The evening wind that blew down from the hills usually carried the soothing scent of wet earth and clove leaves. But to Riana, the air in the courtyard of that old wooden house felt as thick as soot. The atmosphere in the main room had settled into an oppressive silence after Melaa and Dino chose to lock themselves in the front bedroom, but Riana knew very well that this was only a brief pause before a greater storm came crashing down.
Riana walked to the back kitchen, took an old tin bowl, filled it with cold water from the earthen jar, and wrung out a clean cloth. Her footsteps were slow as she returned to her parents' room.
On the bed, Mom Atun still lay on her side. The bluish bruises on her left cheek had begun to swell faintly, making painfully clear how rough the palm had been that struck her wrinkled skin. Dad Sutarjo lay slumped beside her, his weary eyes staring blankly at the rain-stained ceiling. Every so often, the paralyzed old man's chest rose and fell irregularly as he endured suffering he could not put into words.
"Riana..." Elzaya whispered from the corner of the bed. Her eyes were still puffy, and her fingers clutched the edge of her mother's faded silk blanket. "Dino really was going to knock down the back bedroom wall earlier. Melaa said they wanted to turn this room into an en suite bathroom for their bedroom..."
Riana knelt beside the bed. Gently, she pressed the wet cloth to her mother's cheek. Mom Atun moaned softly, then slowly opened her eyes.
"Riana... you shouldn't be so hard on your brother..." Mom Atun's voice was terribly hoarse, nearly drowned out by the wind hissing through the gaps in the plank walls. "Dino... he's just confused. He loves his wife..."
"You're still defending Dino after what happened?" Riana's voice caught in her throat, trembling with a mixture of pity and smoldering anger. "Dino let her curse at you. Dino let Melaa slap you until your face was bruised like this! What's confusing about that, Mom? That's not confusion. That's filial betrayal."
Tears trickled from the corners of Mom Atun's wrinkled eyes. They ran over her bruised cheek, stinging so badly that Riana quickly wiped them away with her fingertip.
"I was the one who raised him wrong from the beginning, Riana..." Mom Atun broke down in a soft whisper. "When you and Elzaya were taught to live modestly, I always spoiled Dino. Whatever he asked for, I tried to provide with the money from selling bananas or your father's lumber... Now I'm reaping what I sowed, sweetheart..."
"This isn't your fault," Riana said firmly, holding both of her mother's rough, heavily veined hands. "You did your duty raising us honestly. If Dino chose to become someone who forgot his roots, that was his choice. But as long as I am still breathing, not a single person—whether Dino, Melaa, or anyone else—will ever be allowed to belittle you and Dad in this house again."
Beside her, Dad Sutarjo moved his stiff fingers. The old man tried to reach for Riana's shirt sleeve. She immediately took his hand and reverently kissed the palm that had once been used to cut teakwood.
"G-go... Ria..." Dad Sutarjo rasped in broken fragments, his voice like a cracked wooden flute. "...p-pro... tect... M-Mom..."
"Yes, Dad. I'm here. I won't go anywhere until everything is settled," Riana replied firmly.
She then turned toward Elzaya. "Za, lock the bedroom door from the inside when I leave. Don't open it for anyone unless it's me knocking three times. If Melaa or Dino tries anything again, scream as loud as you can."
Elzaya obediently nodded and wiped the last of the tears from her cheeks.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going out front to get some fresh air. And to make sure those people understand their limits."
Meanwhile, in the modern-looking front bedroom—a result of the unauthorized remodeling Melaa had carried out two months earlier—the atmosphere was scorching.
Melaa sat on the edge of a flower-patterned spring mattress, pressing an ice pack against her reddened cheek from Riana's slap. Her face, once pretty beneath expensive makeup, now looked vicious, twisted by surging resentment.
Dino paced back and forth across the foam carpet, squeezing his own fingers until they cracked loudly. The young man's face was deathly pale.
"I told you, Melaa! You can't mess around with Riana!" Dino whispered, afraid they would be heard outside. "She's been the one paying for my and Elzaya's college tuition all these years. She was the one in charge when Dad had his stroke two years ago! You made a huge mistake by hitting Mom in front of Elzaya!"
"Shut up, Dino!" Melaa snapped, angrily throwing the ice pack onto the floor. "Are you a man or an earthworm?! Your wife was slapped until her face was bruised right in front of you, and you're blaming me?! Your sister is just an office worker in the city! She comes here acting like a queen!"
"But you were the one who started it by slapping Mom!" Dino shot back. His voice began to rise, though fear still showed in his eyes.
"Your mother has no shame!" Melaa shrieked. "That limited-edition faux-leather bag cost fifteen million rupiah! We bought it with your project bonus!
"Then your trembling-handed mother bumped the glass of sweet tea and spilled it on the strap! Do you think sweet tea is easy to clean off imported leather?! I was only teaching her a lesson so she wouldn't be careless!"
"But you didn't have to slap her, Melaa!"
"Oh, so now you're defending this hillbilly family of yours?" Melaa stood and pointed a blood-red fingernail at Dino's chest. "Remember this, Dino! If it weren't for my family's connections in the city, you never would have been promoted to supervisor at that factory! Without me, you'd just be a carpenter's son with no future! If you can't get back at your crazy sister, I'll destroy her and your whole family myself!"
Melaa snatched up her smartphone from the vanity. With fingers trembling from emotion, she swiped across the screen and searched her contacts.
"Who are you calling?" Dino asked anxiously.
"I'm calling Nuri," Melaa replied with a spiteful smile that chilled the room.
Dino took a step back. "Nuri? Your cousin who runs that local news social-media account? Melaa, don't make this even worse! This is a family matter!"
"A family matter?" Melaa laughed mockingly, her voice full of spite. "Your sister humiliated me. She dared to touch my face. Now I'm going to make this entire village—even this whole regency—know how rotten the Sutarjo family is! I'll get that Riana fired and make everyone hate her!"
Melaa pressed the phone to her ear. It took only three rings before a woman's shrill voice came through the line.
"Hello, Melaa? What's wrong? Why do you sound like you've been crying?" Nuri, Melaa's cousin, was known for skillfully shaping public opinion on local social media. Her voice sounded curious.
"Nuri... please help me..." Melaa instantly changed her voice into a pitiful whimper, complete with artificial sobs that sounded remarkably convincing. "I... I was abused in Dino's family's home..."
"What?! Abused how? Did Dino hit you?!"
"Not Dino... His sister, Riana! She just came back from the city and went berserk for no reason! She yanked my hair, shoved me into a table, then slapped me over and over, Nuri! My cheek is horribly bruised, and my lip is split!"
On the other end, Nuri drew a sharp breath. She managed several gossip accounts and community social-media pages with tens of thousands of followers in Purbalingga and the surrounding area. To Nuri, a story about "a city daughter-in-law abused by her husband's village family" was perfect, irresistible material for a viral news post.
"How dare they!" Nuri exclaimed. "And Dino just stood there?!"
"Dino was threatened with being cut out of the inheritance, Nuri! That family is obsessed with money!" Melaa continued inventing her story, while Dino stood nearby, eyes wide, too afraid to take the phone away from her.
"They demanded that Dino increase his monthly allowance, but when I said our finances were tight, they immediately got violent!
"Riana said that if I wouldn't give them money, I had to get out of this house! Even though Dino and I paid for the renovation with our savings!"
"Do you have pictures of the slap marks, Melaa?" Nuri asked quickly, her sensationalist instincts already kicking in.
"I do! My cheek is red and bruised like this! I'll take a picture later!"
"Good. Send them to me right now. And get a picture of Riana's face too, if you can," Nuri said eagerly. "I'll create a story that makes it impossible for that woman to show her face in this village. I'll use the headline: 'Barbaric! City Daughter-in-Law Abused and Extorted by Greedy Sister-in-Law in Village X After Coming to Serve Her In-Laws.' Let the public judge them! Let Riana's company know they're employing a woman with the heart of a demon!"
Melaa smiled smugly behind her fake sobs. "Please, Nuri... Make sure the story spreads fast. If you can, tag Riana's workplace in the city."
"Consider it done. Leave it to me. Within hours, the Sutarjo family will be the talk of the entire district!"
The call ended. Melaa lowered her phone, then dabbed at the corners of her dry eyes, which held no tears. She looked at Dino with triumphant satisfaction.
"Just wait, Dino," Melaa hissed coldly. "Let's see how long your tough-girl sister can hold out when the whole world turns against her."
Night began to creep over the village. The sounds of crickets and nocturnal insects called back and forth from the rice fields behind the house. Riana sat in a wooden chair on the front porch, brewing a cup of warm, bitter tea. The cold night air cut straight to her bones, but her mind kept turning as she worked out a strategy.
Riana knew perfectly well that what she had done that afternoon was merely an emergency response. Dealing with people like Melaa and Dino could not be done with anger or brute strength alone. In the modern world, petty people often used cunning to twist reality.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from the front gate. A flashlight swung back and forth, slicing through the darkness of the village road.
"Riana! Riana!"
A teenage boy with a sarong draped around his neck came running breathlessly toward the porch. He was Budi, the local village head's son and Elzaya's childhood playmate.
Riana stood. "What's wrong, Budi? Why are you running like that?"
Budi stopped beside the porch steps, breathing hard as he held up his brightly lit smartphone.
"Riana... have you seen Facebook and the village WhatsApp group yet?" Budi asked, his face deeply worried.
Riana frowned. "Not yet. What happened?"
"Um... Riana... there's a viral post from an account called 'Seputar Rembang Info.' It has a picture of Melaa with a bruised cheek, and then there's this really long caption!" Budi held the phone out to her. "It says you came back from the city just to milk Dino for money, then beat Melaa until she passed out! It says Mom Atun and Dad Sutarjo also cursed Melaa out because she wouldn't give them money for jewelry!"
Riana took Budi's phone and carefully read every line on the screen.
Headline: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE! CITY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW BRUTALLY ABUSED BY SISTER-IN-LAW AND HUSBAND'S FAMILY IN REMBANG VILLAGE!
Beneath it was a dramatic narrative: "A young woman identified by the initial M has become the victim of severe abuse at the hands of her own sister-in-law, R (an office worker in the city), over a trivial matter. M, who has lovingly cared for her paralyzed in-laws all this time, was instead accused of greed and financially extorted. Not only was M physically abused, leaving permanent bruises on her face, she was also threatened with eviction from the home she built through her own sweat together with her husband. The husband's family is suspected of working together to seize the victim's property..."
Hundreds of comments from online users and local residents had already flooded the post.
"What a poor daughter-in-law. The people here always seemed so friendly."
"The Sutarjo family has always acted so holier-than-thou! Turns out their daughter from the city behaves like a thug!"
"This needs to be reported to the police! Don't let violent criminals roam free!"
"I know that Riana. She works in the city, but it turns out she's got the heart of a demon!"
Riana read every word in the comments without blinking. Her face remained blank, without the slightest ripple of fear or panic. Beneath that outward calm, however, her analytical mind as a finance professional and eldest child was working at full speed.
"Who uploaded this story first, Budi?" Riana asked coldly as she handed the phone back.
"It was Nuri's account, Riana. She's Melaa's cousin, the one who often runs that local gossip account," Budi answered quietly. "Everyone at the neighborhood guard post is making a huge fuss about it now. Some of the women in RT 03 have even started whispering and pointing at your house from the road."
Riana smiled faintly—a smile that sent a chill through Budi.
"Thanks for telling me, Budi. Go home. It's late," Riana said calmly.
"R-Riana, are you okay? Should I call the neighborhood head to mediate?"
"No need," Riana replied firmly. "The neighborhood head doesn't need to be dragged through trash like this. This will be very easy to resolve once we know where the lie is."
After Budi left the yard, Riana walked into the house. She headed down the central hallway and stopped directly in front of the front bedroom where Melaa and Dino were staying.
Without pounding on the door, Riana spoke in a normal tone, but clearly enough for her voice to penetrate the thick wooden door.
"Melaa. Nuri. You two polished that story quite nicely," Riana said calmly. "But you forgot one thing: a lie built on air will collapse the moment it's struck by a single piece of real evidence."
There was no verbal response from inside, but hurried movement could be heard, indicating that Melaa was listening behind the door.
Riana continued to the back bedroom. She took her work bag from the small table, reached inside, and pulled out a small black square-shaped object—a portable security camera, a mini CCTV unit she usually used to monitor her apartment in the city. Before returning that afternoon, Riana had stopped by her rented place and brought two battery-powered smart cameras connected directly to her phone and cloud storage system.
Riana smiled coldly. When she had arrived that afternoon and seen her mother's flowerpots smashed in the courtyard, her warning instincts had immediately switched on. While Melaa and Dino had been arguing inside the front bedroom before the pounding on the door began, Riana had secretly installed one of the mini cameras, wedged into a carved gap in the wooden cabinet in the central hallway and aimed directly at the back bedroom door.
Riana opened the app on her phone and tapped the video recording from three hours earlier.
On the screen appeared an exceptionally clear high-definition recording with clean audio. It perfectly showed the sequence of events from that afternoon: Melaa screaming filthy insults at Mom Atun, Melaa pounding on the back bedroom door and threatening to tear down the wall, Melaa slapping Mom Atun when the older woman came out to beg for peace, and Dino standing there without doing anything to defend his mother.
All the evidence of the assault and defamation was neatly preserved, complete with a legally valid timestamp.
"You thought you were clever, Melaa," Riana whispered as she turned off her phone's screen. "You played with fire in a tiger's den."
The next morning, the sun rose and burned away the mist over Desa Rembang. The usually peaceful village now seemed to tremble with residents' whispers. At Mrs. Sumi's vegetable stand, located a hundred meters from the Sutarjo family home, several women had gathered, eagerly sharing the latest gossip.
"Yes, girl! I read it myself on Facebook last night!" Mrs. Titik, Sutarjo's next-door neighbor, exclaimed as she picked out eggplants. "That Riana is absolutely heartless! She comes back from the city and immediately beats up her own daughter-in-law. And Melaa is such a refined city girl who works hard buying new furniture for that house!"
"Really?" Sumi replied doubtfully. "Dad Sutarjo and Mom Atun have always been such good people. They've never caused trouble. Riana's a wonderful daughter too—devout and obedient."
"Oh, people change once they move to the city, Sumi!" another resident chimed in. "Especially when money's involved! Dino's got a decent job now and plenty of money. Maybe Riana's jealous because her younger brother is more successful!"
Suddenly, the conversation at the vegetable stand stopped dead.
At the end of the footpath, Riana walked toward them calmly. She wore black slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves neatly rolled to her elbows. Her hair was tied back, revealing her firm features without heavy makeup. In one hand she carried a small bag and several sheets of paper.
The women at the vegetable stand immediately nudged one another, lowering their voices to sharp whispers. Sideways looks and contemptuous stares aimed straight at Riana.
Riana did not avoid them. Instead, she turned and walked directly toward the group at the vegetable stand.
"Good morning, Mrs. Titik, Sumi," Riana greeted them in a loud, friendly voice, as if nothing had happened.
Mrs. Titik cleared her throat awkwardly and looked away. "Morning, Riana. Haven't seen you around... I heard you just got back from the city?"
"Yes, Mrs. Titik. I came home because there's an important matter that needs to be settled here," Riana replied with a faint smile. "I heard you ladies have been enjoying a conversation about my family. Would you mind letting me listen too?"
The atmosphere at the vegetable stand instantly became painfully awkward. Sumi pretended to be busy weighing chilies, while Mrs. Titik tried to offer a fake smile.
"Oh, no, Riana... Just the usual stuff..." Mrs. Titik mumbled uncertainly.
"Oh, the usual stuff," Riana said, stepping one pace closer. "Not a story about the false post Nuri uploaded on the local news account last night?"
Hearing Nuri's name and the word "false" spoken openly, the women exchanged startled looks.
"Wait... you mean that post was a lie, Riana?" Sumi finally asked, unable to contain her curiosity. "But there was a picture of Melaa's bruised cheek."
Riana pulled her phone from her shirt pocket. Calmly, she tapped a video file and turned the volume all the way up.
"Mrs. Titik, Sumi, and everyone else," Riana said in a clear voice that cut through the morning silence. "In this village, we're taught to respect our elders and verify news before believing it. Since you've already swallowed the slander spread by Melaa and her cousin, I think you deserve to see what really happened."
Riana held her phone's screen out in the middle of the group.
The video began to play.
Melaa's shrill screams and filthy insults toward Mom Atun came through Riana's phone speaker with perfect clarity:
"Open the door, you old corpse! Don't pretend you're unconscious in there! My bag worth tens of millions was ruined because of those trembling hands of yours! You shameless freeloader!"
The women at the vegetable stand stared wide-eyed. Mrs. Titik's face instantly went deathly pale.
The video then showed Mom Atun coming out of the bedroom with a pleading expression, only for Melaa's right hand to swing without the slightest trace of pity and strike the old woman's cheek, sending her sprawling as she clutched her face. The footage also clearly showed Dino standing right beside Melaa, merely watching without lifting a finger to help his mother.
"Astaghfirullahaladzim!" Sumi cried, covering her mouth with both hands, her eyes filling with tears at the brutality on the screen. "Was that... Was that Mom Atun being slapped?!"
"Mom Atun, that sweet woman, was slapped so hard she fell down?!" another resident exclaimed, her face blazing with outrage.
Riana stopped the video and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
"The video you just saw shows what really happened yesterday afternoon at my parents' house," Riana said firmly, looking sharply from one woman to the next. "Melaa slapped my elderly mother, cursed at my paralyzed father, and Dino—the brother raised with our parents' blood and sweat—stood there silently defending his wife."
Mrs. Titik trembled, deeply ashamed and guilty for spreading vicious gossip since early that morning. "R-Riana... we... we didn't know it happened like that..."
"You didn't know because you found it easier to believe a dramatic fairy tale on social media than the truth," Riana said bluntly. "The slap Melaa received on her cheek yesterday afternoon was my retaliation as the eldest child—someone who will never let her mother be abused! And if any of you continue spreading Nuri and Melaa's malicious lies, I will use this video as evidence to report you for defamation!"
Not one of the women at the vegetable stand dared to answer. They all lowered their heads in shame, disgusted with themselves for defending Melaa, who had turned out to behave like a demon.
"Sumi, I'd like one kilo of eggs and five kilos of rice. Please deliver them to the house," Riana said calmly, placing a hundred-thousand-rupiah bill on the stall's table.
"Y-yes, Riana... I'll bring them over myself," Sumi replied, her voice trembling with respect and remorse.
Riana turned and walked away from the vegetable stand. She did not waste time savoring her small victory among the villagers, because her main target that day was much bigger: fully clearing her family's name and giving Melaa and Nuri a legal lesson they would never forget.
Ten in the morning. A black sedan bearing the logo of a local media outlet suddenly stopped in front of the gate of the Sutarjo family home. Nuri got out carrying a portable camera and a small notebook, dressed in an eye-catching outfit. Behind her, Melaa emerged from the wooden house with her face deliberately made pale and an excessive gauze bandage stuck to her left cheek.
The two of them had planned to conduct a "live interview" in the yard and stream it directly on Nuri's social-media account, further cornering Riana, whom they assumed was hiding inside the house in fear.
"Ready, Melaa?" Nuri asked as she adjusted her phone camera on a portable tripod. "Remember, as soon as I go live, start crying in that raspy voice. Tell them Riana threatened to kill you if you didn't hand over the house certificate."
Melaa nodded with a sly smile. "Done. I've been practicing since last night. This bruise on my cheek will be the most powerful proof for winning sympathy from millions of viewers."
Nuri pressed the Go Live button on her phone. Within seconds, the live stream's viewers surged from hundreds to thousands, driven by the viral post from the night before.
"Hello, residents of Rembang and the surrounding area!" Nuri opened the livestream in an exaggerated dramatic voice. "Today I'm reporting live from the scene of the domestic violence committed against our fellow resident, Melaa! As you can see, the victim is still suffering severe trauma after being abused by her own sister-in-law, Riana!"
Melaa immediately positioned herself in front of the camera, covered her face with both hands, and began sobbing hysterically. "Please help me... I'm so scared... Riana said she would destroy my life if I didn't leave today..."
Suddenly, the front door of the wooden house flew wide open.
Riana stepped outside. But this time, she was not alone. Walking beside her was a middle-aged man in a neat batik shirt, carrying a leather document case: Mr. Kuncoro, a senior attorney recommended by Mr. Frans, Riana's supervisor in the city. Riana had contacted him the previous night and asked him to come that morning. Behind them, the local neighborhood head and two police officers from the Rembang Sector Police Station entered the yard.
Melaa and Nuri stopped dead. Melaa's fake crying abruptly caught in her throat, while Nuri lowered her camera tripod with a panicked expression.
"W-what is going on?" Dino asked, having just come out the door with a face as pale as a corpse.
Riana stood tall in the middle of the porch, staring at Nuri and Melaa with an unshakably cold gaze.
"Good morning, Nuri. Good morning, Melaa," Riana greeted them. Her voice was clear and authoritative, carrying perfectly into Nuri's livestream microphone, which was still broadcasting to thousands of viewers. "You're livestreaming, aren't you? Excellent. Because the main event has just begun."
Mr. Kuncoro, the attorney, stepped forward and opened the documents in his hand.
"Good morning," Mr. Kuncoro said in the firm voice of a legal professional. "I am Kuncoro, legal counsel for Riana and the Sutarjo family. Today, we are officially serving an open legal demand and submitting a police report to the Rembang Sector Police Station regarding two serious criminal offenses."
Melaa's eyes widened. "W-what offenses?! I'm the victim here! My cheek is bruised because she slapped me!"
"First," Mr. Kuncoro cut in, ignoring Melaa's shouts, "the serious assault of a vulnerable elderly parent committed by Melaa against Mom Atun, as stipulated under Article 351 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 44 of the Domestic Violence Law."
"I never hit that old corpse!" Melaa screamed hysterically, trying to interrupt him.
"Second," Mr. Kuncoro continued in an unwaveringly cold voice, "defamation, the dissemination of false news, and cybercrime committed jointly by Melaa and Nuri through social media, as stipulated under Article 27A in conjunction with Article 45 paragraph 4 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, carrying a maximum sentence of six years in prison."
Nuri trembled violently. The phone mounted on the tripod in her hands nearly slipped. "B-but... we have photographic evidence of Melaa's bruises!"
Riana took over the conversation. She walked down from the porch and approached the frightened Nuri.
"You want evidence, Nuri?" Riana asked calmly. She took out her own phone and connected it to a portable projector that the attorney's team had set up on the porch table.
At once, a remarkably clear CCTV recording appeared on the portable white screen.
On the large screen, before the neighborhood head, the two police officers, and dozens of villagers who had begun gathering outside the gate—and watched live by tens of thousands of viewers on Nuri's livestream, which she had forgotten to turn off—the truth of what had happened was displayed with absolute clarity.
Melaa's insults toward Mom Atun, including "old corpse" and "shameless freeloader," echoed across the yard. The scene of Melaa striking Mom Atun hard enough to send the elderly woman sprawling was unmistakable, followed by Dino standing there like a soulless statue, doing nothing but watch.
In the comments of Nuri's still-running livestream, the mood spectacularly turned on its head:
"ASTAGHFIRULLAH! THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW IS THE DEMON AFTER ALL!"
"Her mother-in-law was slapped first! This daughter-in-law is unbelievable!"
"Arrest Melaa and Nuri! Cruel slander spreaders!"
"Look at her husband just standing there while his mother gets slapped! What a disgraceful son!"
"Requesting permission to screenshot this evidence! Investigate this thoroughly, Officer!"
Melaa collapsed onto the dusty yard. Her face, covered by the fake bandage, looked pitiful—not from pain, but from the overwhelming shame and panic crashing down on her. Every lie she had so carefully constructed vanished in an instant before the public's eyes.
Nuri was at a loss. She shut off the livestream with trembling hands, then tried to retreat slowly toward her car.
"Where do you think you're going, Nuri?" one of the officers challenged, stepping into her path. "Nuri and Melaa, please come with us to the Rembang Sector Police Station now to provide statements regarding this official report and the video evidence."
"D-Dino! Help me!" Melaa screamed hysterically, crawling over and clutching her husband's leg. "Tell the police they're lying! Please help me!"
Dino looked down at his wife sprawled on the ground. His face was empty. When he looked up and met Riana's dignified eyes from the porch, remembering the footage of his mother falling to the floor, the immense shame finally shattered the wall of manipulation that had imprisoned his mind for so long.
Dino slowly pulled his leg free from Melaa's grip.
"Enough, Melaa..." Dino whispered, his voice breaking with belated remorse. "You've destroyed our marriage... You've turned me into a disobedient son..."
"Dino! How could you do this to me?!" Melaa screamed as the two police officers grasped her arms and helped her to her feet.
Riana approached Dino, who stood with his head bowed beside the porch table. There would be no more slaps this time. Only the grief-filled gaze of an eldest sister mourning her younger brother's downfall.
"Dino," Riana called softly. "You can earn money and a position in the city again. But the mother who risked her life giving birth to you exists only once in this world. You chose to stand beside the demon who slapped your mother, and today you have to bear the consequences of your own choice."
Dino dropped to his knees on the porch boards, covered his face with both hands, and sobbed like a lost little boy.
As Melaa and Nuri were escorted into the police car amid jeers from villagers who now knew the truth, Riana turned and walked back into the house.
She opened the back bedroom door. Morning sunlight streamed in through the open window, illuminating Mom Atun and Dad Sutarjo sitting side by side. Elzaya smiled brightly from the corner of the room.
Riana knelt before her parents and laid her head in Mom Atun's lap. The old woman's gentle, bruised hand stroked Riana's hair lovingly.
The storm had passed. The old wooden house might still bear the scars of the crime that had just taken place, but as long as their eldest child stood firm as their shield, not a single lie would ever be strong enough to bring down the honor of the Sutarjo family. The battle against oppression had been won, and justice had finally reclaimed its throne in their home.