Night crept across the Jakarta sky once again. The digital clock in the apartment's living room already showed eleven p.m. when the sound of keys jingling came from the door. Gavin stepped inside wearing a suit that had loosened slightly—his tie deliberately slackened, giving him a rumpled look that only added to his visual appeal. His face looked tired, but a satisfied smile still lingered on his lips after spending the evening having dinner with one of his female clients.
Aruna was already waiting on the living room sofa. Beside her, Kenzie was fast asleep, still clutching his empty milk bottle. The child's face looked peaceful, in stark contrast to Aruna, whose aura felt as cold as ice.
The moment Gavin noticed Aruna, he put on his signature smile. He sauntered closer without a hint of guilt, slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt in a deliberately charming display.
"Not asleep yet, Una? Were you waiting for your husband to come home?" Gavin teased, leaning against the back of the sofa directly above Aruna's head. He even winked at her, trying to break the tension with the playboy charm that usually managed to melt women's hearts.
Aruna didn't move. She wouldn't even dignify Gavin's utterly misplaced wink with a glance. Their marriage, which had happened because of the wishes of their late siblings, felt increasingly hollow and burdensome because of the man standing before her.
"I'll start teaching again tomorrow. My leave is over," Aruna said bluntly, cutting off all of Gavin's cheap flirting. Her voice was flat, but there was an undeniable firmness beneath it.
The charming smile on Gavin's face vanished instantly. His eyes, which had been heavy with exhaustion, flew wide open. He straightened and stared at Aruna in disbelief, as if she had just announced the outbreak of World War III.
"What do you mean, Na? Teaching again?" Gavin asked, his voice rising as his friendly mask slipped away. "You want to go back to work?"
"Yes. My mourning period is over. I can't keep shutting myself away in here, and I've already left the children at school for far too long," Aruna replied calmly as she adjusted Kenzie's blanket to keep him warm.
Gavin let out a loud, frustrated snort. He paced back and forth in front of the sofa, raking his fingers through his slicked-back hair, which was now beginning to come undone. His thoughts immediately spun out of control—not about Aruna's mental state as she tried to get back on her feet, but about his own comfortable life, which was in danger of being disrupted.
"So if you go to work, what happens to Kenzie, Aruna?!" Gavin demanded in a half-whisper, afraid of waking their nephew. "Do you even think about that? Kenzie still needs his full attention. He just lost his parents!"
Aruna looked up at Gavin, her silence deadly. "I've thought of everything. Tomorrow is Wednesday. According to the childcare schedule we agreed on—and that you always break—Wednesday and Thursday are your days to look after Kenzie from morning until late afternoon because your office schedule is more flexible. So tomorrow, you're staying in the apartment with Kenzie."
At that, Gavin felt like he was about to explode. Take care of Kenzie all day? In the apartment? Alone? Just imagining it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"I can't, Na! It can't work like that!" Gavin protested quickly, waving his hands in panic. "You know Rendy's company is still transitioning into my hands. I'm incredibly busy! And tomorrow afternoon I have... I have an important lunch appointment with a new business associate."
A business associate or a new date? Aruna thought bitterly. She knew her husband's habits all too well. He hid behind "work matters" when all he really wanted was to turn on the charm and switch dates every night.
"Rendy's company already has a solid board of directors. You're a shareholder, not an office employee who has to clock in at eight in the morning and leave at five. Stop making excuses," Aruna pressed, her voice rising an octave.
Gavin clicked his tongue in annoyance. His true nature—selfish and unwilling to inconvenience himself—began to show. "Na, listen. My time is valuable. If I have to stay home all day just to change diapers, feed Kenzie, play with him, and listen to him cry, my time will be wasted for nothing! Our finances could suffer. Why don't you just quit your job at that kindergarten? The monthly allowance I give you is more than enough for you and Kenzie!"
The words "wasted for nothing" that came out of Gavin's mouth struck Aruna like a brutal slap. Her chest heaved as she held back the anger boiling over.
"Wasted for nothing, you say?" Aruna rose from her seat, staring at Gavin with eyes beginning to glisten from overwhelming disappointment. "Taking care of your own nephew, your late brother's flesh and blood, is what you call a waste of time, Gavin?!"
Gavin flinched at the flash of anger in Aruna's eyes, but his sky-high ego refused to let him back down. He looked away and snorted softly while adjusting his expensive watch. "Yeah... that's not what I meant. But there should be priorities. A wife's primary responsibility is at home, taking care of the child."
"I only teach from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon, Gavin! Just six hours!" Aruna cut in, her voice trembling. "And this isn't just about my job. It's about the responsibility I've already made to the place where I work. We also agreed that we'd take turns taking care of Kenzie. But what happens? You always have a thousand excuses whenever it's your turn!"
Gavin let out a long sigh, putting on a face as if he were the most hurt victim there. He stepped closer to Aruna and tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders with an affectedly sweet gesture meant to calm her anger—the same go-to trick he used whenever one of his girlfriends got sulky.
"Come on, Na. Don't make a big deal out of a little problem. How about this? Tomorrow I'll call a temporary babysitter, or we can just leave Kenzie with Mbok Rin at the old house. Problem solved, right? I can still work, you can still teach, and my time won't be wasted on things like this. Fair?" Gavin smiled dismissively and winked at her once more with complete confidence.
Aruna roughly slapped Gavin's hand away from her shoulder. Disgust spread through her entire body at her husband's shallow attitude and his belief that everything could be solved with money or a wink.
"Kenzie isn't ready to meet a stranger, Gavin! And the old house is too far away. You know Kenzie is still traumatized after what happened!" Aruna drew a deep breath, trying to rein herself in as she nearly cried from emotional exhaustion.
She stared straight at Gavin with the coldest look she had ever given him. "I don't care. I'm leaving at seven tomorrow morning. If you're not awake by eight, or if you dare walk out of this apartment and abandon Kenzie... I swear I'll take Kenzie away from here, and you'll never get another chance to keep your promise to Rendy."
After delivering that threat, Aruna carefully lifted the sleeping Kenzie into her arms. She walked right past Gavin, leaving her husband frozen in the middle of the room, staring after her with his mouth hanging open and an expression of utter fury.
Gavin glared angrily at Aruna's retreating figure. "Damn it," he muttered. His date with a magazine model tomorrow afternoon had suddenly fallen apart because of the hassle of taking care of a little kid. In frustration, Gavin kicked at the air, cursing his fate for being trapped in a marriage and responsibilities he had never wanted in the first place.
To be continued...