INFINITE LOYALTY
TAKE OFF THE SHACKLES OF HATRED AND MAKE PEACE WITH THE PAST

Pekak slowed down the pedal of his bicycle, after being felt by him almost to his destination.

Finally, he stopped his bike after arriving in front of the restaurant where Riani and Aunt Grace made an appointment to meet.

"She didn't come with Riani?" riani asked after getting off her bike.

"No need, this is your meeting with him, so...Pekak does not want to interfere, you just do what you think is best for everything" refused pekak with a wise smile.

"Okay, then Riani goes inside first"

"Yes, come in, if the putu is done, find the deaf around here, because the deaf will wait here"

"Good deaf, thank you..."

Pekak nodded with a smile, then Riani immediately entered the restaurant.

.............

Entering the restaurant, Riani immediately saw a wave of aunty Grace's hand towards her, she sat at the end of the restaurant facing the beach away from the crowd of other restaurant visitors.

"Sorry my aunt came late, earlier on the road there was a little obstacle..." Said Riani while kissing respectfully the back of aunt Grace's hand.

"It's okay..." Aunt Grace replied with a friendly smile, a flash flashed in her memory, just now as she was riding the cidomo, he accidentally flashed and saw the incident where Riani was crying with a trembling body while being accompanied by an old grandfather who was looking at her sadly.

"Aunty...?" Tanya Riani was astonished by the bengong attitude of Aunt Grace.

"Oh sorry! be sitting...We had lunch first, the aunt had ordered food for the both of us" said a nervous aunt grace who suddenly realized from her daydream.

"Good aunt, thank you..." Riani replied obediently.

And did not wait long for the order to finally come.

The two of them immediately enjoyed their lunch.

While eating with a faint look at Aunt Grace staring at Riani who was enjoying her meal, at the face of the woman who loved Ethan, her favorite child.

Seen by him Riani's eyes are still swollen from crying earlier, in his heart there is a sense of compassion and guilt for the woman in front of him.

Actually he had no feeling of hate Riani from the past until now, on the contrary he was very fond of her like his own daughter, but it was the circumstances that turned the situation around, so it had to be this way at last.

Aunt Grace hugged Riani and said that everything would pass and be fine, but she knew very well that it was impossible, because indirectly her family was the cause of Riani's father's death.

Finally they started a serious conversation after they finished eating.

"Aunty apologized for inviting you to talk about this..." Aunt Grace started the conversation.

"Sorry aunt, if I may know about what?" riani asked still not understanding.

"Of course about Ethan..."

"Sorry aunt, before I want to clarify my relationship with Ethan, without compromising my respect for aunt, can I speak first aunt?"

"Of course you can, please..."

"I want to emphasize my relationship with Ethan, since that incident I have decided not to have a relationship with him again, especially now that Ethan and I have a life partner each"

"Thank God...Honestly, aunty has always loved you and agreed with the relationship between the two of you, only...Om Marcel was still very selfish with his decision, until Ethan became a victim of his selfishness, and it happened that made the eyes of Marcel's heart open and realized his mistake..."

"Regarding the unconscious om Marcel it will not be able to change everything that has happened aunt..."

"Since that incident you must have hated our family so much, especially Ethan, right?"

"Honest...Lying if I say I do not hate to remember the events before, especially recently I just found out that Ethan was still alive, while as far as I know when the incident he was dead, he said, as for forgiveness, maybe it's better for my mother, because not only me, but my family who also feel hurt because of the loss of our loved ones, he said, after all, now what's the point of apologizing again if everything has happened and can't go back to the beginning, right?"

"Many things happened together with the accident, son..." Aunt Grace said with a blank look full of sadness.

"Auntie needs to know since the accident that took my father, the days I went through with a nightmare with that incident and my family had to rise from the slump and sadness, he said, continuing life without a backbone definitely knows what it feels like, whereas you guys seem to pass the day quietly without the burden of guilt.(.Said Riani continuing inwardly) on the other side of her face trying to hold back her tears.

"Tante, Ethan, and on behalf of Marcel are sorry for what happened to your father...Although aunt knows that our apology is too late..." Aunt Grace's heart is filled with a deep sense of guilt, because she knows for sure since her father Riani died the days of Riani and her family must have been very heavy they went through, he said, that was why he resigned if Riani still harbored hatred for her family.

"It's been aunty, it's been so long, so...I don't think it's necessary to talk about this anymore..."

"But...Aunty thinks she has to tell Ethan everything that's happened since the death of her man so she can live and regain consciousness, and why she can live again until now..."

"What's aunt doing? he is happy with his wife now and I also made sure that I would stay away from him and would never meet him, even disturbing his happiness"

"Alright, I'll hear aunt's story..." Riani finally gave up with the insistence of Aunt Grace.

"But maybe it's better not to be here, we're looking for another place that's more comfortable to tell everything that would take time..."

"While auntie wants to where, I follow aunt only..."

"Let's walk and find a place on the beach" said Aunt Grace.

"Good aunt..."

Riani just obeyed and followed the steps of the middle-aged woman who had once been a neighbor and was very close to him.

.............

They arrived and sat on the beach.

"After the aunt told me everything, I hope your relationship with Ethan gets better even though it's not as a lover anymore.

Riani just nodded in doubt, Aunt Grace understood and understood if Riani could not completely forget and forgive the past.

"That's when Marcel kicked your father out, and aunt let you one last time see Ethan's body..." Aunt Grace begins her story with teary eyes and is unable to continue her words.

"When Marcel kicked my father out, that was the last time I saw him alive..." Continue Riani with her bitter smile full of heartache.

"Once again forgive us, son..." Aunt Grace's cry finally, while bowing her head held back her grief.

"Actually Ethan is no less afflicted with you..." Aunt Grace continued her story still crying as she remembered and saw how much her beloved son Ethan was suffering.

"I mean auntie?" riani asked confusedly.

"As you know, Ethan died from overdosing on drugs, he was so frustrated when Marcel forbade him from seeing you again.

When you mourn and the accident happens, your screams that saw the accident make everyone come out and that's when you accidentally see Ethan's eyes closed moving, and continue with his fingers, and then he'll see Ethan's eyes, it's as if a new life has returned when she hears your voice, son..."

Riani just kept quiet and did not budge.

"When things got really messy that day, Marcel's aunt and aunt decided to take Ethan to the hospital first, because we saw an ambulance coming to help your father..."

"What about Ethan?" ask Riani briefly.

"When we took him to the hospital, Ethan's life was back, but...

"But what's aunt?" riani asked again, but this time she felt curious.

"But he was in a coma, and not waking up for a year, we were almost desperate, but we heard in Singapore there was a good hospital, making us not lose hope, he said, so we decided to take him there for treatment...

After a month in the hospital, Ethan finally woke up from his coma, but the first person in the car is you want Riani..."

Aunty Grace's eyes again glazed, Riani's heart softened after hearing the story of Aunt Grace.

"Even he refused to undergo further treatment before he met you, until finally the doctor advised us to look for you but...When we went to your house it was empty, the neighbor said that you and your family moved out of the house and no one knew where you moved, we were so desperate that time, until the end..."

Aunt Grace stopped her sentence, seeing her trying hard to hold back the emotion of sadness in her heart, many times she took a deep breath in order to be calmer and not cry anymore.

"If aunt is not strong enough to tell it, you should not continue..." Said Riani while gently patting the middle-aged woman.

"It's okay aunt should continue and finish the story, give aunt time to organize and calm the heart first..."

"Alright if the aunt does not mind to continue the story, slowly"

Aunt Grace nodded weakly, her eyes staring deep into the sea in front of her, her lips still trembling withstanding the sadness in her heart.

Seeing the expression of the face of aunty Grace who was full of sadness, her heart felt pity, even though she was also a woman who had great empathy in terms of feelings.

Maybe because she's a mother, seeing and remembering her suffering child will surely be sad, especially for Aunt Grace Ethan is the only child for her.

Actually Riani's heart was curious about the continuation of the story of Aunt Grace, but she did not want to force and urge him, let Aunt Grace calm her heart first.

Finally, Riani just waited as she stared at the vast expanse of sea in front of her, in her heart feeling that maybe it was time for her to let go of the shackles of hatred and make peace with the past...

...☆☆☆...