“You’re still coming to Mom’s for lunch tomorrow, right?”
Marlena was still straightening the edge of the tablecloth when Arven answered after a pause.
“Nayara found a box of old letters, Mom. They’re about Almira. Things are tense at home. I can’t say for sure that we’ll be able to come tomorrow like usual.”
Her hands stopped at the edge of the table when the name reached her.
“Almira Hadinata?”
“They’re just old letters, Mom, but things are tense at home.”
Marlena didn’t like the way an old name had suddenly found its way back into a family conversation. For years, it had been much safer to let the matter remain something that was over and done with. Not because she was afraid of Almira as a woman, but because the name Hadinata had never stood alone in her memory. There were family matters that were easier left old, buried, and unquestioned. Marlena had always believed that some things became dangerous precisely when people started feeling entitled to a more complete version.
“Don’t discuss it any further for now,” she said. “I’m going over there.”
She ended the call before Arven could answer. Thirty-five minutes later, Marlena arrived at Arven and Nayara’s house.
Arven opened the door. Nayara was already in the living room, sitting upright with both hands in her lap. There were no tears, no raised voices. That calm made Marlena more cautious. Someone who still wanted to be comforted usually left room to be comforted. Tonight, Nayara looked like she was waiting for something clearer.
“I’ve heard about the letters,” Marlena began after sitting down. “I understand you must be shocked. But that was Arven’s past, before he married you.”
“I know the letters are from before we were married, Mom.”
The answer came too quickly to be brushed aside with a simple explanation.
Marlena glanced at Arven. Her son stood not far from them, offering no help whatsoever to the conversation.
“Then don’t let old things make your marital problems spread any further,” Marlena said. “There’s a small family lunch at my house tomorrow. Just come as usual. You can work out your own problems without giving anyone else a reason to ask questions.”
Nayara looked at her. “Why did you immediately bring up other people asking questions?”
Marlena adjusted the position of the bag beside her chair. “Because no one else needs to make your marriage the subject of conversation.”
“I wasn’t planning to discuss it with anyone else either.”
“Good. Then the matter can end here.”
“Where exactly is ‘here,’ Mom?” Nayara’s tone remained flat, which made Marlena dislike the direction of the question. “I’m not accusing Arven of cheating. I’m only asking why he could be so warm with Almira, while for the past three years we’ve slept in separate bedrooms, and every time I tried to get closer, there was always a distance he never explained.”
Marlena restrained herself from looking at Arven again. This was the first she had heard about the separate bedrooms. As long as the two of them showed up together when necessary and kept their problems out of view in front of the family, Marlena had never felt the need to ask further.
“Every marriage has its own way of working,” she said. “Not everything has to be dug up from the roots just because one old box was found.”
Nayara furrowed her brow slightly. “Dug up from the roots of what?”
That small mistake made Marlena immediately soften her tone.
“What I mean is, don’t use someone else’s past as a reason to make the current problem bigger.”
“Someone else being Almira Hadinata?”
The name rang through the room again, and Marlena felt the conversation moving in a direction she didn’t want. She leaned back, then said more carefully, “No one’s name matters. What matters is that you don’t drag your marriage into broader family affairs.”
Nayara didn’t answer right away. Her gaze shifted from Marlena to Arven, then back again. Marlena didn’t know what her daughter-in-law was thinking, but that small change was enough to make her realize that her words hadn’t closed anything off.
This should have been simple.
Tomorrow, they would come, sit together, eat as usual, and no one would need to ask questions. That was how things had always worked.
“I can’t promise I’ll come tomorrow and pretend everything is fine,” Nayara said at last. “I still haven’t gotten an answer as to why things have remained this way throughout our three-year marriage. If Arven isn’t ready to answer, I can’t help cover it up with a smile at the dinner table.”
Marlena turned to Arven. This time, she didn’t ask her son to defend anything. She simply waited.
Arven remained silent.
Nayara’s refusal didn’t sound like a threat to leave, but it was enough to ruin the plan Marlena had brought from home. Marlena had arrived convinced that Nayara would still choose silence to preserve the peace. Not tonight. Nayara hadn’t raised her voice, but she also hadn’t offered a promise Marlena could take home as a sign that things were still under control. Worse, her attempt to limit the conversation had only pushed Nayara’s questions closer to matters Marlena didn’t want touched.
And as long as Arven continued to hold back his answer, Marlena knew this conversation wouldn’t end with Almira’s letters alone.