A heavy clearing of throat broke the bond, both pairs of eyes spontaneously staring in unison at the owner of the voice. Almost an important figure who was in front of them, Kenan and Austin immediately looked down even though both of them still glanced at each other through the tail of their eyes.
"Austin, why are your hands on Kenan's waist?" His father asked with a probing look.
"I-it's..." Austin's eyes darted around, looking Kenan up and down, "It's because last night Mas Kenan complained about his waist hurting."
"Um..." Kenan hummed, refusing to be heard.
Austin turned his body fully to face Kenan, pulling his waist closer. In an instant, his hand reached out to touch Kenan's waist until the man let out a cry of surprise and annoyance.
"It hurts, Austin!" Kenan couldn't help but yell at the man this moment even though it was in front of his father.
Meanwhile, Austin, who was trying to massage Kenan's waist, only showed his trademark grin while saying, "It'll go away in a minute," he replied half-insisting that Kenan be quiet.
"Austin stop it, you're hurting Kenan!" his father scolded.
Instead of stopping, Austin quickly argued, "I just want to help him," Austin grabbed Kenan's wrist which pulled his shirt collar. Austin sat on Kenan's thigh when he realized he was trying to kick him.
It was silent in an instant, the action between Austin and Kenan over - a moment of tense atmosphere. The pounding of the table signaled a warning. Silently, Monsieur Serge stared, his two sons slowly distancing themselves from each other. The middle-aged man caught sight of Kenan. Then, he let out a long breath before saying, "If you're not feeling well, you can take a few days off."
"No need Monsieur-em I mean Father. I just need to rest for a while." Kenan's voice lowered, and he lowered his gaze.
Again, Monsieur Serge let out a long breath. However, this time he smiled faintly. "Fine if that's your choice, but if you're sick-"
"If I'm sick, you can leave all my work to Austin to do." Kenan interrupted as he paid attention to the man in question.
A burst of laughter came from Monsieur Serge once Kenan's interruption was over, he said between laughs, "Ahaha ... you're right, we have a boss here."
"You guys cheated, why should I?" A protest was raised by the person in question.
Kenan spontaneously responded with a pat on Austin's shoulder. "Come on, once in a while you should also lighten the load on your subordinates." He gave Austin a wink. As if hypnotized Austin did not respond back, the man was mesmerized just because of the wink from his foster brother.
*
"Kenan!"
A woman called out to him with her head poking out over the laptop screen Kenan was looking at.
Snapped out of his reverie, Kenan then adjusted his sitting position back upright to stare back at the woman. "Mbak. Shofie, you just surprised me," Kenan complained through his tone that sounded artificially annoyed, but in his heart, he was so happy that she came to his room.
A cheerful chuckle comes out of his mouth without any burden. Shofie Harahaf is a senior employee. His position at Hotel Keano was assistant manager. It was rumored that she would not be working for Austin for long—due to the insistence of her fiancé. Despite that, she still worked for Austin.
With a smile still lingering on her beautiful face, Shofie placed some documents beside the table, looking at Kenan's laptop screen which was displaying a picture of the city. She leaned in slightly for a closer look before asking, "Bandung?"
Kenan smiled back and nodded.
"You want to go there? I heard it has some interesting natural attractions to visit."
Kenan's eyes were still dreamy, while his head shook slowly. "Bandung is my hometown." There was longing implied in his answer. Since his mother decided to move to Jakarta, Kenan had never set foot in his hometown.
Shofie nodded. It was clear she saw Kenan's longing for his hometown.
"Have you ever been there?" Kenan asked because Shofie was originally from Jakarta.
She shook her head. "As a career woman, I'm always so busy with work that I rarely get to go on vacation." Standing where she was, Shofie covered her giggling mouth with the back of her hand. "Are you making plans to go there?"
"I'm so busy right now, it would be inconvenient to take time off, especially now that I'm still under Mr. Bernardi's guidance."
Kenan's words sounded like a complaint to Shofie's ears, she was sure that Kenan really missed his hometown. When she thought of a new place to take Kenan to lunch, she immediately remembered a plan that he had mentioned to her some time ago. And she excitedly told Kenan.
"In the next three weeks, the Manager will go to Bandung. You know? To visit the Keano Hotel branch. So, I think I can ask you to replace me."
As if reinvigorated, Kenan looked up, "Re-really?" he asked.
Shofie nodded confidently. She patted Kenan's shoulder lightly and said, "I'll try to tell the Manager to fulfill my request for you to replace me. Hopefully he'll grant it, after all, he's also the boss."
It didn't take long for the smile on Kenan's lips to widen. This was a great opportunity for him, not only would he get to go to Bandung, but he would also get to go to Bandung with Austin without his gum-chewing wife.
"Mbak Shofie, already beautiful plus kind," praised Kenan, displaying his sweetest smile as a thank you without the intention of flirting or spreading charm. Although Kenan admits, Shofie is one of his favorite types of women.
"Good luck!" Shofie clenched her fingers before finally leaving Kenan's office with graceful steps.
*
Mid-afternoon, Kenan and three other employees sat together at the steakhouse. They were Shofie, Bobby and Ryan. Kenan's new friends. Or rather the most familiar office mates, they were so sociable and energetic. Not too picky in making friends.
Shofie was the only girl among them, but even so she was a warm figure and easily mingled with anyone. Not just outside, even in the office they used to joke around and laugh when their lion boss was absent. Even Kenan could laugh happily, without a care in the world. It was like not knowing what pain was.
Not long after Bobby mocked about Ryan's single status. Suddenly a gray luxury Porsche stopped at the steakhouse where they were gathered. From inside came out afterwards a man in his mid-twenties and looked at the entire contents of the restaurant which was now rather quiet with the corner of his eye. However, it wasn't long before all his attention was on Shofie. Similar to Shofie, his initially smiling expression turned slightly flat once he realized who had arrived.
The man continued his steps towards them, his entire figure surrounded by an aura of arrogance. Bobby and Ryan only showed indifferent expressions, they knew who the man wanted to talk to. While Kenan from earlier turned his back on the man who approached them, only frowned at the drastic change in Shofie's facial expression, as soon as he saw Bobby and Ryan's expressions he intended to turn around to find out who was coming.
Three meters before the man arrived at the table occupied by Kenan and the others, he said quietly to someone who had always been staring at Shofie from the beginning until now. "I want to talk."
The smile that had been on Shofie's lips suddenly wilted as soon as she heard the flat words that the man said to her. Shofie just sighed softly before getting up from her sitting position. And at the same time, Kenan turned his head to see who had dared to utter such cold words to a woman like Shofie. As soon as his irises caught the figure standing with both hands in his coat pockets, Kenan's heartbeat unexpectedly echoed like a drum being beaten with all its might. The same was true for the man. His irises widened, immediately blinking with his mouth quivering after seeing Kenan's presence, but Shofie's quiet words alerted him to the presence of the woman whose fiancée status was standing beside him reluctantly.
"Let's talk outside," Shofie's voice implied a woman's firmness.
She walked to the door first, followed by the man with the haughty face. Once they had reached the doorway, the man still took the time to glance at Kenan while squinting. As for Kenan, he only responded with a flat stare, but looking into the man's eyes, Kenan could feel a chill creeping up his spine.
"Brandon, I hate his arrogance. It sucks how someone like him can be Mbak Shofie's fiancé." Ryan muttered in annoyance while clucking his tongue.
"You're right, Mbak Shofie should deserve a better man than that Brandon." Bobby said.
"Wait, did you say fiancée? So, Ms. Shofie is getting engaged to him?" Kenan asked, his teeth chattering with emotion.
"More like engaged." Bobby corrected, successfully making Kenan clench his hands into fists.
"Asshole!" the curse escaped Kenan's lips. Even so, that one word managed to enter Bobby and Ryan's senses of hearing even though it was quiet.
"Kenan, do you know Brandon?" asked Bobby curiously.
"Hey, who doesn't know him? He's the sole heir of the Wistara Group." Ryan answered before Kenan could reply.
Apart from all that, Kenan still silently stared coldly from afar at the two figures who were talking seriously outside the restaurant, more precisely beside the car of the man named Brandon.
"Yesterday, why did you leave right before dinner?" Brandon asked. His eyes were fixed on Shofie intensely.
"I was tired, I wanted to go home to my apartment," Shofie replied, turning her face away from Brandon's gaze.
"Stop working!" he pleaded, sounding more like an order.
"I work to fulfill my needs," Shofie replied.
"You don't need to work to make ends meet, I'll fulfill everything."
"Stop insisting! You're not my husband." Shofie's voice raised a little.
"But I'm your fiancé, a fiancé is not much different from a husband." Brandon pointed at himself as he emphasized each word.
Hearing this, Shofie didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her lips curled into a mocking arc. "Isn't this engagement just a forced bond. Don't you love me? Why are you so controlling of my life now?"
Brandon Wistara was silent, he remembered when his parents set him up with Shofie Harahap, he flatly refused in front of Shofie. Saying that she and her parents planned their engagement just to cover up news about Shofie's father's company going through a crisis period of stock decline. Of course, Brandon Wistara never forgot that incident, not even for the rest of his life, but now everything has changed. A person's heart can change, even in the blink of an eye.
"You used to hate me, always stay away from me, even bring other women when your parents told us to have dinner together, but now," Shofie revealed a meaningful smile. "Look. The haughty Mr. Wistara is willing to set foot in a place like this just to meet me." Shofie smiled wryly before finally walking away from Brandon who was still staring at her without moving an inch.
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