“Get in the car. Now,” the man in the black suit ordered in a voice that brooked no argument.
“Let Danu go first!” Arlan snapped, his hands clenched at his sides as he shielded Maya, who stood behind him.
“You’re not in a position to negotiate, Arlan Dewangga,” the man replied coldly. He glanced at his associate, who still had a sharp object pressed against Danu’s back.
“Arlan, don’t fight them,” Maya whispered, her voice trembling. Her fingers gripped Arlan’s jacket tightly.
“A very smart choice, Miss Kirana,” the man praised with a revolting, crooked smile.
“What do you want? Satria’s already lost!” Danu shouted, trying to struggle even as the weapon still threatened his life.
“Satria is nothing but a noisy little pawn, Danu Perkasa. We don’t care about him. We care about what he’s hiding,” the man said as he opened the car door wider.
“That key? You’re looking for this key?” Maya spoke, her voice steadier now despite the tears welling in her eyes.
“Put your toy away, Maya. Get in before I lose my patience,” the man ordered again.
Arlan looked at Danu for a moment, signaling for his friend to stay calm. In the end, all three of them were forced into the gleaming black car. The atmosphere inside was suffocating. There was only the soft hum of the engine and the sound of their ragged breathing.
“Where are you taking us?” Arlan asked as the car began cutting through Astina City’s thickening fog.
“To a place where the truth won’t interfere with big business,” the man answered curtly without looking back from behind the wheel.
“Big business? You call destroying Swara Park and this city’s history business?” Maya challenged contemptuously.
“Astina City needs progress, Miss. Not an old park filled with bitter memories,” the man in the suit replied.
“You’re the ones who made those memories bitter!” Arlan shot back, his voice rising.
“Oh, Mr. Dewangga, do you think you left five years ago purely because of your own ambition?” The man gave a quiet laugh, a sound that made Arlan’s heart seem to stop.
“What do you mean?” Arlan leaned forward, glaring at the driver.
“Ask yourself. Why did a sponsor for your overseas photography exhibition suddenly appear right when Satria began pursuing Maya?”
Arlan fell silent. His thoughts drifted back to that time. The golden opportunity that had come from nowhere, precisely when he’d felt he had nothing to offer Maya financially.
“You... you said it was because of your talent, Arlan,” Maya whispered, staring at him in disbelief.
“I really thought it was, Maya. I swear,” Arlan replied quickly, his face paling.
“You were all being controlled like puppets,” the man cut in.
“And now you’re trying to cut the strings. That’s dangerous.”
The car suddenly slowed and stopped in front of an old building Arlan knew all too well. Orange Café.
“Get out,” the man ordered.
“Why here?” Danu asked in confusion as he was shoved out of the car.
“This is your final warning. Give that key to Satria at his office tomorrow morning, or Danu will never touch his guitar again. And you, Arlan... you’ll disappear forever, this time without a plane ticket.”
The car sped away, leaving the three of them in a bone-chilling silence. The fog seemed to swallow the streetlights, leaving behind suffocating darkness.
“Arlan, was what he said true?” Maya asked, her voice painfully fragile in the silence.
“I don’t know, Maya. I really didn’t know there was a dirty hand behind my scholarship back then,” Arlan answered hoarsely.
“I need coffee. And I need to sit down before my heart explodes,” Danu muttered as he walked toward the unlocked door of Orange Café.
They entered the dim café. The scent of old coffee beans and damp wood greeted them. Arlan walked to the corner table, his favorite spot. There, beneath a stack of old magazines, he saw his dusty camera bag. The bag he had left at the café just before he went to the airport five years ago.
“You still kept this bag?” Maya asked, standing beside him.
“I left it with the café owner. I said I’d come back for it someday. But I was too much of a coward to return,” Arlan said softly.
Arlan opened the bag’s zipper. Inside were still an old lens and several undeveloped rolls of film. But tucked into the inner pocket, he found something else. A yellowed brown envelope.
“What is that?” Danu moved closer, his curiosity overpowering his fear.
“I don’t remember ever putting this in here.” Arlan pulled a sheet of paper from the envelope. His hands trembled when he recognized the handwriting. It wasn’t his.
“That’s my father’s handwriting,” Maya whispered, her eyes widening when she saw the paper.
Arlan read through the lines quickly. His breathing grew ragged. The letter was dated the day before their failed engagement.
“What does it say, Arlan? Read it out loud!” Danu urged.
Arlan swallowed, his voice trembling as he began to read.
“‘Arlan, if you’re reading this, it means you’ve decided whether to leave or stay. I know about the threat the Adiguna family made against you. They threatened to destroy Maya’s career and seize the land at Swara Park if you didn’t disappear from her life.’”
Maya covered her mouth with her hand. Tears began streaming down her cheeks.
“Keep going, Arlan,” Maya whispered.
“‘Don’t let them win. But I also know that you love Maya more than your own life. If you leave, do it to protect her. I’ve stored evidence of Satria and his father’s illicit transactions inside an iron box at Swara Park. Only a silver key can open it. I have the key.’”
“So... Father knew everything?” Maya sobbed, her body going limp until she had to brace herself against the table.
“So you didn’t leave because of ambition, Arlan? You left because they threatened you?” Danu asked, his voice caught between anger and pity.
“I... I received this letter on the day I left. I thought it was just one of Satria’s empty threats. I didn’t know your father wrote it, Maya. I thought it was an anonymous letter from one of Satria’s men, meant to scare me.” Arlan crushed the letter in his fist.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Maya screamed, her emotions finally breaking loose. “Why did you let me hate you for five years?”
“Because I thought if you hated me, it would be easier for you to forget me and live safely with Satria! I didn’t know Satria was this evil, Maya!” Arlan shouted back, tears now streaming down his own face.
“You idiot, Arlan Dewangga! Do you think I needed your protection? I needed you beside me to face them!” Maya struck Arlan weakly in the chest again and again.
Arlan let Maya release her anger. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, as if he never wanted to let her go again. Danu could only turn away and wipe his own eyes.
“We have the key now,” Danu said once things had calmed down a little. “Maya has the silver key.”
“But they threatened you, Danu. They know where we are,” Arlan said, his eyes warily fixed on the café door.
“To hell with their threats. They’ve already destroyed your lives for five years. I’m not going to let them win this time,” Danu declared.
“We have to go back to Swara Park,” Maya said suddenly, pulling away from Arlan’s embrace. Her face was now filled with determination.
“Now? In fog like this? That’s suicide, Maya,” Arlan protested.
“The box fell into the lake when the pier collapsed, right? I know exactly where it is. Dad often took me there when I was little. There’s a small underground chamber beneath the old pier’s foundation that can only be accessed when the tide is out—or by diving a little,” Maya explained.
“Are you crazy? The lake water is freezing, and it’s the middle of the night!” Arlan shouted anxiously.
“If we wait until tomorrow, they’ll take the key from us. Or worse, they’ll flatten the park with bulldozers,” Maya replied sharply.
“I’m coming,” Danu said as he picked up his jacket. “I’ll keep watch up top.”
Arlan gazed deeply into Maya’s eyes. He saw the courage she had hidden behind her cold demeanor all this time. He realized that the woman standing before him was no longer a fragile girl who needed protection, but a fighter.
“All right. We’ll do this together,” Arlan decided.
They quickly left Orange Café, once again pushing through Astina City’s cold fog. The journey to Swara Park felt much longer than usual. Tension shrouded every step they took.
When they reached the edge of the lake at Swara Park, the silence was absolute. The pier’s ruins looked like the bones of a giant in the darkness. The still lake reflected the faint moonlight.
“Over there,” Maya said, pointing toward the section of the pier that was still partially standing.
Arlan took off his jacket and shoes. “I’ll dive. You point me in the right direction.”
“Arlan, be careful. The bottom of this lake is covered with old tree roots,” Danu warned as he switched on the small flashlight on his phone.
Arlan drew a deep breath, then jumped into the ice-cold water. The chill stabbed through his pores, making his lungs seem to contract. He swam toward the bottom, feeling around through the mud and roots.
Above him, Maya and Danu waited anxiously. The seconds passed like hours. Suddenly, headlights appeared in the distance, moving toward them.
“Damn it! They’re here!” Danu cried in panic.
“Arlan! Hurry!” Maya shouted toward the surface.
Arlan broke through the surface, gasping for breath, his hands clutching a small iron box caked in mud. “I found it!”
“Get up here, Arlan! There’s a car coming this way!” Maya shouted, reaching out her hand.
Arlan swam toward the shore with all his strength. Just as he managed to climb out, a black SUV stopped only a few yards from them. The door opened, and Satria stepped out, his face flushed with rage, a pistol in his hand.
“Give me that box, Arlan!” Satria shouted, his voice booming through the park’s silence.
Arlan stood in front of Maya and Danu, clutching the iron box tightly against his soaked chest. “Never, Satria!”
“You think you’re a hero? You’re just a loser who ran away!” Satria aimed his pistol directly at Arlan’s chest.
“Go ahead and shoot,” Arlan challenged, his voice calm despite his body trembling from the cold. “If I die, your secrets will still come out because Danu has sent our location to every media contact he has.”
Satria laughed mockingly. “You think they’ll believe a street musician? Give me the box, or Maya gets this bullet.” Satria shifted the muzzle toward Maya. His index finger began slowly squeezing the trigger.
At the same time, a rumble came from the forest behind the park. Something large was moving closer through the fog.
“What’s that?” Danu muttered, turning around.
A huge silhouette emerged from the fog, and it wasn’t the police. It was an excavator operated by someone they didn’t recognize, beginning to smash through everything in its path as it headed toward them.
“Run!” Arlan shouted.
But then a gunshot rang out, shattering the nighttime silence in Astina City.