The Happy Ever After

Sama seperti anak perempuan lainnya, saya menyukai dongeng Cinderella, Snow White dan Sleeping Beauty.

“…. dan mereka hidup berbahagia selamanya…” itu selalu menjadi kalimat penutup dongeng-dongeng tersebut ketika segala sikon tidak menyenangkan yang harus dialami oleh tokoh-tokohnya berakhir; ketika kejahatan akhirnya kalah; ketika segalanya menjadi indah dan mereka pun dapat hidup bahagia selamanya. 

Tidak lagi diceritakan bagaimana Cinderella dan pangerannya menjalani kehidupannya setelah mereka akhirnya bersatu. Tidak ada yang tahu seperti apa hari-hari yang dihadapi oleh Snow White dengan pangerannya.

“Jadi elu mau pindah ke WA?” begitu komen teman saya di bawah foto saya yang di unggah Andre ke akun facebooknya. Teman saya ini mungkin sudah 10 tahunan bermukim di Amerika, sudah menikah dengan warga negara sana (keturunan Spanyol) dan sudah memiliki seorang putra “tunggu apalagi?”.

Hal-hal demikian memenuhi pikiran saya ketika saya dan Andre dalam perjalanan menuju bandara hari Minggu sore itu(20/1).

“You’re quiet” Andre menarik rambut saya. Kok diem aja?

“Hmm..”

“What are you thinking?”. Lagi mikirin apa?

“I hate to see you go”. Saya ga mau kamu pergi.

Dia menatap saya “come here” dipeluknya saya “I hate it too. But it’s part of our deal, right? Unless you agree to come and live with me”. Saya juga ga suka. Tapi ini bagian dari perjanjian kita. kecuali kamu setuju untuk tinggal sama saya.

Saya menatap awan-awan yang berwarna kemerahan. Hari sudah sore tapi masih terang. Sudah 2 hari tidak hujan. Cuaca cerah. Saya berpikir apa awan-awan di langit ini sampai juga ke Seattle?

“Do you believe in happiness ever after?” cetus saya tiba-tiba. Kamu percaya dengan hidup bahagia selama-lamanya?

“What’s that?”. Gimana?. Andre kaget dengan pertanyaan aneh itu. Dia sudah sering mendengar berbagai pemikiran dan pertanyaan saya dari mulai yang normal sampai yang tidak masuk akal namun saya masih bisa membuatnya kaget.

“Well, do you?”. Jadi, kamu percaya ga?

Andre menatap saya agak lama, tersenyum kecil “I thought Marry and I would have it. But we didn’t. I was coping with our breakup when I met you”. Saya kira saya dan Marry akan hidup berbahagia selamanya. Tapi kami pisah. Saya lagi patah hati karena perpisahan itu waktu saya ketemu kamu.

Saya kembali menatap awan-awan itu.

“I wished life were a fairy tale”. Seandainya hidup seperti dongeng.

“If this were a fairy tale, then what were we?. Cinderella and her prince charming?”. Kalau semisalkan kita ada dalam cerita dongeng, kita ini apa dong?. Cinderella dan pangerannya?.

Saya spontan tertawa “I don’t think Cinderella’s prince looked like captain Haddock”. Pangerannya Cinderella ga kayak kapten Haddock.

“Is that so? If I shaved my beard and moustache, it would make me the prince?”. Kalau saya cukur brewok dan kumis ini, saya cocok jadi pangerannya?. Andre menggosokkan pipinya yang brewokan itu ke pipi saya. Yaiiiii!!!...

“Cinderella’s prince doesn’t have tattoos” saya terkikik geli jadinya. Pangerannya Cinderella tidak punya tato. “it fits you more to be the pirate”. Kamu lebih pas jadi bajak laut.

Andre tertawa keras.

“So life is not fairy tale” katanya. Hidup bukanlah dongeng. “You are not a princess. I am not a prince. But what the hell, we have our own love story”. Kamu bukan seorang putri. Saya bukan seorang pangeran. Tapi peduli amat, kita punya kisah cinta sendiri.

Dalam perjalanan pulang ke Bogor, saya tersenyum sendiri saat mengulangi kata-katanya. Life is not a fairy tale. Kehidupan bukanlah dongeng. Besok saya akan menjalani kehidupan sebagai diri saya. Di sini. Di negeri ini. Sementara Andre akan tiba di negerinya, kembali ke kotanya dan akan menjalani kehidupannya.

Kegelapan malam menyelimuti jalanan. Saya menatap langit dan hampir tak percaya mendapati beberapa bintang di sana. Hari-hari lalu yang penuh dengan awan mendung dan hujan deras seakan tidak pernah ada.

Dalam gelapnya malam, bintang-bintang itu muncul di langit yang bersih. Bersinar demikian indahnya.

Kehidupan pun akan seperti ini pula dan saya berbahagia karenanya..

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I love fairy tales. Just like any other girls. We love Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty.

“… and they live happily ever after..” fairy tales always end their stories with that line. For every hardship; every trying situation; everytime evil was defeated. That has been always the ending line.

There is no additional line telling how Cinderella and her prince lived after they got reunited. No information for the reader how Snow White spent her days with her prince.

“So are you going to move to WA?” asked my former colleague, who is also a long time friend, under my photo which Andre uploaded to his FB account. This former colleague has been living for about 10 years in the US, has married a Spanish descent man and they have a son. “what are you waiting?”

Those things filled my mind that Sunday afternoon (January 20^th) when Andre and I were on our way to the airport.

“You’re quiet” Andre pulled my hair.

“Hmm..”

“What are you thinking?”

“I hate to see you go”

He stared at me “come here” he hugged me “I hate it too. But it’s part of our deal, right? Unless you agree to come and live with me”.

I looked at the clouds up there in the sky. It hasn’t been rained for 2 straight days. It was a beautiful afternoon. The sky was clear.

“Do you believe in happiness ever after?” I popped that question.

“What’s that?” Andre looked surprised. I have shared him many of my thoughts and asked him lots of questions. He has heard the normal to the weird ones but I could still surprise him with another of my thought and question.

“Well, do you?”

He stared at me for a while and smiled when he quietly said “I thought Marry and I would have it. But we didn’t. I was coping with our breakup when I met you”

I looked up to see those clouds in the sky.

“I wished life were a fairy tale”

“If this were a fairy tale, then what were we?. Cinderella and her prince charming?”

I laughed “I don’t think Cinderella’s prince looked like captain Haddock”

“Is that so? If I shaved my beard and moustache, would it make me the prince?”. He put his cheek on my cheek. I felt his moustache and beard tickled my cheek.

“Cinderella’s prince doesn’t have tattoos” I giggled “it fits you more to be the pirate”

Andre laughed it out loud.

“So life is not fairy tale” he said with a twinkle in his eyes “you are not a princess. I am not a prince. But what the hell, we have our own love story”

Life is not a fairy tale. I smiled when I heard his voice in my head saying those words as I headed home from the airport. Tomorrow I will go back to my life in this country, in this town. He will arriving in his country, back to his life and work, in his town.

The darkness covered the road as evening has arrived. I looked up at the sky and was surprise to find stars. The sky was clear. The rainy days seemed never existed.

The stars in the night sky shone beautifully.

My life will turn that way too, gone is the darkness and the light is shinning upon me. Happiness is here at last...