BDAS - 1
“Dad has set your wedding date with his friend's child. All you need to do is prepare yourself mentally for the big day. As for everything else, Dad, Mom, your younger sibling, and the extended family will take care of it.”
Lintang's head immediately snapped toward the man in the black prayer cap sitting beside her mother, her eyes wide with shock.
“W-what do you mean, Dad?” Lintang was clearly stunned by the sudden decision, which had been made without telling her.
“Isn't it obvious what I've meant from the beginning? Were you listening, or were you pretending not to?” the man replied coldly. He was, in fact, nothing more than Lintang's stepfather.
Lintang's gaze shifted to her mother, who sat with her head bowed in silence beside her stepfather.
“Mom, what's going on? Why am I being married off without anyone telling me first? What—”
“Do you remember the debt of gratitude you owe? Well, consider this your way of repaying the debt of gratitude to the father who raised and cared for you from childhood until you started working. I don't want any arguments, all right? I'm going to my room. I've been busy all day preparing for your wedding. Nir, make sure you arrange all the paperwork that needs to be submitted to the local administrative office for Lintang's marriage. I'm going to my room, and I don't want any noise!”
After saying that, the man in his fifties rose and left the family room, accompanied by Lintang's furious stare. She hadn't been given a chance to say a word.
After her husband left, Nirmala, Lintang's mother, looked at her daughter with a pleading expression.
“Lintang, forgive me, sweetheart. I can't do anything to oppose your father's wishes …”
“Remember! He's not Lintang's biological father, Mom. Never forget how that man took you away and married you!” Lintang cut in softly but emphatically before leaving the family room as well, her chest tight from the unilateral decision her stepfather had just made.
“Remember, don't forget that you owe Dad a debt of gratitude, Lintang.”
Lintang's step faltered as she was about to climb the stairs when the voice came from behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know who had just spoken.
Lintang let out a harsh breath, trying to release all the weight pressing against her chest.
It wasn't time to make her move yet. I just need to be patient, Lintang thought before continuing up the stairs and ignoring her stepfather's voice.
Silence increasingly enveloped the luxurious house, with its expensive furnishings in every corner of Indra Laksono Pranajaya's residence.
The next morning, Lintang woke up and left for work before anyone at the Pranajaya residence was awake. She chose to avoid coming face-to-face with the married couple.
The latest-model white car Lintang was driving headed toward a house on the outskirts of the city as the sun began to emerge from behind the city's buildings and homes.
Not long afterward, the white car stopped in front of a modest house with a fence whose paint was beginning to fade. Lintang hurriedly turned off the engine, grabbed her phone, and called someone.
“Hello … you're up?”
“Just come in. The gate isn't locked. I just got back from delivering Mom's goods to the shop.”
Lintang merely shrugged at the response from the other end before ending the call. She quickly got out of the car, walked to the gate, and entered the house.
The living room door opened, revealing a handsome man still dressed in a gray tracksuit.
“I'm coming in.”
“Just go to my room. I'm going to shower first. Hmm, do you want coffee?”
Lintang nodded and walked past him. She immediately headed for a room on the left side of the house, while the handsome man hurried to close the door before going into another room.
“Viiinn, is that Lintang's car?”
“Yeah, Mom. Could you make coffee like usual? Kevin wants to shower, and it looks like we'll be heading to the office earlier since Lintang came really early.”
“All right. I'll make it.”
“Thanks in advance, Mom. Sorry for troubling you.”
“Oh, you're my son. How could you be a bother? Honestly.”
No more dialogue could be heard in the room. Meanwhile, Lintang, who was in Kevin's bedroom, was busy checking the laptop she had brought from home.
“Just you wait, Indra Laksono! Wait for the revenge of your stepdaughter!” Lintang said in a low but emphatic voice, her hand clenched into a fist as though holding back her anger.
The morning light slowly left its resting place minute by minute. Thirty minutes later, Lintang and Kevin were on their way to the office together.
“What happened? Why did you come to my house so early?” Kevin asked gently. He had changed into a neat light-blue slim-fit shirt.
Beside him sat Lintang in her casual style: a loose white long-sleeved shirt paired with a black vest and black slacks, along with a well-known brand of watch on her right wrist.
“This time, Indra's started acting up. I have to marry his choice within the next month.”
“W-what?” Kevin couldn't help being startled by Lintang's seemingly casual answer.
“Yeah. Get married. That old bastard set me up with the child of someone he knows, and he considers it repayment for raising Lintang Ayunda since she was seven years old.”
Kevin turned to her, disbelief filling his eyes. Two years older than Lintang, the man was rendered speechless by his girlfriend's confession.
“We have to break up before the wedding happens,” Lintang added a moment later.
“Break up? You can say that so easily, Lintang?”
“Then what do you want? To keep seeing me while I'm married to the man my stepfather chose? Do you want me to practice polyandry, Kevin Laksamana?”
No sound escaped Kevin's lips as the sun climbed higher from the eastern horizon.
Would their relationship truly fall apart after ten years together as a couple?