Confidential

"Maya," Winata, Maya's father, whispered.

"Father!" Maya replied with relief.

"There are too many bad people beside me for me to make myself like this. I'm sorry, son!" the middle-aged man whispered and smiled.

"No need to apologise, Father. I should be the one to realise that everyone is not as good as I expected!"

"Yes, you should be careful. I'm going to play dumb during my recovery and you Ray."

"Yes, Sir!" replied Ray with a smile.

"Take care of my daughter like I told you yesterday,"

"Ready!"

"What the hell!" Maya stood up from her seat and knitted her eyebrows together. "What are you going to do? Why are you being like that?"

"I don't have to explain everything, just you and Ray, keep an eye on Mike. I think he has bad intentions with my family business. I don't want..."

Kreek!!!

Winata stopped what he was saying and hurriedly gave Ray the code to check who was coming.

"Okay," Ray whispered and stepped closer to the door.

The door to Winata's room opened slowly, and Inaya's annoying face came into view. "There you are."

Hearing Inaya's unmistakable voice, Winata quickly put on a limp face.

"Are you awake?" asked Inaya, stepping slowly so as not to make any noise in the luxurious room. "I was from..."

"I know," Winata whispered and then looked at his second wife's face with a faint smile. "You must be busy because of my daughter's mistake,"

"No! Don't talk like that, darling! I'm always willing to take care of your kids," grumbled Inaya, immediately raising one side of Ray's lips, who was still keeping an eye on the annoying woman.

"Mmm, I'll be going then. I think Mum needs more time to talk to my father,"

"Oh! You know what you're doing," Inaya snapped, immediately causing Maya's eyes to glance over.

"Yes, bye!" said Maya as she stepped out of the VIP room, where her father was still lying down.

"Let's go," Maya whispered to Ray, who immediately followed the young lady's lead.

Maya stepped quickly and closed her father's treatment door to the car park at the front of the hospital.

"Where's your car?" she asked irritably.

"There!" pointed Ray, who knew the young lady didn't like to say much when she was upset.

"Good!" Maya quickened her pace and rather half-ran towards the car the young driver was pointing at. "Open up!"

"Yes!" replied Ray and pressed the lock button on the remote he had stuffed in his shirt pocket.

Tut!

Tut!

Maya immediately got in and sat on the back seat of the car while leaning her back, feeling so tired from all the harsh realities of today.

"Where are you going?" Ray ask.

"Going!" Maya quickly turned to Ray, who was already sitting in the driving seat. "Take me away!"

"Okay!" Ray immediately started the car engine and drove the iron carriage away from the hospital.

His eyes occasionally looked at Maya in the rear-view mirror, trying to convince himself that the daughter of his great master would not do anything stupid this time.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Maya when the tail of her eye caught the driver glancing at her.

"I know Miss is sad, but I'm sorry if I can only witness it without being able to offer any help."

"Oh! So you feel sorry for me?" Maya asked, slowly shedding the tears she had been holding back.

"Yes, I know you must be very sad. So I'm sorry if..."

"Already!" Maya grabbed her cheeks, which were getting wet with tears. "I can't be like this! I can't be weak!" Maya insisted, but she could not.

Her twin sister's affair that led to her becoming pregnant had hit her so hard that she could no longer bear all this frustration and could only sob in the back seat of the car Ray was driving.

"Should I stop?"

"No!" said Maya, covering her face with both hands. "Take me to my father's villa in Batu! I'm short of breath. I hate the lies between us!"

"Oh!" Ray sighed. He knew Maya needed his shoulder to lean on, but he realized he was just the family driver who had to keep his distance from his young lady.

The car then drove slowly down the MT Haryono-Malang road to Dau, which would take them to Batu City.

It was late afternoon, and the sunlight was fading.

Ray, who could only remain silent at the wheel, occasionally closed his eyes to hold Maya's sadness, which was still sobbing in the back seat.

"I didn't expect this lie. I didn't expect to be so cruel to me," Maya said, repeating while continuing to pour out her frustration.

"Shall we go to that villa?" pointed out Ray when the car was only a few meters away from its destination.

Maya wiped away her tears and looked at the two-story house near the hill that had been her family's villa for the past ten years.

"Yes, that one! Why are you asking again?"

"That's Mike's car. Do you want to get in or change direction?"

"Huh! Mike's car?" Maya quickly opened the window, and sure enough, in the courtyard of the white-painted mansion, her boyfriend was sitting talking with Miya, who kept her head down.

"What are they doing here?" asked Maya as she continued to watch her twin sister.

"I don't know, Miss! But we'd better get on with it!"

Ray stepped on the accelerator to leave Mike and Miya's place even though Maya hadn't told him where they were going.

"Why are you leaving? I was just about to kick my brother's arse!" annoyed Maya as she punched Ray's well-built shoulder.

"Don't, Miss. Remember what I said earlier, right? Don't be frontal!"

"What's frontal? I don't understand!"

"Don't face them like this. Remember, they have ways of making your family even more ruined. Especially with your family's debts mounting after the great lord's illness!"

"Damn it! I don't understand what they want. My father is no fool. This could all be because of their plan. This must be Mike's family's dirty tricks! I'm sure of it!"

Maya kept kicking the seat where Ray was driving; occasionally, the young man would scowl, but he had to keep the car moving. "Let's just go home,"

"I don't want to go home! They're evil!" cried Maya, remembering the sad incident at the hospital and everything her driver had said. "Take me away, Ray. I'd rather sleep in a rotten house full of sincerity than go back to that rotten mansion!"

"Yes, but where? I don't want to get in trouble for taking you away without saying goodbye to your stepmother!"

"Don't you have a home?"

"Huh! Are you coming to my house?" Ray was wide-eyed with shock. "What do you want?"

"What are you doing?" said Maya, staring into Ray's eyes from the rear-view mirror.

They stared at each other wordlessly for a moment until Ray was taken aback.