Everything... had been nothing but a carefully orchestrated act.
Dino felt his chest growing tighter...
“Melaa...” Dino’s voice was barely audible, yet filled with unbearable pain and disappointment. He slowly rose to his feet and stared at his wife with an expression Melaa had never seen before—an expression brimming with despair and burning anger. “You... you’ve been lying to me all this time?”
“Mas... Mas Dino, please listen to me first...” Melaa tried to approach him with trembling hands. Tears—real tears of fear this time—began to run down her face, streaking her mascara.
“I... I did this because I love you, Mas. I was afraid you’d reject me if you found out I was poor...”
“Love?!” Dino roared, his voice echoing through every corner of the wooden house. “You call that love?! You drained my paycheck! You forced me to yell at my own mother! You slapped my mother so hard she was left bruised! You called my father a free handout! That’s what you call love, Melaa?!”
Melaa stumbled backward, terrified as Dino’s anger finally exploded.
“And you wanted to transfer ownership of this house’s certificate into your name...” Riana continued coldly. “Not for your future with Dino, but so you could use it as collateral at the bank to pay off your family’s loan-shark debts in Grobogan, right? Answer me, Melaa!”
Melaa lowered her head deeply, her body shaking violently. No words of denial could escape her lips anymore. The mask of luxury and elegance she had worn for eight months had been completely torn away, leaving behind a cunning woman trapped by her own lies.
Amid the chaos in the living room, the quiet creak of metal wheels came from the side corridor.
Mr. Sutarjo turned the wheels of his old wheelchair himself. The old man, paralyzed by bone degeneration and skin cancer, slowly rolled into the room. His sunken face looked calm, but his aging eyes radiated extraordinary resolve. Resting on his lap was an ancient, intricately carved teakwood box, securely locked.
“Dad...” Elzaya whispered as she approached her father and helped grip the wheelchair handles.
Mr. Sutarjo looked at everyone in the room one by one: Riana standing tall, Elzaya clinging to her mother’s arm, Mom Atun crying silently, Dino slumped weakly beside the table, and Melaa trembling in the corner.
With his trembling left hand, Mr. Sutarjo reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small brass key. He inserted it into the keyhole of the wooden box on his lap and turned it until a soft click sounded, then lifted the lid.
From inside the box, Mr. Sutarjo took out a thick, plastic-covered sheet of paper, its edges slightly yellowed with age: the Land and Building Certificate for the Sutarjo Family’s Old House.
“Dino...” Mr. Sutarjo called, his voice hoarse and broken, yet perfectly clear in the silence.
Dino turned and looked at his father with overwhelming guilt. He knelt beside his father’s wheelchair and lowered his head until his forehead touched the floor. “Dad... forgive me, Dad... please forgive me...”
Mr. Sutarjo looked at his only son with the gaze of a father whose heart had been shattered, yet still held a little wisdom. His stiff hand slowly rose, gripping the certificate tightly.
“This house...” Mr. Sutarjo said between labored breaths, “I built it... with blood and sweat... for all three of you... Riana, Dino, Elzaya...”
Mr. Sutarjo tore his gaze away from Dino and looked straight at Melaa.
“But this house... will never... fall into the hands of someone who... does not respect... the mother who gave birth to her own husband!” Mr. Sutarjo declared. The words forced their way from the father’s mouth with tremendous effort, making his chest heave as he struggled to breathe.
Mr. Sutarjo handed the land certificate not to Dino, but to Riana. Riana accepted the important document with both hands and held it tightly against her chest.
“Riana...” Mr. Sutarjo whispered. “You’re the eldest... keep this... protect this house... protect your mother and your younger sibling...”
“Yes, Dad. I promise. I’ll protect this certificate and never let anyone take it away,” Riana replied firmly.
In an instant, silence settled over the living room of Mr. Sutarjo’s house.
Melaa’s heart began to churn...
To be continued...