LAST DINNER

Kefirah wore neat clothes. She had made an appointment with Manuel. They would have dinner together at the hotel restaurant where Manuel was staying.

"Where are you going, Ke?" Taylor asked when he saw his daughter wanting to leave.

Kefirah stopped her steps just to answer a question from her father. "I have a dinner appointment with friends. I rarely come home, so they asked to meet."

"Man or woman?" Taylor asked, probing. He didn't want his daughter who wanted to get married to meet another man.

"Just friends, Dad. We don't have a special relationship," Kefirah replied, lying.

"Just answer me! Man or woman?"

Kefirah was forced to invite her boneless tongue to tell lies. "There are men and women. It's a casual dinner meeting," Kefirah said.

"Levi will join you! It is late. You have been in Melbourne for the past eight years. It must be confusing if you have to drive yourself," Taylor suggested.

"Dad, I can use the GPS to find the address. Levi doesn't need to accompany me," Kefirah refused but Taylor ignored her words.

"Lev, please deliver your future wife. You also need to know her friends," Taylor ordered his son-in-law.

"Okay, Dad," Levi said even though inwardly he refused. He'd better spend time reading stories to his two children or spend the night at the desk but he could not refuse because this was his father-in-law's request.

Along the way, Levi and Kefirah were silent. Levi focused on driving, while Kefirah looked at the road through the glass. Sometimes Kefirah also played on the screen of her cell phone. "Are you going to have dinner with that guy?" Levi asked without seeing Kefirah's face. Finally the question dispelled the silence. Levi only wanted to speak after their destination had almost arrived.

"It is none of your business."

"If you weren't my future wife, I wouldn't care. I just don't want you hanging out with other men while we are preparing for the wedding."

"Wedding?" Kefirah repeated the word in a sarcastic tone. She never wanted a marriage like this.

"Even though our marriage is without love, don't even think about playing with it! Just say it now! Are you going to have dinner with the guy who came over to our house?" Levi asked again. Actually, Levi wanted to be cool but he did not like there being a third person in their marriage later.

"Hmmm, he is my lover. When we were in Melbourne we were already planning to get married," Kefirah answered frankly.

"Immediately you must end your relationship with him!" Levi said as if he was looking forward to this marriage. "Do not take it wrong! I just don't want Daddy to know everything. Daddy will be sick again if he knows about this. I hope this will be your last meeting with him."

"But…."

"Don't argue anymore. I will wait in the car. Go! I won't disturb your last dinner," Levi said, making Kefirah unmoved. She did not know what made it so difficult to move her legs. Kefirah forgot how to open her seat belt.

"Why don't you go out?" Levi asked, awakening Kefirah from her daydream. The woman's hand immediately opened the seat belt.

"Don't wait for me! You better go home. I don't want to bother you," Kefirah said, and Levi answered in annoyed.

"Do you think I want to do this? Daddy will interrogate me for coming home without you. Better you go in. I won't tell Daddy about this. If it wasn't for Papa's order, I wouldn't want to bring you here."

"Please don't be like this, Lev! Just look for the right reasons. Joel and Vilah also need your attention. You also have a lot of work to do. I can still go home by taxi," Kefirah answered. Her dinner would be interrupted if Levi waited for her.

"Why are you forcing me to go home? Do you want to spend the night with that guy? did you guys deliberately choose a hotel as a place to meet up? You are really different from Rista. I haven't even touched your sister before we got married. Is it because you live abroad?" Levi asked.

Plaque! A hard slap landed on Levi's cheek. Tears rolled down Kefirah's face. "To this day I still don't know what made my sister fall in love with you so much. I will never love a man who has no morals like you. You think I will forget what happened eight years ago. Never, Levi. I will continue to hate you. Bear in mind that!"

Levi rubbed his red cheeks while he saw Kefirah's tears. Levi wanted to wipe Kefirah's face but the woman backed away.

"It's none of your business even though I slept with another man. Better go right now! I don't want to see your face." Kefirah got out from the car with a burst of anger. She did not think if her brother-in-law, who was her future husband, would have the heart to say something like that.

***

Manuel looked at the timepiece wrapped around his wrist. Kefirah did not usually come late. It's been half an hour waiting, the woman had not come yet. While in the toilet, Kefirah was polishing her face with makeup. She did not want to make Manuel worried because of her crying face.

"Sorry I am late," Kefirah said, pulling a chair.

"It doesn't matter. I am glad you came. I was worried about you. You are not usually late like this. Is everything okay?" Manuel asked.

"Hmmm. Everything is fine."

"Good," Manuel replied, even though he didn't quite believe it. He had known Kefirah for a long time. Kefirah was not good at lying to him.

"If there is a problem, just talk to me," Manuel said. He caught a lot of oddities from Kefirah. Manuel became suspicious because Kefirah did not allow him to visit her house.

"We will talk about it later. I am very hungry," Kefirah answered. It's true that her stomach had not been filled with food yet, but she made excuses to avoid discussions that would only hurt her and Manuel. Kefirah was not sure if she could tell Manuel everything tonight or not.

"Okay. We will talk about it later."