That morning, Naila still woke up before dawn as usual. Although she had slept poorly all night because she couldn't stop thinking about the name Rani that had appeared on Ardi's phone, the housework was still waiting for her. She prepared breakfast, boiled water for coffee, then began gathering the dirty clothes to wash before leaving for work.
It had become her habit to check every pocket before putting clothes into the washing machine. More than once, she had found loose change, parking cards, or forgotten shopping receipts.
While checking Ardi's work pants, her fingers brushed against something folded inside the back pocket.
It turned out to be a receipt.
At first, she only intended to throw it away, but the name of the restaurant printed at the top made her pause. The restaurant was fairly well-known in the city center and was often chosen for dinners or business meetings.
Slowly, she unfolded the paper.
Her eyes traced the neatly printed order list.
The total came to nearly one million rupiah!
Naila frowned. It wasn't the amount that caught her attention, but the date printed at the top of the receipt.
Her birthday.
The day she'd waited for a simple birthday greeting that never came.
For a while, Naila simply stared at the receipt without moving. She tried to think of another possibility. Maybe Ardi had been entertaining a client or having dinner with a coworker.
But the more she recalled what had happened over the past few days, the harder it became to believe it was all a coincidence.
The scent of women's perfume clinging to Ardi's shirt. The name Rani appearing on his phone's screen.
The way Ardi had hurriedly hidden his phone that night—now joined by a restaurant receipt dated on her birthday.
"Nay, is my coffee ready?"
Ardi's voice from inside the bedroom startled Naila.
She quickly folded the receipt back up and tucked it into the pocket of her house dress.
"Yeah, it is."
Ardi came out a few minutes later and immediately sat down at the dining table. As usual, he enjoyed his breakfast while occasionally glancing at his phone's screen.
"I'm leaving early today," he said.
"A meeting?"
"Yeah. There's a lot to take care of."
Naila only nodded. She didn't ask anything else.
After Ardi left, she took out the receipt again. This time, she examined the details printed on it more carefully.
The transaction had been made around eight in the evening.
At that same hour, Ardi had messaged her, saying he was still at the office.
Naila let out a long breath before finally putting the receipt into her bag. She had actually wanted to ask Ardi about everything that very morning. Several times, the questions had risen to the tip of her tongue, but she had always stopped herself. She knew her husband too well. If nothing was going on, Ardi would surely accuse her of overreacting. On the other hand, if he really was hiding something, there was no guarantee Ardi would tell her the truth.
All the way to the office, her mind remained filled with different possibilities. She tried to remember when the change had begun.
Ardi hadn't used to be a romantic man, but at least he had still been willing to listen to her stories after work. They often had dinner while talking about simple things, from the neighbor who had just moved in to the vacation plans that were always postponed because of financial problems.
Lately, everything had changed without her realizing it.
Their conversations had grown fewer. Ardi was busy with his phone more often. Even when they were in the same room, it felt as though there were an invisible distance between them.
Naila had wondered whether the change was because of her. Maybe she was too busy working. Maybe she was tired too often. Or maybe it was because they still hadn't had children after several years of marriage.
But whenever those thoughts surfaced, she always remembered everything she had done for their household. She worked, helped pay the mortgage, met the needs of her husband's family, and repeatedly sacrificed her own desires to keep their relationship peaceful.
If all of that still wasn't enough, then what more was really expected of her?
She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but she also couldn't ignore what she had seen.
Work was fairly hectic that day. Several tender documents had to be reviewed, while Rudi kept sending updates about the project Nexora was working on.
Near noon, they held an online meeting.
"The client is pretty satisfied with the progress we sent yesterday, ma'am," Rudi said. "If everything goes smoothly, we have a pretty good chance of getting the follow-up project."
The news eased some of the weight on her mind.
For the next few hours, Naila focused on discussing strategy and the project's needs with the team. At least while she was working, she could still distract herself from the domestic problems that had been draining her more and more lately.
The meeting didn't end until just before the lunch break.
As she was organizing the documents on her desk, her phone vibrated.
A message came in from an unknown number.
Naila initially assumed it was just a promotional message, but curiosity made her open it anyway.
A photo immediately appeared on the screen.
It showed a restaurant table, with no one's face visible.
There were only a few plates of food and two glasses of drinks that still looked half full.
But Naila's attention immediately went to the corner of the photo.
There, she could see a man's hand holding a woman's hand.
Her heart began beating faster.
With hands that had started to turn cold, she zoomed in on the image.
The man in the photo was wearing a watch she knew extremely well.
The watch she'd given Ardi two years ago.
Naila stared at her phone's screen for a long time.
Before she had a chance to process what she had just seen, a second message came in from the same number.
This time, it contained only one sentence.
"Do you really know your husband?"
Naila read the sentence over and over.
The number had no profile picture. No name. No clue who the sender was.
But one thing was certain: that person knew something about Ardi.
And most likely, they deliberately wanted her to know it too.