Derin could even remember the exact minute Elana would laugh, and the exact minute he had to speed up the video because he hated watching her share behind-the-scenes footage from her photo session with a male model. Derin enjoyed doing that more than eating A5 wagyu as his main course, priced at over two million rupiah.
Haga remained silent as he watched Derin walk toward his chair. Derin took off his jacket and draped it over the backrest, then loosened the tie he was wearing. For a moment, his eyes flicked toward the television in his office, which was showing a morning program. He lowered his head again to look over the documents his secretary had prepared for him to sign, along with several operational progress reports and approval documents for launching a new project that was giving him a splitting headache.
Sujatmiko Group was well-known in Indonesia as a corporate giant, second only to Pranadipta's D'Simetris. While Pranadipta Group owned cigarette and fast-moving consumer goods companies, Polaris—owned by Sujatmiko—operated in property and entertainment. Hotels, apartments, supermarkets, amusement parks, and more. The two were business partners, two of the most feared and indispensable giants in the country.
Derin Sujatmiko's role as CEO was obviously crucial. Several of their branches and subsidiaries had begun to surge again after he took office. Derin was a perfectionist and incredibly persistent, though of course, none of that meant he was free of flaws—and those flaws were enough to drive Haga completely insane.
"What about the agency?" Derin asked without looking away from the stack of documents. Every now and then, his eyes shifted to the computer screen in front of him, where a company email displayed a financial report table recently sent by the central manager.
Haga let out a heavy sigh. This was exactly what had him so flustered. Derin had been planning to acquire an entertainment agency, and for the past few months, they had repeatedly gone back and forth meeting with the largest shareholder in Polimnia Entertainment—an agency managing several artists and top models, one of whom had driven Derin completely crazy. They had tried to buy the shares, and fortunately, the offer had been well received simply because it was so high.
"They agreed. We have a meeting with the agency executives this week, but..." Derin looked up, frowning, when Haga let his sentence trail off.
"Why?" he asked, puzzled. Haga cleared his throat softly before scratching his neck.
"They're taking advantage of you, Der. They want to cash in on that insane offer of yours to become Elana's sponsor," Haga replied.
"How much are they asking? I don't care how much it is."
"The issue isn't how much they're asking or whether you can afford to sign Elana. It's that damn agency is taking advantage of your generosity just because you're crazy about their model. Elana doesn't have enough impact to boost your company that much, Der. Her engagement isn't nearly as strong as some influencer who does nothing but dance on TikTok. They're asking for a ridiculous fee—"
"I don't care. My company can keep running without any artist's impact. I only want to sign Elana. Whatever it costs, I can pay it." Derin cut off his entire rant.
Haga groaned and rubbed his face in frustration. Derin was smart—extremely smart, actually. A Stanford University master's graduate, fluent in Mandarin, English, and Indonesian, born and raised in Beijing, China, and capable of completing his undergraduate studies at Tsinghua University. That alone should have been enough to impress anyone.
Hadn't Haga already said the company had grown rapidly after Derin became CEO? Haga wasn't exaggerating, but for some reason, Derin could sometimes be incredibly stubborn, troublesome, and an idiot. Like right now.
Honestly, Haga himself had no idea when Derin had started going crazy over Elana. It had happened so gradually that Haga hadn't even noticed. Derin had never told him anything. Then, out of nowhere, the man had created an Instagram account just to follow Elana. He even regularly bought coins to send her gifts whenever she livestreamed. He was willing to waste his incredibly valuable time watching all kinds of pointless shows simply because Elana had been invited as a guest star.
Haga was both stunned and incredulous that a fabulously wealthy and unbelievably busy conglomerate heir like Derin Sujatmiko could do something so foolish, so utterly nonsensical.
The thing was, Elana didn't even know who Derin was. That wasn't unusual. Artists rarely knew businesspeople, let alone highly private conglomerate owners like Derin. They usually learned who the business elite were only after entering the business world, building connections, and becoming sponsors. And most artists who knew Derin Sujatmiko were involved in politics, such as members of the DPRD.
Derin's family was extremely strict about protecting their privacy. They did it to preserve the company's stability and their own security, especially Derin's, since he was their only child and sole male grandchild. It was like how some people didn't know who the CEO of Indofood was, even though they ate Indomie practically every day. Besides, Derin himself wasn't even from Indonesia.
None of that stopped Derin, though. He didn't care that he might be far too dazzling for someone like Elana, like a fan who idolized his favorite celebrity. Derin often secretly opened Instagram in the middle of meetings simply because he was bored and wanted to see Elana's latest post for encouragement. He never hesitated to spend money on clothes, even underwear, from famous fashion brands just because Elana modeled for them—and of course, because Derin needed an invitation to attend their fashion shows.
Derin did everything simply because he wanted to "get to know" a girl who had no idea he even existed. Haga? All he could do was occasionally groan in resignation, utterly unable to understand everything Derin was doing. Even so, he didn't have the heart to stop the man. Seeing how Derin could regain his energy just from looking at Elana's latest post had forced Haga to support whatever the man wanted to do.
Though of course, he still wanted to try to steer Derin away before he went this far.
Amid Haga's frustration and Derin's silence as he refused to respond to the man's rant, the television channel showing a morning gossip program managed to interrupt them when the presenter mentioned the name that had been the subject of discussion all along.
"Shocking news has come in about Kaiden Alvaro, who is rumored to be secretly dating a top model, Elana. The rumor took off when fans of the twenty-three-year-old actor accidentally spotted the two of them together. It gained even more traction when several members of the media caught the actor driving the model to a shoot location in Tangerang. This is certainly surprising, considering Elana herself once said she wasn't interested in dating someone younger—"
Haga blinked as the television screen suddenly went dark. Silence descended after the string of statements that had sent the man in front of him into a rage. Just look at Derin's furrowed brow, the way his eyes pretended to stay focused on the documents before him, and the vein bulging on the hand now gripping the television remote so tightly.
"You know gossip news in Indonesia is always exaggerated, right? Don't think about it! It's like Weibo—just a rumor made up by some fake account. Not a watermelon account, either. Just a scheme by a major agency and the government to keep the artist scrambling while they cover up a government scandal."
"Who is Kaiden?" Derin asked, his face expressionless.
'For God's sake!' Haga grumbled inwardly.
It was obvious his job was about to get even harder. Just look at that hostile expression. After this, Derin would definitely ask him to do something very unfriendly to that innocent boy named Kaiden.