Dengan lagu tema, Coldplay - Paradise, we were singing all the way. Amir yang kelakar merekod segala gelagat sepanjang perjalanan. He is a bit silly and clumsy, tapi buat pertama kalinya aku nampak ciri tenang apabila dia mula buka mulut pada Ayah. Yep, aku kembali ke rumah tua itu dengan satu tujuan-mencari wali.
Kau nak kahwin eh Tanya Cik Maznah.
Ha, haah. Aku cuba gelak tapi macam tak jadi.
Yang mana satunya Datang sekali tiga Yang ni ke
Jari telunjuknya tepat ke arah Abdullah.
Eh, bukan. Ini boyfriend tak jadi. Itu, Amir. Aku gelak lagi sambil cuba terangkan pada Cik Maznah, isteri ketiga Ayah yang dia kahwini sewaktu aku darjah tiga dan antara penyebab besar kenapa tak dapat PTS. Aku terpilih sebagai calon akhir PTS untuk lompat dari darjah tiga ke darjah 5. Disebabkan perasaan kecewa seorang budak yang berumur 9 tahun, aku tak masuk kelas tapi duduk main tiang dekat gajah menyusur. Mak cik adalah orang yang senang diajak bercakap. Umurnya separuh dari umur Ayah sewaktu mereka berkahwin. Tapi mungkin disebabkan cara hidup bersama Ayah membuatkan susuk dan raut wajahnya seusia dengan Ayah.
Aku biarkan Amir berbincang dengan wali. Soalan tipikal yang akan keluar dari mulut orang tua--tentang kerja, gaji dan anak siapa. Kali tu, aku rasa tak boleh persetankan drama Melayu kerana ini memang terjadi dalam realiti Melayu. Aku tak risaukan Amir. Tapi, lebih risaukan Ayah. Aku tak kenal pun dia sangat. Cuma atas dasar wali, aku kembali.
Perbincangan selesai. Aku terus minta diri dengan alasan mengejar waktu supaya jalan tak sesak hari minggu. You dont know me, jasad aku memang tak boleh lama dalam muzium sejarah itu.
Kami tak terus pulang ke KL. Kami singgah di satu pantai kerana Amir dan Fahmi dah berjanji untuk skimming. Sementara itu, tinggallah Abdullah dan aku menghayati senja, bersemadi dengan ciptaan Tuhan. Warna biru-jingga-keunguan, Subhanallah. Meanwhile, I saw some weird feeling through his eyes when we made an eye contact. Cara boraknya seperti semuanya biasa-biasa saja. He took a lot of my pictures. And I love all of them, without any filter. Kami teruskan rancangan balik ke Kuala Lumpur selepas makan asam pedas tetel kegemaran aku. Hari berlalu terlalu cepat dan penat, tapi lelaki-lelaki itu masih nak sambung naik ke Broga, subuh Ahad. Awin nak balik dulu, kemas barang and mandi.
Tak payahlah. Nanti you mesti tidur.
Tak, I janji tak tidur. I kunci jam. Nanti korang datanglah dalam 4:30 ke
Ame standby dekat rumah Lad ok Ame call sampai angkat kalau Awin tidur.
Dan yep, aku tertidur. Tak boleh salahkan aku seratus-peratus. Badan penat sangat, terlelap tanpa sengaja. Dan hanya terjaga bila matahari terik masuk di celah langsir bilik. Oh, fuck.
Terus telefon dan minta maaf sambil tahan gelak. Memang perangai aku. Kalau rasa serba salah dan nervous, aku akan gelak buat-buat macam tak ada apa.
Turun sekarang. Kita pergi makan, balas Amir.
Masuk saja dalam kereta, aku disindir bertubitubi dengan kedua-dua lelaki yang dah lali membahan. Kita pergi jugak esok pagi.
Nak pergi jugak Ingat hari ni tak jadi dah cancel terus!
Eh you dah buat kitorang tunggu sejam depan rumah pagi tadi, lagi nak banyak bunyi. Malam ni jangan tidur!
Erghhhh!!!
Esok kami sampai di kaki Broga pukul 5:30 pagi. Agak lambat sebenarnya untuk kejar matahari terbit bila dah sampai puncak nanti. Amir dah biasa, selalu ke Broga hampir setiap hari untuk jogging katanya. Hari sedang gelap dan itu kali pertama aku mendaki. Seriously, I had nothing on my mind what
will happen next.
Since it was my first time hiking, aku tak dibantu. Dalam erti kata lain, tak disambut atau ditolak ke atas. Tak ada kayu untuk berpaut, senang cerita tak pernah bayangkan ia sesusah itu. Dah hampir pitam di separuh perjalanan. Kedua-dua lelaki mangkuk hayun itu cuma gelakkan saja sambil hulurkan air bila nampak aku penat.
Kata tough, usik Abdullah.
Tough kepala otak kau!
Bila aku rasa kami dah sampai ke permukaan rata, Amir masih kata yang kita belum lagi sampai ke puncak. Agak bengang juga dengan dia yang tak menolong aku langsung untuk naik, apatah lagi menyambut tangan apabila melalui jalan berbatu dan sukar. Ya, aku faham dia tak sentuh perempuan dan sangat menjaga batas lepas apa yang jadi pada dia setahun dulu. Aku pernah ditolak tanpa sengaja bila terpegang bahu dia masa kami bergurau. I cant blame him either.
Kami sampai ke puncak dan terlepas matahari naik. Abdullah sibuk dengan kamera. Amir pula sibuk geledah bag entah cari apa.
Camera ready, Lad. Okay, on.
Aku out of clue.
***
These past 30 days have been crazy. Crazy I tell you, packed with randomness. I cant even believe that I would spend soo much time with these people I barely know. I mean, in terms of length of friendship. Of course we knew each other way before, but growing up, we never had the chance to be in the same club, class, or sports house for instance. Different background and interest, but we took our differences aside and enjoyed our presence and company. Each of us have our own responsibility towards making this relationship work. Thats how I see our love triangle--Abdullah, Awin, and I.
Sure there were other important people in the frame elsewhere but it was all started here. There was an air of relief after the weekend. 12th May marks the day that Awin and I met our parents respectively. For her, its her mom. Both sides gave positive feedbacks and the meeting with her mom was a success with the help from our boy, Abdullah. He was a livewire. Always keeps Awins mom laughing. Most importantly, my intention to marry her daughter came across rather smoothly and she did give one or two important pointers, conditions or hints. Few tears were apparent that night. Abdullah was smoking outside, while Awin was upstairs trying to find her lost files on her PC. It was me and Mak only.
She stressed out that, it wasnt an easy ride raising Awin. Obviously she was a tough cookie-- became a single mother at such early age, having to deal with an ex husband who would do anything to squeeze everything out of her. She worked at a canteen in Melaka before she got divorced, and moved back to Gombak where Awin was raised when she was a toddler. She recalled how Awin and herself survivied the hard times; from eating shared fried mee when they were broke, to sleepless night preparing kuih-muih just to ensure Awin gets to university. There werent any tears when she was telling the story. She shared her story with pride and determination. It was an insight on how Awin grew up and what both of them went through. An eyeopener. She ended the conversation with a little reminder.
Mak cik izinkan Ame ambil Awin dari Mak Cik dan jaga dia. Tapi ingat kalau satu ketika, ada masa yang Ame akan rasa susah sangat nak jaga Awin sampai tak boleh nak jaga dah, pulangkanlah
Awin kat Mak cik.
Both of us were in tears.
Dah habis ke belum bro Abdullah WhatsApp-ed.
Tak jumpa punnnn file tu! Naufal delete lah ni!
Awin came down the stairs and Abdullah entered the house after he heard Awins voice. It was back to laughter and it was time for us to go. All four of us snapped few photos together and that was it. Shook her moms hand, Jumpa lagi Mak cik.
We drove off her house with relief. Meeting your future mother-in-law wasnt that hard now, was it Alhamdulillah, was the least I could say that time. The weekend ended with the three of us just chilling at Asia Cafe recalling how the day went. Each day we have something to look forward to. It blew my mind, as it took me less than 25 days to do this. We have the following weekend planned. The next task was to meet her Father, Ayah. Misi Mencari Wali she phrased. Every week had a chapter waiting to be written. Clich.
The build up towards that weekend-- we met up daily with both of us exchanged conversations and dreams. One of the topics discussed was how she admired couples with epic wedding proposals. She showed me a few videos on YouTube. One of it involved this dude who made a huge effort, creating short music clip videos; corny movie scenes just to propose to her girlfriend. The result was inevitable, the girl didnt even look at the ring, she just hugged the dude straight away and cried. On topic, coincidently, that weekend, I had planned to propose to her and surely there was a slight pressure. I had to recruit an entourage to make this plan a success. Abdullah and Fahmi were the obvious choice.
As the weekend approaches, boy I was
nervous. Not about the proposal (yet) but meeting her stranger father. She always said that she never quite get the chance to know her father let alone love him. After what he had done to her and her mom, growing up, she always had troubles to forgive him. In the end, she just decided to let everything go and forgave him. Kudos to her.
It was the 4 of us on the road trip to Melaka; Awin, Abdullah, Fahmi and me. The day could not have started more badly when I arrived at Awins house late cause early in the morning I had some family affairs to deal with. It was around Zohor when I arrived in Shah Alam to pick them up. Off we went to Melaka. It was fun to have the guys on our trip to Melaka. They sure did help to keep me from getting more nervous. And of course, Awin, too. There I was, driving to Melaka to seek an approval to marry a mans daughter.
We reached there just before Asar and must I say the meeting went quite smoothly. Rumahku Muziumku was the given-name of his house. It was literally a museum located at the heart of Padang Temu. You could barely miss the sight of it if you are heading towards Umbai from Bandar Hilir. Awin once told me she once stayed in a museum. Apperently, her father was into antique stuffs and he sure did collect a lot of things, from traditional Malay weapons, to old vintage Malay music records. The museum was eerie and cool at the same time.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Awins
stepmother and father. Suprisingly, they were friendly. My nervousness went off when I saw her father wore a t-shirt that reads, Jangan Lupa Lirik.
Normal questions were asked, Kerja mana
Adik beradik berapa orang Ayah orang mana
I have this habit of not freaking out when it mattered the most. The usual tip, praises to the Prophet, Muhammad PBUH, in critical moments helped significantly. Without hesitant, I answered any questions from the old man. After that, I simply asked for his permission to marry Awin and asked what does he thinks about it.
Aku okay je. Asalkan kau bagitahu aku bila. Phew.
The disccusion ended and he took me, Fahmi and Abdullah on a short tour around the museum. The way I see it, Awins stepmother seems excited about the fact that she is getting married. It was almost 5.30 pm and it was time for us to go. Terima kasih Ayah.
Mission accomplished! (I presumed) Alhamdulillah, it was a success. Me and Awin glared at each others eyes in the car, knowing that we achieved something that day. Fahmi took over the wheel because I was half-numbed, mentally exhausted. Sigh of relief accomodate our trip as we head to one of the beaches in Melaka. Fahmi and I promised to go skimboarding together. He was into a water sports and did I mentioned he was funny
On the way to the beach, I asked Fahmi to drop by Mahkota Parade to buy towels because I forgot to bring one. Truth was, I wanted to buy a necklace for Awin for the proposal the next morning. I asked Fahmi to follow me and we leave Awin and Abdullah in the car. We both ran to the nearest jewelry shop and picked up a clean and simple white gold necklace. I do not have any idea how perfect jewellery looks like, but this is it.
We rushed back to the car and went straight to the beach. We had our skim sessions, moments before Maghrib while Awin and Abdullah watched us, snapping selfies and pictures while theyre at it. The evening was painted in red sunrays with a soothing sunset accompanied us making the evening more memorable. Laughters and relief were the theme that evening. We could sense all four of us were having fun through this strange friendship.
The way the day ended was practically stressrelieving. But truth was, we were just half way through the weekend. We went back to KL knowing that we were going to hike Broga Hills the next morning. Awin had no idea that me, Abdullah and Fahmi have planned to surprise her with my wedding proposal. She thought it was going to be a normal hike. It was going to be her first time going up Broga Hills. Before this, she only heard my experience, hiking every weekend.
We were excited to know its going to be another long day the next day. We arrived in Shah Alam almost midnight and Fahmi decided to pass on Broga Hills as he was exhausted. So it means that the three of us remained with our initial plan to go hiking on Broga Hills. My plan was to get ready around 4 am and that early morning, I stayed over at Abdullahs place while I dropped Awin off at her house. Awin was tired and asked us to wake her up
4.30 am as she was going to have short nap before the hike.
Abdullah and I could not sleep that night as we were busy planning on how and what to say to Awin when I propose to her. I could not think specifically how. Later we ended up talking about other stuffs. Time flew and it was already 4.30 am. It was time to wake Awin up.
The person you called cannot be reach. Please leave a message after the tone..
No. She cant be asleep. Called her a few times but the result was the same. Went to her house and called her a few time more. Still, no answer. Abdullah decide to call it a day, maybe it was not destined for the proposal to fall on the 30th day we met. Abdullah and I went over to my friends house as Abdullahs house was full of people. We fell asleep after Fajr right before we decided to postpone the proposal to the next day. We both woke up in the afternoon. We woke Awin up and she apologised, because of her, our Broga Hill hiking plan was cancelled. That was actually the first time she apologized, to me, as I remembered. The three of us went for lunch and we agreed that the plan will be postponed to the next morning.
That night, I was eager to do something just to mark our 1st month of knowing each other. I knew she is into fancy dinner dates especially with me. We both ended up having a pleasant dinner over at The Curve, Damansara. It was actually the first time I brought anyone on a date after for so long.
The night ended early as we were hoping to wake up early next morning for the postponedproposal. It was 4 am in the morning, I picked up Abdullah first and Awin later. We were excited to do this. It was our first outdoor activity together. We arrived at Semenyih just before Fajr. We went for prayers and 5 minutes later we arrived at the feet of Broga Hills. It was Monday morning so there werent many people.
Looking at Awin, she looked athletic. For the past 31 days knowing her, she always said that she likes to jog during her past time but only after she met me, she had trouble to continue her routined jogs. To add more, she didnt have much energy as she only slept for 3 hours. Maybe thats one of the main reason we took 1 hour to get to the top. Normally, it would take around 30 minutes to reach the top of Broga Hills. It was dark, misty and cold. I love every second of it. The three of us hiked up Broga Hills with ease and calmness even though we had a few pit stops. Abdullah with his jokes and Awin being cranky most of the time. I remembered how Abdullah made fun of Awins backside without her hearing. Luckily I heard it. I just said Hoi! He laughed and said sorry. I really enjoyed our hike up to the top of Broga. It didnt feel like most of the time when I hike Broga, alone. I dont know why, but it felt different.
We were half way up to the top, and the sun rose. It was not disappointing at all. Watching the sunrise with your loved ones, I felt like I had a place where I belong-- with them. Abdullah and I snapped a lot of photos along the journey.
Jom naik atas lagi, ada spot best kita boleh duduk.
We sat on a huge rock overlooking the town of Semenyih. A beautiful morning it was. The sky was blue and the sun was bright. I had to keep calm cause I was about to officially proposed to her. I gave the signal to Abdullah. I took out the necklace and Abdullah began filming the moment.
I never had the chance to propose to you properly and sorry theres no ring to show because I was gonna save it for the engagement but here goes. What Awin asked.
Turn around, meh Ame pakai kan.
What Whats that
I bought something for you. I hope you like it.
What
Let me put it on your neck.
Im putting it.
Whats taking you soo long!!
Your leher is so gemuk!
Lad, dia nak bunuh I ke!
Dah! Okay. Here goes.
What is this
It was an awkward situtation when Abdullah and I knew exactly what was going to happen and poor Awin didnt have a clue what was going on. Abdullah caught everything on camera and manage to fill in every awkward moment with his sarcasm. I continued. To prevent me from stage fright, I talk to the camera that Abdullah was holding instead of Awin, and Awin too look at the camera.
Dear Awin, it has been exactly 30 days since we knew each other, and thank you for accepting me in
your life, I just want to ask you something. Pause.
Will you marry me
Awin straight away laughed estatically and her saliva was all over my face. Without me thinking, I gave her the finger. Lad! Dia gelakkan aku Lad! WHAT IS HAPPENING! Awin continued laughing.
So, whats the answer Awin Abdullah asked.
Yessss, Awin answered while sit-dancing. Awin gave me a pat on the head. She was content by looking at her face. I was speechless. After overthinking for days how the hell would my proposal went, I ended up giving my future wife the middle finger after she responded to my proposal. I was relieved, to be honest. It was on top of that hill, Abdullah, Awin and myself shared something special. I could not have done it without the help of Abdullah. Awin knew she was with her two men that she loved the most at that point, and me having the person whom I can put my trust on, and the girl of my dreams. While Abdullah well, Awin and I still cant figure out what was he thinking at that point until now.
While we were celebrating the proposal, Abdullah teased,
You may kiss him Awin!
Lad!!! Me and Awin awkwardly responded.
Okay then let me kiss him for you.
Abdullah gave a kiss on the forehead and all three us laughed continously. It was a beautiful day for me. The day ended that afternoon after I dropped them off to their homes and I had to go to work that day. Yeah. Work.
Alhamdulillah.
Another chapter. Another people. Another view. Another eyes. Another world. Another way of life. Will lead you to another you.
- Abdullah
