Arka opened his eyes the next morning. He remained lost in thought, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. To be honest, what happened yesterday had shaken him deeply. Ardian's return as his opponent reminded Arka that he and Ardian were no longer walking the same path.
Arka then remembered his bet with Nara. He immediately rubbed his face several times. "Damn it. Why did I even indulge that village girl's stupid bet?" Arka cursed himself as he got out of bed.
Arka quickly got ready to leave for the office. It was a sure bet the atmosphere throughout the building would be anything but pleasant. Arkana Wijaya—the lawyer famous for maintaining a one-hundred-percent win rate—had suffered his first defeat. Especially in Fahri Wijaya's office. Arka let out a long sigh. If he were being honest, he also wanted to take some time off to put his mind and heart back in order, but unfortunately, the world didn't work that way.
Arka had to remain professional. One loss wouldn't immediately get him branded an incompetent lawyer. If he thought about it again, it might even work to his advantage. Sometimes he had to turn down cases that would require him to lose in court, all to preserve his image as the one-hundred-percent lawyer. But now that he had lost once, he no longer had to maintain that image.
Arka descended the stairs of his penthouse and caught the aroma of fried rice coming from the kitchen again. He finally went over, but Nara was nowhere to be seen. All Arka saw was a plate of fried rice topped with two sunny-side-up eggs. There was also a note beside it.
"Please eat your breakfast. I'm out winning my bet with you, Mr. Please get ready to follow my orders for one month. ♡"
Instead of getting angry, Arka laughed as he read the note. A corner of his heart felt ticklish, something he had never experienced before. He folded the note and slipped it into his shirt pocket.
Arka, who had never eaten breakfast before, finally decided to have breakfast again after all this time.
Nara had left the penthouse early that morning. To be honest, she felt a little embarrassed after challenging Arka while her appearance was still the same. She opened Maps to look for a salon and began checking the salons' ratings one by one.
If anyone asked how Nara was going to pay for it, she still had the card her grandfather had given her. Nara didn't know how much money was in the account, but there had to be quite a lot.
She hadn't used it all this time because she couldn't use it in the village. The village only accepted cash payments.
"This one looks good," she said when she saw a salon with a 4.9 out of 5 rating. That was an excellent rating, of course.
Nara hailed a taxi and headed to the salon she had chosen.
Just as Arka had expected, Fahri was furious. The papers from his desk now lay scattered across the floor after he had thrown them at Arka.
"You good-for-nothing! You lost to Ardian? Arkana, you're the heir to this law firm now! If you can still lose to a man who ran away from home... I'm starting to doubt your qualifications as my successor!"
Arka didn't say anything. He merely lowered his head slightly and remained silent. This wasn't the first time his grandfather had treated him like this, so he was already immune to it.
"Just look at that arrogant attitude of yours! As if you can do anything... When you can't even handle that traitor!" the old man continued.
Arka's fists tightened. He truly hated hearing Fahri call Ardian a traitor.
"It's always been like this. If Ardian hadn't rebelled... you wouldn't even have been able to set foot in this building!"
Arka closed his eyes. He had thought he was already immune to the insults his grandfather always hurled at him, but apparently, he wasn't. In the end, he was only human.
"Then go ahead and bring your beloved grandson home," Arka shot back.
The moment Fahri heard that, he threw a ceramic ashtray at Arka.
Thud.
Arka felt dizziness spreading from his temple. He also began to feel warm liquid trickling down. But Arka didn't cry out in pain. He already knew the consequences of provoking Fahri, and he had done it anyway.
"Get out and reflect on your behavior!" he ordered Arka.
Arka immediately left the suffocating room. Along the way to his office, several cries and whispers began to rise. Of course, seeing someone stroll around with a split, bleeding temple was bound to cause an uproar.