5. Introducing a Future Daughter-in-Law

Defano followed Cherry until she completely forgave him and was willing to be invited to his house and introduced to his parents.

"Cherry, please listen to me first! I'm not done talking yet!" Defano shouted while walking quickly after Cherry who was already overcome with annoyance at her lover for not being on time. After catching up, Defano held Cherry's right arm so that the girl would not get further away from him.

"Let go!" Cherry tried to throw her hand away, but failed because her strength was not as strong as Defano's.

"Honey, listen to me first. I was late because I took my father home first, then I picked you up. Didn't we already plan to meet my parents?" Defano tried to give Cherry some understanding. His girlfriend sucked in her lower lip. His brain instantly rethought the matter.

"Yes, and you're the one who's late," she quipped while folding her arms across her chest with a deadly glance at Defano.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again, okay?" Defano's pleading gaze made Cherry's day.

"Then where's your cell phone, huh? What's the point of having a cell phone if you yourself can't be reached," Cherry was upset. Suddenly Defano furrowed his brow, trying to remember where he last put his cell phone while reaching into the pocket of the suit he was wearing and also his pants, but could not find the long, flat object.

"Oh my!" Defano tapped his forehead with his right hand.

"What the heck?"

"I left my cell phone at the office!" Defano was forgetful when it came to his cell phone, because to him it wasn't that important so he just focused on work without thinking about where he had last put the rectangular object with three boba cameras. Cherry also panicked and didn't expect Defano to carelessly put the expensive object down.

"Gosh Def! You... how could you be this careless?" wondered Cherry at her boyfriend.

"Let's go to my office first, come on!" Defano immediately pulled Cherry's hand and took her into the car, then left for his office to retrieve his left behind cell phone.

_

The night air pierced the skin of a girl who had just returned from the salon. It was already 9 p.m., the highway was still crowded with passing vehicles, as well as many other pedestrians passing by. The bus was also still running, but the girl chose to walk and enjoy the night air rather than take the bus. It would be faster to take the bus, but she could not enjoy the scenery and night air like now. Walking little by little until her feet reached the gate of her aunt's house. He sighed briefly, then pushed the gate that had not been locked.

Ceklek!

The sound of the door being opened from outside made the person inside the house instantly wince in surprise.

"Oh my!"

"I'm home!" The girl had a smile on her lips. Meanwhile, another girl who was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine immediately closed the magazine.

"Oh? Just home, Hana?" Yes, the girl who opened the door was Hana and the one who asked was Nanda.

Her cousin who looked at her differently, this time more intensely than when Hana first moved into the big house. Hesitantly because she was not used to being stared at so intensely made Hana's guts shrink.

"Yes, Nanda," Hana replied hesitantly.

"Hurry up and clean this place up! Look, this living room is getting dirty because of the remnants of the food I ate earlier," Nanda ordered, as if assuming Hana was a maid in her big house.

Hana was surprised because previously the nature of her cousin was not like this. Why did her cousin suddenly turn out to be arbitrary? She thought. She clearly did not accept and argued with subtle language to Nanda.

"Why don't you clean it up yourself, Nanda? I'm tired, I want to rest in my room," Hana refused with an indifferent attitude and walked towards her room, but her right arm was immediately held by Nanda firmly.

"Akh!"

"Dare to fight you, huh. You're only here for a ride, Hana. Don't think you're going to enjoy yourself here without doing any work in this house, you're going to have to be my hooligan until you move out of here, remember that!" Nanda pushed Hana's body hard until she fell to the cold marble floor.

"Aw!"

"And remember one more thing, if you snitch on my mom, I'll increase your punishment!" with eyes flushed red with anger, Nanda just didn't want Hana to refuse her orders.

After saying that, Nanda turned around and walked casually towards her own room. Hana was still digesting what Nanda had said while daydreaming. Her head was suddenly dizzy and tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I knew something like this would happen." she whispered.

"I didn't think Nanda was a good person, but I was wrong. It's true what she said earlier, I'm just a hitchhiker in this house, so I really have to obey her orders," Hana immediately wiped her tears and began cleaning the floor which was full of the remains of several snacks that were not finished and also the messy sofa.

"I have to be strong for the next few days. Once my salon is finished, I'll leave this house and never want to live here again, especially not with Nanda. Cheer up, Hana!" Hana encouraged herself. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips, though her falling tears couldn't lie that she was sad and hurt.

_

In a large house owned by Mr. Afnan's family, there were guests from a large family from New York. They only stopped by briefly and then excused themselves to go home. On the terrace there were two cars parked, the people were still talking to Mr. Afnan who was on the terrace with them.

"Afnan, if Defano is going to get married, you have to invite me, just watch out if you forget me, I will bang on your house until it collapses, hahahahahaha," one of Defano's father's sister-in-law named Rawinda joked a little.

"Hahahaha, Sister-in-Law don't do that, we will invite you, just take it easy. After all, Defano hasn't introduced us to the girl who will become our daughter-in-law," said Melly, Defano's mother and Mr. Afnan's wife.

"Hahaha, take it easy, sis. We will definitely invite you all," replied Mr. Afnan with a smile too.

"Alright, we're going home first. See you next time,"

"Yes, be careful on the road." They waved goodbye to the families who came earlier.

One by one the cars began to leave the gate of Defano's house. Meanwhile, Defano himself, who had just arrived home and wanted to bring his car in, stopped at the side of the road, waiting for the two cars to leave first, then his car could enter. While waiting, he frowned.

"Who's coming, honey? How come it seems so crowded," Cherry wondered.

"I don't know, I wonder too. Who are they?" Defano tried to remember the cars and license plates of the two cars, but to no avail, there was nothing he remembered about the two cars.

"Try asking my parents later," Defano continued.

The two cars had left, Defano's car entered the terrace and continued walking until it reached the car park. They got out of the car and entered the big house.

"I'm home!" Defano shouted in a loud voice so that his parents would hear his voice and immediately come out of their hiding place.

His parents, who had entered the house earlier and were cleaning up some dirty glasses that were still on the table, immediately stopped their activities because they heard the loud voice of their son. Defano's father and mother looked at each other.

"Defano is here," Mr. Afnan immediately straightened up followed by his wife.

"Auntie Mita, please take care of all this." Melly ordered one of her maids. Aunt Mita nodded and put everything in order.

Defano and Cherry arrived at the living room, greeted the middle-aged man and woman and they sat on the sofa.

"Father, Mother. I'd like to introduce my girlfriend, her name is Cherry. We decided to get married soon," Defano smiled as he linked his right hand to Cherry's left.

"Mr. Afnan, Mrs. Melly. I am Cherryka Jasmine, we have been dating for a long time, therefore, we decided to get married soon," Cherry introduced herself while shaking hands with Defano's parents.

"So, Dad, Mom, do you agree?" Defano asked. The faces of Defano's father and mother were unconvincing. Both of them did not show a happy expression at all.

.