"Dinner was just ready. I was going to wait by the door and see when you'd be back, but you happened to come home right then." She smiled as she spoke, then noticed the box in the girl's left hand.
"Is this fried banana, Anita? You shouldn't eat fried food. It has lots of syrup in it, and you'll gain weight. Losing weight is very hard—we have to maintain our figures." She went on and on about exercise and healthy living.
But Anita was clearly uninterested in such things.
Watching her mother chat and laugh, she gave a slight shake of her head and pushed the shadow of her recurring nightmares out of her mind, feeling that she had been overthinking it.
"Mom, I know. I only eat it once in a while. Besides, I already bought it."
She didn't dare mention that she had spent three thousand rupiah. Her mother would not scold her, but she would definitely lecture her at length about managing the household.
"Mm, then that's fine." The woman nodded.
The two returned to the house together. A man who did not look particularly fat but had a prominent beer belly was sitting at the dining table, his face carrying the same indulgent smile.
"You're back. Studying must have been hard!" he said.
"I have it easiest in this family, Dad."
After the family chatted for a while, Anita washed up and sat at the table. Once she and her parents had prayed to thank Allah for the food He had bestowed upon them, they began eating.
"Anita, is something bothering you?" her father asked.
"No."
Anita shook her head. She simply felt inexplicably uneasy, but as a medical student, she could tell it was not the kind of palpitation that came from the heart. It