"I accept the marriage, Nadia Jovita bin Kusrin, with a dowry of a set of prayer tools and a 20-gram gold ring paid in cash!"

"Legal! Legal!" The registrar, Amir, looked left and right.

"Legal!" the witnesses and the people surrounding me chorused in unison. Including Jono and the others. Everyone looked tense, and since I was the one getting married, why were they so tense?

The registrar immediately offered a prayer to confirm our marriage was legally valid.

I said "Alhamdulillah" (Praise be to God) while continuing to raise my hands and amen to the registrar's prayer, Amir. Everyone was solemn in their prayer, but my eyes were still mischievous, and I glanced at my wife—it was now legal.

My wife, Nadia. She was devout and bowed in prayer, lost in happiness. Her face was so beautiful, like a full moon, like a rainbow after rain, like dew in the morning, and even as beautiful as a clear sky without clouds obscuring it.

Truly beautiful, I smiled as I stared at her lowered face.

Perhaps there was a spiritual connection, but her lowered face suddenly lifted slightly, and her eyes glanced at me. She also stole a glance, and our eyes met. Beautiful Nadia, now officially my wife, we looked at each other, and it was a blissful sight. It was as if I would even go without food for a year just to see her charming face and her perfect smile.

Oh! I couldn't take it anymore, as if all the sorrow and pain had vanished.

The prayer ended, and at that moment, Nadia reached for my hand and kissed the back of my right hand. We looked at each other very closely. Our eyes were so close, it was as if the world existed only in Nadia.

My beautiful wife, that face seemed even closer. Would we... those lips were getting closer, and those eyes were getting closer.

Was this my first kiss with a woman???

Getting closer, so close, I couldn't help it, my heart pounding like it was beating a thousand times a second. I couldn't contain my happiness.

Crunch! What is this? Why does my head feel like it's being pressed? Is the kiss this heavy?

"Wake up, Adnan! It's almost time for the Iqamah (prayer call)! I woke you up with the call to prayer, and you're still late!"

Mother's voice?

I opened my eyes slowly, and Mom's hand was already on my face, gripping it tightly.

"Astaghfirullahal 'adhim! Mom! Where's Nadia, Mom?"

"Nadia, your bald head! It's almost time for the Iqamah (prayer call), hurry up and get to the mosque. Mom's been screaming so many times,s and you're only now getting up?!"

Oh God, it's just a dream. Huh... I sat up, and Mom went back to the kitchen. It's almost time for the Iqamah! I have to hurry.

A beautiful dream, just a memory. Ah! May it come true, O God, amen. I hurriedly said amen to my own prayer. I quickly performed ablution and changed my clothes, saro, ng, and peci, all complete, and then stepped on the gas. Who knows, when I passed Nadia's house, I might still catch a glimpse of her face.

I said goodbye to my mother and thanked her for waking me up, as usual; my father must have left long ago.

I walked out into the cool, still-dark morning. Well, that reminded me of a story from a month ago. The police found evidence of a significant amount of methamphetamine. The business was controlled by a dealer, assisted by my village head, Mr. Norman. He pretended to be a kind village head and often distributed money and food.

Village head Norman tried to hide the drugs in Mbah Pati's old house. He carried out a terror attack by pretending that Mbah Pati's ghost was roaming around. He collaborated with the drug dealers to frighten people who passed or approached the old house.

Regarding village aid, it was actually given once during the harvest. But in our village, it could be four times. It turned out that the fertilizer aid trucks always had drugs hidden in them. No wonder the porter refused to let me in. The criminals were arrested and proven guilty, as was Mr. Norman. He was also always with the village widow, Ms. Murni, who always did bad things in the old house. They always did this, and when Nadia reported something strange, Mr. Norman asked Nadia to come along to investigate, and at that time, Nadia was held captive.

As for the ghosts, they were all sent by the village head, tasked with frightening the residents at night, making it seem haunted.

One more thing: in the village head's house, there was a box left behind by the late Mbah Pati. It turns out that Mbah Pati's will didn't specify that she be buried behind her house upon her death. Mbah Pati never requested that. The will, signed by Mbah Pati, stated that if she died without family, her house and garden would be donated to a Koran study center, an Islamic boarding school, or a home for orphans.

Indeed, Mbah Pati certainly wasn't willing to let her house become a place of sin and immorality.

Mbah Pati... may Allah forgive all your sins and accept all your good deeds, Amen.

I continued my journey, about to pray the morning prayer before the iqamah (prayer). As I passed Nadia's house, I saw Mr. Kusrin in front of his house and Nadia, already wearing her white prayer robe.

I didn't dare go ahead of them, you know how fierce Mr. Kusrin is... hmm...

Mr. Kusrin stopped walking and looked at me. It seemed like he was waiting for me, so I tried to walk normally.

"Assalamu'alaikum, Mr. Kusrin, Nadia."

Seeing that they weren't moving, I was forced to walk past them slowly.

Mr. Kusrin greeted me.

"Adnan."

Mr. Kusrin called out to me. I stopped in the middle of the road, and Mr. Kusrin approached me.

He waved his right hand, wondering what he wanted. Mr. Kusrin patted my right shoulder, "Good job, Adnan! Hmm... thanks to all of you, our village feels like it's been hit by the sun. It's been a long time since our village has been haunted and mystical. Good job!"

Mr. Kusrin smiled at me, excused himself, and left to go to the mosque. This was the first time Mr. Kusrin seemed angry. He... he... he...

I smiled and walked slowly, Nadia also walking beside me. I remembered my dream earlier. Ah! Bachelors are indeed happy when they think about such things. Oh well!

"Why are you smiling, Adnan?" Nadia's voice was beautiful; she seemed to be looking at me. He... he... he... that's nice.

"It's okay, Nadia. Your father, you know, is unusual for him to be so friendly, he... he..."

Nadia shook her head, "Oh, Adnan, thank you. About that night."

I smiled as I walked, "It's normal, Nadia. It's our duty as human beings to help each other."

I was acting like a hero, I thought to myself, laughing.

"Adnan, does he have a girlfriend?"

Thud!

I stopped walking, as if my feet had stopped. Had I heard correctly, Nadia asked about a girlfriend?

"Ah, Nadia likes to joke around like that. Why ask me about a girlfriend?"

"Nadia is serious, sir."

Nadia stared at my face for a moment, and I reflexively looked at her. Realizing this, I immediately prayed for forgiveness, and so did Nadia. We then resumed our walk.

"No one would want me, Nadia. Hmm... I'm a laborer. Nadia must have had a crush on many. Oh well! Let's hurry before the prayer calls."

I continued walking, not wanting to think too deeply about who I was.

"Mr.. Mr. Adnan."

The soft, gentle voice made me pause for a moment, "What's wrong, Nadia?"

"I have a message for you, Mr. Adnan."

I became curious, "A message from Mr. Kusrin?"

Nadia nodded, looking hesitant as she began to open her lips. "Father said that if you really like Nadia, he should wait for you at home, lest someone else get there first. That's what you said."

Nadia seemed to struggle with words, her face turning red, "That's all you said, sir."

Nadia quickly ran away from me, and I was frozen in place. Nadia? Mr. Kusrin? A secret message? Coming to the house? What? Why did you say someone else would get there first? What did she really mean...

Masha'Allah!

Slap!

This isn't a dream, is it? I slapped my right cheek hard. It hurts...

I'm awake now.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar

Asyhaduallaa ilaa haillallah.

The Iqamah (prayer call) rang out. Oh, I missed it again! I rushed to the mosque, half running.

Nadia proposed to me? Nadia confessed to me?

Wow... I'm so happy, O Allah, I've come...