He's The Unaffordable
Chapter 41 - Regret

Uncle Hendra walked with his wife to the living room. I followed them. Silence filled the room after they sat side by side, while I sat before them. Aunt Zahara squeezed the soft hand of her husband in her grasp, as if giving him a warning to be kind. I gulped back heavily.

Right now I would love to return to being the little boy who proposed to Dira in front of his father and mother. Being an adult is hard and difficult. Every silly act of mine is no longer understandable, but it has to be accounted for. And I have to face three people who are very protective of Dira to be able to realize my plan.

“What's up, Colin? Why do you want to talk to us?” tanya Aunt Zahara opened the conversation, when for a while I was silent.

“It ... I ...” I cleared my throat slowly, clearing my suddenly hoarse esophagus. “A-I apologize for hurting Dira. I asked her to be my wife when I was a child, but I also ruined our relationship. There is no excuse I can give as a justification for my actions. Please, forgive me.”

“My wife must have been easy to forgive you, but not with me. From the beginning I didn't believe you. I can't believe that a snot like you would be serious about my daughter. And of course you took a very good time. One year before your wedding. Why not do it a few years before? Why now?” ask Uncle Hendra.

I opened my mouth intending to give an answer, but Uncle Hendra immediately raised his hand signaling that he had not finished speaking. “If you want to make a bullshit excuse like saving my wife's or our family's reputation, keep the answer to yourself. I'm more than capable of protecting my family and don't need a boy like you to pretend to be a hero.”

“A-I'm really sorry to have done that. I promise, I won't repeat it again.” My words made Uncle Hendra's forehead wrinkle deeper.

“Will not repeat it again? There won't be any more words for you. Your relationship with my daughter is over, so you won't be able to hurt her AGAIN.” Uncle Hendra ignored his wife's gaze with focus on looking intently at me.

I slid down from my seat and knelt in front of them. “I beg, Uncle, Aunt. I am so begging you guys. Ii'm sorry. I'm so sorry I let Dira go. I think this is the best way to keep the photo from spreading. I didn't know that this was an old case that was over. I beg.” I was so nervous and desperate that I suddenly forgot to speak Indonesian.

“I realized that I had made a big mistake. I betrayed your trust. But I beg you. I love Dira so much. Let me go back to him and start over. I promise I'll never hurt her again. I beg you,” my door in a clear voice. I don't care if I have to humble myself to be with her again.

“My answer remains no,” Uncle Hendra said firmly.

“This mistake you did was fatal, Colin. Not even Dira herself wants to come back to you. You've seen for yourself that he's decided on everything that has to do with you. He restored his original hair color,” said Aunt Zahara sympathetically.

“If Uncle and Aunt give me your blessing again, then I will do whatever it takes to get Dira's heart again,” I say I mean.

“Can't be so, Nak.” Aunt Zahara sighed softly. “If we give you your blessing, it means we betray our own daughter's choice. He has decided to never come back to you again. I know that you mean well. But your way is wrong,” said Aunt Zahara.

What Aunt Zahara said made sense. If I get their blessing before winning Dira's heart back, it's the same as me dividing their family. One sided with me, while the other was still hurt because of my actions.

When there was nothing else we needed to talk about, then they walked out of the room to join the guests. I can only bow my head, admit defeat for my own mistakes. If they don't let me go back to Dira, how can I approach her again?

Vivaldo and fucking Nora. They know my weakness. If I didn't listen to them, it wouldn't be like this. Ah, briefly. I also know their weaknesses. And if I don't see it wrong, then Dira isn't completely free of danger. They've prepared other plans with the young man I saw talking to them at the restaurant.

It could be that this is the only way that I can gain the trust of my parents and my beloved sister. Alright. I will not give up just because they will not forgive me. Rocks can be crushed by being dropped by water droplets constantly at the same point. Dira's heart and his family are not made of stone. They will also melt someday.

“What do you do?” asked Dira who I did not hear entering the room. He occupied the position where Aunt Zahara had been sitting. “Do your feet not tingle on your knees like that?”

“I hope you didn't say anything stupid to my parents, because Papa hates you so much. He repeatedly planned various ways to repay your actions. Starting from breaking your hands, breaking my legs, even breaking your neck.” Dira crossed his hands in front of his chest.

“Why is everything related to breaking my body?” I was horrified, my hand reflexively holding my neck imagining the pain if Uncle Hendra's big hand touched me.

“Because you broke my heart.” Dira rolled her eyeballs, thinking silly of my question earlier.

“Dira.” I cleared my throat, then held my seat. “I'm sorry. I am so sorry for what I did. I'll do—”

“Black,” he said without taking his eyes off me. The dog answered his call. I looked towards the direction the sound came from. Why didn't I hear them enter this room? “You're saying the wrong thing just a little, I'll ask my beloved Black to bite you again. Oh, aye. There's Gold too.” The dog barked at his name.

I spontaneously raised both of my legs up on the sofa when I saw them growling showing their sharp rows of fangs. “I'm sorry to you, why do you think I'm going to mispronounce? I won't hurt you again, Dira.”

“Basic liar. You obviously want to ask me to come back to you. You use all of those words every time you apologize. ‘I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll do whatever it takes for you to forgive me and accept me back.’ Come, Colin. I've known you since we were bedwetting.”

“OK. I admit, I really want you to come back to me. No need to answer, I know you will answer no. But that doesn't mean I'll stop trying,” I said I don't want to lose. “Right now I will honor your request to keep your distance. You are in an important phase because you will face a national exam, so I will not bother you.”

“This is not the same as our previous quarrel, Colin. This time I'm serious. You broke our big rules on purpose. You cheated. Even if you do it for an acceptable reason, cheating is cheating. The tears and pain I felt when you did it all were real. So, don't ever think that I'll accept you back.”

*******

Meanwhile in a luxury apartment~

A foreign man was sitting restlessly staring at his cell phone. He stood up as soon as he heard the elevator door open, then closed again. A man entered the room and sat on one of the sofas not far from him.

“How? Is there any good news?” tanyanya was impatient.

“He still rejects new clients. I offer the same amount of money, he replied no.” The man massaged his forehead, preparing to receive a reaction from his foreign counterpart.

“I told you, raise the offer! If necessary give him a hundred million and his client asks him to accompany the holiday! What made you act so carefully? He won't turn down that much money!” said frustration.

“There's your problem, Finn. Not everyone likes a lot of money. The more you offer, the more suspicious they become. That's what Mila thought. She is not most women who immediately react to hear the large amount of money. He even asked me to suspend all new jobs for the next three months.”

“Three months, you said!? I can't leave my company that long to solve the mess you guys caused!”

“This is also the chaos that you are increasingly entangled with by coming to him, claiming to be his father, and recklessly chasing after him until he is frightened!”