UNPERFECT MARRIAGE

Fireworks lit up almost the entire sky and filled the corners of Jakarta. The New Year's Eve celebration was very festive, with fireworks in every corner of the city and concerts by local artists. Korean boy bands, and Hollywood artists, all of which were magnets calling everyone to watch them.

However, Kaira and Sunny chose to celebrate their New Year's Eve at a fine dining restaurant in South Jakarta. The restaurant they chose was a rooftop restaurant. The restaurant had a romantic atmosphere, with chandeliers hanging in several places for lighting. There were also lights in the shape of doves hanging in cages made of bamboo, making it both beautiful and unique.

A waitress came with a menu book to their table.

"Are you ready to order, sir?" She asked.

Sunny nodded. Sunny quickly chose one grilled octopus over squid ink pasta with tomato garlic sauce."Appetizer: one mushroom vol au vent, and for dessert white chocolate mini mousse cake."

After Sunny, it was Kaira's turn to choose. "One steak with creamy peppercorn sauce, caramelized onion, mushroom, and gruyere tartlets, and for dessert, I choose fairy tale cherry blossoms and strawberry parfait."

"Anything else?" asked the waitress. "Would you like more wine?"

"You want wine?"

Kaira nodded. "Ok, a bottle of wine, but they said there is a sommelier here, right?"

"Right, ma'am."

"Can the sommelier help us choose a wine that matches our food choices?"

"Yes, sir. Anything else besides that?" he asked.

Kaira and Sunny shook their heads.

"I think that's enough."

After the waitress repeated Kaira and Sunny's orders and made sure there would be no mistakes, she excused herself and left. Sunny immediately spoke up.

"After this, we'll go straight to see Loona Golden at the Airlangga theater, babe."

"Loona Golden? that group of opera singers?"

"Yes," Sunny replied with a big smile.

"But how did you get the tickets, babe? I know they sold out within an hour!"

"Didn't you see the email I sent you? Your bad habits haven't changed."

"Sorry," Kaira said regretfully. She immediately picked up her phone and checked the email that Sunny had sent. "Babe, is this for real?"

"Yes, a new year's gift for you as well as our anniversary gift." Sorry for the speed."

"Thank you so much. I was looking forward to watching the opera and researching my new novel. "Eh, this gift," Kaira said happily and immediately kissed Sunny, who was sitting next to her.

****

A sommelier came to bring wine for them. Apparently, he'd chosen a cabernet merlot, a fitting choice, to accompany their dinner.

"The perfect bubbly for our romantic dinner is coming!" Said Sunny as the sommelier came to their table.

The sommelier gave them a pleasant grin before opening the bottle of deep crimson wine and pouring it into the decanter. After setting the wine bottle on a white tablecloth for a time, he carefully and gently turned it clockwise. He then filled Kaira and Sunny's wine cups with wine from the wine bottle.

After the sommelier left, Kaira reached for her glass of cabernet wine. Before drinking, Kaira and Sunny cupped the wine or inhaled the aroma that gently wafted to their senses. Slowly, Kaira took a sip of the wine in her glass, and without waiting any longer, the flavor of the Cabernet Merlot exploded in her mouth.

"Henschke lens wood abbot's prayer Cabernet Merlot red wine, it's amazing!" praised Kaira.

Sunny smiled and started to cut her food.

"Kai."

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

"Mom called again... and she asked again when we were going to have a baby."

Kaira, who had only eaten two mouthfuls, immediately removed her cutlery and wiped the corners of her lips with a napkin. She looked at Sunny with a strange look, the happiness in her heart that had just occurred evaporating.

"Mom asked, don't we want to change our minds about children?" Sunny repeated.

"Then what did you say?"

Sunny was silent; she didn't have an answer. She took another bite of her food. But Kaira had lost her appetite.

"Since we got married, we have agreed to be childless." "Don't forget that, and you agreed with my decision."

"Yes, Kai, but having no children doesn't suit us if you think about it. How long would you like us to cohabitate? Sunny queried. Kai: "How long do we want our life to be defined by having sex, enjoying ourselves, and acting this way constantly?" Sunny sipped her wine softly, "Honestly, there are times when I wish we had a kid in our home, laughing and crying."

"Yes, it's because we're happy together; we're going out until grandparents." Besides, children will only add to the problems in our household. "We're already happy without kids, Sun, and I think that's enough."

"The thing is, I'm more or less bored with just the two of us, and mom has a point." "I'm starting to want a child, babe. A child who will carry on my name!"

"Pass on the name, huh?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about it, and what mom said is true, Kai."

"Sun, it was us who went through with the marriage, not your mom!" And ten years ago, you agreed to my plan to be childless!"

"The problem is that we're still young, Kai! I was twenty, and you were nineteen. "We were poor back then, honey," Sunny said softly."It's different now; we have more than enough to have a child or two."

Kaira smiled; ten years of marriage didn't mean she never wanted children. It was just that she had decided to be childless from the start. Hence, she tried to suppress her desire to have children. Not because she couldn't afford the child that would be born from her womb, but because she wasn't sure she could provide a happy family for her children. Kaira is well aware of her shortcomings.

"Kai...."

"Can we go right away to go home? I'm done!"

"Ok, I'm done too." After that, we'll head to Airlangga to see Loona Golden."

"No need. Let's just go home!"

"Kai...."

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood, so it's better if we go home now!"

Finally, Sunny was compelled to nod in agreement. He was confident that his wife's mood was significantly affected by the child issue and that it might last for some time. Kaira could not be persuaded to change her position; she was adamant about it. Sunny was aware that it wouldn't be simple.

"It looks like we'll never be able to have kids!" Sunny sighed in self-pity.