"Danu, hold the flashlight! Keep it pointed at the ceiling!" Arlan shouted over the rumble that was beginning to shake the walls of the underground warehouse.
"Lan, we have to get out! This place is going to be leveled!" Danu shouted back, his voice trembling as the flashlight beam danced wildly through the falling dust.
"Wait a second! This box... I have to take it!" Arlan reached into the stone alcove, his fingers clamping tightly around the black metal box.
"Forget the box! Your life is worth more, Arlan!" Danu grabbed Arlan's jacket sleeve, trying to drag his friend away from the area that was beginning to crack.
"You don't understand, Danu! Look at this!" Arlan opened the box lid slightly, revealing a stack of photographs and documents that were still intact inside.
"What is that? Old pictures?" Danu asked, narrowing his eyes in the suffocating darkness.
"These are pictures of Satria. Satria with Maya's father, five years ago. On the day of our engagement!" Arlan's voice rose, laced with anger and shock.
"What? Didn't Satria say he only met Maya's family two years ago?" Danu was stunned for a moment, forgetting the heavy machinery roaring above them.
"He lied to everyone. He was the one who planned my departure. He trapped Maya's father in fabricated debt so I would feel I had to leave to save them!" Arlan clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
"Damn it! That man really is a demon," Danu cursed.
"But if we don't get out now, that evidence will be buried with you!"
"Find another way! Satria locked that steel door from the outside!" Arlan began sweeping the damp walls with the beam of his small flashlight.
"There! There's an air vent in the upper corner!" Danu pointed to a small opening covered by a rusted metal grate.
"Help me up! Hurry!" Arlan put the box inside his camera bag and prepared to climb.
Aboveground at Swara Park, Astina City's fog felt colder than usual. Maya stood frozen in front of the heavy machinery as it began to roar.
"Satria, what are you doing? Why are they starting the demolition now?" Maya demanded, staring at her fiancé standing calmly beside the excavator operator.
"The sooner, the better, sweetheart. We don't have much time before the rainy season arrives," Satria replied without taking his eyes off the old building.
"But Arlan is still inside! He's documenting that warehouse!" Maya tried to step forward, but Satria stopped her by gripping her arm tightly.
"Why are you so panicked, Maya? He's just a photographer," Satria said, his voice cold and sharp.
"Let go of my arm, Satria! You're hurting me!" Maya grimaced, trying to break free from his grip, which felt like an iron vise.
"You care about him a lot, don't you? More than just a coworker?" Satria leaned closer, his eyes gleaming with suspicion.
"What are you talking about? He's working on this project! I'm responsible for his safety!" Maya shot back, her heart pounding with fear.
"Don't lie to me, Maya. I saw the way you looked at him at Orange Café yesterday. That look... it's a look you've never given me in these past two years."
"You're imagining things, Satria! Stop these machines right now!" Maya shouted, tears beginning to pool in her eyes.
"Why? Afraid your old lover will be buried alive?" Satria chuckled, the sound utterly unfamiliar to Maya.
"Old lover? So you know? You know who he really is?" Maya was stunned, her body suddenly going limp.
"Of course I know. I know everything about Arlan Dewangga. Including why he left you like a coward five years ago," Satria whispered directly into Maya's ear.
"What do you know, Satria? Tell me!" Maya grabbed Satria's shirt collar, demanding an explanation.
"He left because he wasn't strong enough to protect you. And now he's back to ruin everything I've built? I won't allow it."
"You did it, didn't you? You made him leave!" Maya accused him, her voice trembling with overflowing rage.
"I only gave him a choice, Maya. And he chose his career over you. That's the truth."
"You're lying! Arlan would never do that!" Maya struck Satria in the chest, but the man didn't budge.
"Look at you. Still defending him after he threw you away? You're truly pathetic, Maya."
"Stop the machines, Satria! Please!" Maya collapsed onto the muddy ground, sobbing.
"It's too late. The warehouse roof must have collapsed by now," Satria said, staring at the debris beginning to fall in the distance.
"You're a murderer! You killed him!" Maya screamed hysterically.
"I'm just clearing the trash out of your past, sweetheart. So we can start a new life without that man hanging over us."
Inside the narrow air duct, Arlan coughed as dust filled his lungs.
"Lan, are you still alive?" Danu's voice came from below, faint beneath the roar of collapsing concrete.
"I'm above the grate! I'm going to try to break through it!" Arlan kicked the metal grate with all his strength.
"Hurry, Lan! The floor beneath me is starting to crack!" Danu shouted in panic.
"One more time!" Arlan slammed his shoulder into the metal grate.
With a loud clang, the grate broke loose and fell into the bushes outside.
Arlan immediately crawled out, breathing in Astina's cold air, which felt incredibly refreshing. He turned and reached his hand into the opening.
"Danu! Take my hand! Hurry!" Arlan shouted.
Danu jumped, his fingertips nearly brushing Arlan's hand when the floor beneath him gave way completely.
"Danu!" Arlan screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched his friend disappear into the dust-filled darkness.
"I'm okay! I'm caught on a pipe! Pull me up, Lan!" Danu's voice rose from the depths, carrying a glimmer of hope.
Arlan summoned all his strength and pulled Danu out of the deadly hole just before the entire warehouse was leveled.
The two of them lay gasping on the wet grass, their bodies covered in gray dust. Arlan immediately checked his camera bag. The metal box was still there.
"We have to get out of here, Lan. Satria will definitely come check this place," Danu whispered as he tried to stand on his trembling legs.
"No. I'm not running anymore," Arlan said, his eyes fixed sharply on the project office, where the lights were still on.
"What do you mean? We have to call the police!"
"Look over there, Danu. That's Maya. She's with Satria." In the distance, beneath the dim park lights, Arlan saw Maya kneeling at Satria's feet. His heart broke at the sight of the woman he loved looking so fragile in front of the man who had destroyed both their lives.
"I have to show this to her. Right now." Arlan gripped the metal box.
"Are you crazy? Satria has people around him! They'll kill you before you get a chance to speak!"
"Let them. I've been dead since five years ago, Danu. Today, I only want Maya to know the truth." Arlan began walking closer, ignoring the pain throughout his body. But he stopped when he saw Satria forcibly pull Maya to her feet and drag her toward a car.
"Satria! Let her go!" Arlan shouted, his voice breaking the nighttime silence at Swara Park.
Satria stopped. He slowly turned around, shock flashing across his face for only a moment before twisting into a cold sneer.
"Well, look who's still alive. You're really like a cockroach, Arlan. So hard to get rid of," Satria said contemptuously.
"Arlan?" Maya turned, her swollen eyes widening in disbelief. "Arlan, you survived!"
"Don't come any closer, Maya!" Arlan shouted when Maya tried to run toward him.
Satria tightened his grip on Maya's arm.
"He's right, Maya. Don't come any closer. Because this man is carrying something that should have stayed buried."
"I have evidence, Satria! Evidence of what you did five years ago!" Arlan held the metal box high.
"Evidence? Who's going to believe a failed photographer like you? The police? Or Maya, who's already my fiancée?" Satria laughed mockingly.
"I believe him!" Maya shouted, staring at Satria with deep hatred.
"Shut up, Maya! You don't know anything!" Satria snapped, raising his hand as if he were about to slap her.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Arlan rushed forward, but two large men suddenly appeared from the darkness and blocked his path.
"Take him out. And get the box," Satria ordered coldly as he dragged Maya toward his car, parked not far away.
"Arlan! Help me!" Maya screamed before the car door slammed shut.
Arlan tried to fight back, but a hard punch landed in his stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground. He watched as Satria's car began to pull away, carrying Maya into the thick fog of Astina City.
"Maya..." Arlan whispered as blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth.
Danu ran over and tried to help Arlan to his feet.
"Lan, we have to chase them!"
"Get your motorcycle, Danu! We can't lose them!" Arlan struggled to stand, clutching the metal box as if it were the only hope he had left.
"But you're badly hurt!"
"To hell with my injuries! If anything happens to Maya, I'll never forgive myself!"
Amid the darkness of night and the thickening fog, Arlan realized that the real battle had only just begun. Satria didn't merely want to destroy his career—the man was ready to eliminate anyone who stood in the way of his ambition.
Arlan climbed onto the back of Danu's motorcycle, his eyes fixed on the taillights of Satria's car as they began to disappear around the bend leading toward Orange Café.
"Go after them, Danu! Don't let them get away!"
The motorcycle roared, cutting through Astina City's silence. Arlan knew that tonight, the secret from five years ago would finally come to light—or he would lose Maya forever.