Jacob Mandel had just finished monitoring his plantation and ranch that afternoon. The plantation area is at least 35.5 million hectares. Most of it is planted with wheat, oil palm, grapes, corn, some flower crops, and others.
The farm itself covers at least 395 million hectares of grassland, of which 333 million hectares are used for cattle grazing. Until now, the farm that Jacob has managed for generations since the 1800s has owned 30,000 dairy cows, and manages around 19,000 beef cattle which makes it one of the largest dairy and beef cattle producers in the world.
Mandel Hills was founded more than 200 years ago by four families and had only 1000 head of cattle at first, and 10 horses. And now, the farm already has about 2000 horses, with 50 employees living on the farm area.
His tired body has brought him to immediately clean up and meet his beloved mother. The middle-aged woman who was still faithfully waiting for the happy news from her two sons, or at least one of them came home with a girl, and introduced her as her future daughter-in-law.
"How is my beloved woman this afternoon?" said Jacob as he kissed his mother, Jen's cheeks. Short for Jennifer.
Jen, was sitting leisurely in the living room. The place Jen used to spend time waiting for her second son to come home from the farm or ranch.
Jen was wearing a long, salmon-colored dress. Her gray hair was pulled back into a small bun. Showing her neck that is starting to age.
"Mom would be happier if you didn't come home empty-handed," Jen began to quip her second son.
Jacob groaned at his mother's words.
Objected.
"Mom . . . Javier hasn't even brought a girl into this house yet. How can I get ahead of my brother?"
Jen sneered at Jacob's signature evasive answer. Always hiding behind his brother's name. Who knows how long it has not been back to his hometown.
Every time Javier contacted the only surviving parent in his place of birth, he always quipped that he was busy managing several companies in the city.
Promised to go home next week, but until the month passed, Javier still hadn't shown his nose again in the big house.
Jacob and Jen were living alone in the house left by their late father, who died almost two to thirteen years ago, when Jacob was only about fifteen and Javier twenty.
From then on, young Jacob began to work on his family's plantations and farms. With the help of Javier, his older brother who had previously entered the Mandel Hills plantation and ranch.
After seeing Jacob's skills in managing Mandel Hills, Javier then migrated to the city, armed with his master's degree, started a business from the ground up with several trusted colleagues, and slowly his business developed and grew, until he had several subsidiaries.
Javier's penchant for frequent changes of partners since he was in the heat, made Jen not have high hopes for the development of her eldest son's love relationship. Especially hoping that what he brought home to introduce to Jen was a girl. Especially the plain girl. Javier doesn't like girls who are too innocent, he thinks they're old fashioned and boring.
Unlike Jacob, who is often cold towards women. Jen had tried to bring Jacob closer to one of the daughters of a trusted employee.
The result was beyond Jen and Hansen's expectations—the senior employee, the girl's father, Shasa.
Not to strengthen the relationship. Jacob made Shasa cry on her first date. And made Shasa reluctant to meet Jacob face to face, even though she was one of the workers on his farm, as a milkmaid.
"What's lacking in Shasa?" demanded Jen asking for clarification from Jacob.
How could a girl as good and beautiful as Shasa be made to cry by Jacob. And Jacob to this day has never given a real answer.
Jacob only reasoned that he didn't like Shasa. Just that. There is no other reason. So that Jen finally forgot the events of five years ago.
Back in the living room, after talking about a future wife who was nowhere to be found, Jacob withdrew from the room. He kissed her beloved woman's cheeks once again, and hugged her.
"Don't forget to accompany this old lady to dinner," Jen ordered before Jacob left her.
"Sure, Mom. I'll have Aunt Lee wake me up later when dinner comes."
Aunt Lee had been Jacob and Javier's nanny for a long time, since Jacob was in the cradle and Javier was five. To Jacob or Javier, Aunt Lee's existence was like a second mother to them.
Jacob took off his blue plaid flannel shirt, draped it over the chair, leaving a thin shirt clinging to his athletic body, then laid his tired body on the soft bed. The moment his head hit the pillow, Jacob's soul had wandered into the subconscious.
Far away to another world.
Jacob woke up suddenly feeling something different from behind his back. The soft surface disappears, being replaced by a hard and moist surface. Jacob struggled to open his eyes. Curious about what happened to the soft bed.
Now he knew why his soft bed had become so hard and damp. Jacob woke up in the middle of a meadow. Similar to his place to let his cattle roam freely while being herded by some of his workers.
However, the vast prairie was now empty. None of his livestock are herded there.
Where are they? Jacob asked in his mind.
He got up from the land where he woke up earlier, looked around him that looked green, as far as the eye could see. He stood there for a long time.
Wait.
However, nothing happened.
Jacob then decided to walk, along the unfamiliar looking meadow. Until his steps stopped, because his sense of hearing caught something. A voice. An unfamiliar voice, in a language he had never heard before.
His eyes traced every stretch of meadow that was still as before.
Empty.
There was no one there but him.
Slowly Jacob felt himself going crazy. The voices were getting louder, but not visible to the eye. He didn't understand what language it was, it sounded heart-wrenching. The longer it disappears and remains like a groan. Again with a foreign language, like not the language of earth creatures.
In the midst of his chaos. Jacob closed his eyes. Hoping, when he opened his eyes again, he was in his room with his soft bed.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Four minutes.
Five minutes.
Until Jacob sensed that ten minutes had passed, the voice grew louder and louder. Slowly, he decided to peek with one eye.
A surprising thing happened ....