Chapter 1 Lightning at the Engagement Event

That morning the weather in Padang City was very bright, Ridwan and Kintani who that day planned to go home together to their village to hold their engagement event, were already on the veranda of Mr. Hendra and Mrs. Indri's adoptive parents' house.

"Hopefully your engagement event goes smoothly," was Mrs. Indri's hope and prayer.

"Amen," said Ridwan and Kintani together.

"We're taking our leave to go home to the village," continued Ridwan and Kintani while taking turns greeting Mr. Hendra and Mrs. Indri.

"Yes, son, be careful on the road, okay? Convey our greetings to your parents," requested Mr. Hendra, Kintani and Ridwan nodded their heads while smiling.

The journey from Padang City to the village where they were born took approximately 5 hours. Around 1 pm, the car driven by Kintani stopped in front of Ridwan's parents' house, Kintani only got out and stopped for a while then she got back into the car and went to her parents' house.

In relation to the agreement that had been planned long ago by Ridwan and Kintani's parents to immediately tie their sons and daughters in an engagement, Ridwan and Kintani decided to return to their village that day.

Their decision to return to their village was not without reason, besides wanting to hasten their engagement ceremony, at that time it also coincided with Kintani's semester break. The engagement ceremony itself was planned to be held tomorrow morning, Ridwan's family had rented a vehicle to go together to visit Kintani's family house.

The weather that morning was not friendly, black clouds blended together to cover the blue sky. Not long after, the rain fell, getting heavier and heavier, but that was not a barrier for Ridwan's family to carry out their plan to visit Kintani's family house.

With the Avanza car rented by Ridwan and his driver, Ridwan and the two people along with Fitria, his younger sister, set off for the Kintani family's residence located in the P sub-district.

About 15 minutes, the Avanza car containing Ridwan and his family arrived at the courtyard of the magnificent house owned by Mr. Wisnu and his family, using umbrellas they got out of the car and stepped onto the terrace of the house.

"Asalamualaikum," said Mr. Rustam and his family.

"Waalaikum salam," replied Mr. Wisnu and his family from inside the house.

"Come in, please!" invited Mr. Wisnu accompanied by his family members approaching Mr. Rustam and his family at the front door.

"Thank you, Mr. Wisnu," said Mr. Rustam.

In the room that had been prepared for the engagement between Ridwan and Kintani, the two family groups sat according to the customs that still apply to this day in the sub-district in West Sumatra Province.

For the men, they sat cross-legged, while for the women, they sat kneeling. After introducing themselves to each other, it was time for the Mamak (Uncle) from Kintani who had a high position according to tradition in the Minang family to recite a proverb to start the event.

"Mr. Rustam whom we respect, before continuing to the main event. It would be better if we ask first, what is the purpose and intention of your visit here?" asked Gindo, Kintani's uncle.

"We respect your brother Gindo, Uncle from Kintani, the purpose of our coming here is to propose to your nephew to be our son-in-law," answered Mr. Rustam.

"Before that I also want to ask, where is Ridwan's Uncle? Why is he not here? Doesn't Ridwan have an Uncle anymore?"

"Forgive us, brother Gindo, it is not that we are taking tradition lightly by not bringing our son's Uncle here. But he is far away on the island of Java, before we came here we had discussed our purpose and intention, he gave me a mandate to represent him in conveying the purpose and intention that we conveyed earlier," said Mr. Rustam.

"Okay, Mr. Rustam, the fish in the pond are clearly male and female, just as we are also clear about the purpose and goal of your family coming here. We have also discussed before providing this room where we will hold the engagement ceremony between Ridwan, Mr. Rustam's son, and Kintani, Mr. Wisnu's daughter, Sutan Bagindo's niece, there is one more question we would like to ask," said Uncle Gindo, reciting a proverb.

"Please, brother Gindo, what else do you want to ask?"

"We in this Minangkabau land consist of various tribes, not having a tribe means not having customs. What we want to ask is, does Ridwan, your son, have a tribe based on his mother's lineage?" asked Uncle Gindo.

"Of course there is, brother Gindo, because we are Minang people who until now still uphold customs and traditions. Based on our mother's lineage, our son Ridwan is of the caniago tribe," said Mr. Rustam.

The entire Kintani family was shocked, it was not because of the thunder that roared in the midst of the heavy rain outside the house, but because of Mr. Rustam's statement that Ridwan was of the Caniago tribe. Especially Sutan Bagindo, Kintani's uncle, he jumped when he was sitting cross-legged in the room, but he tried to control his emotions when he glanced at Kintani's parents.

Uncle Gindo moved from his seat to approach Mr. Rustam sitting in the opposite direction in the room, Mr. Rustam himself did not know at all why the entire Kintani family was shocked by the statement he had given earlier.

"Brother Rustam, we should talk about this in the middle room. Where only Kintani's two parents, Brother Rustam and Sister Suci, are allowed to join. Ridwan and Kintani can wait here for now," Uncle Gindo asked in a whisper to Mr. Rustam.

"Okay, let's go!" Mr. Rustam stood up from his seat after inviting Mrs. Suci to join them into the middle room where Kintani's parents and Uncle Gindo were waiting.

Ridwan and Kintani who were not invited to the living room were seen sitting face to face with a distance as wide as the front room of the luxurious house owned by Mr. Wisnu and his family, not a single word was spoken from their lips, they looked confused as to why Uncle Gindo invited their parents to the living room to talk about something that was of course kept secret from the two of them.

"Excuse me in advance, what is it that Brother Gindo asked us both to come to this room?" asked Mr. Rustam.

"Woe to you Brother Rustam! This is really bad and dangerous, we never expected it at all," said Uncle Gindo.

"Woe to you how? We don't understand," asked Mr. Rustam again.

"Brother must know that in this Minang land there are many tribes, which in our customs, it is forbidden to have love affairs, let alone marry within the same tribe," said Uncle Gindo.

"What Brother Gindo means..." before Mr. Rustam finished speaking, Uncle Gindo interrupted.