Chapter 8. The Veil Over Melaa Wijaya's Origins
The hands of the clock seemed to move faster, keeping time with Melaa's erratic heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Riana casually rested one hand against the edge of the teak table, staring at Melaa, who had suddenly fallen silent like a statue.
"For the past eight months," Riana began in a calm voice heavy with menace, "you've come into this house with incredible arrogance. You claimed to be the daughter of a wealthy businessman from the capital.
You flaunted designer bags, expensive clothes, and a city lifestyle that made my little brother, Dino, feel so small and worthless that he was willing to become your slave."
Dino looked up, staring at his sister with a confused frown. "Sis... what do you mean?"
"Ask your famous wife, Dino!" Riana snapped without taking her eyes off Melaa. "Ask her whether her family really owns a major textile business in the capital.
Ask her why, every time you ask to visit her parents' home in Semarang, she always comes up with a thousand excuses!"
Melaa's face began to turn deathly pale. Her bright red lipstick trembled on her lips. "Riana... you... don't go making things up! You're just jealous because Dino got a beautiful, wealthy wife like me!"
"Beautiful? Maybe. Wealthy?" Riana gave a short laugh as she opened the brown envelope and pulled out a stack of papers containing printed records and photographs. "Three days ago, because I suspected something was wrong with Dino's change in attitude and the way you've been mistreating Mom more and more, I hired a private investigator in the capital to look into your family's background, Melaa."
THUD!
Melaa's heart seemed to stop beating right then and there. Cold sweat seeped from her temples, ruining the thick makeup covering her beautiful face.
"Sis... what investigation?" Dino asked, his voice now trembling with genuine doubt.
Riana picked up the first sheet and read it aloud in the silence of the room. "Melaa Wijaya. Real name: Mela Nurhayati. Born in a village on the outskirts of Grobogan Regency, not Semarang City."
"That's a lie! It's a lie!" Melaa screamed hysterically, trying to snatch the paper from Riana's hand. But Riana swiftly shoved Melaa's shoulder, sending the woman stumbling backward.
"Don't touch these papers!" Riana warned coldly. She turned to the next page. "Melaa's parents aren't wealthy textile tycoons. They're farm laborers who are currently buried under nearly one hundred fifty million rupiah in loan-shark debt back in their hometown!"
"What?!" Elzaya gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. Atun rubbed her chest as well, utterly shocked by the revelation.
Dino stared at Melaa in disbelief, his eyes wide. "Melaa... this... this isn't true, is it? You said your father owned a factory."
"Dino! Don't listen to this crazy woman!" Melaa shrieked, clutching Dino's arm in panic. "She's forged those documents to destroy our marriage! Mas, you have to believe me!"
"Still going to deny it?" Riana pulled several color photographs from the envelope and flung them straight at Dino's chest. The photos scattered across the wooden floor.
Trembling, Dino knelt and picked up the photographs one by one. They showed a simple bamboo-walled house in the countryside, an old man in a ragged T-shirt cutting grass, and, most shocking of all, a photograph of Melaa standing in front of a shop renting designer goods at a mall in the capital.
"Those expensive bags she was always bragging about," Riana continued bitterly, "are mostly weekly rentals paid for with your salary, Dino! And the rest are super-fake knockoffs bought on the black market! You let your mother be trampled on just to defend a con artist who used your salary to pay for luxury rentals and make installments on her family's loan-shark debt!"
"Haaahhh, Dino... Dino..." Riana hissed.
Dino stood frozen on the floor. The photographs slipped from his hands. His head felt as if it had been struck by lightning in broad daylight. Every illusion, every feeling of inferiority, and every bit of blind obedience that had clouded his mind for the past eight months suddenly shattered.
He remembered how Melaa had always demanded that he hand over his entire monthly salary, how she had refused whenever he invited her to visit her parents' home in the capital, claiming that "her parents were busy doing business overseas," and how Melaa had always emphasized that Sutarjo's family were country people beneath her.
To be continued...