There are always unexpected things that will happen in everyone's life. For example, Indira never expected that one day, her biological father would suddenly reappear after dumping her and her mother like trash.
In her childhood memories, the house looked like the most beautiful palace like the ones she used to see on the covers of fairy tale books. The house was huge with very bright lighting and came with a beautifully curved spiral staircase. It was the first time Indira realized that a staircase could even be incorporated into a house. At that moment, Indira looked up to see the huge chandelier in the ceiling of the house and shifted to the side involuntarily because she felt intimidated by the huge object. When Indira's gaze fell on her feet wearing a pair of slippers that looked very dull compared to the color of the floor she was walking on, Indira realized that she didn't belong in that place.
Indira first came to the house with her mother who kept shouting angrily at the man who just looked at them indifferently before asking the guards to drag the mother-daughter duo out of the doors of the palace.
Indira never thought that twenty years later, she would again step into that palace. Not as an unwelcome visitor like twenty years ago, but as a guest whose presence was requested.
When she first came to the house, Indira was so focused on the beauty of the palace-like mansion that her memories of her biological father were very hazy. Indira only remembered that the man's voice carried a scornful tone and that the man should not have looked as old as he did right now. The man used to be an upper-class heir to a large business conglomerate, he graduated from a prestigious school and married a wife who could match his stunning good looks. Even though the man used to live such an imperious life and had been having fun all his life, he could still get into big trouble.
Indira was currently standing in front of Arya Wiratama and silently assessing the way the man viewed her.
At this moment, Arya Wiratama looked at Indira with a sullen face. He had treated the young girl very badly in the past, so he had always imagined that when they met, the girl would reproach him or simply tell him about how difficult it was to live as an illegitimate child without a father. But Arya Wiratama could not help but feel very uncomfortable because the girl just stood in front of him in a very calm manner.
Not long after Arya Wiratama made a decision for the good name of his extended family, all the girl's information was immediately collected on his work table. Her name is Anindira Maheswari, 25 years old, single, a bachelor of English, working as a translator, her family members only left her grandmother after her mother died five years ago.
The shy and timid little girl of twenty years ago had become an adult with a very calm demeanor. Thinking of the girl's background and what she would ask for in a moment, Arya Wiratama could not help but feel a little embarrassed.
In contrast to Arya Wiratama who had a lot on his mind, Indira calmly found a chair and sat down without waiting to be invited. She then casually took out her cell phone and replied to several emails about work.
Seeing this, Arya Wiratama frowned and cleared his throat softly.
Indira immediately raised her head and asked without making herself sound humble or arrogant, "Mr. Wiratama, what do you really want from me?"
"You... I can't believe that you've grown this big." Arya Wiratama had a lot of experience negotiating with any person, but when he was dealing with his illegitimate daughter, he could only initiate small talk to ease the awkwardness between them.
Indira chuckled before she replied, "Mr. Wiratama, if you didn't want something from me, you wouldn't have taken the initiative to invite me here. So, please tell me your needs immediately."
Normally, the plot of a story like this would be that a bastard father would look for the illegitimate child they had discarded because they had no other offspring. But this was not the case with the Wiratama Family. The family had another daughter, so if anything happened to that daughter, the news would definitely be fried in a very hot fire on the news.
After hesitating for a moment, Arya Wiratama replied, "I want to make a deal with you."
Indira coldly replied, "Tell me."
The reason why Indira got into the car was because she was curious. In fact, when the bodyguards came to pick her up, she could have shouted loudly in the street, but Indira did not do that and calmly got into the car. She came because she wanted to know why Arya Wiratama was suddenly looking for her after years of forgetting her.
Arya Wiratama tapped the folder in front of him and said, "I know that you have a debt of one hundred million. That's not a small amount."
"Right, so is Mr. Wiratama planning to help me to pay the debt?" asked Indira while showing a mocking smile.
"I can help you pay off that debt."
Indira's pair of peach blossom eyes shrank ferociously as she asked, "What do you mean?"
"My daughter was supposed to get married next week, but she can't do that now. Therefore, I want to take you in as a member of the Wiratama Family and you can replace her to get married."
The sentence was too similar to one of the episodes of a cheap, nonsensical drama.
It took Indira five seconds before she could react, "Are you serious?"
Arya Wiratama narrowed his eyes. "Who am I? What's in it for me if I say nonsense to you?"
"Why can't she get married?"
Arya Wiratama's expression became gloomy in an instant, but he replied calmly, "She's pregnant with someone else's child."
Indira was silent. Her will and common sense were arguing ferociously at the moment. It would definitely be annoying when she had to marry a stranger to replace someone else, but was marriage worse than carrying such a huge debt into the afterlife? Now it was just her and her grandmother, so she hoped the two of them could live peacefully in the future. If she could get out of that muddy debt by paying one price, why not?
Having made up her mind, Indira took a deep breath and asked, "The marriage... What are the terms?"
"Everything depends on that future husband of yours. Basically, you just have to do whatever he asks."
Indira's eyelashes fluttered softly. She unhesitatingly replied, "I want five hundred million. That must be a small amount for you."
Arya Wiratama narrowed his eyes. He didn't seem surprised, yet he was clearly not pleased either.
Hearing how urgent Arya Wiratama's problem was at the moment, Indira was sure that the man in front of her would definitely not refuse when she raised the price.
Indira knew that such a marriage must be very important as it concerned the continuity of the business and the fate of the family. Only with such an important matter was Arya Wiratama willing to marry off his precious daughter. But who would have guessed that Rahayu Wiratama would suddenly conceive another man's child? It was very humiliating and neither family could accept such humiliation, so the marriage should have been annulled. But if the marriage was canceled abruptly for such a reason, the two families would be at odds and it would bring bad repercussions to the party that caused the trouble.
Indira thought of Rahayu Wiratama's beautiful and delicate face that was always active on social media. She clearly looked intelligent, so why would she dare to do such a stupid thing ahead of her own wedding?
But after thinking about it from another perspective, Indira considered what if Rahayu Wiratama deliberately did that to refuse marriage? The reason might be that the groom-to-be was old, ugly, disabled, had strange habits, or was even violent.
Indira was suddenly brought back to the stately home to save the Wiratama Family. So, even if the Wiratama Family's share price was cut in half, five hundred million would have been nothing to them.
Indira's guess seemed to be correct as Arya Wiratama immediately replied, "Okay."
Hearing that answer, Indira silently regretted her decision to ask for too little. She should have proposed a higher price earlier if she knew that Arya Wiratama would agree quickly.
Despite her regret, the rice had become porridge. So, Indira just quickly stood up and said, "Well then, now it's settled. You can arrange whatever will happen next. I have to get back to work now. See you later."
Arya Wiratama looked at Indira in surprise. "You... don't you want to ask me anything?" He asked with a furrowed brow.
Indira shrugged her shoulders indifferently and replied, "I don't care about anything else as long as you actually give me money."
"Don't you want to ask about who will be your husband?"
Indira looked down to glance at her phone screen. It had not been half an hour since she had left work, but there were already many messages.
Indira did not look at the man as she replied casually, "I don't care about that matter."
Indira has had a tough life since she was a child and when her mother died, it got even tougher with debts left behind for her in absurd amounts. Her future was uncertain and she had long lost the fantasy of love and a beautiful marriage. Therefore, even if her future husband was the worst person than the criminals in prison so Rahayu Wiratama did the stupid thing of refusing the marriage, as long as Indira could earn a lot of money to guarantee her life and could make her grandmother live comfortably in her old age, Indira didn't care about anything. After all, she was just going to sell herself and that was not a difficult thing for her. So, Indira didn't care about the man who would become her future husband.
After she left the Wiratama Family's mansion, Indira immediately ordered a taxi and headed to her workplace. She didn't even look back at all.