Love Story

 

Love story

The story : 

Amivi lives in her village in West Timor. She is in her house, preparing food. Suddenly, she hears gunshots, screams. She goes out in front of her house, people are running around. Indonesian soldiers were arriving. They shoot at the men. A soldier comes towards her, he hits her, orders her to go home. She complies, but he follows her. He intends to rape her.

Other soldiers enter at this moment. One of them, Dani, gives an order. The man moves away from Amivi, he runs out, followed by the others.

The chief, Dani, stays. He approaches Amivi and rapes her. 

The gunshots continue throughout the night. 

In the morning, Dani wakes up. Amivi is in a corner, prostrate. He hardly looks at her, gets dressed. He dares not look her in the eyes, he is ashamed.

In the village square, bodies are piled up. Amivi rushes in. There is her husband, her friends, she cries. The soldiers push her aside.

In the evening, the chief returns to his house. His attitude is different. He approaches her to talk to her. She pushes him away, he does not insist.

The days pass. Dani settled in Amivi's house. He violently beats one of his men who allowed himself an inappropriate gesture on Amivi. He requires that his men respect her.

As the days go by, Amivi and Dani get used to each other. Dani is very respectful, discreet. He does not touch Amivi. 

One evening, whereas she falls asleep, he enters her room. She wakes up, distraught, believing that he is going to rape her. He explains himself: he comes to ask her forgiveness. He was drunk. He is ashamed, ashamed of this war, of his role.

He goes out. As the days and weeks go by, Amivi and Dani get to know each other.

Amivi talks with other people in the village. The women tell of the rapes, the beatings. Amivi realizes that she is treated better. She remembers her former husband: a man who was forced upon her, a brutal, alcoholic man. 

With small everyday gestures, smiles, and the attention they give each other, Dani and Amivi become closer and more familiar. Dani does not, however, impose intimate moments on Amivi. 

One day, he asks her to marry him. She melts in tears. He asks her again for forgiveness. She accepts on two conditions: that he leaves the army and takes her to Nusanta, the capital, in Borneo. Dani accepts.

They moved. Amivi goes back to school, learns business management. Together, Amivi and Dani set up a catering company that delivers to businesses in the business districts. They have a child and live a city life. Amivi is a liberated, respected woman. Dani and Amivi live a balanced, respectful, affectionate relationship. In contact with the civil and urban world, Dani becomes "civilized."

Dani and Amivi meditate, each one on its side, on the destiny which joined them and, finally, made them happy. They definitively free themselves from the past.

Characters :

Amivi : main character

Dani : main character

Soldier who wanted to rape Amivi

Woman of the village N°1

Woman of the village N°2

Amivi's management teacher

Employee of the company N°1

Employee of the company N°2

Amivi and Dani's child

" Every night he had taken her, first like a conqueror, savage, then more and more gently, like a lover. Little by little, she had given up, surrendered herself to this man. Without wanting it, she had learned to enjoy the hands of this man, of his look on her. They had learned to love each other and to live as a couple.

It was horrible, unbearable, but she had to admit that she loved him. He too, little by little, had changed. His touch had become more tender, his eyes more laughing.

He could not tolerate disrespect for the one he considered his wife. When she went out, the soldiers moved away from her for fear that he would kill them. She was able to talk to other women. Many were unhappy. Some had also learned to love their abusers, even if they didn't admit it. That was the way it was, nothing could fight the facts.

One day he had told her that he wanted to marry her. He had dropped the words, almost shyly. It was a proposal. She had hated the joy she had felt. Unable to speak, she had broken down in tears. He had approached her, gently stroked her hair and renewed his proposal, very gently. He had asked her forgiveness, also, with tears in his eyes. She had to admit that she loved him more than she had loved the man her family had forced upon her, the man her current suitor had killed.

She had agreed, but had demanded to leave town before the wedding and forever.

She did not accept to live her happiness among those she saw suffering, those who had known her former boyfriend and saw her happier with the Javanese. She wanted to live her happiness freely, without anyone to judge her, to discuss the legitimacy of their union.

He had accepted, without discussion. He immediately requested her transfer, far away, to Jakarta. So they settled in Jakarta, among people who did not know either of them.

This had the greatest influence on their relationship. In contact with the capital, with foreigners, with tourists, he had become a more modern, more respectful man. In short, he had left the rough customs of the army. They had set up a catering company. She had worked with him.

Their son knew nothing of the circumstances that had brought his father and mother together. The child was loved, happy. He lived in the capital, in a modern environment, ready to embrace the future.

To the people around them, they were a normal couple. Her life was similar to that of all the women around them.

She had a slight accent and a different type from the people of Java. People understood that she was from a distant island. They didn't care.

She had gone back to school, studied management and accounting, which had helped the company prosper.

He regretted that this woman, whom he had grown to love, had been given to him by the war. In contact with other circles, opening up to more evolved morals, he meditated on all these events. Several times he asked his wife for forgiveness.

She understood, then, that the past had to be forgiven, that she could move on. She and he had been the toys of a cruel and complicated destiny. They had to live. She never returned to Timor."