A notification from the mobile banking app appeared while Naila was frying eggs in the kitchen. The brief chime made her automatically reach for the phone lying near the stove. A moment later, a balance larger than usual appeared on the screen.
This month's paycheck had finally arrived. It should have been good news, especially after a full month of exhausting work targets. But the smile that had briefly appeared on her face slowly faded. Five years of experience had taught Naila that the money would not stay in her account for long.
She had just set down her phone when the doorbell rang. From behind the window, Naila could already guess who the visitor was. Her suspicion proved correct when she opened the door and found her in-laws standing there with their usual friendly expressions.
"Good morning, Naila," her mother-in-law greeted her as she stepped inside without waiting to be invited.
Her father-in-law followed behind, carrying a blue plastic folder. Naila knew that folder all too well. Almost every month, the same thing appeared on the same day.
They sat down in the living room, and her mother-in-law pulled several sheets of paper from the folder. The electric bill, water bill, mortgage payment, and several other expenses were immediately spread across the table.
"There are quite a few bills this month," she said. "Good thing you get your paycheck today."
Naila stared at the pile of papers in front of her without saying a word. The sentence sounded simple, but she knew what it really meant. Ever since she had married Ardi, nearly all of her husband's family's expenses had gradually been shifted onto her shoulders. At first, she had only helped pay one or two bills. But over time, that help had turned into an obligation everyone took for granted.
"You have the most stable income, after all," her mother-in-law continued. "If you don't help us, who will?"
After her in-laws left, Naila sat alone at the dining table, calculating the total expenses that had to be paid that day. The figure made her chest tighten. More than half her paycheck would be gone before the sun was even directly overhead.
Before she could finish calculating, her phone vibrated again. This time, a message from Ardi appeared on the screen.
"Honey, I want to ask you a favor."
Naila stared at the message for a few moments before opening it.
"My younger sibling is having a hard time. Their mother-in-law is sick and needs money for medical expenses. Can you help for now?"
"How much?" she replied curtly.
The amount Ardi sent a few seconds later left Naila speechless. It was far from small. Added to all the bills that had been waiting for her since morning, it would make her account balance shrink again, just as it had in the months before.
By late afternoon, all the payments were finally finished. When Naila reopened the mobile banking app, she saw that the remaining balance was far smaller than she had imagined when she received her paycheck that morning. Payday, which should have brought relief, always ended with the same feeling instead.
As if she worked hard for an entire month only to meet other people's needs.
Nighttime was the only time that truly belonged to her. After coming home from work, preparing dinner, cleaning the house, and making sure all of her husband's needs were met, Naila could finally enter her cramped home office in the corner of the house. The room was nothing more than a former storage space converted into a place for a desk and an old laptop, but that was where she poured most of her hopes and dreams.
Inside were dozens of documents, financial reports, project proposals, and business strategy notes that she continued updating almost every night. They all concerned a small company that had nearly gone bankrupt a few months earlier.
The company was called Nexora Konsultan.
At the time, Naila had made a decision that still felt reckless even now.
For years, she had secretly saved work bonuses that neither Ardi nor her husband's family knew about. The amount was not exactly astronomical, but it was enough to buy a majority stake in the dying company.
Nearly all her savings were gone in a single transaction.
Many people might have considered the decision foolish, but Naila saw something different. She saw an opportunity hidden behind the loss figures. She believed the company had not failed because its products were bad, but because its management was a mess.
Ever since becoming the largest shareholder, Naila had begun working twice as hard. During the day, she remained an ordinary employee at her office, while at night she studied the company's reports, contacted potential clients, revised proposals, and even developed marketing strategies herself. She often slept only three or four hours a night.
She did all of it in secret.
No one supported her.
If her husband's family found out, they would probably laugh at her.
The thought brought a faint smile to Naila's lips. She had been underestimated far too many times to still feel hurt by it.
An email notification appeared on her laptop screen.
Naila opened it immediately.
It was a reply from the tender committee that had been her main focus for the past two weeks. The project involved developing a management system for a national logistics company, with a contract value substantial for a company the size of Nexora.
She quickly opened the message.
A few seconds later, her heart began to beat faster.
Nexora had made it to the final stage.
Naila stared at the screen without blinking. The news alone was enough to make all the exhaustion she had endured for weeks feel worthwhile. But the work was not over yet. Several other companies were still competing for the project.
She went back to work until after midnight, refining the presentation and preparing the final revisions before sending them to the committee.
When the clock showed one in the morning, a new email arrived.
Naila initially thought it was just a routine notification. But when she read the sender's name, her body immediately tensed.
It was from the logistics company conducting the tender.
She opened the message slowly.
Her eyes moved from one line to the next.
Then her breath caught.
Congratulations. Based on the final evaluation, Nexora Konsultan has been selected as the winner of the national management system development project.
Naila read the sentence over and over to make sure she had not misread it.
Below it was the contract value, which made her hands tremble.
Five billion rupiah.
The amount far exceeded all the profits Nexora had ever earned since the company was founded.
Her phone vibrated again. A follow-up email arrived a few minutes later.
The CEO of Nexora Konsultan is required to attend the official contract signing tomorrow morning at nine.
Naila stared at the message for a long time.
Tomorrow morning.
For the first time in her life, someone was calling her not a daughter-in-law, not Ardi's wife, and not an ordinary employee.
But the leader of a company.
Meanwhile, in the next room, Ardi was still sleeping soundly, unaware that his wife had just won a project worth five billion rupiah.