Chapter 14 – The Weight of Silence
Chapter 14 – The Weight of Silence
Chapter 14 – The Weight of Silence
The car ride back from the restaurant was steeped in silence.
Not the comfortable kind that Reyhan sometimes shared with Nadira during long work nights, but the kind that pressed on the chest, thick with unspoken truths.
Reyhan sat in the back seat beside her, his posture straight, his gaze fixed on the blur of city lights outside. Nadira kept her eyes on her lap, fingers tangled together, as if bracing herself for a storm.
He didn’t speak again until they were halfway to her apartment.
“You’ve had years to tell me,” he said quietly, without looking at her. “Yet you chose to pretend we were strangers.”
Her breath caught, but she didn’t lift her head. “Because in every way that matters, we are strangers, Reyhan. Whatever happened in that orphanage… it was a lifetime ago.”
“It was my life too,” he countered, his voice sharp enough to make her flinch. “Do you think I’ve forgotten what it felt like to be there? Do you think it meant nothing to me?”
“It’s not that—” she began, but he cut her off.
“Then what is it?” His eyes finally met hers, cold and searching. “Why hide it?”
Nadira swallowed, but the words refused to come. How could she tell him the truth when the truth would unravel not only her life but his? When it would drag into the light a name she had avoided for years—Dr. Wiratma Gunawan—and the tangled web of obligations and debts that name carried?
\---
When the car stopped in front of her building, Nadira reached for the door handle without meeting his gaze. “Good night, Mr. Azhari.”
“Don’t call me that,” he said, his tone low and dangerous.
She hesitated. “Then what should I call you?”
“Reyhan,” he said. “The way you used to.”
Her heart lurched, but she stepped out of the car without replying.
\---
The next morning at the office, Nadira arrived early, hoping to avoid him, but found his door already open. He was standing by the window, hands in his pockets, wearing the kind of suit that made him look every bit the untouchable CEO—but his eyes were shadowed.
“Come in,” he said, without turning around.
She did, placing the morning reports on his desk. “The Singapore deal—”
“We’ll handle that later.” He finally turned to face her. “I want to know what Dr. Gunawan wants from you.”
Her pulse stilled. “Who told you—”
“Your face just did,” he said flatly.
Nadira exhaled slowly. “It’s none of your concern.”
“It became my concern the moment his name crossed your path,” Reyhan replied. “I’ve dealt with him before. He’s not the kind of man you can ignore.”
She looked away. “You think I don’t know that?”
“Then you know hiding from him won’t work.”
Nadira’s hands tightened on the folder she was holding. “It’s not hiding. It’s surviving.”
\---
The tension between them lingered throughout the day, spilling into their interactions with other staff. Even the junior assistants noticed the unusual chill in the air.
By late afternoon, Reyhan called Nadira into his office again. But this time, instead of speaking immediately, he opened a drawer and pulled out an old photograph.
It was creased and faded, but Nadira recognized it instantly: the front yard of Panti Asuhan Cahaya Bunda. Several children stood smiling for the camera. In the corner, a thin boy and a bespectacled girl sat together on the steps.
Her throat tightened. “You kept this?”
“I didn’t keep it,” Reyhan said. “I found it in the archives yesterday.” He studied her carefully. “It’s proof. Proof that you and I aren’t strangers.”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t change anything.”
“It changes everything,” he said firmly. “Because I remember how you looked at me then. Like I mattered.”
Her voice trembled when she answered. “And I remember how you left.”
The words hit him harder than he expected. He opened his mouth to reply, but she was already stepping back toward the door.
“We can’t rewrite the past, Reyhan,” she said, her voice low. “And if we try, it might destroy the future.”
\---
That night, Reyhan sat alone in his penthouse again, the photograph on the coffee table in front of him. He thought about her words, about the pain buried beneath her composure.
But he also thought about Dr. Gunawan—the man he knew to be ruthless in both business and personal dealings. If Gunawan was circling Nadira, it meant trouble was coming.
Reyhan had made up his mind. He would find out the full truth, with or without her cooperation.
And when he did, he would make sure no one—not even her past—could touch her.
To be continued....