2. The Grumpy?

Some messages came through Thomas' cell phone again and again. This time that woman sent a picture of a suitcase with Thomas' clothes. Then, no more messages were coming in.

From the photo that was downloaded, Pradita took a good look at that picture. He scrolled the history of Kiki and Thomas' chatting. He realized that on that new cell phone of Thomas, there were only three contacts that were active in sending each other's messages.

The three contacts were Grumpy, a contact without any name, and the chat was about the transaction, which was later known it was an HS-9 transaction, and a motorcycle dealer, which talked about the location where the new motor would be dropped.

There was nothing specific he could find that made Thomas become the suspect. Pradita was, on the contrary, attracted to the style of how the Grumpy chatted to Thomas. It was full of warnings for Thomas.

"The Grumpy?" Pradita mumbled to himself. He paused for a moment. The man with glasses was cracking his brain to connect the pieces of puzzles he had found and matched them with a chronology arranged by Vian. Pradita found a different plot. Thomas was not hidden or was out to meet Leona. He came to Leona's house to catch someone. Even he planned to kill that person. In that online taxi application, there was information on the time when he headed to Leona's house. Thomas stopped in some spots, a minimarket, bought a new motorcycle for that woman, picked up his HS-9, and headed to Leona's place and other unspecific things [Vian, if you want, we need to go deeper in Thomas' case, -before he talks to the young master, Mahendra. We had better find out who is in Leona's house. So far, Thomas was unaware that Leona had been back to Indonesia] there was a long discussion on the mobile phone. Finally, Vian asked Raka to watch over someone who lived with Leona.

Aruna was staying in the bathtub with warm water when the blue-eyed man went into the bathroom and flushed his whole body. Then, he walked out of the room after finished bathing. But Aruna remained where she soaked herself. She looked at the opened window glass, "Finish your bathing. I promise I won't be angry with you," she turned around and saw Mahendra was looking at her.

"I did hear someone was crying, Hen," she moaned, trying to give herself a reason not to be blamed.

"I know you are telling the truth,"

"And….is that person I heard of her voice safe?" her eyes looked at him restlessly.

Hendra blew his breath hard through his nose, walked to her, and bent down so that his eyes were leveled with hers, "Do you forget who you are married to?" Aruna raised her eyebrows, confused.

"Hendra"

"Who is your husband?"

"The grandson of Mr. Wiryo, The Elder,"

"Wrong! Not that one,"

"CEO of DM Group?"

"My new position?"

"The President of Djoyo Makmur Group? The sole heir of Djoyodiningrat."

"So, when you are about to do another stupid thing again, remember very well whose wife you are?! And then the baby in your tummy, whose baby is that?!" he stood up, leaving Aruna alone. She knew that Hendra was still disappointed with her decision to walk away to search for the source of the cry of a woman.

"What you heard was from a recorder. Pen your eyes, and know how important your safety and the baby are. You two are the most essential part of me. It is not easy to be my wife, and it will be a lot more difficult if you are too naïve!" It was obvious that her husband was still very upset. "Finish bathing as soon as possible. Don't let you and our baby stay hungry!" that upset man disappeared behind the door.

Aruna didn't say a word. She closed her eyes, trying to comprehend her situation. Her fingers caressed her tummy gently as Mahendra said she was hungry. As she opened her eyes, she came up with her second principle. As Mahendra had said in his anger, 'prioritize herself, her family, before the other people. When something bad happened, the ones who suffered the most, hurt the most, worried and stressed the most would be herself and her family. She grabbed the soap and rubbed it all over her body. She jumped out of the bathtub and left that bathroom. She asked her assistants to dress her up the best so that she got the confidence to face her husband, who was having his late breakfast at the moment.

"I apologize for what I have done this morning. I promise I will never do the same stupid thing again," He glanced at her. She tilted her face because he was still angry with her.

"And why are you still standing up?" He barked at her, "Sit down!"

"Okay…" Aruna followed what she asked to do. He scooped everything on a plate and handed it to his wife, "Eat properly. Don't be too picky!" She scoped a spoonful of anything she could get from her plate and pushed it to her mouth.

"You can have fun after this,"

"Sorry??" Mahendra rubbed her hair gently. Despite his anger toward his wife, he was willing to wipe food splotch around her mouth. Aruna sometimes doesn't eat properly, and she is still like a child.

"Here is your cell phone," He put his wife's cell phone on the table. He finally decided to allow his wife to have her cell phone back.

"Thank you," her eyes narrowed, holding it with her two hands.

"Remember! You are not allowed to"

"-read rubbish articles, the unimportant ones for the sake of our happiness, to the worse to read rubbish comments that will spoil our mind," Aruna continued Mahendra's statements.

That man smiled, "Are you now aware of your mistake this morning?"

"I was too much concerned about other people's issues and ignored my safety…I am so sorry," she used a flirty tone at the end of her words.

"I don't know what else I have to do. Even this place can't guarantee your safety," He mumbled to her ears to make it a secret between him and his wife.

"I have told you about it, haven't I?" She pulled her lips down. Hendra just noticed it now.

"Since today you-" before Hendra finished his words, another voice interjected him.

"Arunaaa…" that familiar voice greeted her ears. Fast footsteps were welcomed enthusiastically by Mahendra's wife.

"Dea.. " they were hugging each other. Even Aruna jumped excitedly. Then, she stopped as she realized she was carrying a baby in her womb. It was so good to meet Dea. After some time, she was secluded from anyone. In the meantime, she forgot the incident on the lake this morning.

"Aruna, the others will be here in some minutes," informed Dea.

"The others?"

"Yes, …our friends,"

"Magic Letter," Dea nodded, then she whispered to her ears.

"But Damar,"

"Hahahaha," Aruna grinned with the word 'but', "Damar is in Jakarta?"

"He is, but too busy. It will be his official inauguration for his Bachelor's Degree tomorrow," Dea explained.

"Are we invited?"

"Well, not invited, but he'd rather force us to come," again Dea whispered to Aruna's ears, "If it is possible, we expect you to come so that we can have a small reunion," Dea glanced at Mr. Surya and Mahendra who were discussing things.

Dea pulled Aruna's outfits lightly. She knew what her best friend wanted and that they needed a more private place rather than that dining room. They could not hat freely as Aruna's husband was very protective.

"Finish your meal first, sweetheart," Mahendra insisted. Aruna had no choice but to force herself to finish her meal.

.

Both gentlemen went into Mahendra's workplace, "When will you start work? It is so hard for the company without your presence." Mahendra chuckled to hear Surya's complaint.

"You find it hard to run the company or to spare the time with your wife, instead?"

"Both of them," Surya replied straight away. "To be honest, I am still unable to make much out-of-the-box policies like you do," Surya added.

"I am only a temporal official. I am in charge until everything is in its right position. No need for significant policies to be taken this time," He sounded tired of having that temporal position on his shoulders. "Come on, I entrust you this as I know you possess good instinct. I will understand any decisions you make for the company," Mahendra looked more relaxed in facing his best friend's complaints.

"Don't tell me you said it because you haven't had any intention to go back to work," Surya replied sarcastically. Hendra laughed out loudly. "Come on Hendra. We are chasing time to compete with the launch of digital products of Tarantula," Surya warned of their latest challenge.

"Relaxed mate. I am thinking about so many things when I am off work," Mahendra said flatly. His expression was more serious than other people thought.

"That's good," Surya turned to relax for a while.

"Are you coming to the launching of Tarantula's products?" Surya asked.

"For sure," Hendra was definite.

...

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The book [Mr CEO Pregnant Wife] is the season IV from the book [Stealing The Wife's First Kiss] season I, [One A CEO Wife] season II and [Mr CEO's Beloved Wife] season III. If you want to read it in chronological order, you can start reading it in season I [Stealing The Wife's First Kiss] then [One A CEO Wife] season II and [Mr CEO's Beloved Wife] season III. More Over, the novel [Mr CEO Pregnant Wife] can be enjoyed independently because it presents different conflicts.