Fiction: My Friend Ayik (4)

Center Post Office of Yogyakarta

After sent an application letter I sit down in the waiting chair in Center Post Office. A Have an appointment with Sunu. I said I have an order. Sunu’s father has small store of uniform fashion. I lied but I have no idea.
Five minutes later Sunu come. He sit beside me. “What kind order is?” he asked me.
“Order of responsibility.”
I see his face, exact in his eyes. He looks confuse. “Well…, to the point, Sunu. It’s about Ayik and you. I know what happen. Please marry her!”
He look at me unpleasantly, but I don’t care.
“She asked you to talk to me,” he said. I don’t like his tone. Sarcasm.
“No. I’m here of my own free will. She doesn’t know.”
“You don’t have anything else to do so you see me only talk about it?”
I started to lose patience with him. His words make me want to hit his face. “I’m jobless, so are you. But I’m better than you. At least I have good moral. And you? I don’t think so.”
He say nothing.
“How?”
“It’s not your business.”
“It’s my business too. Ayik is my friend you know. And I will help her.”
“So?”
“So…, you must responsible. Please marry her! Or….”
“Or what?”
“Make yourself ready to go to prison!”
Sunu’s face looks change. He looks tense. “Can I prisoned because of this?” he asked me. And I can see his panic from his voice.
“If you commit adultery in Islamic country, you will be stoned to dead. Stoned to dead is not included in Indonesia law. But, I know the way to get you in the jail. I have consulted a lawyer. You know I have some friends that lawyer.”
His panic is clear more and more. I laugh in heart. My guess is true. Someone has economic problem and educational limitation is easy to intimidated. Sunu is too.
Finally he only can sit and bend his face. “Maybe you don’t trust me. Again and again I regret I did it. I regret I have made Ayik cry.”
“Just regret is useless.”
He hold his head. “What can I do? I’m not ready to marry. I’m jobless you know.”
“What about the store?”
“You know it’s my father’s store. Moreover it almost bankrupts….”
“Someone tell me that Alloh will help someone make kindness. We will never know how and when Alloh’s help come. But it’s sure. Now…, the choice in your hand. To be a responsible man or to be a….prisoner.”
He looks shocked hear word ‘prisoner’. “Ok!”
“Show it to Ayik’s parent at five PM today. Ok?”
“Ok…,Ok.”
I leave the post office. Leave Sunu with his thinking. Again, I lied. I lied about prison. I lied about lawyer. And I have no better idea. I have no bad intention.
(to be continued)