Riana’s cell phone lit up on top of the gleaming mahogany desk. Its ringtone vibrated softly over a stack of unfinished monthly reports waiting to be reviewed. Beyond the office window on the fifth floor, the city’s traffic roared as usual. Skyscrapers stood arrogantly beneath the blazing midday sun, oblivious to the storm preparing to tear through Riana’s life from behind the scenes.
When the name “Elzaya” appeared on the screen, an uneasy feeling suddenly stirred inside Riana. An eldest sister’s intuition began to flare. Normally, Elzaya only sent short messages when she needed help paying school expenses or simply wanted to exchange a few lighthearted updates. Calling in the middle of work hours was extremely unusual.
Riana swiped the green button, placed the phone to her ear, and leaned back in her office chair.
“Hello, Za? What’s wrong? I’m about to go into a meeting, but—”
Riana’s sentence stopped abruptly. There was no cheerful greeting from the other end of the line, the kind that usually welcomed her. All she could hear was ragged, heavy breathing, broken by sobs being held back with desperate effort.
“Sis... Sis Riana...” Elzaya’s voice trembled violently.
The hiss of wind and the echo from a cramped corner of the room pierced Riana’s ears. Elzaya was clearly hiding behind a wardrobe or inside a bathroom.
Riana straightened instantly. The pen in her right hand slipped free, rolling across the floor. “Za? What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Is someone hurt? How’s Dad?”
“Dad... Dad’s getting worse, Sis... But that’s not it...” Elzaya’s sobs broke apart, her restrained voice heartbreakingly raw. “Melaa... Sis... Melaa’s getting crazier...”
Riana clenched her fingers. The name of that new daughter-in-law had carried a cold aura ever since the day she first set foot in her parents’ home. “What did Melaa do this time? Did she yell at Mom?”
“Worse than that, Sis! Much worse!” Elzaya’s crying erupted into a tight whisper. “This afternoon... Mom accidentally bumped into Melaa’s bag... A few drops of tea got on her leather bag. Melaa completely lost it... She cursed Mom out with filthy words, Sis! She called Mom an old rotting corpse, a shameless old woman, a freeloader...”
Riana’s blood began to boil. Her previously calm face went pale with fury. “Then where was Dino?! Did he just stand there and let his mother be cursed out like that?!”
“Dino actually defended Melaa, Sis!” Elzaya wiped her tear-clogged nose, her voice rising an octave from uncontrollable emotion. “And... and the worst part, Sis... Melaa... Melaa slapped Mom...”
Thud.
The world around Riana seemed to stop spinning. The hum of the air conditioner, the ticking of the wall clock, and the clatter of her coworkers’ keyboards vanished in an instant. Only a cold echo remained, striking her squarely in the chest.
“What did you say?” Riana’s voice trembled—not with fear, but with volcanic rage preparing to erupt from the depths of her soul. “She... slapped Mom?”
“Yes, Sis! Mom’s left cheek is red and bruised with the imprint of fingers! All she could do was cry while holding her face...” Elzaya’s sobs grew increasingly hysterical. “Dad, paralyzed in his wheelchair, could only sob without being able to defend Mom. And when Elzaya tried to hold Melaa back, Dino yelled at Elzaya instead! Dino’s gone blind, Sis! He’s become that woman’s slave!”
Riana shot up from her chair so suddenly that the five-wheeled office chair rolled backward and slammed into the cubicle partition. Several coworkers nearby turned in surprise, but Riana didn’t care in the slightest. Her vision darkened, her eyes blazing with the fire of vengeance.
“Where’s Mom now, Za?” Riana asked in a low, icy voice—one far more frightening than a loud shout.
“She’s in the back bedroom, Sis... putting a wet cloth on her cheek. Mom told Elzaya not to tell you because she was afraid of disturbing your work... But Elzaya couldn’t take it anymore, Sis! Our house isn’t a home anymore! Our house has become hell!”
“Listen to me, Elzaya,” Riana cut in firmly, interrupting her sister’s sobbing. “Lock the back bedroom door from the inside. Don’t let that demon woman get near Mom or Dad again. Take good care of Dad. I’m coming home now.”
“You’re coming home, Sis Riana?”
“Yes. I’ll be home today. Tell Mom to hold on a little longer. I’ll take care of everything.”
Riana ended the call without waiting for another answer. She gripped her phone so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
The Human Resources Manager’s office was utterly silent when Riana stepped inside without knocking first. Mr. Frans, Riana’s supervisor, a man in his fifties, stared in shock at the face of his usually composed model employee, now looking like a storm ready to bring down a building.
“Riana? What’s wrong? Why are you so pale?” Mr. Frans asked, stopping in the middle of correcting a file.
Riana placed a blank sheet of paper on the desk, then picked up her supervisor’s pen. With steady fingers, despite the anger trembling through them, she wrote several lines requesting emergency leave.
“I’m asking for a week of leave, sir. Starting today,” Riana said without beating around the bush.
Mr. Frans frowned as he glanced over Riana’s hurried handwriting. “Emergency leave? Riana, you know the financial analysis project is under tremendous pressure this week. Investors from Jakarta are coming the day after tomorrow. You play a key role on this team.”
“I don’t care about that project, sir,” Riana replied coldly, staring straight into her supervisor’s eyes without the slightest hesitation. “My parents in the village are being abused. My mother was slapped by her own daughter-in-law. If I don’t go home today, I’ll never be able to forgive myself as a daughter.”
Mr. Frans was stunned. Riana’s eyes left no room for negotiation or compromise. The authority of an eldest child and the fierce instinct to protect her family shone powerfully in her gaze.
Her supervisor let out a long sigh, adjusted his reading glasses on his nose, and quickly signed the paper. “Go home, Riana. Take care of your family. If there are any legal problems or you need help, let me know. But make sure you come back in one piece.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Riana snatched up her work bag and turned toward the exit, ignoring the bewildered looks of her coworkers. Each firm step struck the marble corridor floor like the beat of a war drum just beginning to sound.
The trip from the city where she worked to the remote village where her parents’ wooden house stood took nearly five hours by road. Riana chose to take an intercity travel taxi so she could arrive faster without having to wait for a public bus departure.
Inside the travel car speeding along the intercity roads, Riana sat staring blankly out the window. Memories of the past suddenly flooded her thoughts like a flash flood breaking through a dam.
She remembered how tirelessly Dad Sutarjo had worked as a carpenter and farm laborer to raise their three children. His rough, calloused hands never complained, even when he had to carry enormous teak logs beneath the scorching sun. And Mom Atun—a gentle woman with a soft voice who had never once shouted at her children. A mother who always set aside the best piece of meat on the dinner plate for Dino, the only son whom the family was so proud of.
Dino... Riana thought, her jaw tightening. How could you forget the blood and sweat that raised you?! How could you let some city woman you’d only known for one night insult the woman who risked her life giving birth to you?!
The memory of little Dino always hiding behind Riana’s back whenever the neighbors scolded him now evaporated without a trace. All that remained was disgust and deep disappointment at her younger brother’s betrayal.
The travel car continued speeding over the winding asphalt into the rural area. The green trees and broad rice fields stretching along both sides of the road usually gave Riana a sense of peace whenever she returned to her village. But this afternoon, the scenery felt dark, as though it too mourned the suffering that had befallen her family’s old wooden house.
Riana pulled out her phone and tried calling Dino’s number. The ringtone went on for a long time, but no one answered. Once, twice, three times. On the fourth call, it was immediately rejected.
Riana gave a cold, threatening smile. Good, Dino. Hide behind your wife’s skirt while you still can. Because once I arrive, no one will be able to save either of you from me.
Inside the warm wooden home belonging to Sutarjo’s family, the atmosphere that afternoon no longer felt like a home. A cold, oppressive air filled every corner. The soothing scent of teak was now buried beneath the overpowering perfume Melaa had sprayed throughout the living room.
Melaa sat casually on the new sofa she had forced Dino to buy the week before. Her nails, painted a vivid red, were being filed slowly. In front of her, Dino stood anxiously, staring at the tightly shut back bedroom door, locked from the inside.
“You need to be firm, honey!” Melaa shouted without taking her eyes off her nails. Her shrill voice shattered the silence of the old house. “Tell Elzaya to get out of that room! I want to call a contractor to measure the back bedroom! That rotten wall needs to be torn down this week!”
Dino squeezed his own fingers, looking torn. “Melaa... Sis Riana called me over and over. I’m afraid Elzaya told her all kinds of lies.”
Melaa laughed mockingly, a derisive sound spilling from her heavily painted lips. “So what if that Riana finds out? She’s just a girl who works an office job in the city! What power does she have in this house?! This house belongs to you, Dino! You’re the only son! Under both customary and national law, you’re the one entitled to manage the family’s assets!”
“But Sis Riana’s different, Melaa...” Dino whispered, genuine fear showing on his face. “Ever since we were kids, she’s been the most respected person in this house. Even Dad and Mom always listened to her.”
Melaa set her nail file on the glass table with a fairly loud clack. She stood, walked over to Dino, and stroked her husband’s cheek with calculated manipulation.
“Dino, sweetheart... listen to me,” Melaa coaxed in a sweet, poisonous voice. “Do you want to be seen forever as a little boy who’s afraid of his older sister? You’re my husband! You have to show everyone that you’re the head of this family, a man with self-respect! If Riana dares to come here and interfere, I’ll deal with her. You just need to keep quiet and stand beside me. Understand?”
Dino was spellbound by her words. His long-standing inferiority in front of Riana, combined with the false arrogance Melaa had injected into him, finally made the young man nod slowly. “Yes, Melaa... You’re right. This is my house now.”
Inside the cramped, dim back bedroom, Mom Atun sat on the edge of the wooden bed. Her bruised left cheek throbbed with heat. Her tears had dried, leaving behind deep grief etched into the wrinkles on her face.
Dad Sutarjo lay beside her, the old man’s breathing ragged and irregular. His stiff right hand occasionally clutched his tight-feeling left chest.
Elzaya knelt beside the bed, gripping her mother’s hand tightly. “Mom... hold on a little longer, okay? Sis Riana will be here soon. She’ll protect us.”
Mom Atun slowly shook her head with an unbearably bitter smile. “I’m not afraid of Melaa, Za... I’m just sad... How could Dino change so much that he could watch his mother get slapped? What did I do wrong raising him, sweetheart?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong!” Elzaya whispered through renewed sobs. “Dino’s the one with no brains! He chose that crazy city woman over Mom!”
Suddenly, heavy pounding shook the door to their back bedroom.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Elzaya! Open the door!” Dino’s shout echoed from the hallway outside. “Don’t think you can lock yourself in there! Melaa wants to use this room to store her new things! Open up now, or I’ll break it down!”
Elzaya pressed herself closer to her mother’s bed, her eyes widening in terror as she watched the wooden doorknob being violently shaken from outside.
“Dino! Don’t be so rough with your sister!” Melaa called from behind the door in a commanding tone. “Elzaya! Get out here! Don’t be a coward hiding in there! Your ugly mother’s face isn’t going to heal just because you hide her away!”
Melaa’s words cut into Mom Atun’s chest like a razor. The old man on the bed, Dad Sutarjo, suddenly groaned loudly. His twisted mouth struggled to open, his eyes bulging as he glared at the bedroom door with extraordinary fury burning through his frail body.
“Me... laaa... no... good...” Dad Sutarjo hissed with the last of his strength, his chest heaving rapidly.
Outside the house, an intercity travel car stopped with a shrill squeal of brakes. Road dust flew into the air as the car door was suddenly flung open.
Riana got out of the car. Ignoring the travel driver calling out to hand her small suitcase over, Riana strode through the wooden gate of her parents’ home.
Every inch of the yard, once filled with her mother’s beloved frangipani flowers, now looked disheveled. Old clay pots lay shattered across the ground—undoubtedly Melaa’s doing, since she couldn’t stand seeing old furnishings in the front area.
As Riana stepped onto the wooden porch, the heavy pounding and Melaa’s screams from inside the house rang clearly in her ears.
“Open the door, you old corpse! Don’t pretend you’ve passed out in there!” Melaa’s arrogant shout echoed through the central hallway.
Riana stopped for a moment on the threshold of the wide-open front door. Every joint in her body trembled with a combination of fury, sorrow, and pure anger that had reached its boiling point.
Riana took off her high-heeled work shoes, tossed them into a corner of the porch, and stepped into the house barefoot. Her footsteps were utterly silent, yet radiated lethal danger.
In the hallway leading to the back bedroom, Melaa stood with her arms folded across her chest in her luxurious dress, while Dino lifted one leg, preparing to kick down the locked back bedroom door.
“Dino.”
The single word slipped from Riana’s mouth. Her voice wasn’t loud, but its tone was so cold that it echoed along the wooden walls of the house.
Dino stopped with his foot suspended in midair. His entire body went rigid. He slowly turned his head, and his eyes widened when he saw Riana standing at the end of the hallway, her eyes blazing like a soul-reaping demon.
“S-Sis... Sis Riana...” Dino whispered, his voice catching in his throat. His legs trembled violently, forcing him to take a step backward.
Melaa turned with a scornful smirk, adjusting her loose, long hair. “Oh, so this is Sis Riana? The eldest sister who supposedly holds all the power in this house?” Melaa stepped forward twice, looking Riana up and down with contempt. “You come barging in without a shred of manners? You came all the way from the city just to defend these two useless old people?”
Riana didn’t answer Melaa with a single word. She ignored Melaa completely, her gaze locked on her younger brother, Dino.
Riana walked toward Dino. Each tap of her bare feet against the wooden floor sounded like a countdown to destruction.
“Dino,” Riana called again, now standing inches from her brother. “Where’s Mom?”
Dino swallowed with difficulty, cold sweat trickling down his temples. “Sis... this... this is just a misunderstanding...”
“I ASKED WHERE MOM IS?!” Riana’s scream exploded so powerfully that it thundered through the entire wooden house. The plank walls trembled, and Melaa jumped in shock, clutching her chest.
The back bedroom door suddenly opened from within. Elzaya appeared behind it, her eyes swollen and brimming with tears. When she saw her sister standing in the hallway, Elzaya’s sobs burst out of control.
“Sis Riana!” Elzaya cried as she ran forward and wrapped both arms tightly around her sister’s waist. “Sis Riana... help Mom, Sis... She’s in there...”
Riana stroked her sister’s head for a moment, then turned sideways and stepped into the back bedroom.
Mom Atun lay weakly on the bed, the dried compress cloth beside her. Her bruised left cheek was starkly visible in the sunlight entering through the ventilation gap. Beside her, Dad Sutarjo gazed at Riana with tear-filled eyes, his stiff hand trying to rise in greeting to his eldest child.
Riana knelt beside the bed. When she saw the slap mark on her mother’s gentle cheek—the cheek that had once kissed her forehead every time she left for school—a single tear slipped down Riana’s face, warm and burning.
Riana gently touched the edge of the bruise. Mom Atun winced softly, then shook her head.
“Riana... don’t cause a commotion, sweetheart...” Mom Atun whispered in a feeble voice. “I’m all right...”
Riana didn’t answer. She kissed her mother’s forehead for a long moment, then kissed the stiff fingers of her father’s hand. Her shattered heart had now transformed into the hardest steel.
Riana stood. She turned and walked out of the back bedroom, her eyes no longer holding any humanity for the people who had hurt her parents.
In the hallway outside, Melaa was still standing with her hands on her hips, while Dino hid behind his wife.
“What? You want to get angry?” Melaa taunted in a sharp, poisonous tone. “Your mother’s face was barely touched! Besides, she was the one at fault! My bag cost tens of millions, and Dino bought it with his money! Could your mother even afford to replace it if it got damaged?!”
Riana walked closer without saying a word.
“Sis Riana, w-wait, Sis—” Dino tried to step forward and stop his sister.
Bang!
Riana shoved Dino in the chest with all her strength, sending the young man sprawling into the wooden hallway wall.
Melaa stared in shock. “Hey! How dare you push my husband—”
Smack!
The slap echoed thunderously through every corner of the house. Riana’s right hand flew across and landed squarely on Melaa’s left cheek with full force. Melaa’s head snapped to the side, and her unsteady body crashed into the flower vase on the side table, shattering it across the floor.
Melaa screamed hysterically, clutching her cheek, which instantly turned bright red and prickled with numbness. “Ow! My cheek! Are you crazy?! How dare you slap me?!”
Riana gave Melaa no chance to catch her breath. She stepped forward, seized Melaa’s long hair from behind, and yanked it until the city woman’s head tipped back and she was forced to look into Riana’s eyes.
“Listen carefully, you shameless woman!” Riana hissed directly in front of Melaa’s face, now twisted with extraordinary pain and shock. “That bag of yours worth tens of millions is worthless compared to a single tear from my mother! You came into this house as a guest, but you act like a demon bent on taking over everything!”
“Dino! Help me! This murderer’s going to kill me!” Melaa shrieked hysterically, tears dissolving her elaborate makeup and streaking down her cheeks.
Dino, who had just gotten up from the floor, tried to grab Riana’s hand. “Sis Riana! Let go of Melaa! Enough!”
Riana released her grip on Melaa’s hair, then turned and looked at Dino with profound disgust.
Smack!
A retaliatory slap landed squarely on Dino’s cheek. He winced, clutching his face in disbelief.
“That slap was for you, you ungrateful son!” Riana shouted, her voice trembling with overwhelming disappointment. “You were raised on Dad’s sweat and Mom’s tears! You were fed by the produce from this family’s land! But the moment you got a little money and a city wife, you let your own mother be slapped and humiliated right in front of you?! Where is your brain, Dino?!”
Dino lowered his head deeply. Riana’s words struck through the haze that Melaa’s manipulation had built around his mind. Shame and guilt began creeping into his chest, but his fear of Melaa still kept him silent.
Melaa crawled across the floor with her hair in disarray, staring at Riana with blazing hatred. “You... you’ll regret this, Riana! I’ll report you to the police for assault! You and your backwater family are going to prison!”
Riana laughed coldly—a stiff laugh utterly devoid of humor. She walked toward Melaa, knelt in front of her, and stared at her sharply.
“Go ahead and report me,” Riana challenged, whispering into Melaa’s ear.
“Call the police this very second. But before you do, make sure you explain why there are slap marks on a middle-aged mother’s cheek in the back bedroom. Let’s see who gets locked up first for assaulting a parent!”
Melaa stiffened. Riana’s words had struck precisely at the legal vulnerability she feared most. She knew very well that if the finger marks on Mom Atun’s cheek were medically documented, she would be in an extremely vulnerable position.
“And one more thing,” Riana added as she stood tall, looking down at Dino and Melaa. “Starting right now, this house is under my supervision. Not a single thing in this house may be changed, torn down, or sold without my permission. If the two of you don’t like the rules in this house...”
Riana pointed straight toward the wide-open front door.
“...Then the two of you can get out of this wooden house right now!”
A tense silence instantly fell over the living room. Melaa gasped as she clutched her bruised cheek, while Dino could only stare mutely at the wooden floor. The eldest child of the Sutarjo family had returned, and the war to defend their parents’ honor had just begun.