I closed the bedroom door quietly, leaving Master Arya, who had already entered his own room. My steps dragged as I made my way down the dim hallway until I finally reached the pink-themed bedroom that was now my temporary shelter.
I lay down on the soft mattress, but my eyes refused to close. I stared straight up at the ceiling while my thoughts drifted in every direction, churning without any clear purpose.
Had I really made the right decision?
That question kept circling through my mind. I had just accepted an offer from a man I had known for only a matter of hours. I had accepted a fantastic sum of money in exchange for dedicating myself to working for him, with no idea how long it would last. Wasn't this too reckless?
On the other hand, my mind returned to the circumstances I'd left behind. The debt collectors who demanded payment without mercy, my husband's face as he constantly looked down on me, and my mother-in-law's endless snide remarks blaming me for every shortcoming. It felt as though this decision was actually my only way out of a dead end that seemed to have no end.
I let out a long breath, trying to push away all the worries haunting me. Whatever risks came later, I would face them one at a time. Besides, there was nothing left for me to lose except my dignity, which had been taken from me long ago, ever since that marriage began.
In the middle of my long reverie, the phone lying on the nightstand suddenly vibrated. A notification appeared on the screen, making my heart beat faster.
Rp500,000,000.00 has been deposited into your account.
My eyes widened as I stared at the amount clearly displayed on the phone's screen. My hand trembled violently as I picked up the device, making sure I hadn't misread it. Five hundred million rupiahs, not a single rupiah short, had truly been transferred into my account, exactly as Master Arya had said earlier.
The tears I had been holding back finally spilled over. They weren't tears of sorrow, but of overwhelming emotion. This was the first time someone had truly kept their promise without strings attached, without making things complicated, and especially without bringing it up later to hold over my head.
For a moment, I let myself drown in the gratitude pressing against my chest. But it didn't feel right to remain swept up in my emotions for too long. There was a major responsibility I needed to take care of immediately, before everything became tangled again.
I quickly opened the conversation histories I had deliberately allowed to pile up, too afraid to respond. The names of debt collectors, legal online lenders, and illegal lenders who had haunted my days, along with several people who had lent me money, were all neatly arranged in my contact list.
With my hands still trembling slightly, I began the repayment process one account at a time. First, I settled the illegal loan with the most suffocating interest rate, the one that had been my greatest source of terror. My fingers typed in the destination account number, checking every digit for errors before finally pressing Send.
A successful transfer notification appeared on the screen. At last, one huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders.
I continued the same process with the other loans, one by one. Some of them replied in disbelief, asking where the sudden funds I'd sent had come from. But I ignored their questions, replying only as necessary, confirming that the payments had been officially received and asking for written proof as assurance that everything was settled.
My fingers continued moving nimbly across the phone's screen, as if I were reclaiming control over my own life after it had been taken from me for so long. Relief slowly spread through me, though a sense of dread crept in from the other side. What if all this only brought new problems?
But I chose not to think about it too much tonight. For now, I would simply be grateful that the mountain of debt was finally beginning to erode, one payment at a time.
Late into the night, I was still awake, making sure everyone I had borrowed from had received their repayment in full. Confirmation messages began arriving one by one. Some included words of gratitude, while others sent only brief, no-nonsense replies.
I glanced at the remaining contact list. Only one name remained untouched.
Bima.
My fingers paused over the name, uncertain whether I should tap it. A sense of longing welled up from somewhere, but so did the anger and pain that were still sharply etched inside me, as if they refused to make peace this soon.
How was he doing now? Was he looking for me? Or did he actually feel relieved to finally be free of me, just as he often said whenever his emotions boiled over?
I slowly shook my head, trying to dispel all the questions raging inside me. Not yet. It wasn't time to contact him. For the time being, I would keep everything involving that man locked away in my heart.
I set the phone back on the nightstand, then looked once more at the bedroom ceiling, which was beginning to make me feel drowsy. Perhaps a new chapter had just begun tonight. I had no idea whether it would lead me to the happiness I had always yearned for or drag me into new problems I couldn't yet predict.
But tonight, I would close my eyes with a little peace—the kind I hadn't felt in a very long time.