“Yuda, I need you to do me a favor. Buy me something.”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Check your phone. I sent it to you in a message.”
“Right away, Sir.”
Meanwhile, Isvara began to panic in the bathroom. Her period had come. She was wearing a white dress, and she had no idea whom to ask for help.
She had called Erwin, but he hadn’t answered. She had also sent him a message, but he hadn’t responded. He had only read it, without giving any thought to the desperate request from the woman he considered his fiancée.
Isvara stared at her phone with mixed emotions.
“What am I supposed to do?” she muttered to herself.
After waiting several minutes in the bathroom, Isvara finally decided to leave. Even so, she hesitated as she tried to walk away.
Suddenly, someone draped a jacket over her shoulders. Isvara froze. She recognized the fragrance that spread around her. She tried to turn around, and sure enough, Ezra was standing behind her.
“You knew this unwelcome guest was coming today, yet you still went out.”
“Did you forget that it gives you stomach cramps?”
Ezra spoke while gazing intently at his beautiful ex-wife’s face.
Isvara raised her eyes and looked at her handsome husband as well. Her heart always pounded whenever she was near Ezra. But for the past three years, she had kept her feelings tightly sealed away.
Ezra hadn’t wanted to involve feelings in their contract marriage. So Isvara hadn’t expected her love to be returned, either. After their divorce, she had tried to pick herself up and get through each day by forgetting the man.
She had gone along with all her parents’ wishes and agreed to marry again, even though her heart didn’t want to.
“I didn’t forget. I just had to accompany a friend,” Isvara finally replied.
“But your friend said you two were engaged. Even though he works at my company, I know he’s a very devious person.”
“So be careful if he really is your fiancé.” Ezra answered as he took Isvara’s left hand and placed something in it.
Isvara startled slightly. She wasn’t prepared for Ezra’s concern. A sanitary pad—the kind she often used—now lay in her hand. The man who should have become a stranger was still busy taking care of her.
Only a few minutes earlier, he had been the subject of conversation because his companion was so beautiful and elegant.
Isvara blinked, trying to calm her emotions so her heart wouldn’t race even faster.
“Don’t you remember that we’re divorced? Why are you still involving yourself in my affairs?”
She didn’t know why she had been able to say that. Perhaps she was jealous because Ezra had been holding another woman’s hand. But the next thing Ezra said brought tears to the beautiful woman’s eyes.
“Even though we’re divorced, you’re still my ex-wife in the eyes of the law. Weren’t you the one who wanted us to remain friends?”
“I don’t want to see you suffer, either.”
Ezra spoke in a cold tone. But his gentle, concerned gaze remained fixed on Isvara. It made the long-haired woman take a step forward. She wanted to do something on instinct.
But someone came over to call Ezra, and Isvara began to reconsider.
“Ezra...”
The beautiful woman who had received praise from all the guests began looking for Ezra.
“Why did you come here? Dad has been looking for you.”
Ezra merely glanced at her, while Isvara studied the woman’s beautiful, elegant face.
‘She really is perfect. Beautiful, elegant, and she looks smart, too. She’s so worthy of standing beside Ezra. Her family background must be incredible as well,’ Isvara thought.
Isvara’s gaze met the woman’s. Isvara lowered her head respectfully, while the woman gave her a faint smile.
Without waiting for Ezra’s consent, the woman linked her arm through his. Then the two of them walked away from Isvara.
Isvara could only stare blankly at her ex-husband. She had fallen in love but didn’t dare confess it. In the end, she swallowed her pain and disappointment all by herself.
All she could do now was pray for Ezra’s happiness and the happiness of his current partner. Before she realized it, tears had fallen down her cheeks.
When her phone chimed with a notification, Isvara quickly wiped away her tears and checked who had sent the message.
“I have something urgent to take care of. Just go home by yourself.”
Erwin’s message made Isvara let out a long sigh. She started walking again, but stopped when another voice interrupted her.
“Miss, was that man your boyfriend? He was so attentive and protective of you. Don’t ever let someone like him go to waste, okay? People like him are almost impossible to find anymore.”
Isvara was stunned by the office boy’s words. A few seconds later, she smiled, even as tears gathered in her eyes again.
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my ex-husband!”
“He has another woman now, and I can’t chase after him anymore—or confess my feelings.”
The tears began to fall again, this time more heavily. Even Isvara’s shoulders shook. She regretted getting divorced. If only she had found the courage to talk about her feelings back then, would Ezra still be hers now?
Unwilling to sink into her sadness any longer, Isvara left. She had already ordered a taxi to take her home.
The next day, after washing Ezra’s suit, Isvara ironed it. She remembered every word her ex-husband had said at the event the night before.
When she finished, she hung up the suit. She would send it to her ex-husband’s company that afternoon or evening.
“Ezra, you really are a good man. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but you really are kind. Even though we weren’t brought together by that arranged marriage, you’re truly a wonderful person.”
Isvara gazed into the distance with a faint smile on her lips. She stared at the black suit for a long time.
‘All of that was just a dream that appeared in my life. I’ve never been lucky among those people.’
‘Sometimes I wonder why I have to bear so many painful hardships, while the person who was truly sincere with me has already been taken back by the owner of life,’ Isvara thought.
Her reverie was broken when her father entered her room without knocking.
“Dad...!”
Yudistira gave a faint smile as he lowered himself onto the sofa in Isvara’s room.
“What is it, Dad?” Isvara asked anxiously.
“I wanted to ask how your date with Erwin went last night.”
“I saw how close the two of you were getting.”
“Dad, do you still want me to marry him?”
“Of course. This business relationship has to happen. I can’t sit around every day worrying about the company’s future.”
“Dad, I know you’re lying about the company. Ezra helped us, and the company is doing much better now.”
“Besides, I already helped our family by sacrificing everything I had to marry Ezra.”
“Why are you forcing me to marry Erwin now? He isn’t a good man, Dad. Just call the whole thing off!”
Erwin rose from his seat. He glared sharply at his daughter.
“Who do you think you are? You’ve only met a few people, and you’re already so arrogant.”
“There’s nothing to call off. Everything will go according to plan, whether you accept it or not.”
“You have no right to control my life.”
Tears gathered in Isvara’s eyes. But she had to express what she wanted so she wouldn’t become trapped with Erwin.
“Dad, please. Just this once. I don’t want to marry Erwin,” Isvara pleaded, gripping Yudistira’s wrist.
But Yudistira did something that left Isvara even more helpless.