"Kriekkk.." Someone is opening the door.

A moment later, a bag falls on the sofa and someone is trying to find food. Then he opens the refrigerator and pantry drawers but can't find any.

​​

Then, he sees a glass cabinet beside him and realizes that there is some food inside of it. He grabs a plate, spoon, and other food that he needs and starts to eat it.

"Shit!"

_ Why are there cigarette butts here? Is the woman still smoking? _ Suddenly, he lost his appetite. He glances at the ashtray and starts putting the cigarette butts inside it.

Then he washes his hands and starts to eat.

"Huh? Who is it?" A woman shrieks, because she finds the front door is opened and some strange sounds on the ground floor.

But the man is enjoying the food without any care in the world.

The woman creeps behind him.

"Go away or I will hit you!" She holds a broom, threatens to hit the man.

"Auntie, I'm just eating, don't bother me." The man turns around and looks disinterestedly at Aunt Maidah's shocked face.

"You…" The woman throws away the broom and sits in front of the man who is enjoying his meal.

"Don't look at me that way, you are salivating." Aunt Maidah just watches him happily.

"I will call your mom. She will be happy that you're back." Aunt Maida takes out her handphone from the apron she is using while she is doing household work.

"No need. It's outside of her working hour." Danu replies.

"No, she has been waiting for this day for months."

"Or will you go again after this? Please… give her a chance to meet you." The woman pleads.

"I don't know, maybe I will be away for quite some time. I'm enjoying my vacation." The man continues eating.

"Has she stopped being stupid?"

"That's right! You have to appreciate her. Since you ran away from home, she is looking for you

everywhere. And suddenly she makes an effort to stop her addiction."

"Are you lying?" The man stops his eating.

"No, absolutely not! You can check it! There's no alcohol in this house, and she has stopped for around a year."

"Then, what's that?" He points at the ashtray on the table.

"Hehe, she still can't let go of tobacco. But, if you say you are going back, I believe she will get rid of it." The aunt replies, full of confidence.

"I hope she is back to her normal life." The man finishes his plate and Aunt Maidah takes his plate and clears the table swiftly.

"She has changed a lot after you ran away from home. She cried a lot and she regretted her actions, but she is getting better now. She is also proud of you when she sees you on TV. She said she wants to meet you, but she doesn't want to bother you."

"I think you are too harsh on her, Danu."

Danu Umar keeps silent hearing Aunt Maidah's voice then he grabs his backpack.

"Wait, wait! Don't go!" Aunt Maidah looks so shocked.

_I have to send another message so she comes back quickly._

"Who's said I'm going? I just want to give this to you." He gives a small black box to her.

"What is this?"

"Just open it," Danu instructs. He looks at the old woman opens the box and looks at it in disbelief, while trying to hold back her tears.

"Thank you for taking care of my mom so well."

"You are making me cry, this is too much! Huuuhh..." She wipes away the tears.

"Go home and you will see that she has changed."

.

.

"Maidah, where is Danu?" The woman is wearing a blazer over a white shirt and a knee-length skirt with similar colored high heels. She is around 37 years old but you wouldn't know it because she still looks young, beautiful, and energetic.

She runs to find her son who is flicking the TV remote disinterestedly. She finds him and walks towards him slowly, trying not to make a noise.

"My lovely son..." She hugs him from the back.

Danu is almost surprised, but then he realizes who she is.

Danu finds her hugging him close. People might consider them funny but they cherish the closeness.

"Move away! Let me go! I can smell your tobacco!"

"Really?"

"But, I have brushed my teeth earlier!" She then sniffs her blazer.

"Go away, you are making me uncomfortable."

"What are you talking about?! After running away for 2 years, you don't apologize, instead, you say that I'm making you uncomfortable?!"

"You are mean!" She pretends to cry.

"Don't start a drama, or I will really go away," Danu grumbles.

"But, you look so handsome now." She wipes away her tears.

"If I'm not your mom, I want to be your girlfriend." The woman looks at him proudly.

"You aren't a good human resource head. You talk and live messily." Danu continues to play with the remote.

"Because you suddenly get more handsome by getting some hair cut and taking care of your life well. I don't even recognize you and I'm afraid to show you off to my other colleagues because you are too handsome." She is the type of overproud mother who always shows off her son to others. She even bought every novel that Danu wrote under his pen name @bentengterbaik and gave them for free to her colleagues.

"If today is not a dream, I will treat every staff member that knows your song well."

"You are still the same," Danu complains. If you don't know them well, you will think that they are a strange pair of mother and son.

She got married by accident and Danu was born when she was barely 18 years old. She got pregnant with Danu when she was 17 years old. After her debut as a model and commercial star, she decided that she wanted to continue studying in a high school in Jakarta. Her beauty and innocence didn't always bring luck for her. As a newcomer in the industry, she made many people interested, including her boyfriend who became Danu's father.

The story is painful to remember. The marriage out of the accident resulted in many problems. And they decided to divorce when Danu was still 3 years old.

What Danu could remember was that his father continued his study, attended a university abroad, and remarried after going back to Indonesia, building a perfect family with support from his well-known family background.

And his mother had to hide in Bandung and struggled a lot by trying to get up to her feet. It's painful to remember when she had to juggle between work, study, and motherhood. Fortunately, her family in Padang cares about them. They, including Aunt Maidah, were willing to come over to take care of young Danu for a long time.

Sintia, his mother, is the head of the human resource department in a multinational company. Despite having a broken personal life, she manages to shine in her career.

Danu likes to call her "head of HRD" because her normal version is when she is climbing the workplace ladder. Other than her role as a department head, Sintia is a foolish and childish woman who gets trapped in her past and has a bad habit of changing her partners which gives her a broken heart.

And the worst part is she has the habit of being a heavy smoker and an alcoholic after the man suddenly reappeared in her life.

Danu Umar's father reappeared and asked Sintia to give Danu back to him. He doesn't have a son in his new perfect family and he promised to give Danu a better life than what Sintia could give. And the worst part is turns out Sintia is still in love with the man who has ruined her youth. Danu then ran away, moved frequently, dropped out of school, until he came back just now.

"Tell me, what did you do with your hair?"

"I cut it."

"Of course I knew that." Sintia pouts.

"You have a girlfriend, right? It must be her that makes you change." She teases her son.

"Isn't her name is Aruna? You have to bring her to Bandung." She hits his shoulder playfully, not realizing that Danu is looking at her in surprise.

"She must be a special person because she manages to change you to become more handsome."

_Chairil Chaira, if you appear in front of me, I'll beat you up!_ (Damar's twin nephews, Chapter 14)

***

There isn't any meaningful conversation after that little bickering. The CEO of Wenceslas Group has problems concentrating, his mind is more occupied by the young woman.

Riswan takes him on a room tour while continuing their past discussion. However, the blue-eyed man is more concerned to find where Aruna is hiding, looking around with his sharp eyes.

Aruna ran away and he didn't know what he had done wrong. She got angry and ran away. Maybe she hides in a corner of this place when she is supposed to be eating.

"So, I hope that every construction will support the Sustainable Development Goals which I know that every building that Wenceslas Constru…?" Riswan stops himself when he sees the man beside him is looking around, trying to find something.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? What?" Hendra doesn't seem to hear what he is talking about.

"Riswan, I think we need to end our discussion for now. I promise I will reschedule my time for further discussion."

"And before you are disappointed, I will summarize today's discussion. I will take part in your plan."

_If it's not because of Aruna, I wouldn't have agreed with this easily_