The bedroom door closed, and Nadya straightened her somewhat disheveled clothes as she prepared to ask a question. However, the maid had already started the conversation.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. The food has been prepared,” she said, her expression seeming almost frightened. Nadya noticed the remnants of tears at the corners of the maid's eyes.
“All right,” Nadya replied curtly. She wasn't the type of person who liked making small talk.
Nadya then slowly descended from the upper floor, following the maid.
Her head still felt heavy. Several times, she even had to grip the stair railing because her vision was slightly spinning.
The morning was already fairly busy.
Several maids were preparing breakfast in the dining room.
Nadya stopped beside one of them, a slightly plump woman.
“Excuse me, where is Mr. Mahendra?” Nadya looked around for the older man, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Mr. Mahendra is awake, right?”
The maid immediately turned toward her.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. Sir hasn't woken up yet.”
Nadya furrowed her brow.
“He hasn't?” Nadya was now somewhat startled by the words of one of the maids, who was a little older than the others.
“Yes. Wasn't he still with you in the bedroom?” another maid chimed in.
Nadya's body suddenly went rigid.
“With me?”
The maid nodded innocently.
“After the wedding ended last night, he went into the bedroom, didn't he?”
Nadya didn't answer right away.
Her heart began beating erratically.
“I—I... yes...”
She quickly looked away.
“But it seems he left earlier this morning,” Nadya added as she sat down in a chair.
“We don't know. Perhaps Mr. Mahendra woke up and left because he had somewhere else to be.” The maids began serving her, placing plates and various side dishes in front of Nadya.
“None of you saw him leave?” Nadya asked again.
“I'm sorry, ma'am. We didn't see Sir leave. All we know is that he was in the bedroom all night.”
“Besides, Mr. Mahendra's car and driver are still here. They haven't left the house since morning. They're still waiting for Mr. Mahendra's instructions.”
“That's why we're a little confused too.”
Nadya could only fall silent.
“Okay. It's fine.”
The maid went back to her work.
But Nadya didn't move.
Where was Mahendra this early in the morning? And if he had left, why were his car and private driver still here instead of going with him?
Last night.
The man had entered her bedroom.
She had assumed he was Mahendra.
But...
Why did she suddenly feel that something was terribly wrong?
Nadya hadn't had time to organize her thoughts when the house phone rang.
A maid immediately answered it.
“Yes, this is the Mahendra residence.”
Several seconds passed.
The maid's expression changed.
“The hospital?”
Nadya immediately turned around.
The maid listened, her face growing paler and paler.
“Yes, all right. We'll contact the family immediately.”
The call ended.
“What happened?” another maid asked.
The maid looked at Nadya.
“Ma'am...”
“What is it?”
“The hospital.”
“Someone claiming to be from the hospital just called to give us some news.”
Nadya stepped closer.
“What happened?”
“Mr. Mahendra...”
She drew a breath.
“...was rushed to the hospital last night.”
Nadya froze.
“What?”
“He had a heart attack.”
The color drained from Nadya's face.
“Last night?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“They said it was sometime just before midnight.”
Nadya took a step back.
No.
That was impossible.
All the maids thought Nadya was shocked because Mahendra had been rushed to the hospital. They didn't know she was even more shocked because...
She had just seen a man enter the bedroom after midnight.
She had even spoken to him.
She had assumed that man was Mahendra.
But if Mahendra had been in the hospital since last night...
Nadya stared blankly at the staircase.
Then who was the man who had entered her bedroom?
Her chest felt tight.
Her hands began to turn cold.
“Ma'am?”
Nadya didn't answer.
She immediately turned and hurried back toward the bedroom.
The door opened.
The room was still the same.
The bed.
The blanket.
The chair.
There was no one there.
Nadya closed the door from inside.
She leaned her back against the door.
Her breathing grew ragged.
“No...”
She shook her head.
“Maybe I heard wrong.”
But her mind couldn't be deceived.
Mahendra had suffered a heart attack and been rushed to the hospital before the man entered the bedroom.
That meant the man wasn't Mahendra.
Nadya held her head.
She tried to remember his face.
It had been dark.
She had seen only a silhouette.
She recalled his voice.
Nadya closed her eyes.
That voice had indeed felt different.
Younger.
Deeper.
And now everything was beginning to make sense.
“If he wasn't Mr. Mahendra...”
Nadya's voice trembled.
“...who was he?”
She stared at the bed.
Tears began to well in her eyes.
She didn't know who that man was.
She didn't know where he had come from.
And what frightened her most of all...
she didn't know what had really happened last night.
Nadya quickly covered her own mouth when she realized one thing.
No one could find out.
Not even Nayra.
Because if this secret came to light, she wouldn't be the only one whose life was destroyed.
Her sister's promise.
This marriage.
Her future.
All of it could come to an end.
Nadya closed her eyes.
Yet one question kept spinning through her mind.
If it wasn't Mahendra who had been with her last night...
Then who was the man she had actually slept with in the bridal suite?