BAIDER (ENGLISH VERSION)

Laurent gazed at me with the most sharp look ever. I could see the madness in his eyes.

Fear crept into my body as I remembered what he had said to Resttan. I was scared tge he might break my heart again. He was slowly approaching. My vision was playing because it looked like slow motion.

“Is there a problem?” Laurent sat on the bed as I moved fast to go away from him. I never noticed that I was in the corner of the bed. I almost fell off, good thing, Laurent caught my arms to stop me from dropping on the floor. If he had not pulled me, I never thought of what would be the effect of that on our baby. I breathed a sigh of relief afterwards.

Pain crept into my entire system again when I saw his hand holding my arm. I pulled it out, I ran to the corner of the room, and sat on the floor. I covered my face with my palm as I let out a loud cry.

“What’s the matter, my love?” The worriedness was in his tone.

He hugged me while caressing my back into an up and down movement. “Why are you crying? I hate to see you like that.”

“You don’t love me!” I shouted as I punched his chest over and over again.

“Huh? Where did you get that? I love you so much. More than any-”

“You’re a liar!” I could not see his face clearly as the tears made my face blurred.

“What? I can’t understand you-”

“I heard you talking to Resttan! You don’t want to…” My sobs become loud as the waves of pain crumble my heart, “marry me. You’ll never love me!”

“You don’t understand.” He sat next to me, he palmed his face as he leaned his back on the wall.

“Then explain to me!” My voice was just low even though I was shouting. I was prohibiting myself from being angry at the highest level. If only I could stop my emotions, I did.

“You don’t know the family tradition.” He stared into my eyes as if he was readying himself to tell a story. “Life in exchange with life,” he said seriously.

Life in exchange for life? I shuddered at what I heard. My eyes focused on his face. At first, I could not get what he was saying. I observed if he was telling the truth and when I recognized, he was not joking, I thought deeply, finding the meaning of it.

“Dred killed Restelle, Resttan’s sister. She is my closest cousin.”

My face filled with curious expressions. Then why was he telling me this? Was it something to do with her?

“I am the eldest grandchild. I was ordered by the high member to kill Dred because that’s the tradition. He took life so I needed to take life, too.” I saw that he was having difficulties. He could not continue what he was saying as if there was a blockage in his throat.

“My family is different from everyone else, we came from Pulchra. The place that I was always saying to you where my parents oftenly go with.” He paused and then spoke again. “Every single member of the family should be protected because when you do something unacceptable, the same will be done to you by the family. We are afraid to love-Resttan, me, Lauressa, Restelle and my other cousins ​​because the person we would love will…die.”

My eyes widened, my body trembled in shock and agony as I intertwined my hands. It was more complicated than I expected.

“We have a tradition called Patunay. Patunay is held before you marry the member of the Baider. You’ll need to prove to them how much you love that one member, and you should give all your best to be liked by them.  I can’t tell you the full details, but I’ll tell you that this is… bloody. Like a hide and seek and run game.”

I had my jaw dropped while my body was quaking into fear. There was no reason to lie or joke in this situation. I could see how Laurent was serious about these things.

After a short pause, he continued again. “There are so many conditions that must be obeyed. If you break the rules, the punishment will be no other than… death. you and your family will die if you do not follow the terms.”

I thought that was only happening in the movie. Whatever it was, it seemed dangerous. Deadly.

Death will be my last destination if I do not meet the conditions. I was only understanding half of his sentence, but I could feel the intensity of this.

“If what you’re upset about is me not being able to marry you, that’s also what makes me angry because I really want to marry you and start a family with you but I’m afraid you’ll go to hell first before that happens. You’ll encounter hell, life and death, survival before we go to the aisle. You need to pass, and fight for your life.”

I feel nothing but dread and nervousness. Fear for myself and my child. What will happen to us?

“You’ll be afraid of the Baider before death.” He leaned the back of his head to the wall. The deepness of his eyes showed me how much he was afraid of their tradition.

“You will possibly die in Patunay. I won’t gamble your life for that ancestor’s tradition. We can never get married.” The sadness was in his voice as he gazed at my eyes. I fought his stare, grabbed an air and then pulled myself together to get all my strength.

That was enough to me that he loved me back and he wanted  to marry me, too. What I should do now is to slay on the Patunay. Whatever is it, deadly or not, I will always choose to find the way going to him. It is about sacrifice for a long time happiness.

“Do you trust me?” Suddenly that question came out of my mouth. I gave him a meaningful stare.

“Of course, Baby Girl.”

“Then you should trust me this time.”

He moved his head from down and up. “I am trust-”

“I am willing to take the Patunay.”

His eyes widened, his mouth was barely opened. When he started to talk, whatever he said was just a protest. “No, that’s deadly! It’s okay that we don’t marry each other as long as we are together. No, you will not go in there. You don’t know them.”

I held his hand and put it in my belly. The confusion was written on his face. He could not get what that gesture meant.

“We have to get married because…” I felt the slowly crawling of tears from my eyes down to my cheek, “I’m pregnant.”

Laurent’s expression filled with anxiety. His shoulder dropped. After a few sends, his emotions intensified. I had no idea what was running in his head.

“Pregnant?” He shook his head. I would not expect that I could see the streaming of tears in his face in an instant. “This is all my f*cking fault!”

I was shocked when he stood up, and punched the wall over and over again. “Ahh!” He was shouting, letting out all his anger.

I just hugged his back and cried silently. “Please let me take the Patunay. I’ll be safe because we’re going back to you. My love for you will save me.”

“If they find out that you’re pregnant my whole family will vanish. That’s breaking the law. I wouldn’t want to hide our baby from t-”

“Laurent, we are not hiding the baby. Not after Patunay.” I cupped his cheek. “I don’t know what kind of game Patunay is, but for you. I will do everything.”

I held his hand and touched it to my cheek. “Even death can’t stop my love.”