Nara had prepared breakfast as a thank-you to Arka for yesterday. Unlike yesterday's shrimp paste, Nara chose something that might be more appealing to Arka's nose, like fried rice.
She heard someone coming down the stairs. Without even turning around, Nara knew it was Arka.
Arka came down from the second floor in a brand-new dark gray suit, looking neat and imposing. The sour expression he'd worn yesterday had been replaced by the cold expression of a top lawyer ready for battle.
He passed through the kitchen without saying a word, but before his hand opened the front door, his eyes briefly flicked toward Nara's left thumb, which was still neatly wrapped in a white bandage.
"Have breakfast first," Nara said. Knowing Arka's personality, the man wouldn't ask on his own.
Arka knitted his brows. He didn't like that village girl trying to cook and getting hurt again.
"No need. I'm already on my way out. And... next time, just order food." Arka stepped outside, leaving Nara with nothing to do but sigh deeply as she watched him leave.
"I went to the trouble of cooking for him, and he doesn't appreciate it at all," Nara grumbled.
Today, Arka would once again lead the legal team in a major corporate dispute case in court. The case put the reputation of Wijaya Law Firm at stake, and Arka had no intention of losing. To Arka, the courtroom was his stage. This was where he felt he had complete control over his life, a place where not a single variable could deviate from his expectations.
"All the documents are ready, Mr. Arka. The newly appointed public prosecutor has also entered the courtroom," Arka's legal assistant whispered as they sat at the counsel table.
Arka nodded slowly. He calmly straightened the files in front of him. Arka was completely confident he would win the case.
The atmosphere in the courtroom suddenly became extremely formal and tense when the court clerk asked everyone to stand as the panel of judges entered.
After the presiding judge struck the gavel to officially open the hearing, it was time for the prosecution to read its reply to the defense Arka had presented at the previous hearing. "Public Prosecutor, please introduce yourself and read the prosecution's filing," the dignified presiding judge said.
Arka leaned back in his chair, casting his opponents a contemptuous look, as he always did.
But the next second, that confidence vanished completely.
His pupils trembled when he saw the figure sitting across from him. The hatred and longing he'd always kept tightly sealed in the corner of his heart now burst wide open. The hand holding his expensive pen began to tremble.
Across the room, the man looked at Arka with a cold stare. He could sense how shaken Arka was, something perhaps only he could see. After all, he was the one who had grown up with Arka and taken care of him all this time.
He adjusted the microphone in front of him, then began to speak. "Thank you, Your Honor. I am the public prosecutor newly assigned to this case, Ardian Wijaya..."
Thud.
Arka's heart pounded. He desperately hoped that what he was seeing was nothing more than an illusion. Arka remembered when his grandfather had handed him this case. It seemed his grandfather had already known about this.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Arka cursed silently.
He didn't even know what expression he was wearing. He probably looked like an idiot.
Ardian Wijaya—the biological older brother of Arkana Wijaya and the primary heir to Wijaya Law Firm eight years ago.
He had had a violent falling-out with his own grandfather, Fahri Wijaya, cut off all contact with the family, and disappeared just like that.
And now he had shown up again? As a public prosecutor? After disappearing for so long?
Arka was furious—absolutely furious—with the man standing before him. Arka swore he would win this hearing by any means necessary.