Alea kept running without daring to look back, letting the night wind lash her cold face. Her lungs felt like they were burning, and her breath came in quick, ragged gasps. The sound of vehicles passing along the highway made her heart pound even faster, especially when she imagined the mysterious black sedan parked and watching outside Dr. Surya Mahendra's house earlier.
In her sweat-dampened grip, the scrap of worn paper bearing the old doctor's address was clenched tight.
Meet Rendra Pratama before they find him.
The words kept echoing in her mind like the wail of an alarm siren. Who exactly were the "they" Dr. Surya feared? And why did finding Rendra feel so urgent that it was worth risking her life?
Alea stopped at a deserted bus stop, leaning her trembling body against it as she tried to steady her breathing. With cold fingers, she folded the paper until it was tiny and hid it in the deepest fold of her wallet. She couldn't let anyone find this vital clue.
By the time Alea stepped back onto the Adinata property, darkness had swallowed the day. The atmosphere in the house felt silent and oppressive. She tried to slip in through the side door and make her way toward the stairwell without a sound. But after only a few stealthy steps, Adrian's deep, cold voice abruptly stopped her.
"Where have you been at this hour, Alea?"
Alea froze. She slowly turned and found Adrian standing rigidly in the middle of the dim family room. Her father's face was stiff, cloaked in an unreadable intrigue.
"At school," Alea replied, trying to stay calm.
"What time did your school activity end?" Adrian pressed, stepping closer with an intimidating stare.
Alea looked straight into the eyes of the man she had called her father for seventeen years. "Why are you suddenly asking? You usually never care."
"I just want to know what kept you out so late without telling anyone at home," Adrian shot back, his voice rising with pressure.
Alea tightened her grip on her bag strap and forced a bitter smile. "I had some personal business. Is that such a big problem?"
Without waiting for Adrian's reply, which he seemed to be holding back in anger, Alea quickly turned and hurried up the stairs to her room.
As soon as she was inside, she locked the door tight. She sat on the edge of her bed, pulled out her wallet again, and spread the address paper beneath the glow of her desk lamp. The address led to an old settlement on the outskirts of a small town quite far from the capital. Just as Alea reached for her phone to map out the route, hurried knocking landed on her door.
Knock! Knock!
"Alea, it's me. Open the door." Celine's voice came from outside.
Alea instinctively hid the address paper beneath her pillow before walking over and opening the latch a crack. "What is it, Celine?"
Celine immediately pushed her way inside, her eyes fixed on Alea with anxious brightness. "Where did you actually go? Dad looked really angry earlier and kept asking where you were."
"I just stepped out to take care of something," Alea replied flatly.
Celine let out a long sigh and sat on the edge of Alea's bed, her face troubled. "You can't keep lying. This house is starting to feel more and more strange and frightening, Alea."
"I don't care anymore," Alea muttered, leaning against the door.
Celine stared at her sister with a dazed expression, then whispered, "This afternoon... I accidentally overheard Dad and Mom having a huge fight in the study."
Alea's heart suddenly pounded violently. "What were they talking about?"
"About you," Celine confessed, her voice trembling. "Dad said... if those old documents were found by outsiders or by you, our entire family life would fall apart and the truth would come out."
Alea felt a cold rush through her veins. She immediately remembered the brown envelope containing the DNA test results she had once found. "What documents were they talking about?"
Celine quickly shook her head. "I don't know for sure. But Mom mentioned the name of a hospital."
"RS Harapan Bunda?" Alea cut in quickly.
Celine flinched, then nodded hesitantly.
Alea stood frozen in place. This made it increasingly clear that she wasn't the only one searching for the truth. Her parents were also moving frantically in the darkness to destroy every piece of evidence of the switch in the past.
The night grew later and darker. Once everyone in the house had fallen asleep, Alea crept out of her room. Armed with a spare key she had taken from the drawer near the family room, she sneaked toward Adrian's study and slowly turned the latch.
Click.
The door opened. Alea stepped inside, leaving the room dim and turning on only the weak desk lamp. With trembling fingers, she searched the desk drawer where the brown envelope containing the DNA results had once been kept.
Empty.
She emptied the other drawers and searched the stacks of folders on the bookcase, but the document had vanished without a trace. Just as despair began to close in around her, Alea's eyes caught sight of the small trash bin beside the desk. Inside were scraps of paper that had been roughly shredded.
Alea knelt and picked up the pieces, holding her breath. As she arranged them across the floor, several printed phrases were still clearly visible:
RS Harapan Bunda... July 12... Baby Girl...
And in the bottom corner was a name that made every joint in her body feel like it had melted away: Rendra Pratama.
"Alea."
The soft call broke the silence of the night. Alea startled and turned quickly. Marissa stood in the open doorway, staring at her with a stricken expression, tears welling in her eyes.
Alea rose to her feet, clutching the scraps of paper tightly in her fist. "You destroyed these documents, Mom?"
Marissa slowly closed the study door without a sound and approached the daughter she had raised. "Go to your room, Alea. Please..."
"Answer me, Mom!" Alea snapped, her voice choked as tears began to fall. "Why did you and Dad destroy this evidence?!"
"Alea, this isn't something you can easily understand right now," Marissa said, reaching for Alea's fingers. "There are things from the past that we deliberately buried because we wanted to protect you!"
"Protect me?!" Alea gave a bitter laugh through her tears. "For seventeen years, you raised me on lies! You made me believe I was your biological daughter in this house!"
"You are our daughter, Alea! You will always be my daughter!" Marissa broke down sobbing.
Alea slowly shook her head and backed away from her mother's reach. "But I'm not your biological daughter, am I? Then who is Rendra Pratama, really? Is that man my biological father?!"
Marissa squeezed her eyes shut, letting tears run down her cheeks, unable to give a verbal answer. The silence and the woman's quiet sobs were more than enough to confirm the most painful truth Alea could have imagined.
"If you won't tell me," Alea said, her voice cold and steady, "I'll go find Rendra Pratama myself."
"Don't, Alea! Please, don't!" Marissa cried in panic, suddenly grabbing Alea by both shoulders. "Rendra isn't safe for you to meet! He's dangerous!"
"Dr. Surya Mahendra himself told me to meet him!" Alea blurted without thinking.
In an instant, Marissa's expression changed dramatically. Her face went deathly pale under the shock. "You... you met Dr. Surya?!"
Alea froze, realizing her mistake in letting that slip. But from her mother's panicked reaction, one new fact became clear: Marissa knew the old doctor very well and knew exactly how important his role had been on the night Alea was born.
"Alea, listen to me," Marissa whispered, her voice filled with desperate pleading, her eyes sharp with pure fear. "Never meet Rendra. If you see him... every bitter truth from the past will come to light."
"I want everything to come to light!" Alea declared, wrenching herself free of her mother's grip. "I'm tired of living a lie!"
Ignoring Marissa's calls and sobs, Alea turned and ran out of the study and back to her room.
With trembling hands and fierce determination, Alea grabbed her small backpack. She packed a few changes of clothes, her phone, the old baby photograph stained with ink, and the scrap of paper bearing Dr. Surya's address.
She didn't know what danger awaited her at the end of the journey. But one thing was now firmly etched in her heart: tomorrow morning, she would go find Rendra Pratama.
Alea left her room without realizing that at the destination she would reach tomorrow, the man named Rendra Pratama had already been watching and waiting for her arrival.