The shrill ringtone of Rian’s phone suddenly shattered the café’s silence. The phone on the table lit up brightly, displaying the name that had now become an inseparable shadow in his life: Valeri.
Siska slowly pulled her hand away, leaving behind a deeply disappointed look. Rian swallowed, then slid the green answer button with a heavy sigh he tried his best to hide.
“Rian, where are you?” Valeri’s voice on the other end sounded firm, hurried, and straight to the point.
“Get the car ready now. We have to leave for the area beyond the city limits this afternoon.
“There’s an emergency meeting with the main investor to sign the final contract.
“This trip will take several days because there are several locations we have to visit.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll head to wherever you are,” Rian replied, unable to refuse.
After hanging up, Rian looked at Siska with guilt gnawing at his chest.
“Siska, I’m sorry... I have to go to work now.” Siska only gave him a faint smile—a bitter smile that conveyed quiet resignation.
She nodded slowly, letting Rian walk away and leave her to wrestle with her loneliness once more.
The journey that afternoon felt long and exhausting. Driving Valeri’s luxury sedan, Rian followed the interprovincial route toward their destination city.
The road they traveled was mostly winding, poorly lit, and crowded with heavy vehicles.
Valeri sat in the back seat, busy checking important documents while occasionally directing Rian.
But as they neared the final meeting location, where the crucial contract signing was supposed to take place, bad luck struck their journey.
A large garbage truck had suffered a broken rear axle right in the middle of a narrow bridge.
The truck’s body lay across the road, completely blocking both lanes and causing a massive traffic jam that stretched for miles.
The road turned into a sea of red taillights from vehicles trapped in place.
The clock showed eleven at night, and traffic had come to a complete standstill.
Many truck drivers and private-car owners eventually chose to turn off their engines, lean back in their seats, or even sleep stretched out inside their vehicles on the shoulder.
“There’s no way we can stay in the car until morning, Rian,” Valeri said as she massaged her temples, throbbing with exhaustion.
“I need a decent place to rest before tomorrow’s meeting.”
Rian quickly turned the car around and followed a small road along the outskirts of the main route.
Luckily, he found a motel—or perhaps just an ordinary hotel—standing in isolation by the roadside.
The building was anything but luxurious, completely at odds with Valeri’s usual five-star hotel standards.
When Rian asked at the reception desk, the lodging was almost entirely occupied by drivers stranded in the traffic jam.
Only one standard room remained. Back in Bandung, Rian had felt awkward and uncomfortable about sharing a room with his female boss, but that feeling had now been completely worn away.
Compared with leaving Valeri to sleep in the car like the other drivers, renting this one ordinary room was the most practical choice.
Rian no longer felt uncomfortable.
After stepping out of the bathroom, Valeri removed her expensive blazer and casually tossed it onto a wooden chair.
She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed, which felt somewhat hard.
Rian stood near the small table, intending to clear up the lingering unease in his heart.
“Valeri, about the explanation concerning Siska yesterday... I just want to make sure the fraud accusation at the subsidiary has really been resolved.”
Before Rian could finish, Valeri raised a hand, abruptly stopping him.
The tired look in her eyes turned sharp, dominant, and filled with demanding desire.
“Don’t talk about anyone else,” Valeri cut in, her voice low. “I don’t want to hear anyone’s name in this room. Tonight... I only want to talk about us.”
Valeri rose from the bed and slowly approached Rian. Without the slightest hesitation, the elegant woman grabbed Rian’s arm and pulled him down onto the edge of the bed.
Before Rian could respond, Valeri boldly stepped forward and sat directly on his lap.
The sudden physical contact set the hotel room’s silence ablaze.
The warmth of Valeri’s body so close to him, the intense scent of her expensive perfume, and the way she stared straight at Rian’s lips instantly ignited memories of the passion they had shared in Bandung.
Rian’s breathing suddenly grew heavy. The experience that had been unfamiliar to him the night before had now become a burning sensory memory, awakening his instincts as a grown man.
The desire he had held back suddenly exploded. The image of Siska that had filled his thoughts vanished in an instant, displaced by the captivating charm and surrender of the woman in his lap.
This time, Rian was no longer passive. Driven by surging emotion and desire, he wrapped both arms around Valeri’s waist and pulled her body tighter into his embrace.
Their lips met in a heated union, full of passion and deep longing.
Rian savored the sweetness of Valeri’s lips, letting his fingers explore the curves of her body with warm, deliberate, and intense touches.
Valeri moaned softly in Rian’s arms, her fingers clutching his hair as she conveyed a sense of boundless possession and satisfaction.
On the simple hotel bed amid the night’s endless traffic jam, the two of them lost themselves in an intimate, passionate physical union.
Rian guided every movement with newfound courage, giving Valeri a profound warmth and satisfaction that made her feel completely whole and possessed.
Without realizing it, Rian laid Valeri back on the bed, which was large enough for two.
He tried to begin with things he remembered from something he had watched in the past.
With a different technique, he began exploring the slightly damp valley, his tongue growing more accustomed to it.
Her soft moans only increased his desire to watch Valeri writhe and revel in the pleasure he gave her.
“Oh...”
Once again, a louder moan rang out, rousing Rian’s virile spirit and urging him to try something he had once learned.
Slowly, Rian’s face came to rest in the position of a baby nursing at its mother’s breast, though the method was somewhat different.
Moan after moan began to fill the room, mingling with the images of what he was supposed to do.
“Are you satisfied?” Rian asked.
“Keep going. Do whatever you want,” Valeri said.
That night, all the exhaustion of the road and the complications of life melted into a surging passion that lasted deep into the night.
Some time passed, and silence once again took over the hotel room.
Moonlight slipped faintly through the gap in the curtains, illuminating their bodies lying side by side beneath a thin blanket. Valeri rested her head against Rian’s broad chest, enjoying the man’s heartbeat as it gradually began to steady.
In the quiet of the night, Rian’s clearing mind was once again weighed down by confusion about the direction of his life. He stared at the ceiling, then, in a hoarse voice, summoned the courage to ask about the status of their relationship.
“Valeri... what exactly is the status of our relationship? And what about Siska? Outside of work, Siska is someone who—”
But before Rian could continue, Valeri’s body suddenly stiffened.
The warmth that had just surrounded her turned cold within seconds.
Valeri sat upright and stared at Rian with unshakable authority and possessiveness.
“I already told you, Rian,” Valeri said sharply.
“Don’t ever mention Siska’s name in front of me! I don’t want to know anything about her or your past with her.”
Valeri stared deeply into Rian’s eyes and touched his jaw with a gentle yet binding grip.
“Remember where you stand now. You’re mine, Rian. Whatever this relationship is, it’s enough for only the two of us to know about and live through. Don’t bring outsiders into our circle.”
Rian fell silent. Valeri’s words became a thick wall, tightly imprisoning his freedom.
In the dim hotel room, Rian fully realized that he had gone too far into the trap of attachment Valeri had created.
As he pulled the woman resting against his chest back into his arms, Rian’s heart felt increasingly estranged from the person he used to be—a free driver who was now trapped in an ever more complicated tangle of emotion and desire.
“Is this my life, or is this what I’m meant to live?” Rian wondered.