so embarrassing, honey!” Selvi snapped angrily. “We’ve already rented the place. I’ve even found employees and chosen one to hire. How can we not have the capital yet? Are we just not going to open the business?”
Dimas didn’t dare look at his wife.
“What else can we do? We don’t have enough money either. We can’t just open a laundry business without thinking it through. We should have waited until we had saved enough.”
“That’s because you said your brother’s business was growing!” Selvi cut in, her face tense with irritation. “You said that if we didn’t start a business right away, Raka might not want to help us. But now that we’ve actually prepared everything, he still refuses to help when we need the capital.”
Selvi pursed her lips.
Bu Marni, who had heard their conversation, looked increasingly worried.
All this time, she had always spoiled Dimas. Even after getting married, Dimas had never worked a single day. He always wanted to start a business of his own and refused to work for someone else.
The problem was that Dimas’s abilities were limited. He had no particular skills that could serve as the foundation for a business. Even this plan to open a laundry business was really just an experiment, because Dimas had been interested after seeing how well his friend’s laundry business seemed to be doing.
The business plan itself was not yet fully developed.
Meanwhile, Selvi kept pressuring him to find a job and earn an income to cover their needs.
Their entire family’s life still depended on the pension money Bu Marni’s husband received every month.
Bu Marni let out a long sigh.
She was beginning to worry about her youngest son’s future, especially now that Selvi was demanding all sorts of things.
“What if we start a business like your brother’s?” Bu Marni suggested.
“Making cakes, Mom?” Selvi asked.
“Yes, exactly. It doesn’t require that much capital,” Bu Marni replied.
“That’s worth considering,” Selvi said.
Raka and Naila tried to calm themselves after Bu Marni left. They remained silent for a while, until Naila finally started a conversation.
“Are you okay if Mom’s angry?” Naila asked softly.
“It’s okay. Besides, Mom has always spoiled Dimas, to the point that she seems to forget she has another child. You saw it yourself when she came here, didn’t you? Did she care about our situation? She knows we’re struggling too, but she doesn’t want to care. All she thinks about is that one son of hers.”
Raka sighed.
“Mom has never loved me that much. So if she gets angry, it’s nothing unusual to me.”
Naila looked at her husband with pity.
“I hope Mom’s heart opens, honey. It would be better if she shared her love more fairly,” Naila said. “If she’s angry, just let her be, okay?”
“What else are we supposed to do about it?” Sakha said.
“I just feel sorry for you. I’m afraid you won’t be able to deal with Mom later.”
Raka gave a faint smile.
“I’ll try to stay strong. The important thing is that I still have you and the kids. You’re my motivation.”
Hearing that answer, Naila smiled.
“I’ll go to the back for a bit, okay? I want to make the cake order.”
“The one from yesterday?” Raka asked.
“Yes. I already made the batter earlier. All that’s left is to bake it.”
“I’ll help,” Raka said.
Naila smiled.
“What could you possibly help with?”
“I can help with anything.”
“You can use cooking equipment too?”
Raka raised both hands.
“Well... a little.”
Naila immediately shook her head.
“You’d better go out and work. That way you can earn some money. Don’t get in the way of my work. I won’t be able to focus.”
Raka protested. “I want to help. Why are you saying I’ll make it harder for you to focus?”
“The point is, I’m more comfortable making cakes like this by myself. If you help, it’ll just make things more difficult. I’m also worried the batter won’t turn out right.”
Raka finally laughed.
“All right. In that case, I’m going.”
He picked up his jacket and helmet.
“Wish me luck, okay? Hopefully I’ll make a lot of money today.”
Naila smiled.
“God willing. Don’t forget to call me when it’s ready. I’ll deliver it to the customer’s house.”
“Got it,” Naila replied.
The man left the house. He resumed his work as an ojol driver after his routine had been delayed by his younger brother and mother visiting his rental house.
He slipped a hand into his pants pocket. He had been carefully saving a little money there for the past few days. It wasn’t much, but if he kept adding to it little by little, eventually it would amount to something.
For Raka, nothing was more important than his current goal of replacing his wife’s wedding ring. He didn’t want the wedding ring he bought later to come from the proceeds of his wife’s cake sales.