As she stared at the bed, Nadya's attention was suddenly drawn to a watch that looked expensive, sitting on the small table beside it.
She fell silent.
She had no idea how long it had been there.
Nadya slowly wiped away the tears still clinging to her cheeks, then looked at the watch again.
Something about it felt familiar.
Suddenly, memories of last night flashed through her mind.
In the darkness, when the man had been so close to her, Nadya had felt an arm wrap around her waist. In her panic, she had grabbed his hand.
That was when her hand accidentally touched something hard and cold around the man's wrist.
A watch.
Nadya stared at the object in front of her, holding her breath.
Could this... be the watch worn by the man from last night?
She reached out hesitantly.
But before she touched it, another question arose.
Or... did it belong to Mahendra?
Nadya bit her lip.
She had never paid much attention to the watches Mahendra usually wore.
Especially since the room had been dark last night.
At last, Nadya picked up the watch.
It felt heavy in her palm. The material looked expensive, and although the design was simple, it was clearly not an ordinary item.
She turned it over.
There was no name.
Only a few small engravings on the back that she couldn't read right away.
Nadya furrowed her brow.
"If this belongs to Mr. Mahendra..."
She stopped.
Her eyes returned to the watch.
"But what if it doesn't?"
Her heart began to race again.
Nadya tried to remember the voice of the man from last night.
That deep voice.
The way he walked.
His hands.
Everything was hazy.
She had never even seen his face.
The only thing she knew was that there had been a man in that room.
And now, someone's watch had been left behind there.
Nadya tightened her grip on it.
She knew she should hand it over to a servant.
But something inside her refused.
For the first time since morning, Nadya felt she had the one clue that might lead her to the answer.
Who was the man who had shared the bridal suite with her?
She slipped the watch into the pocket of her clothes.
Then she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
Her face was still puffy.
Her eyes were red.
But this time, a different kind of fear emerged from behind her sadness.
If Mahendra had really been in the hospital since last night...
that meant the man who had entered the room wasn't Mahendra.
And if he wasn't Mahendra...
then who was he? Nadya thought she needed to hurry to the hospital to make sure. Not only to check on Mahendra, but also to confirm what had happened last night.
Mahendra was the answer!
The man was in the hospital now.
Regardless of what had happened last night, Nadya was still his wife—at least in the eyes of everyone else.
She couldn't simply stay home while her husband was lying sick in the hospital.
Nadya quickly picked up her small bag. Then she went back downstairs and hurried over to all the servants gathered there.
"Where are you going, ma'am?" asked the servant who was still in the hallway.
"To the hospital."
"Alone?"
"Actually, I don't know the way to this hospital very well," Nadya said hesitantly.
The servant quickly replied, "Then how about having Mr. Mahendra's private driver take you? He's used to driving Mr. Mahendra everywhere, so he definitely knows the way better."
Nadya fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
"All right. Thank you."
"I want to see how Mr. Mahendra is doing."
"All right, I'll call Mang Kiman first," the servant replied before heading toward the front of the house.
Nadya didn't give the real reason.
She didn't mention the watch now hidden in her pocket, either.
Nadya hurried out of the house and went over to the servant and the driver.
But each step only made her thoughts more chaotic.
She wanted to make sure Mahendra was all right. But at the same time, she also wanted answers.
If Mahendra really had been in the hospital since last night...
then who had come to the bridal suite? And why had that man's watch been left there?
Nadya gripped the strap of her bag tightly.
She had to go to the hospital. Not only to see how Mahendra was doing.
But also to make sure that what she had been thinking since morning...
wasn't true.