Chapter 5: Chaos
Ten minutes before that bloody tragedy tore away half her soul, Andien was still sitting motionless at the VIP table at Le Grand Palais Restaurant. Her gaze remained fixed on the tightly closed glass elevator doors as they carried her husband and only child down to the lobby.
The Truffle Nasi Liwet and Foie Gras on the table, of which she had eaten only a few bites, no longer looked appetizing. Andien slowly set down her spoon. She had completely lost her appetite. The restaurant's atmosphere, accompanied by violin music from an android musician, could not dispel the dark clouds that had suddenly gathered in her mind.
In the silence of her heart, a painful question began to gnaw at her. Am I always failing as a mother?
Andien lowered her head, staring at her own reflection in the gleaming porcelain surface of her plate. Guilt pressed against her chest until it felt difficult to breathe. This wasn't the first time she had been careless. As a mother, how could she have forgotten Baim's vital allergy pills? Andien felt like nothing more than a lucky woman who was constantly saved by Bisma's perfection. If Bisma hadn't always been the type to show his love through acts of service, always thinking of every backup plan and worst-case scenario, what would have happened to Baim in her care?
"I'm so useless..." Andien murmured softly. Her thoughts drifted far away as she cursed her forgetfulness.
Unconsciously, her slender fingers toyed with the sharp-tipped steak knife Bisma had used earlier to cut the A9 Wagyu. Her movements were completely unfocused, lost in a vortex of guilt.
Srt.
"Ow!" Andien flinched. Her reverie shattered instantly.
She pulled back her hand. The sharp tip of the steak knife had accidentally nicked her right index finger. A bead of thick red blood appeared, slowly dripping onto the white napkin in her lap. The wound was tiny, yet somehow its throbbing pain radiated all the way to her solar plexus, as if it were a bad omen sent by the universe. Andien quickly pressed a tissue against it.
Before Andien could calm herself, the peaceful restaurant suddenly erupted into commotion.
"Oh my God, look at that! Start recording!"
An excited shout came from the socialite couple seated not far from the enormous glass windows. They both rose from their chairs, aiming their transparent smartphones outside.
Andien turned, trying to process what was happening. Beyond the smart glass on the eightieth floor, glaring red-and-blue siren lights streaked across Jakarta's night sky. Three maglev police cars shot forward at full speed, executing dangerous maneuvers as they pursued an unidentified black vehicle. The tense aerial chase looked like an action-movie scene playing out live before the restaurant's guests.
But before Andien's curiosity could be satisfied, another source of chaos erupted inside the restaurant itself.
Crash!
The emergency stairwell door at the far end of the room—which should have been accessible only to staff—was forced open. A dozen reporters and paparazzi who had somehow managed to sneak up to the eightieth floor surged inside ferociously.
"Andien! Where's Mr. Bisma?!"
Flash! Flash! Flash!
White bursts from long-lens cameras fired wildly toward the VIP table. Restaurant staff and several security cyborgs on guard immediately sprang into action, forming a human barricade to keep the press vultures from advancing any farther.
The restaurant guests, annoyed by the disturbance, began to murmur. Some of them turned toward Andien. Harsh whispers gradually filled the air, overpowering the violin music.
"Oh, that's Andien, the influencer who loves flaunting her luxurious lifestyle."
"Yeah, she's the wife of that pro-government scientist who created the secret project, right? Reporters are looking for her husband."
"No wonder she can afford a VIP table here. Maybe all the money she's been using to show off came from embezzling the country's research funds."
The vicious words stabbed into Andien's ears. Her heart pounded. The vile slander made her nauseous. No. Bisma wasn't that kind of man. Her husband was the most honest man she had ever known.
Feeling cornered and deeply uncomfortable at the center of everyone's attention, Andien rose from her chair. She lowered her face, clutching the still slightly bleeding cut, intending to move somewhere quieter—or perhaps follow Bisma through the elevator.
But after she had taken only two steps away from the table...
BZZZT!
Within milliseconds, all the crystal lights in the restaurant went out. The violin music stopped. The air-conditioning system shut down. Pitch-black darkness swallowed the entire eightieth floor.
Startled cries and panicked screams rang out among the elite guests. A few seconds later, however, the backup system came online. Dim red emergency lights blinked in every corner of the ceiling, providing just enough illumination to see the surroundings, though the red shadows only made the atmosphere feel even more ominous.
Andien's breathing quickened. Her unease instantly transformed into absolute panic. Bisma... Baim...
Her thoughts immediately went to her husband and child in the parking lobby. With trembling steps pushing through the dim emergency lighting, Andien tried to reach the emergency stairwell door. But she saw the reporters and security guards still jostling there, blocking the only manual exit.
With no other choice, Andien ran toward the VIP elevator Bisma had taken down earlier. She frantically pressed the call button over and over, but its screen was completely dead.
A human security guard stationed in front of the elevator immediately stretched out his arm, stopping Andien. "I'm sorry, ma'am! You can't use this elevator."
"I have to go down! My husband and son are down there! Please turn the elevator on!" Andien's voice began to tremble with hysteria.
"The magnetic system was disconnected by the sudden power outage, ma'am," the guard explained with a tense expression, trying to remain professional. "Even if the main power comes back on now, this central elevator will need at least fifteen minutes to reboot and complete its safety calibration before it can be used again. Please remain calm and return to the safe area."
"Fifteen minutes?! But my son—"
CLAP!
Suddenly, the restaurant's main lights blazed back on. Relief briefly washed over the room as the air-conditioning units hummed to life and the electronic systems came back online. Several guests let out long breaths, assuming the minor incident was over.
But not Andien.
As the lights came back on, the smart-system earpiece worn by the guard standing directly in front of Andien suddenly crackled through its speaker, distorted by the network malfunction. The operator's voice from the building's security control room rang out clearly, sharply, and echoing in Andien's ears.
"Code Red! Code Red! All security units on every floor, initiate lockdown immediately! Keep all guests in their assigned locations. A fatal stabbing has occurred in the VIP lobby. The victim has been confirmed dead at the scene. I repeat, the victim is dead..."
The world around Andien seemed to stop turning. The air suddenly vanished from her surroundings. The restaurant's din, the reporters' commotion, and the guards' shouting faded from her hearing, leaving only a long, painful ringing in her head.
Her fingers, which had been clutching her luxury clutch bag tightly, slowly went limp.
Thud.
The small bag fell onto the marble floor, spilling its contents everywhere. Andien's body stood rigid and frozen. Her beautiful face turned as white as paper. A terrifying emptiness yawned deep in her gut.
Though the operator had not mentioned a single name, her instincts—half her soul—knew with absolute certainty whose lifeless body now lay in that cold lobby.
The bitter fate that would change her life had just begun.