Rian thought as he held Valeri's sleeping body against his chest. The question kept circling through his mind, a lonely echo amid the glittering high-society life that now held him captive.
Not long after their trip out of town, the long holiday weekend arrived. Valeri's office shut down completely, and the director had to attend an extremely private extended-family matter out of town without being able to take Rian with her.
For the first time in a long while, Rian was in control of his own time. In the middle of an otherwise empty day.
Rian's phone rang, displaying Amanda's name—the young influencer who had once invited him to Bali. Apparently, Amanda had just returned to Jakarta and was whining for him to accompany her on a tour around the city.
Needing a distraction from the complications of his life with Valeri, Rian agreed. But their laid-back sightseeing plans took a drastic turn when night fell.
Amanda led Rian into Jakarta's raucous nightlife at an upscale nightclub.
Bass pounded against his chest, dazzling lights flashed all around them, and the smell of alcohol hung in the air.
Rian had never touched liquor in his entire life, but that night, spoiled Amanda kept pressuring him.
Uncomfortable refusing her and swept up in the atmosphere, Rian finally gave in.
Several glasses of liquor went down his throat, slowly eroding his awareness until his head spun violently. In his heavily intoxicated state, Rian could no longer hold the steering wheel.
With few other options, Amanda guided Rian toward the nearest hotel.
Inside the dim hotel room, under the heavy influence of alcohol and with his consciousness half-paralyzed, Rian's moral boundaries collapsed once again.
An intimate encounter he never wanted and that lay far beyond the control of his sound judgment happened throughout the night.
The next morning, Rian woke with a pounding head and regret burning in his chest.
But instead of being angry, Amanda, who had awakened beside him, merely smiled with satisfaction.
"Honestly, Rian... you're incredible. I've never felt this satisfied before," Amanda praised him bluntly.
But her expression suddenly grew somewhat anxious as she added,
"But remember, Rian... don't let this get out. I don't want my boyfriend to find out."
Rian could only nod in resignation, his heart even more shattered. His life felt as though it had strayed farther and farther off course.
A few days later, the turning wheel of life brought Rian together with Siska once again.
Siska contacted Rian to ask for a simple favor: accompanying her to a close friend's wedding reception.
Rian agreed, longing for the simplicity Siska always offered.
At the lavish wedding venue, Rian's polished appearance beside the elegant Siska caught the guests' attention.
Time and again, Siska's relatives and friends assumed Rian was her partner and asked when they would be the next ones walking down the aisle.
Whenever the question came up, Siska could only fall silent, hiding the flush and unease in her eyes.
After the event, on the deserted grounds outside the building beneath the dim garden lights, Siska finally found the courage.
The courage she had kept buried for so long finally reached its peak. Siska gazed deeply into Rian's eyes, intending to confess the love she had never stopped feeling.
"Rian... the truth is, all this time, I..."
Before she could finish, Rian's phone ringtone suddenly shattered the silence.
Valeri's mother's name lit up the screen. Valeri's family event had ended earlier than expected, and the woman demanded that Rian come pick her up that very second.
Rian looked at Siska with deep guilt and regret in his eyes.
Again and again, the promises binding him and the golden cage that confined him forced Rian to nod slowly, apologize, and walk away—leaving Siska to swallow the pain of her feelings alone beneath the dim streetlights.