Malam Natal dan Cinta Untuk Abel (Christmas Eve and Love for Abel)

Setiap bulan Desember, Arabella Vania atau Abel, seperti orang-orang memanggilnya selalu menyiapkan satu hal yang sama: harapan.

Di malam Natal, Abel akan duduk di dekat jendela kamarnya, menatap lampu-lampu kecil yang berkelip di jalan. Salju tak pernah turun di kotanya, tapi udara Desember selalu cukup dingin untuk membuat hatinya bergetar. Ia percaya, entah dari mana keyakinan itu datang, bahwa suatu hari akan ada seorang pria yang datang khusus untuknya di malam Natal.

Namun, tahun demi tahun berlalu tanpa keajaiban.

Natal saat Abel berusia tujuh belas, ia menunggu hingga tengah malam. Tidak ada yang datang.

Natal berikutnya, ia kembali berharap. Tetap sunyi.

Natal demi Natal, harapan itu semakin kecil, tapi tak pernah benar-benar hilang.

“Jangan bodoh, Abel,” katanya pada diri sendiri suatu malam. “Hidup bukan dongeng.”

Tapi setiap Natal, ia tetap menunggu.

Hingga Desember itu datang.

Malam Natal terasa lebih sepi dari biasanya. Abel berjalan pulang dari gereja dengan mantel tipis dan pikiran yang lelah. Ia hampir memutuskan bahwa ini akan menjadi Natal terakhirnya menaruh harapan konyol.

Lalu seseorang berdiri di bawah lampu jalan.

“Arabella Vania?”

Abel berhenti. Jantungnya berdetak cepat.

Pria itu tersenyum gugup. “Aku Donnie Christofer. Maaf datang tiba-tiba.”

Abel tak mengenalnya. Tapi ada sesuatu dalam suara Donnie yang tenang, hangat yang membuat malam terasa berbeda.

“Aku… sering dengar namamu dari nenekmu,” lanjut Donnie. “Katanya, kamu selalu percaya pada keajaiban Natal.”

Abel menelan ludah. “Itu cerita lama.”

Donnie menggeleng pelan. “Kepercayaan itu indah. Dan jarang.”

Mereka berjalan bersama di bawah langit Desember. Donnie bercerita tentang kepulangannya ke kota itu setelah bertahun-tahun pergi, tentang bagaimana ia merasa harus datang malam ini—entah kenapa, entah karena apa.

Abel mendengarkan, tak lagi merasa sendiri.

Di depan rumah Abel, Donnie berhenti. Dari saku mantelnya, ia mengeluarkan sebuah kotak kecil berisi lonceng Natal.

“Aku nggak tahu apakah aku orang yang kamu tunggu,” katanya jujur.

“Tapi aku tahu… aku ingin tinggal.”

Air mata Abel jatuh tanpa ia sadari.

Selama ini, ia menunggu seseorang datang membawa janji besar. Tapi ternyata cinta datang dengan langkah sederhana—hadir, nyata, dan memilih untuk tinggal.

Di malam Natal itu, Abel akhirnya mengerti:

bukan harapan yang membuat keajaiban datang,

melainkan keberanian untuk percaya sekali lagi.

Dan di bawah cahaya Natal, cinta pun menemukan Abel.

[Bahasa Inggris]

Every December, Arabella Vania or Abel, as people liked to call her prepared the same thing: hope.

On Christmas Eve, Abel would sit by her bedroom window, watching the tiny lights flicker along the street. Snow never fell in her city, but the December air was always cold enough to make her heart tremble. She believed without knowing where that belief came from that one day, a man would come just for her on Christmas night.

But year after year passed without a miracle.

On the Christmas when Abel was seventeen, she waited until midnight. No one came.

The following Christmas, she hoped again. Still silence.

Christmas after Christmas, the hope grew smaller, but it never truly disappeared.

“Don’t be foolish, Abel,” she told herself one night. “Life isn’t a fairy tale.”

Yet every Christmas, she kept waiting.

Until that December arrived.

Christmas Eve felt lonelier than usual. Abel walked home from church in a thin coat, her thoughts heavy. She almost decided this would be the last Christmas she allowed herself such a silly hope.

Then she saw someone standing beneath a streetlamp.

“Arabella Vania?”

Abel stopped. Her heart began to race.

The man smiled nervously. “I’m Donnie Christofer. Sorry for showing up so suddenly.”

Abel didn’t know him. But there was something in Donnie’s calm, warm voice that made the night feel different.

“I’ve… heard your name often from your grandmother,” Donnie continued. “She said you always believed in Christmas miracles.”

Abel swallowed. “That’s an old story.”

Donnie shook his head gently. “That kind of belief is beautiful. And rare.”

They walked together beneath the December sky. Donnie spoke about returning to the town after years away, about how he felt compelled to come that night—without knowing why or for what reason.

Abel listened, no longer feeling alone.

In front of Abel’s house, Donnie stopped. From his coat pocket, he took out a small box containing a Christmas bell.

“I don’t know if I’m the one you’ve been waiting for,” he said honestly.

“But I do know… I want to stay.”

Tears fell from Abel’s eyes without her realizing it.

All this time, she had been waiting for someone to arrive with a grand promise. But love, it turned out, came in a simpler form—present, real, and choosing to stay.

On that Christmas night, Abel finally understood:

it wasn’t hope that brought the miracle,

but the courage to believe once more.

And beneath the Christmas lights, love finally found Abel.