Capítulo 44: Andrea Wants To Have Children
Ludwina and Andrea's conversation was heard by a middle-aged couple sitting near them, and both of them immediately greeted the young couple in a friendly manner.
"Good afternoon, you are from Indonesia, too?" The middle-aged woman asked. "Are you going to Jakarta?"
"Oh, hello, Ma'am... good afternoon too. We are from Indonesia, but returning to Singapore. We live there." Ludwina replied kindly as she reached out to invite a handshake. "I'm Ludwina, and this is my husband, Andrea."
The two of them shook hands, followed by their respective husbands.
"I am Mrs. Lilik, and this is my husband, Mr. Irman. He works at the Indonesian Consulate General in New York, we are now going home for holiday," said Mrs. Lilik kindly. "Are you here on a honeymoon?"
Andrea and Ludwina looked at each other and laughed.
"Uhm...not really. We've been married for one year. We went to New York to celebrate our wedding anniversary," Ludwina replied, blushing.
"Ahhh. So, it's been a year? Earlier, we thought this couple must be a newlywed, because you two still look very much in love and all lovey-dovey, right, Hubby?" Mrs. Lilik asked her husband, who immediately nodded.
"Thank you ..." Ludwina answered. She glanced at Andrea sheepishly.
"Are you here for your second honeymoon and baby-making program?*" Mrs. Lilik asked with a teasing tone.
Ludwina swallowed hard. She knew that Mrs. Lilik did not mean anything bad, but Ludwina did not like to hear this question asked for the umpteenth time by people who were new or had known them for a long time.
She always felt like she had to explain why and after dozens of encounters, she could no longer answer in her usual cheerful voice.
"We don't want children, Ma'am," Andrea replied with an unfazed expression. He turned to Ludwina and stroked her head, "We have enough with the two of us."
"Oh... I'm sorry if my question was offensive; I didn't mean to be nosy. It just occurred to me to ask that question." Mrs. Lilik immediately understood and hurriedly changed the topic, "You guys look perfect together. Where did you meet?"
"We met at the airport. I accidentally made Andrea miss his flight." Ludwina smiled. She then excitedly shared what happened at the airport in late 2012 and how fate brought her back together with Andrea, and they finally got married.
Asked Ludwina about her love story with Andrea, then the girl would explain with a bright face, but if people asked about why they haven't had children yet, or why they didn't want to have children, she would be sad.
Many people looked at her with strange eyes when they heard that Ludwina did not want to give birth. Some accused her of being a coward, not a real woman, selfish, and many other unpleasant words.
Even though Ludwina did not want to have children for a noble cause, she didn't want to contribute the human overpopulation, nobody would understand her perspective. She did not want to give birth to a child into a world that would suffer pollution and global warming. She was also worried that she wouldn't be good enough to care for a child.
Ludwina loved her mother very much, and she knew that both she and Mrs. Annie were great women who could raise herself and Andrea very well. But Ludwina knew herself, she didn't have the maternal instincts as they did, and she was afraid she couldn't be the best mother if she had children.
It would be unfair for Andrea if he would later have to take more part in parental duties just because Ludwina was incompetent.
When they were about to board the plane, first and business-class passengers went up first, followed by parents who brought babies and children behind them, from the economy class.
Andrea saw a young mother holding a baby. She looked very tired.
"How old is your baby?" Andrea asked kindly when he saw the woman patting the baby in her arms.
"He is one month old," the woman replied in a tired voice.
"Oh, my... You just gave birth. Why are you traveling?" Andrea asked in surprise. The baby was only one month old! This means that this woman had just given birth and now had to travel intercontinental from America to Asia.
"My husband passed away before I gave birth. I don't have anyone in the US. I want to fly home to be with my family."
Suddenly, tears began streaming down the woman's eyes. She tried to wipe her tears quickly and tried to look tough. Her husband died before her child was born, and she didn't have anyone else in the United States, so she decided to immediately return to her hometown so she could be close to her family.
"I'm sorry. I have promised myself not to cry again," she apologized.
"It's okay. My condolences..." Andrea turned to Ludwina and whispered, "Honey, this lady just gave birth, I want to exchange seats with her. You don't mind, right?"
Ludwina nodded, even though it was hard to sit separately from her husband. Still, she understood that Andrea couldn't bear to see that poor woman sitting in an economy seat with an exhausted body, carrying a baby, and she had not even fully recovered from postnatal illness.
Andrea immediately alerted the airline staff, and after receiving permission, he approached the woman and gave her his boarding pass.
"Please sit with my wife. I have talked to the airline, and they agree if we swap seats."
The woman looked stunned to see Andrea hand his business-class boarding pass.
"Are– are you sure?" She asked in disbelief.
Andrea smiled and nodded. He lifted the woman's small suitcase so that she could walk freely while carrying the baby into the business cabin with Ludwina.
After the two of them sat down, Andrea put their carry-on items into the compartment above. He kissed Ludwina then moved to the back of the plane to take the woman's seat he had just helped.
"Honey, I'm sitting in the back, okay. See you at the transit later."
Ludwina nodded. The woman sitting next to her was a Filipina named Luisa who married an American citizen several years ago. Unfortunately, her husband died from illness, and after the baby was born, Luisa decided to return to Manila to be close to her extended family.
She was very grateful to the couple and promised to send news after they separated. Luisa could rest on a comfortable business-class seat that could be converted into a flatbed, and the baby was not at all fussy.
Ludwina knew Andrea had a special place in his heart for a single mother because his mother raised him alone without a husband.
The girl was proud to have such a kindhearted husband like Andrea, but back to Singapore, she couldn't stop thinking about the look in Andrea's eyes when he looked at Luisa's baby.
His eyes were full of longing.
.
.
1] I don't know about other Asian countries, but in Indonesia, people can ask your age, weight, education, marital status, or plan to have children to complete strangers and don't think they are being rude, especially by older women to younger women. They don't understand how rude it can be to poke on other people's personal lives.
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