The Berries' Dilemma S01 Ep09 - Half a Star For Maturity, Patience and Loyalty

Episode 9 - Half a Star For Maturity, Patience and Loyalty

Why was it that every time we decided to do something bad, we always thought that we could get away with it, or at the very least, fix it. Every evil deed we did, we always thought that we could fix it. Stealing a gum from a convenient store, copying in exams, bringing illegal items to school, why was it, that we thought everything was fixable?…Heck, I thought I could be forgiven for wanting a divorce, from both Bulu and Smelly. We all thought every evil deed had forgiveness, every hole could be fix, every void could be filled.

We thought of many things that night before we talked in the underground chapel. We thought of forgiveness, of rebirth, of fixing. I thought I could fix it when I made the annulment papers, I thought I could be forgiven. Apple thought she could get away with wanting to marry me, with Bulu’s ignorance of her presence and love as an excuse. Bulu thought he could fix his broken heart with lust. Jizzy and Tiny thought they could be forgiven for not leading the family responsibly. Pussy thought he could make amends for his little accident with Holy by building an underground chapel. We all thought we could fix every mistake we made. Maybe that was why we made them in the first place, maybe that was why, we messed up.

“Hmm, Baby, method A, B or C?” Asked Syazzy.

“Hmm…Well…Judging by these puppies’ troubled faces…B!” Suggested Belle.

“All right then! Since all this started with your divorce plan, Straw! You and your wife, right this way” Invited Syaz. He pointed to the bench right beside him. “Oh, and the rest of you, for now, sit down, close and your eyes…and think of what you’ve done wrong…” Continued Syaz.

Smelly and I walked to the bench Syaz pointed out, and the four of us, including Belle, sat down with tension of politicians. We sat slowly, and awkwardly. Smelly was still showing her hatred towards me, and I could feel every tiny bit of the purple aura.

“Now tell me man, what the hell went wrong?” Asked Syaz politely.

“…I wish I knew…” I replied faintly.

“Isn’t it obvious?! You got bored with me!” Said Smelly angrily.

“What? How could you say that when you are the one who’s rarely home?!” I replied with the same amount of anger, maybe even more.

“It’s not like I’m off wandering around being a hooligan! You know I am not the type who would abandon her responsibilities to go off partying and all!” Replied Smelly.

“OH?! Never abandoned your responsibility?! What about your husband who is always dead bored at home, having regular chats with his goldfish and anonymous people in chatrooms?!”

“Unlike you, I HAVE to be out most of the time! I’m doing this for us!”

“For us?! If all your work is for us then you know what! Stop it! Okay! I don’t need it!” I said in anger. I didn’t even know what I was saying, I didn’t even mean it.

“This is my dream! Whatever happened to ‘Your dream is my dream too’?!” Asked Smelly.

“Feels good to talk in the open doesn’t it?” Asked Belle out of the blue, and both me and Smelly, could only look at her in awe.

“What is it that both of you are lacking here? Straw, you write about life in your book, why not share some of your intel in this?” Asked Belle as politely as Syaz did. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, opened them, only to find out that Smelly had turned around to ignore what I was going to say, but I knew she was listening, I knew deep down somewhere, that she was still the same girl I married 2 years ago.

“I guess…Somewhere along the line, both of us, got immature, and impatient…We stopped talking to each other about what matters, and we got impatient with each others’ problems and needs…And our loyalty went disarrayed.” I confessed bluntly. After 5 seconds or so, Smelly turned around, and finally speaking to me normally.

“You never told me all this…” Said Smelly.

“I know you’re busy with work, and I know that sometimes, I can get very impatient about your problems, but you have to know, that I am very well aware of the mistakes I’ve been doing…All the crap that I’ve been saying for the past year, all the things that I didn’t say to you, things that you wanted to hear…I realize all those.” I continued part II of my confession.

“Then why?…” Asked Smelly curiously.

“I guess, I mess up, because I want assurance that you still care about me, about us. I know that men are not supposed to be insecure, but how can I not be insecure when you are an angel flying too close to the ground?” She smiled at me, remembering the song by Willie Nelson I played to her during our first year’s anniversary. I looked at her, and her eyes said it all. That very moment, when tears started sliding from both hers and my eyes, I knew that, we were in love again. The typical sad yet blissful tunes from bands like ‘Noah and The Whales’, filled with piano and violin, started playing in my head. The sky was finally blue again, clouds white, love red, and hearts, both hers and mine, beating stronger, louder, playing the chords of love.

“So all in all everything was just a, misunderstanding?” Asked Syaz bluntly.

“B! Shut up they’re having a good mood on here!” Shushed Belle.

We had absolutely forgotten where we were, or why we were there, but nothing mattered, time seemed to have stopped let us appreciate the goodness in everything, love seemed to have the ability to make everything seemed, right and perfect.

“Okay okay, let’s continue part II of this meeting!” Suggested Syaz.

“Next up is…Bulu I guess.” Whispered Belle.

“Bulu! Yea you who can’t walk properly!” Shouted Syaz.

“Oi! Babi kauuu…” Cursed Bulu.

Everyone was now standing in a messed-up circle, including me and my wife. Everyone started smiling when they noticed that one problem was fixed, everyone had the confidence that happiness, was coming.

“Bulu, I know that what you are going through, is personal, but…For your case, we need you to tell everyone here, what you came here to tell.” Informed Syaz. Bulu was shocked when Syaz said it. He did not tell Syaz that he was going to confess his true feelings today. He could only smile to Syaz’s extreme observation skill.

“First of all, I should not even be here, cos according to my doctor, Kevin Iron Bates-” Bulu was cut.

“WHAT?! Kevin from our foundation?!” Asked Jizzy loudly.

“Yeah man, I was shocked too, and he changed his name to Kevin IRON Bates!” Informed Bulu loudly and clearly. Comments like ‘Impressive!’ ‘I knew he could do it’ could be heard being juggled by the Berries, not because he became a doctor, but because he had significantly improved his already impressive name. “ANYWAYS, I have something to tell Apple, and, I think I should be manly enough to let everyone know this mistake I have done.” Everyone kept silent for about 5 seconds before Bulu started talking again.

“After all these years, I thought that I was over it, I thought I would be happy with Apple, but I was wrong.” Bulu started his speech, and Pussy gasped as hard as he could. “WAIT LA that’s not the shocking part!” Scolded Bulu. “The truth is…I’m still in love with her, okay, that girl...” Continued Bulu. He knew that as a family he did not need to tell who, as a family, everyone should know who Bulu was refering to. “I guess, I got married with Apple, out of lust, instead of love…”

There it was again, the utter silence, the annoying and awkward silence that put everyone in awe, or rather, the silence that put everyone in a situation where no word could fill the void that was presence, nothing could have been said to make this situation better, no joke was appropriate to fix this broken atmosphere.

“I guess, I realized it too, you know.” Apple broke the silence about thirty seconds later. “I kinda realized how Bulu looked at me after a few months…But, I guess part of it, was my fault too…But, at the very least, Bulu has shown us how loyal a guy can be, right?…” Said Apple faintly, she was choking up, she was about to cry, but Mush was there to hug her and at least extend her inevitable tears from pouring out. Bulu walked slowly to Apple, with a very sad look on his face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen.” Apologized Bulu.

“It’s okay, we had a good run.” Apple said with a smile that was covered with tears.

“Okay okay, family hug!” Suggested Belle, and everyone did. We got into a big, perfect circle, held each other tightly, proving security and comfort, and warmth among the family.

“Now, we have, Jizzy and Tiny.” Said Syazzy.

“OH SHIT! I knew they weren’t going to let us get away with this!” Whispered Tiny to Jizzy.

“Dun worry, I got this covered.” Assured Jizzy. “What’s up Syaz? My brother!” Said Jizzy awkwardly, and Belle gave this huge smile that was both sarcastic and honest.

“I gave you guys the baton to lead this family 6 months ago, and how could this have happened?” Asked Syazzy.

“Well…Actually it’s the timing wei. After you guys left, honeymoon period was over, the fighting period was present what! No fair la.” Jizzy gave his honest excuse.

“Okay fine, but what were you doing when all this was happening?” Asked Belle.

“Well you see…I didn’t really know that this problem was occurring.” Said Jizzy.

“WHAT?! Jizzy! That’s not something you should say!” Whispered Tiny angrily.

“It’s the truth! Sorry I got nothing else!” Whispered Jizzy.

“SO you weren’t aware of this problem in the first place?!” Asked Belle with an angrier tone.

“Sorry Boss, I was too excited and caught up with Zombi Kampung Pisang 2...I was reading the synopsis and repeating the trailer over and over again before I found out about this…How could I not? It’s the Zombi’s REVENGE!” Said Jizzy emotionally.

“How could you let a movie keep you from being responsible on your own-” Belle was cut.

“Baby that’s enough. I can fix this.” Said Syazzy. Everyone was anticipating what Syazzy was going to say. Some of them anticipated that Jizzy and Tiny were going to get fired, while some thought that Syazzy was going to forgive them or rather, punish them leniently.

“Straw!” Syazzy said loudly while looking at me.

“Ye-Yes?” I answered nervously.

“You and your wife are in charge now. The baton is yours.” Said Syaz.


THE END

WILL STRAWBERRY AND SMELLYBERRY LEAD THE FAMILY WELL? WILL JIZZYBERRY AND TINYBERRY ACCEPT THIS TWIST OF FATE? WILL WE EVER FIND OUT WHO BULU’S SECRET LOVE IS? WILL APPLEBERRIE FINALLY GET TO EXPERIENCE TRUE LOVE? WILL PUSSYBERRY GET HIS PROBLEM FIXED HERE? WILL PUSSYBERRY’S MYSTERIOUS AND ACCIDENTAL WEDDING EVER BE REVEALED? WILL RIBENABERRY AND KITTYBERRY PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING? WILL THE UNDERGROUND AND WOODEN CHAPEL(BUILT BY PUSSY) LAST LONG ENOUGH FOR THIS MEETING TO END? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF, THE BERRIES’ DILEMMA