That morning, for the first time in a long while, Naila stepped out of the house feeling a little lighter. The short message from Mr. Rudi the night before was still fresh in her mind. The first installment of the project funds had finally been released and deposited into the company's account on time. The amount wasn't enough to dramatically turn Nexora's situation around, but at least the company everyone had considered practically dead was finally beginning to breathe again.
Before leaving, Naila checked the latest financial report on her phone. The graph that had been dominated by deep red for months was slowly starting to shift in a better direction. The change wasn't spectacular yet, but it was more than enough to bring a faint smile to her lips. At least one thing in her life was going according to plan.
Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of her marriage.
Ever since she had caught the scent of unfamiliar perfume on Ardi's shirt a few days earlier, the unease in her chest had never truly faded. Time and again, Naila tried to push away her dark thoughts and dismiss them as mere coincidence. But the harder she tried to ignore them, the more clearly the oddities appeared right before her eyes.
Ardi had started coming home late more often, always with the same excuses: an emergency meeting, accompanying a client, or working overtime to meet a deadline. If it had happened only once or twice, Naila might not have thought much of it. But over the past few weeks, those excuses had turned into a new routine that kept repeating.
Even during dinner together, Ardi's attention was almost entirely taken up by his phone screen. Several times, Naila caught her husband smiling to himself as he read certain messages. Whenever she asked, his answers were always flat and brief.
"A coworker."
There was never any further explanation, as if Ardi wanted to end the conversation before Naila could ask anything else.
That afternoon at the office, Naila's focus was interrupted when her phone vibrated on the desk. A message from Mr. Rudi appeared on the screen.
«Ms. Naila, the client from yesterday's project wants to meet again next week. There's a chance they may offer us a follow-up project.»
Naila's heart beat a little faster. A follow-up project meant a new source of income. If the partnership went smoothly, Nexora's value would rise much faster than they had anticipated.
«All right. Let's prepare all the arrangements and the presentation starting now.»
Mr. Rudi's reply arrived not long afterward.
«Understood, ma'am.»
Naila set her phone down again with a small smile. Sometimes, she still found it hard to believe how bold she had been a few years ago, when she had recklessly poured most of her work bonus into buying shares in a company on the verge of bankruptcy. At the time, everyone had thought her decision was ridiculous. Even Mr. Rudi had warned her that Nexora's chances of surviving might not be as high as fifty percent.
But Naila had seen something everyone else had missed. She had seen the potential still hidden behind the company's loss reports and the long list of problems weighing it down. Now, slowly but surely, the gamble that had once been considered insane was beginning to bear fruit.
The small burst of happiness from the office evaporated the moment Naila returned home. The clock was nearly showing ten that night when the sound of Ardi's motorcycle engine came to a stop in the yard.
"Why are you still awake?" Ardi asked, looking somewhat surprised to see Naila still sitting in the living room.
"I was waiting for you. I wanted to have dinner together."
Ardi let out a short sigh as he set down his work bag.
"I'm sorry. Something came up at the office that I couldn't leave."
Naila merely nodded slowly. The same answer again.
Dinner passed in a silence that felt increasingly heavy. The only sounds were the occasional clinking of spoons and forks against plates. Ardi remained busy typing something on his phone with one hand, while Naila pretended to focus on her food even as she secretly watched her husband's every move.
Including the faint smile that appeared on Ardi's face several times. It felt unfamiliar because he hadn't directed a smile like that at her in a long time.
As soon as they finished eating, Ardi headed to the bathroom to wash up.
The moment the bathroom door closed, the phone he had left on the dining table suddenly lit up. A new message notification appeared on the screen. Reflexively, Naila's eyes went straight to it.
A sender's name was displayed.
Rani.
A completely unfamiliar name.
Ardi had never mentioned a coworker named Rani, and Naila didn't know anyone in either of their families who had that name. Beside the name was a simple smiling emoji, making the unease in her chest grow even stronger.
Naila had just started to lean forward to read the first line of the message when she heard the bathroom door open.
Ardi came out much faster than usual.
The moment he noticed his phone lit up on the table, his movements changed. He snatched it up quickly—far too quickly for someone who had nothing to hide.
And for the first time since they had gotten married, Naila saw something on her husband's face that she had never seen before.
Panic.
Panic he was trying his best to conceal.
"Who is it?" Naila asked, trying to keep her tone casual.
Ardi hurriedly turned the phone facedown before slipping it into his pants pocket.
"No one. Just a coworker."
The answer came too quickly, as if he had prepared it long before the question was asked.
Naila chose not to press him further. She merely nodded and stood up to clear the dirty plates still scattered across the dining table.
But that night, after Ardi had fallen deeply asleep beside her, Naila's eyes remained open, staring at the dark ceiling. The name kept circling endlessly through her mind.
Rani??
Who was that woman, really?
A doubt she had worked so hard to bury deep inside slowly began to grow. Little by little, it transformed into something much larger and more frightening, gnawing away at the peace she had fought so desperately to maintain.