2. An Agreement on Paper
“Leave my son. You’re not worthy of him. You two are not equals. I don’t think I need to remind you of this over and over.” Mrs. Soraya spoke without beating around the bush as she slid a check bearing an astronomical amount toward Maura. It had already been signed.
Maura’s clasped hands slowly lifted, trembling as she reached for the slip of paper.
But Soraya quickly pulled it back.
“This check contains five hundred million rupiah, and you can cash it immediately. But getting it won’t be that simple,” Soraya said, a cynical smile forming on her lips.
“I’ve done what you asked, ma’am.”
“What proof do I have that you’re not lying?”
“You can ask your son directly. Our relationship is over.”
“Ending things isn’t enough. My son has to hate you for the rest of his life.”
“I’ve done exactly as you requested.”
Soraya narrowed her eyes. Doubting Maura’s words, she picked up her phone.
“Hello, sweetheart. What’s the name of the woman you’ve been seeing? Maura, right? Mama was just—”
“Don’t mention her name again. From now on, I don’t want to hear that name spoken in front of me. Not now, and never again.”
Soraya smiled in satisfaction. She put her phone away after Jeremy ended the call.
Maura could only suppress the bitterness in her chest. Hearing Jeremy’s voice so clearly shattered her heart in an instant.
The voice she had once heard speaking so gently, always calling her his love, now sounded completely unfamiliar. Every word felt like a spear capable of piercing straight through to her heart.
Her tears nearly spilled over, but she managed to control her emotions. Jeremy’s hatred was the result of her own actions. If misfortune hadn’t continued to strike her one blow after another, perhaps she wouldn’t have become so selfish.
“Sign here first.” Soraya slid a document and a pen toward Maura. Her index finger, its nail decorated with elaborate nail art, pointed to the place where Maura had to sign.
“Sign this agreement, and then you can get the money. This is insurance in case you ever break our agreement. I’ll be able to sue you,” Soraya said.
Maura sighed and looked at the papers before her, reading them carefully before signing her name.
This agreement on paper was proof that she had traded her love for a sum of rupiah. Not because she didn’t love him, but because circumstances had forced her to do this.
“Good. I hope you won’t break your promise. My son will be studying abroad. When he returns someday, I hope you’ll be gone from this city.” Soraya took the document and replaced it with a check, which she held out to Maura. Then she stood.
“And one more thing—about your condition. My son must never find out. That’s a risk you have to bear yourself after seducing my son. Because no matter what, the Wijaya family will never acknowledge it. Do you understand?”
“I understand, ma’am.” Maura bowed her head deeply, clutching her stomach. She didn’t want to watch Mrs. Soraya’s back as she walked away from the café.
Now Maura truly had to let Jeremy go and accept his hatred for the rest of her life. Even though she had lost her love, at least she still had the one thing that was most precious from their relationship.
Soraya had left the café in her luxury car, driven by her personal chauffeur.
Maura didn’t want to sit at the café table and grieve over her fate any longer. She immediately got up and hurried out of the café toward a place where she could cash the check.
After that, she rushed to the hospital to pay off her mother’s heart surgery expenses so her mother’s life could be saved as soon as possible.
“Where did you get the money, sweetheart?” Henidar, Maura’s biological mother, asked softly, almost in a whisper, after waking up the next day following her heart surgery.
“I borrowed it, Mom.” Maura was forced to lie because she didn’t want to burden her mother with worry.
“Borrowed it from whom? My surgery cost so much. If you borrowed the money, how are you going to pay it back, sweetheart?”
“I’m looking for a job, Mom. I’ll work hard to repay the loan. You don’t need to worry.”
“If you work, what about your college classes?”
“Don’t worry, Mom. My classes won’t be affected even if I work.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m only a burden to you. You didn’t have to do this. My illness is already so severe. I’d actually resigned myself to it.”
“Mom... You can’t say that. I’m your daughter. What child could bear to see their mother in pain?”
Maura’s eyes glistened with tears. Her chest felt tight as she held back her overwhelming sorrow over lying about college, which had actually been cut short halfway through.
The loss of her father, who had been the family’s breadwinner, had left Maura and her mother without anyone to support them. Unable to bear the thought of her sickly mother working, Maura had been forced to take over that role. She became their sole breadwinner, doing whatever it took to keep them alive.
“How is your relationship with Jeremy?” Henidar asked afterward.
Maura sighed, then turned away for a moment. Her heart grew even heavier beneath her mother’s sorrowful gaze.
But no matter how hard Maura tried to hide her sadness, her mother could read it from her expression alone.
“I warned you from the beginning. You two don’t come from the same world. People as insignificant as us have no business associating with them,” Henidar said softly, half advising Maura and half reminding her of the difference in their social status.
Jeremy came from a prominent family. His parents were preparing him to inherit their business empire.
Maura, on the other hand, was merely the daughter of a low-ranking employee and a traveling cake seller.
Those stark differences alone were already a towering wall between their relationship.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—in another part of the city—a luxurious black car sat parked neatly in front of a large, lavish residence, its engine still running. A chauffeur stood beside the car, waiting for his master.
From the house’s main door, a handsome young man appeared, walking listlessly beside a beautiful middle-aged woman who clung affectionately to his arm.
Behind him, a woman in a light-blue uniform dragged a suitcase over and handed it directly to the chauffeur to place in the car.
“Study hard while you’re there. You don’t need to worry about anything here. Just focus on your studies,” Soraya said.
Jeremy only nodded. His smile felt stiff. After breaking up with Maura, he had decided to attend college abroad, accepting an offer from his mother that he had previously rejected because he didn’t want to be separated from Maura.
But now, he had no reason left to stay. The one reason he had was gone.
Without saying much, without a dramatic farewell, Jeremy got into the car. A moment later, it sped toward the airport, leaving the house behind along with every memory he had.
“Goodbye, Maura. I hope we never meet again,” he said silently.