The dogs walked by a group of bodyguards climbed up and down the cliffs and the hills. They finally ended up on a single road belonging to the Djoyodiningrat family or a special highway leading to the main house.
After confirming to the officer who permitted any cars coming to that highway, no suspicious cars or vehicles were entering that area. All were parts of the Djoyodiningrat family. The Black Pardus Group had their second mission, to catch the person who disturbed the Young Master's wife.
The aides frowned. They could not believe what had been found out, and there had to be the intervention of the insiders in this case. The animals' smelling sense could no longer trace the scent, it was ended at the traces of the car's wheels.
Mahendra just went inside his room and sat beside the bed. His big hand explored his wife's face, "I'm okay. Don't worry. It is just a common cold. Nothing serious,"
He didn't reply to her. That woman lay helplessly. Her eyes were half closed, her face was red, and her nose was watery. Mahendra stood up, crossing his arms on his chest. He was silent. While staring at his pregnant wife, he could not allow her to consume any chemical medicine.
"I'll be fine tomorrow," Her voice was hoarse and nasal. It might be caused by the drizzling rain this morning. Moreover, she spent a too long at the meeting with her friends this afternoon.
Aruna was too tired, and Mahendra blamed himself for not realizing that earlier. He dragged his legs to the bathroom and stayed there for quite a long time. Aruna was not aware of that. Hendra stood in front of a mirror, looking at himself, lamenting something he should not have feared anymore.
When he returned to his wife, that poor woman had gone into her sleep. He touched her on the forehead, "still have temperature," he spoke to himself softly.
Instinctively, the first thing he did was to check her pulse after the forehead, "Still beating," he whispered to reassure himself. He would not sleep the whole night. He thought that if he were asleep, Aruna would not get the fastest help when she needed something. Or, he was paranoid when he woke up. One thing that he would hear was shortness of breath or gasping breath, like what happened to his Mommy when she was dying - he saw strange gestures of an overdosed woman-.
He decided to stay awake, taking some books on the bed and checking his wife's pulse on and off when reading, or replace the compress on his wife. The clock struck three in the morning when there were knocks on the door of his room.
***
_Is he able to walk?_ Anna knelt, crying expression was instantly gone from her face. She was more afraid than sad. Wiryo's gaze was so mysterious and unpredictable despite his old age.
"Don't ever think that just because I can't walk, I can't stand with one leg," He sighed. He was standing with one leg. That made Nana's breath which previously shook out of fear, go back to its normal rhythm.
"Get me my walking stick!" Nana stood up immediately, and her eyes went around to seek where that thing was. "In that cupboard, the bottom shelf," Wiryo gestured with his eyes. Hurriedly Nana moved to get what the Elder wanted.
Once that walking aid was in his hand, he turned it up so that curve supported his, and his hand gripped the handle.
Wiryo used to use an artistic carved walking stick, the one for grandpas with a hand grip. That stick could be extended, and he looked quite malicious with such a stick,
But right now, he prefers a different stick that has a grip on the arm, and it is more like support for him. He staggered, trying to get a balance, and then walked into another room.
Anna didn't know when he took down a painting, opened the save, and took a valuable document with a symbol of Pantera pardus.
She was standing still in the place and biting her lower lip. She knew what she saw was a very valuable document which meant she would get a position in the Djoyo Makmur Group.
"sit down," Wiryo sat on the sofa of the main room of that house. Timidly, Anna walked to another chair, lowering her gaze because she could not stare at that man's eyes. Her heart was pounding happily.
Anna knew two things at the same time. First, she knew that The Elder Wiryo was not paralyzed. He could still walk with a simple walking stick, not just a wheelchair. But she didn't know exactly the reason why Wiryo pretended to be weak. Somehow, she was flying to leave the earth knowing that secret. She might probably be one o very few people who knew this secret. Secondly, Anna knew that she would get a position, not a simple one because in his hand, there was a document with a shiny meaningful logo.
"What do you expect from me?" Wiryo asked once, looking straight at her eyes.
"Am I allowed to say, emm…what in my heart is..- the truest? " that old man chuckled.
"I am sorry I can't make you be Mahendra's wife, although, to be honest, I don't mind you being with him. I always watch you. You are sincere in taking care of him," Anna kept her mouth shut. Everyone in the main house knew who cared for Hendra when he was in a horrible mess after his wife left him. She prepared his outfits every morning, ensuring his appetizer and meal time. Even with everything related to the job, Anna fully dedicated her life to Hendra, the man she badly wanted to win no matter what it cost, even the way she dressed up was a copy of his wife to make that man happy.
"Why?" Anna questioned the impossibility of making her be Hendra's wife, although She didn't mind if her presence was unacknowledged. She told this to that old man.
"I have a promise to Aruna. You know that I am a man of my words," her eyes started watering.
"I do apologize for being unable to protect you from the violence during your going to Milan," Wiryo recalled Anna's hard time.
"It was not your fault, father. I went to that place of my own will. I was so sorry that I left Hendra. Had I known how my life would be, I would have stayed here. Providing myself as the experiment for Mahendra's well-being was not a big deal for me. I should have stayed here to accompany Mahendra until he fully recovered from his trauma," Anna could not hold the tears from falling anymore. She felt awful and regretful, the disappointment she never got over until now.
If only she stayed on Mahendra's side at that time, she would be the one in his arms right now, not that little girl who had no capacity at all to be the companion of a leader.
It was Anna who was prepared to be the companion of Mahendra from her early time. That was why she was able to distract Mahendra from his misery when she assisted him easily. Even when she was promoted as the secretary of Hendra, her presence was able to steal public attention. One of them was when she accompanied Hendra in a symbolic launching of Dream City. She is believed to be Hendra's fiancée until the present time.
"I can't give you thing you have despised," He meant to be by Hendra's side, "But I can give you a much decent position. Would you like to be a General Manager?" Anna shook her head.
"I heard Hendra develop a start-up for his wife. Everyone knows that she is the founder. She is an important leader there. I want to be on a par with her," she expressed her wish openly.
"Hahaha," Wiryo laughed out loud. It was a thundering laugh that made his eyes watery on each side. "Do you want to be a founder? Be serious Anna, what genuine idea have you made?" the face of the woman in front of him looked down with an embarrassed expression. That middle-aged man was frozen, too, unable to say anything. He just realized something about Mahendra's wife.
"How old are you, Anna?" the next second, he questioned her.
"Err…I..a bit older than Hendra," that answer made Wiryo go silent. He was drowned in his thought.
"And do you know how old Aruna is?" he asked in inquiry. He blinked his eyes. They caught that Anna was a bit reluctant to answer him.
"As I remember, she married with Mahendra-" Wiryo cut her words.
"I know that she was not yet 20 when she got married. So, that child is still 22 now," there was a stupefied expression on his face. He knew that he could not compare Anna with Aruna, or Aruna with any other woman who had more potential than her. Lesmana's child was still very young but she had already pioneered a start-up that Mahendra would later expand. Hearsay, his grandson, would develop that genuine idea of her to compete with a digital product of Tarantula group.