Behind the Rumors

The next Monday, while I was returning from the university, I intentionally picked to return home using the street that was parallel to Mr. Idris' book store. While passing close by to the store, I heard someone calling me.

"Ender!"

It was Sena. She was peeking from the door.

"Father, it is him!"

I was playing like I wasn't going to stop there myself, but just wanted to come by because they wanted me to. Coming to a stop just in front of the door, I was greeted by Mr. Idris and his daughter.

"Hi." I said.

"Welcome back, welcome back, friend." Mr. Idris said. "Here, come inside."

I followed Mr. Idris into the store and Sena closed the door after us.

"How have you been? Did you have any problems since that night?" Mr. Idris asked.

"No, everything is okay." I said. "I am thankful for your guidance on... well, everything about the town."

"It is the least we could do." Mr. Idris said. "Oh, and... by the way, are you hungry?"

"I am-"

"Oh, you must be hungry. I shall prepare dinner already, it is getting late anyway." He answered his own question before I could say that I wasn't hungry at all.

Sena laughed a bit. I looked at her.

"What is so funny?"

"There is no escape." she said. "You should know my father by now. You could call this 'imperious kindness'. If he thinks you are hungry, you are."

"So you understand how I feel?" I asked her.

"I do, he is the same way towards me. He can be a bit overprotective and... unhealthily thoughtful. I don't know how else I could describe it." she said.

"I got the idea."

Not long after, Sena and I were called from upstairs.

"Please come upstairs, dinner is almost ready!" Mr. Idris shouted.

We went upstairs as he was coming downstairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"Just going to close down the store for today." he said. "Didn't have any customers at all today."

"None?"

"No one came by." he said. "Don't worry, there are days like that. It happens."

In a few minutes, we all sat down around the dinner table.

"Eat as much as you like, and if there is anything missing, don't hesitate to tell." Mr. Idris said.

"Thank you for everything, this much kindness is unnecessary." I said. Mr. Idris' only reaction was a smile.

The dinner table was pretty full. This much food for dinner could probably feed a family of five... for an entire day.

Since I wasn't hungry in the first place, I barely ate anything; but this didn't escape Mr. Idris' closely observing eyes.

"Is there something wrong, friend?" Mr. Idris asked. There wasn't anything wrong, but I took this chance to open up the subject I had in mind.

"Mr. Idris..." I started talking.

"You don't have to be so formal to me." he said. "Please drop the 'mister'."

It was so hard to do, mostly because the wide age gap between us. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Anyway, I actually wanted to ask something." I said and paused.

"Yes, I am listening." he said. Sena also stopped eating and curiously looked at me.

"I have been wanting to ask this for quite some time now..." I breathed in for a last time before I found the courage to ask the actual question. "Where is your wife?"

Both Mr. Idris' and Sena's expressions changed. They were looking a bit shocked, panicked, sad and sour in general; all at once.

Sena looked at his father. Mr. Idris put his hand on his chin, looking like he was thinking hard about something.

"She told you, didn't she?" he asked.

"I don't understand." I said.

"Your aunt, she was you aunt, right? She must have told you." he said.

I wasn't sure whether it would be the correct course of action to tell the truth... that she did tell me.

"What did she say?" he asked. I couldn't answer.

"She told me that I was a murderous monster who killed her, didn't she?"

"Dad!" Sena tried to stop his father from continuing, but failed.

"She told you that I was abusing her and stuff, didn't she?"

"Dad, stop!"

A moment of silence followed. I started speaking.

"She told me that there were rumors like that." I said.

Mr. Idris sighed.

"I see." he said. "I am aware of this unfortunate fact. What hurts me the most is that people really cut their communications with me because of false rumors. They hate me and want to kick me out of the town... with their ideas backed by rumors and only rumors."

"I am sorry." I said. "I am sure you have your own version of the story."

"Would it make a difference?" he said. "I have a fixed negative image in the eyes of the whole town already. People belive in what they want to."

"But I want to know." I said. "If the rumors are false, then what really happened? And... why couldn't you just tell people the turth?"

In my opinion, the rumors were Mr. Idris' own fault, at least partially. Hiding the truth could never be a good idea.

"I am not trying to hide the truth." he said. "It is just... people wouldn't belive me even if I told them."

"Even if people wouldn't believe you, what would you lose by trying?" I asked.

"They would think that I was crazy, in which case they wouldn't even bother trying to talk to me. By brute force, I would end up in a mental hospital far away from here."

I sighed.

"Just... please just tell me what happened."

He breathed in and out deeply.

"It all began in a random summer night, years ago. I woke up to a sound inside the house." he started telling the story. "There was someone downstairs, and I was sure of it. I hesitantly left my bed and tried to silently peek to see what was going on at the store. At first, I thought it was a theft attempt."

"Then?"

"After thinking of it for a while, I concluded that it wasn't a theft attempt. That thing was making too much noise for a thief, and besides, theft is almost nonexistant in the town. I thought a cat or something could have sneaked in before the store closed down."

"So?"

"I went downstairs to help the poor animal and get him out of the store."

"And!?"

"I was wrong."