Binar's hands moved deftly as she ground turmeric and ginger into medicine.
Binar had received confirmation from Mrs. Sabrina that the content creator would be coming to her pharmacy by tomorrow at the latest.
And Binar had one day to fully restock her medicines. On top of that, she would be making a beauty product—a type of body scrub—from elmu roots. So she wasn't just restocking. She was also introducing a new product.
But her focus lasted only an hour. The commands in her head suddenly resurfaced.
Binar had tried to ignore the voice in her heart. She tried to put logic first so she could follow the recipe properly. But the truth? Binar grew even more anxious, and now she was breaking out in a light sweat.
When weighing the ground turmeric, Binar took a long time to make sure the measurement was correct. When she felt it was right, she prepared to mix it with the next ingredient, but before doing so, she weighed the turmeric again, checking it once more, and again, and again, and again, until she felt the scale matched the required amount.
And when she wanted to mix in her secret recipe, Binar kept turning the fine powder over, convincing herself that she hadn't mixed the ingredients incorrectly.
"I can't make a mistake. If I do, I'm not just putting myself in danger—I'm putting the people who use my medicine and beauty products in danger too."
Work that should have taken an hour ended up taking Binar two.
When she finished, she sat with her shoulders slumped. She was exhausted—not just physically, but mentally too.
If she had to put it into perspective, Binar felt like she'd run ten laps around a soccer field while memorizing pure chemistry formulas.
She was tired! The world sounded unbearably loud.
Binar knew what she was doing wasn't normal, but she seemed unable to stop. The girl also knew the problem wasn't her work, the turmeric scale, or the secret recipe. Binar was too busy correcting every action and movement, when the real problem was inside her own mind.
The next day, the content creator really did come with Mrs. Sabrina.
Her name was Nayakila. They briefly introduced themselves before getting serious about filming the content.
Naya started aiming the camera, adjusting it to the right lighting. Meanwhile, Binar sat up straight as she introduced the medicines and beauty products she carried.
Everything went smoothly. As the person who made the products herself, Binar had no trouble explaining their benefits and effects.
"Finally done. You were amazing, Binar. Cameras usually make people nervous, but not you!"
"You're too kind, Naya. That's also because you have such an amazing camerawoman," Binar replied.
Mrs. Sabrina let out a soft laugh. "Mom's choices are never wrong, right, Naya?"
Binar had only just found out that Naya was Mrs. Sabrina's niece.
"Mom's choices are always right—except when it comes to finding a match for her own child," Naya teased jokingly.
"You're something else! That one's entirely his fault for being so picky, no matter how high his standards are. Oh, and Binar, I hope this is the first step toward growing your business even more."
"Thank you, Mrs. Sabrina. Um, just for today, you and Naya can take any Anjani products you want. Anything you like!" Binar offered with a radiant smile.
"Really? I'm not going to say no. I already marked that red lipstick earlier because I wanted Naya to buy it."
"Here... take it, Naya! You can take two, too!"
Binar didn't get home until nearly midnight. Luckily, everyone in the house was already asleep, so she didn't have to listen to any judgmental remarks from the people who lived there.
But when she reached the top of the stairs, Naura's bedroom door suddenly opened, revealing her stepsister's face.
"You think making that crappy pharmacy go viral and become famous will soften Mom's heart?" Naura laughed scornfully as she looked Binar up and down. "That'll never happen. Mom already has us—people who have everything over you, when all you have is a pharmacy stocked with cheap ingredients."
"Mom made the right choice! Better than caring about a daughter who's a cheater. But usually, those cheating tendencies from your Dad get passed down to you, too! Remember my words."
Binar smiled, not intimidated in the slightest. "Are you done?"
Naura clenched her fists, struggling to contain her anger, then stormed into her room and slammed the door.
Binar let out a small chuckle, amused by how unstable Naura's emotions still were.
To be continued.