FLASHBACK
"How dare you! You've betrayed me!" Ana's voice trembled with rage as she caught sight of her lover in a hotel room—with another woman.
"Ana, this isn't what it looks like! You've got it all wrong," Biromo pleaded, desperate to explain, to make her understand he had been framed.
"Ana!" he called out as she turned and bolted from the room.
But Ana didn't stop. She didn't want to hear a single word from the man she once trusted with her whole heart. All she could see was betrayal.
She ran, her footsteps echoing with pain and fury. Tears streamed down her face, lost in the downpour of rain that soaked her to the bone.
"Bastard!" she screamed to the sky, lifting her head as the heavens poured down on her.
"You're just like every other man... disgusting. I never want to see you again. This... this is over," she sobbed, collapsing onto the wet pavement, her body trembling with sorrow.
"I have to leave this place. I can't ever see him again," Ana whispered to herself before rising and walking away from Surabaya—with no intention of ever returning.
---
Meanwhile, Biromo was in a panic.
He searched for Ana everywhere. But she was gone. Her belongings vanished from the rented house. No signs. No goodbyes. Nothing.
"Stupid! How could I let myself be tricked?" Biromo growled, slamming his fist against the wall in fury.
"That woman... she will pay for what Ana had to suffer," he muttered darkly, setting off to find her.
Days turned into weeks. Biromo scoured every corner of Surabaya. But it was as if Ana had vanished off the face of the earth. No trace. No leads. Someone had helped her disappear.
FLASH OFF.
---
[Find everything you can about the girl named Mia. Her full identity. I want everything—and find out how she's connected to Ana.]
Biromo's voice was calm but firm through the phone.
[Understood, sir,] replied the voice on the other end.
Biromo ended the call but didn't release his phone. His grip tightened as the weight of his suspicions began to take shape. Something inside him stirred—an old ache he thought was long buried. Why did he feel the urge to investigate everything all over again?
Ana's name still echoed in his heart, even after all these years. No matter how hard he had tried, he could never forget her.
The car moved swiftly through the city night, but Biromo's thoughts were trapped in the past—haunted by a woman who had never truly left him.
Ana Shen.
Her name resurfaced like a ghost. Her smile. Her voice. The way she looked at him that last night… All of it flooded back, overwhelming the fortress he had built within himself through decades of power and control.
His eyes dropped again to the photo still gripped in his hand.
That child... Could she really be Ana's blood? Could she... be mine, too?
The thought struck him like lightning. Back then, Ana had left without a real explanation. Disappeared from his life, leaving behind only a short note and the words: "I can't come back."
He never knew why.
Until now.
"Irfan," he said softly, but firmly.
"Yes, sir?"
"If Mia really is Ana's daughter… I want to know why Ana hid her from me. Find everyone who knew Ana—past and present. I want the truth."
Irfan gave a silent nod, knowing the order must be fulfilled without delay.
Biromo leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes—but peace refused to come.
A guilt he had locked away now clawed at his soul.
If Mia truly was Ana's child…
Then the girl he had just pulled into a dangerous game… wasn't just another pawn.
She might be... his own daughter.
And if that were true—everything changes.
As the car finally rolled to a stop in front of Mia's temporary residence—an elegant house owned by the Xiao family—Biromo didn't wait for the driver.
Before the chauffeur could open the door, he had already stepped out, as if his thoughts were pushing him forward with a force he could no longer resist.
But what made his steps falter was the sight of Mia, already standing at the door of the house—waiting for him.
Her expression was calm, but her eyes were full of questions. For some reason, she felt that tonight was different.
"Mr. Biromo?" she greeted, trying to suppress the uncertainty in her voice.
Biromo stared at the girl for a few seconds, speechless. His gaze was no longer that of a businessman evaluating a colleague. It was... more human. Filled with inner turmoil he hadn't yet managed to suppress.
"You know... you dropped something important," he said softly, raising the small wallet in his hand.
Mia quickly stepped forward, taking the wallet with both hands. Her breath was slightly uneven.
"Thank you... I really didn't realize I had lost it."
Biromo continued to look at her, but now more intensely.
"Who's the woman in that photo, Mia?" he asked, voice low but pressing.
Mia froze. Her fingers tightened around the wallet. Suspicion flickered in her eyes.
He opened my wallet... and saw the photo of Mama.
"She's... my mother," Mia finally replied, quietly but firmly.
"Ana Shen?" Biromo almost whispered. "You're... Ana Shen's daughter?"
Mia's eyes widened. She took a half-step back, holding her breath.
"How do you know my mother's name?"
Biromo fell silent. His chest and mind tightened as if every answer he once buried was now demanding to be acknowledged.
"I knew her. More than anyone else. We were... very close," he said, staring into Mia's eyes.
"And if you truly are her daughter... then there's a chance..."
Mia's face tensed.
"What are you trying to say, sir?"
The night fell quiet. A soft wind carried the scent of wet earth. They stood there, caught in a silence heavy with unspoken truths—two generations possibly connected by more than just work or circumstance.
But before Biromo could respond, the front door creaked open from inside.
An elderly woman stepped out holding a cup of tea.
"Mia? You have a visitor this late?"
Mia turned.
"It's Mr. Biromo, Bu Yanti. We were just discussing something..."
Biromo quickly responded with polite composure.
"Good evening, ma'am. I'm sorry for disturbing you."
The woman nodded kindly and went back inside. But the emotional tension between the two had already been broken.
"I'll see you again, Mia. Very soon," Biromo said as he began to step away.
"Wait... Mr. Biromo… you haven't answered me. Who am I to you?"
Biromo paused at the bottom step. He turned slightly—but didn't speak.
He only gave her a long, burdened look.
"Tomorrow, you'll begin working at my son Rico's company," he finally said.
"Everything we discussed earlier will be handled by my assistant."
Then he left.
Leaving Mia standing under the night sky, clutching her wallet, her heart pounding faster than ever.
She watched as Mr. Biromo's figure faded into the distance, swallowed by the closing car door. The engine hummed and slowly disappeared into the night—leaving behind a silence so sharp it stung.
She held the wallet tightly, then stepped inside the house. Her mind was tangled in unanswered questions.
Rico… Mr. Biromo's son?
What does he have to do with all this?
And why did Mr. Biromo look at her like that?
Once in her room, Mia sat down on the bed and opened the wallet again. She gazed at her mother's photo.
"Mama… who really is my father? Why does my life feel like one long, unraveling secret?"
But the night gave no answers. Only silence.
Wrapping around her small room like a cold shroud of unease.