The suffocating silence in the study felt far more painful than any bad answer could have been.
Alea stood frozen in front of Adrian's desk, clutching the DNA test results that still seemed to tremble between her fingers. Her tear-filled eyes slowly shifted from the sheets of paper to the man she had called Dad for seventeen years.
"So it's true?" Alea asked softly, her voice nearly drowned out by the sound of her own breathing. "Dad... you're not my biological father?"
Adrian did not answer right away. His jaw stiffened, his gaze locked in place as if he were struggling to find the right words to salvage the situation.
"Alea, give me that document," Adrian finally ordered, trying to keep his voice controlled.
"I won't!" Alea refused firmly, shaking her head.
"Alea!" Adrian's voice rose a level, carrying his full authoritative force.
But Alea was no longer afraid. "Who is Rendra Pratama, Dad?" she demanded sharply.
When Adrian tried to step closer to take the paper from her hand, Alea instinctively backed away several steps, watching him warily. "Don't come any closer!"
Near the doorway, Marissa, who had witnessed the argument, could no longer hold back her tears. Her sobs broke loose and filled the room. "Alea, please listen... I can explain everything..."
"If you really can explain, then why hasn't there been a single explanation in all these seventeen years?!" Alea cut in, her voice rising high and trembling violently. All the pain and anger she had buried so deeply for so long suddenly spilled out, impossible to contain.
"Why have I never had a baby picture in this house? Why do you always avoid me and change the subject whenever I ask about the day I was born?" Alea looked from one parent to the other as tears streamed down her face. "Why does Dad always treat Celine like a queen and his favorite daughter, while I... I'm always treated like a stranger in this house?!"
Marissa covered her mouth with both hands, her sobs growing harsher. Adrian, meanwhile, turned his face away, avoiding direct eye contact with Alea.
"I... can't tell you yet," Adrian murmured.
Alea let out a small, bitter laugh laden with despair as her tears soaked her cheeks even more. "Seventeen years, Dad... How much longer do I have to wait before I'm considered worthy of hearing the truth?"
Silence fell over the room once again. Not one of them was able to answer her.
Alea drew a long breath that seemed to cut through her chest, then slowly placed the DNA test results on the wooden desk in front of her. "If you really don't want to tell me," she said in a steady, icy voice, "I'll find out the answer myself."
Alea turned sharply and strode out of the study.
"Alea! Wait, Alea!" Marissa called hysterically from behind her, but Alea was no longer willing to stop.
That night, for the first time in her life, Alea cried not merely because she felt unloved by her family. She cried because she realized a far more bitter truth: from the very beginning, she had never truly been part of the Adinata family.
The next morning, the atmosphere in the dining room felt utterly strange and awkward.
Celine sat elegantly beside Adrian, cheerfully telling him about her college plans. Marissa sat across from them, occasionally offering a faint smile as she listened to her favorite daughter's chatter.
Alea came downstairs a few minutes later. Not a single greeting or warm glance welcomed her arrival. Without saying a word, Alea pulled out a chair and sat at the farthest end of the table.
"I've talked a lot with Dad," Celine said, clinging playfully to Adrian's arm in front of Marissa. "And Dad agreed that I can major in business overseas next year."
Marissa nodded slowly, pride shining in her eyes. "If that's what you want, I'll always support you, sweetheart."
Adrian also gave a broad smile, one he rarely showed, and lovingly stroked Celine's hair. "Dad's daughter deserves the best education and facilities."
Alea lowered her head, staring at her still-empty plate. The name sounded painfully hollow in her ears again. Dad's daughter.
If those words had once sparked envy and jealousy in her chest, now they felt like undeniable proof that a boundary existed between them—and that it was impossibly thick.
Celine glanced at Alea appraisingly. "Where do you want to go to college, Alea?"
"I don't know yet," Alea replied flatly without looking up.
"How do you not know? Aren't we supposed to decide on our universities soon?" Celine pressed, her tone laced with mockery.
Alea merely raised both shoulders. "I'll think about it later."
Celine gave a small giggle and flashed a disdainful smile. "Well, do you even have as many choices as I do? Or as much freedom?"
Alea looked up and met her sister's eyes directly. "Celine."
"I was just asking," Celine cut in casually, without a trace of guilt.
"Enough, Celine. Don't bring it up again," Marissa said, trying to mediate the icy argument.
But Celine continued. "Dad has even prepared a luxury apartment for me over there. He said he couldn't possibly let me live in an ordinary dorm."
Alea took a short breath and formed a faint smile that never reached her eyes. "Good for you."
"You don't have to be so jealous," Celine snapped.
"I'm not jealous," Alea replied calmly.
Celine waved her hand dismissively. "Well, that's good, then."
Alea immediately rose from her chair. "I'm done."
Marissa looked at Alea's plate, which she had not touched at all. "You haven't eaten anything, Alea."
"I'm not hungry," Alea answered coldly.
She turned, slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked out of the dining room without a single person getting up to follow or stop her.
Throughout her classes at school, Alea tried hard to act normal, as if nothing bad had happened. But her head felt ready to split beneath the uproar of questions that refused to find answers.
When the recess bell rang, Alea chose to be alone on a shady bench in the garden behind the school. As she sat lost in thought, staring at the dry leaves on the ground, a shadow suddenly blocked her view.
"Alea?"
Alea slowly looked up and found Naya, her close classmate and best friend, standing over her with concern before finally sitting down beside her.
"What's wrong with you? You've looked so gloomy and spaced out in class all morning," Naya asked gently.
Alea let out a heavy sigh. "I... have a problem."
"Family problem?" Naya guessed softly.
Alea only nodded.
Naya gently rubbed her friend's shoulder in understanding. "If you're not ready to talk about it, that's okay. But please, don't keep it all bottled up by yourself, okay?"
Alea smiled faintly, feeling a little warmth from her friend's concern. "Thank you, Naya."
Before they could continue their conversation, the footsteps of a stranger approached the garden. An adult man wearing a plain black shirt stood before them, holding a thick white envelope.
"Excuse me. Are you Alea Adinata?" the man asked in a deep, formal voice.
Alea eyed the stranger with suspicion and distrust. "Yes, that's me. What is it?"
The man extended the white envelope toward her. "This was left for you."
"By whom?" Alea asked in confusion, eyeing the envelope uncertainly.
"By someone who has been looking for you for a very long time," the man replied briefly.
Alea furrowed her brow, her anxiety mounting. "Who is it?"
The man did not answer Alea's question at all. He merely gave her a brief, polite nod, then turned and hurried away from the school grounds.
Naya stared at the mysterious envelope in Alea's hand, her eyes widening. "Just open it, Alea."
With slightly trembling fingers, Alea tore open the envelope's seal. Inside was an old photograph whose colors had faded with time. It showed a young woman with a warm smile, cradling a baby girl in her arms.
The beautiful woman's face was utterly unfamiliar to Alea. Yet for some reason, when she looked into the woman's bright eyes, a warm yet suffocating ache pressed against her chest.
Alea turned over the photograph. Elegant handwriting was etched across the back: "To my child, whom I was forced to give up."
Alea's breath stopped. Her eyes moved downward to read another line written at the bottom of the paper: Rendra Pratama — last known address.
That name again! The name of the man listed on last night's DNA test results as her biological father!
Alea's hand shook so violently that the photograph nearly slipped from her grasp. At that exact moment, the phone in her uniform pocket vibrated hard, signaling an incoming message from an unknown number.
Alea opened the message, her heart pounding. > Don't trust the Adinata family.
Before Alea could process the first message, another appeared on her screen: > They're not your real family.
Then came the final message, sending a shiver through Alea's blood: > If you want to know who you really are, come to the address written on the back of the photograph. Come alone.
Alea slowly turned off her phone screen and gripped the device tightly. For a while, all she could do was sit speechless on the garden bench.
Fear began to spread slowly through her veins. But her thirst for the truth that had been stolen from her for so long was far greater than any fear.
She firmly placed the old photograph and envelope inside her schoolbag.
For seventeen years, Alea had always accepted everything the Adinata family said and did without ever arguing or questioning their decisions. But starting today, everything had changed.
She still did not know who Rendra Pratama was. She did not recognize the young woman in the old photograph. And most frightening of all, she did not even know her own true identity.
But one thing was certain in her heart: Alea would uncover every answer, no matter what it took. Whatever she found at the end of the road, she would never again become the same weak girl.
Because for the first time in her life, Alea dared to take a step and open the door to a past that the Adinata family had kept tightly locked for more than a decade.