Antara Darah dan Hati: Dream Reality English Translation

Chapter 9 Part 2 "Invitation"

*Play the song above for this part

POV Lodewijk

Today I feel a little bit of happiness, or maybe the feeling of happiness that I feel is more than what I can express. For the first time Ludwig contacted me via WA. He told me that he had given up and wanted to end this case as soon as possible. He admitted his defeat and I was invited by him to meet at a 24-hour cafe. He said he wanted to talk a lot with me. I hope by attending his invitation, I can change his views a little towards Muslims and Islam even though I am actually a little hesitant to fulfill the invitation given by him because he wants to meet me at 12 at night.

Before leaving, I told mevrouw Sofia first about the invitation that I've received from him, she had forbade me to attend his invitation because based on the previous experience that have happened to Chandra and Ilhan. The late Ilhan and Chandra disappeared between late at night and early hours of the morning and were later found murdered.

Despite being reminded by her about them, I still insisted on wanting to meet him, causing her to ask her friends Ilya and Mr. Erwin to supervise me if anything happened . I just let her do what she wants because she is the princess and her request is an order besides, prevention is better than cure.

At half past 11 at night, I went out of my apartment to the cafe using my bicycle. When I arrived and went inside, the time showed it was only five minutes left before it was 12 o'clock at night. Usually Ludwig is on time like most Germans but why don't I see his presence?

I came out of the cafe and stood in the parking lot at the entrance, leaning against the wall, picked up a cigarette, lit it and smoked it.

Time continues to roll along with my cigarettes that was getting shorter because some of it has become ash. However, I still have not seen his presence. Ah damn, did he pranked me? Actually it's natural if he pranked me like this because he hates me but this way of prank is too childish to be done by him to show that he really hates me. I mean come on, someone like Ludwig would not show his hatred for someone by giving a fake invitation like this. I know how Ludwig is, he hated childish things and always considered me childish when he and I were teenagers and living together.

Maybe it's good for me to walk around the parking lot around the cafe, maybe when I finish walking around this cafe building, I'll see his arrival.

I started to lift my foot, took a step then walked along the parking lot at the side of the building then walked towards the back of the building. When I reached the back of the building I saw that there are one car and two motorbikes parked.

The owner of the car got out of her car then locked it, she walked towards a different direction from me but my detective instinct told me there was something unnatural. Based on information from mevrouw, there were 3 strangers that were seen with Chandra in the Hotel Savoy's lobby before she was killed.

All of them then leave the hotel at the early hours in the morning. My brain automatically works making assumptions about what will happened. In the cafe there is one person besides me who is sitting on another seat. However, her sitting position was facing the front of my body. It was possible that she paid attention to my movements, then the person who was in the car near me was the second person who had received information about my movements and then lurked from behind.

When I went away from the back door of the cafe I could hear the sound of the back door opening and closing. At first I thought it was an employee from the cafe but if my assumptions were correct, she is the third person and both of them or one of them were stalking me which meant there is a possibility that I would be ambushed. Oh shit, laa hawlaa wa laa quwwata illa billaah, huft.

I turned my back and my guess was right but unfortunately they were very close to me, I immediately ran away from them but it was too late. Two of them directly ambushed me from my left and right sides, tackling my body. I fell to the ground, then the third person took a syringe, what did she wants to do? Damn I can not escape myself, they both locked the joints of my body and pressed me against the ground so hard.

My head was pressed down, making my nape open. I felt the syringe entering the area around the back of my neck. I feel weak and sleepy, what will they do to me?

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Arabic dictionary

Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billaah = there is no mightier power than God's power.

*Trivia

The reason of why Lodewijk fulfiling and attend his twin's invitation is because as a muslim, it is encouraged for us to fulfil an invitation from our family/friends such as invitation for dinner or such because our prophet said this. It is narrated by Abu Hurayrah one of our Islamic scholar and may Allah be pleased with him. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: "The rights of one Muslim over another are five: returning the greeting of salaam, visiting the sick, attending funerals, accepting invitations, and saying yarhamuk Allah (may Allah have mercy on you) to one who sneezes."

Ludwig is not a muslim but according to some of our scholars, a muslim is encouraged to fulfil the invitation that came from his/her family members despite his/her family members are not muslim.