“Arin, wake up. Hey, go pray Fajr first.” Alya woke her younger cousin, who was still fast asleep.
The girl stretched, then pulled the blanket over her face. “In a little while, Sis. Just give Arin ten minutes,” she said, her voice hoarse in the way people sound right after waking up.
“God forgive me. Arin!” Alya said again as she tugged away the blanket wrapped around Arin’s body.
“Get up and pray, or should I tell Uncle? Then you won’t be allowed to spend the night here anymore.”
The girl in her pajamas clicked her tongue in annoyance, then stretched. This time, she reluctantly got up and sat on the bed.
“All you ever do is threaten me!” she grumbled, pouting.
Then she walked to the bathroom, swaying slightly because she was still sleepy.
Once Alya saw that Arin had finished her ablutions, she immediately left the girl alone. Alya had a lot of work to finish before the sun fully rose.
It had become Alya’s habit to do all the housework at dawn. Washing the dishes, cooking, tidying the house, and even tending the small garden in the yard—she did everything herself without a housekeeper.
It wasn’t difficult. All of it was perfectly normal in her village. Who in this village had a housekeeper? Probably no one.
Alya lived in a community where most people were lower-middle-class. In the mornings, the men were busy earning a living, while the women were busy with housework and taking care of their children. Yes, that was what a normal life generally looked like. Nothing seemed particularly special.
“Vegetables... fresh vegetables...” The voice of the traveling vegetable vendor rang out. He was already a regular in the neighborhood.
It still wasn’t fully light outside; it was probably around five-thirty in the morning. The regular vegetable vendor was already surrounded by women. Alya grabbed her instant hijab and hurried outside to buy some ingredients she couldn’t grow in her own garden.
“Oh, Alya. There’s really a different aura around a bride-to-be. You look so beautiful,” one of the women teased when she saw Alya arrive.
Alya smiled. “You’re too much, Ceu Haji,” she replied, not wanting to continue the subject. She picked out a few fish that looked fresh.
“So when’s the big day, Alya?” asked a young woman who was busy choosing red bird’s-eye chilies.
“Just pray for me, Sis Mar.” Again, Alya answered with a friendly smile.
“Come on, hurry up and get married. Don’t put it off anymore. You’re not getting any younger, are you? If you’re already a good match, just go for it. A woman shouldn’t be too picky or take too long to think, or she’ll end up an old maid,” chimed in a full-figured woman with a chuckle.
“Wait, isn’t Alya already an old maid?” another woman cut in, nudging the full-figured woman beside her.
“Hey! You’re always like that.” The young woman Alya had called Sis Mar smacked the arm of the woman who had just teased her.
Alya only gave them a flat smile, as if she didn’t want to respond. It wasn’t that she was unwilling. She was probably just used to dealing with outbursts like that.
“I’ll take these, Uncle. How much?” Alya asked the vegetable vendor.
She seemed determined to get home as quickly as possible.
“Thirty-two thousand, miss.”
Alya promptly paid the amount the vendor named and said goodbye to the women, who were still busy picking out vegetables and gossiping.
A few steps after Alya started walking, a car horn startled her. She glanced to the side and saw a familiar car.
This early? She furrowed her brow. Hanan’s car had stopped beside her, parked on the shoulder of the road.
The left-side door opened, and Maudy got out. “Alya, you just got back from shopping?”
“Yeah, Sis,” Alya replied curtly. Her feelings were so tangled that she couldn’t express what she was feeling at the moment.
“You already know why Hanan and I came here, right?”
“We should talk inside the house,” said Hanan, who had just gotten out of the car.
The women surrounding the vegetable vendor looked curious about the woman who had gotten out of the car and greeted Alya. They grew even more curious when Hanan stepped out of the car a few seconds later.
Yes. Everyone in this village already knew who Hanan was.
“Hey, who’s that with Alya’s future husband?” whispered the full-figured woman, looking extremely nosy.
“Maybe his sister.”
“Ah, no way. They don’t look alike at all.”
“He’s hot. And she’s beautiful, too.”
They continued praising Maudy while pretending to shop for vegetables. They had no idea that Maudy could hear their whispers.
“Hi, ladies. Out shopping?” Maudy asked casually. She walked toward the traveling vegetable vendor.
Hanan tried to stop her. But it was too late. Maudy was already standing among the women.
“It’s okay, Honey,” Alya said helplessly. She could already guess what was going to happen next.
“You should go home. I need to cook,” Alya added, hurrying toward her house, which wasn’t far from where Hanan’s car was currently parked.
“Alya, wait.” Hanan wanted to chase after her, but first he had to deal with his wife.
The man turned toward the vegetable vendor. “Babe, remember what you promised earlier.”
“What are you talking about, Honey? I just came over to say hi to these ladies. Right, ladies?”
The women answered yes and nodded. But their looks toward Hanan had changed.
“All right. Come on, we don’t have much time,” Hanan urged, sensing something strange in the women’s expressions.
“Okay, Honey.” Maudy nodded. “Ladies, I’ll be going now,” she said, then hurried after Hanan toward Alya’s house.
“What did you say to those women?”
“I didn’t say anything. What’s your problem? Come on, hurry up. I already did what you wanted, Honey.”
When they reached the front of Alya’s house, Hanan knocked and called out a greeting several times, but no one answered from inside.
“She’s definitely avoiding us on purpose. There’s no way she didn’t hear us in a house this small. Especially when she knows we’re here,” Maudy sneered, folding her arms over her chest and glaring angrily.
“Forget it. Let’s just go home. Your dream isn’t going to come true, Honey. This is why you shouldn’t be greedy!”
“Babe, we already agreed on this. Stop calling me greedy! I’m not being greedy. This is all because of your selfishness!”
“Oh, so you’re blaming me now? Go ahead, keep blaming me!”
Meanwhile, inside Alya’s bedroom, Arin stretched. The loud voices outside had woken her up. She had gone back to sleep after praying Fajr.
She quickly grabbed her hijab and hurried outside. “Sis Alya? Sis?” she called.
Arin walked toward the kitchen. She saw Alya busily cutting up fish.
“What’s all that whispering outside? It sounds like there are people out there. Sis Alya, can’t you hear them?”
“Just leave them alone,” Alya replied without looking away from the fish she was cleaning.
“As-salamu alaykum, Alya!” Hanan’s voice rang out from outside again.
“See? Just like Arin said. There’s someone here. I’ll open the door first, okay?”
“Arin.” There was no point trying to stop her; the girl had already hurried away.
Alya went back to keeping herself busy. She didn’t want to concern herself with Hanan and Maudy’s arrival.
“Wa alaykum as-salam,” Arin said as she opened the door. She was startled to see the two people standing outside.
“Arin, is your sister home?” Hanan asked, even though he already knew Alya was there. He had just seen her earlier.
“She is, Honey. She is. Um... Sis Alya’s cooking.” Alya looked flustered.
Now Arin understood why Alya had pretended not to hear the greeting from outside earlier.
“You’re Alya’s sister?” Maudy asked coldly.
“Yes, Sis. Her younger cousin,” Arin replied, just as coldly.
Their very first meeting was enough to convince Arin that the woman in front of her was Hanan’s wife, and for some reason, Arin didn’t like her.
“Are you planning to leave us standing here?” Maudy’s glare grew even more contemptuous.
“Oh, right. I forgot. Fine, come in,” Arin said flatly, then turned and walked inside first, leaving the guests to follow on their own.
“How rude! See that? The family of the woman who drives you crazy has no manners at all. Wearing a long hijab is pointless if they’re going to act like that,” Maudy grumbled angrily.