In an instant, the rancid smell of randu leaves pierced Ajeng's nose and made her stomach churn. Ajeng immediately moved from her seat. Her daydream ended as the rancid smell disappeared. Ajeng takes a bath while washing clothes, then cooks rice so that she can take Darma's lunch to the rice fields.
"Honey, Dewan hasn't come home yet." Darma asked, approaching Ajeng, who was still sitting in front of the firebox.
"Not yet, Dad. Earlier, he ordered me to ask when his bike would come. I think that Dewan really wants a bike, Beib. He needs a bike to going back and forth to school, he also once said that all the children who violated were using bicycles, but he walked," said Ajeng, recounting the complaints she had heard from Dewan.
"I also want to quickly buy a bicycle for Dewan, Beib. But as you know the results of my day's work are only enough for a day. I'll try to borrow some money from Amir soon; who knows Amir might even lend me money to buy a bicycle for Dewan."
Darma sat on a wooden chair in the kitchen; there was already a glass of warm tea that Ajeng always prepared every morning. Ajeng's hot sweet tea is only available when she has sugar and tea in stock, but if she runs out of money and sugar and tea stock. So Darma was only served with ordinary warm water, which was always placed on a wooden chair in their kitchen.
"If the debt must be paid, how are we going to pay it to Amir?"
"Come on, Honey. Don't think about it. You know well that Amir is now very rich. I believe that if I owe his money to buy a bicycle and don't pay for it for a year, it won't be a problem for him. H is richman and he is my best friend."
"Daddy, O, Daddy." Ajeng chuckled, shaking her head. "You think because you are Amir's best friend, so he will lend you much money. That's only your dream. Beib," Ajeng sneered with pursed lips.
"Friends is friends, but if the problem is money, that's a different matter. Go there, Honey, try to borrow it. I'm not sure Amir will just give it," continued Ajeng, who was ready to lift the steamer from the pot that she used to cook rice.
A round woven bamboo named Tampah Pengangen is ready on the table for Ajeng to use to cool the rice so it doesn't go stale.
"Well, I'll go to my work first, Honey. This morning I was working alone in Pak Harto's rice fields. That's why he told me to come early in the morning to check the irrigation so that the water still flows into the fields."
"Well, the rice is cooked. Don't you eat it first?"
"There's no need time, honey; That's for you and Dewan. I have go to Pak Harto's house first to get a water straw machine, at least have breakfast there," said Darma, who did as much as possible to save rice and money to buy side dishes so that Ajeng could set aside her income for savings.
"Okay, be careful, Beib."
"Thank you, honey. I love you." Darma whispered after landing a kiss on his wife's forehead.
This morning he goes to work before Dewan returned from the mosque. Actually, it wasn't because the skipper, Harto had asked him to leave early in the morning. But it because Darma deliberately avoided Dewan so that he would not lie again and find various excuses Dewan asked for a bicycle for him.
*
The scorching heat of the sun is already very stinging, even though the sun is not yet at the top of the head. Working alone in the rice fields is sometimes boring, but Darma still has to do it because he is a coolie. This was all he could do to earn a wage. Continue to work in Harto's vast expanse of rice fields even though he is alone. Without any friends to chat with to drive away the silence, Darma sat leaning under a Mango tree besides the Kapok tree.
Sweat was clearly visible running down his face. The breeze from the trees began to make Darma's eyes feel heavy.
"If only bicycles, I can buy ten of the best bicycle for your son."
"Gosh, who are you?" asked Dharma.
He was shocked and immediately rubbed his eyes so he was sure his vision was not wrong. His sleepiness disappeared instantly. His eyes, which had been heavy before, were now wide open.
This afternoon he was surprised by the appearance of a beautiful woman he had never seen before. A beautiful woman in a kebaya and a batik tapih finger stood right in front of him.
She was tall, with his hair in a neat bun, but his bangs swayed in the wind. The eyes are long and the nose is sharp and straight. Curly eyelashes and thick eyebrows swooping down make her look perfectly beautiful. Like a princess from the palace. She has an innocent face, but his aura is so powerful.
"Tell me how many bikes do you want?" repeated the woman when she saw Darma was still transfixed, scanning himself, which was the first time he had appeared in front of Darma.
'How did he know I was thinking of a bike for my son?'
"I can know every wish you say in your heart."
Darma was flabbergasted again by the words of the beautiful woman in front of him.
"You can know what's in my heart. Who are you?" asked Darma, his body starting to shudder in pain. He glanced to his left and right, which only saw the wide expanse of Harto's rice fields.
Sometimes there are motorbikes that pass by. From afar, he also saw workers in other fields resting. However, the distance was too far from the tree he was now sitting on. Darma is usually accompanied by Iwan and his wife Pitri, fellow farm workers who also work in Harto's rice fields. However, Iwan and Pitri did not go to the fields today because of something that Darma did not know why.
Sudenly, this is what happened: he got goosebumps when he saw a beautiful woman appear in front of him out of nowhere.
"Call me Nyimas Randusewu Darma, I am the queen of the Randusewu palace, where you have been sheltering all this time."
At the end of his sentence, Nyimas Randusewu laughed, instantly making Darma's hair stand on end. Darma remembered what Amir had said yesterday: that the queen of the demons in the Randusewu forest was a beautiful woman.
It wasn't just Amir who said that; Darma also often heard rumours about beautiful women who occasionally appeared at the corner of the Kapok tree, where single accidents often occurred and the victim was always covered in blood, even though sometimes he didn't die.
Darma thought, his eyes scanning the Nyimas Randu's body from head to toe, which did not resemble the usual scary demons, but rather was enchantingly beautiful.
"That's right Darma, I am Nyimas Randu, I am the queen of the demons in Randusewu palace, I can give you anything that you want Darma." Nyimas Randusewu was able to read Darma's heart again.