Walking out of the coffee shop, Austin was accompanied by Kenan. They didn't have much to do during their visit to Bandung. However, it can't be said that they weren't too busy. Austin only did a few interviews, met with new business partners and talked about the company's stock. Next, he was going to tour the city. Go to the sights that Kenan recommended and of course he would be his tour guide.
"Do you know the most popular shopping place in Bandung?"
"Why, you want to buy your wife a few pairs of clothes?" Kenan guessed in a tone that seemed to insinuate that the married man dared to ask him out.
"No, I want to take you there to shop," Austin replied casually to his sarcastic guess. And was immediately rebuffed, "Forget it, I'm not a woman who gets mood boosters from shopping," Kenan rejected with a wave of his hand.
"So where do you want us to go? To a hotel?" Austin whispered deductively in Kenan's ear and a sudden blush crept up the man's face to his ears.
"Stop thinking dirty!" Kenan snapped, his face turned away from Austin's attention along with his grin.
"What kind of dirty mind? I brought you to the hotel just to play with you," he snapped. Dan put his arms around Kenan's neck, just to make it easier for him to lightly peck the man's face and even go as far as saying muaacch!
"Hey, don't do that! Disgusting." Kenan pretended to put on as disgusted an expression as possible. However, it made Austin even more eager to kiss him even if it was just a peck on the cheek.
"The more you resist the more it makes me want to do more." Austin teased further, he knew Kenan liked it even though the man gave him a disgusted look. So, from the side Austin had locked Kenan up using both of his free hands while Kenan's hands held his bag. As soon as he was about to give him one more kiss, Kenan's expression flattened instantly.
Austin looked forward and saw a driver who had been waiting for them staring with a dumbfounded look. With some force Kenan let go of Austin's arms around his neck, as the man froze having been caught kissing a man.
Not wanting the driver to misunderstand and think otherwise between him and Kenan, Austin quickly gave an explanation, "Have you met Kenan? He's my foster brother, we haven't seen each other in over ten years, so maybe our actions were too much to make your expression like that," Austin explained, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Realizing his expression, the driver immediately refuted, "No, it's normal. My cousin also has two young boys," he said with a stiff smile as he opened the car door. Meanwhile, Kenan and Austin just looked at each other before deciding to get in from different sides. The driver continued, "They also often joke and tease each other, yes although they fight more often."
Once inside the car Kenan and Austin again threw gazes at each other, they remembered their teenage years also often fought. Maybe it could be said that the childhood was less quarrelsome because they didn't have brothers, once they had brothers as teenagers the two of them fought each other.
Kenan broke eye contact with Austin first and then said, "Having two boys who fight so much must be troublesome." There was a small laugh at the end of his sentence, and the driver laughed along as he started the engine.
As soon as their car was on the road, from the other direction, a BMW car that had been idling on the sidewalk for a long time also followed the car with Kenan and Austin from behind without the two of them noticing.
*
That morning after returning from Bandung last night, Austin was busy looking for something. His eyes glanced at every room in his office, then returned to searching the corners of desks, drawers and all corner rooms. However, the result was nil, the man did not find anything he was looking for.
"Where did you put it?" muttered Austin to himself. Thinking for a moment—he recalled until the end of the memory of himself storing the item he was looking for returned, "Right, I have kept it in my old room," Austin said confidently once his memory showed the place a few hours before he left.
The day before he left for Bandung, Austin took the time to go to his father's villa, where he used to live. He remembered the item he had been looking for, the folder containing the results of this month's presentation left on the table in his room.
Glancing at the clock and sighing, the man leaned against the back of his chair. There was no time to go back and forth. He wanted to send one of his subordinates to retrieve it, but Austin didn't really trust any of them to enter his father's old room. His hand reached for his cell phone to look through the contacts on his phone, picking out a few trustworthy people until his eyes caught the contact of Helena, his wife.
Although a little hesitant, he still called her to ask for her help. For some reason since he had returned from Bandung, Austin had felt a little guilty towards his wife. After all, he had been playing behind Helena's back.
Six times the sound of the tuut was heard. However, Helena still hadn't picked up her call. Usually she would pick up as soon as the third sound was heard. Sighing softly, Austin intended to cancel the call before a voice from the other side finally greeted him.
"Hello?" Helena's voice penetrated his senses, giving Austin a slightly stiff feeling.
"Helena ... can I ask you a favor?"
There was a crisp laugh from the other side, "Of course you can, why do you sound so reluctant? Like you're not your usual self."
Austin forced a smile upon hearing Helena's words. Austin tapped his fingers on the side of his body, "Emmn ..., can you get me the folder on the table in my old room, where my father lived?" Austin emphasized his voice for no reason.
No answer was heard on the other side for a while, Austin then called out to her, "Helen?"
Immediately a voice with a somewhat hurried tone replied, "Okay, I'll get you there as soon as I can."
This time there was a slight rhythm to Helena's words and it managed to create a light chuckle on Austin's lips.
"Okay, I'll wait for you," Austin replied still in a quiet tone.
After that, without any expression Austin quickly turned off his cell phone and put it back into his pocket. Pensive, his eagle eyes gazed at the glass window, dozens of skyscrapers stood tall under the blinding sunlight. Silence reigned around him. In this silence, Austin wondered how long he would continue to live like this? Living a life tucked away with a big secret.
Everyone who simply knew him from the outside always showed envy, admiration, and praised him for his position and achievements. However, no one knew him from the inside, neither Helena nor his father. Austin doubted that either of them intended to recognize him from the inside. What they saw of him was what they wanted him to be.
Kenan, once the name was on his lips and carved into his heart, Austin was able to show his true self to the man. Both then and now, Austin always showed the straightforward side of himself so that Kenan easily understood him completely.
*
That day at 11.00 am Helena Rei Surendra opened the door to Austin's room in his father's villa. She told him that she had come alone to retrieve a folder that Austin had accidentally left in his old room.
Monsieur Serge only said 'Oh' it was unusual for Helena to always come alone because she was always with Austin when visiting her father-in-law.
On the way to Austin's room located on the third floor, Helena seemed to be wondering what Austin was going to his old room for since all his valuables had been moved to the apartment, where they lived together.
Arriving at the door of the room, Helena slowly opened the door and closed it again. The room lights automatically turned on to illuminate the luxurious room that had been abandoned by its owner for several years. Her eyes scanned every room of the man's old room, so sneezy even though it was no longer occupied because the maid always cleaned it at least once a week. Approximately since they got married Austin had not occupied the room again even for one night, even so the owner did not let his room be occupied by someone, even he strictly forbade the maid who cleaned his room to touch something that was not too important to clean.
As soon as her attention found the folder lying on the table, her hand immediately stretched out to pick it up and put it in the bag. As Helena was about to leave, her eyes accidentally caught sight of the slightly open drawer. There was one feeling from within her that spread, which was curiosity. Especially if she remembered Austin's message to the maid who cleaned her room not to touch her personal belongings.
Slowly but surely, along with the pounding of her heart, her hand stretched out to open the small drawer. A long sigh escaped her pink lip tinted lips, as calm as the pounding of her heart that no longer rebelled in her chest. The contents of the drawer were just a USB. However, it was the USB that sparked the curiosity in Helena's heart.
What could this USB contain? Is it a collection of porn videos like some teenagers save for masturbation? I don't know, Helena just shrugged her shoulders.
Her fingers opened Austin's laptop that she had been carrying. Her hand matching the USB, she was so curious what it contained that a giggle never escaped her pretty face if Austin kept something like that. Maybe later that night she would mock him as a maniac despite the fact that Austin was a man who was always bored by just playing with one woman. As soon as the laptop screen displayed some files from the USB, Helena pressed the click button, and a video opened. Her fingers pressed play again and watched.
Within the first minute her forehead furrowed as she found a video that was different from what she expected. She brought her face closer to the laptop screen to get a better look.
The video showed several high school students - from their uniforms Helena had guessed that some of the teenagers were students of the Jakarta Intercultural High School. An elite private school that only children from the upper middle class could afford to attend.
Her eyes narrowed as she saw one face that was very familiar to her, and another that was very familiar to her. Although the face was only briefly captured by the camera, Helena could already guess that the owner of the face was Austin, and the familiar-looking teenage face was Kenan. Several other people looked familiar to her. However, Helena forgot who they were.
There Helena saw a teenager being pushed to the dusty floor in a dimly lit room, but still clearly visible due to the probability that the camera used to take the video was a good, high-quality camera. Then one of the other students held the teenager's hands next to his head. Swearing is heard coming out of his mouth.
"Fuck you Brendon!"
Brandon? Helena recalled the name. Then the sound of laughter broke her concentration so she decided to stop remembering for a while and refocus on the video.
"Felix, hold his hand properly, I'm having trouble recording." The voice of someone she had heard so many times called out, it was Austin's.
Helena's eyes blinked as the teenager being held down by two other teenagers was punched repeatedly until his mouth stopped swearing. And in the next minute, both women's eyes widened at the scene that unfolded in the following seconds.
They stripped off the teenager's pants and uniform and engaged in what could only be called violent sexual abuse. With a trembling hand Helena covered her mouth, her eyes glazed over, she quickly unplugged the USB from her laptop and closed the screen again. She was in shock over what she had just seen, and what left her even more speechless was who was behind it.
Amidst feelings of fear, nervousness and worry. Her mind went blank for a moment before remembering what she had come here for. A look of confusion filled her face. Thinking what to do with this USB? And because she didn't want anyone to find it, Helena decided to take it, she was sure Monsieur Serge, Austin's father, didn't know about it either. At worst, if it was found by one of the maids who was cleaning the room, it would have a devastating effect. Because no one will be able to keep their mouth shut even if their mouth is stuffed with hundreds of millions of rupiah.
Trying to maintain her calm expression, Helena almost fell backwards when she accidentally bumped into Monsieur Serge.
Monsieur Serge was so puzzled by his daughter-in-law's expression as she came out of her son's room like she had just seen the devil, he even wondered if his son's room had an evil spirit inhabiting it-since it had been unoccupied for a long time. However, all those ridiculous and nonsensical thoughts were quickly dismissed.
"Did Austin leave another folder?" Monsieur Serge asked Helena to break the tense atmosphere. The word again that the middle-aged man uttered meant that Austin had left the folder not just once.
"Yes, even though I reminded him many times," Helena replied with a stiff, contrived laugh. She asked, "Has Austin been leaving anything out lately?"
"As far as I know, only once in a few days."
A few days meant; in recent days Austin had been to her house without telling Helena. Monsieur Serge continued, "This is the fifth time he's come looking for something."
"Something?"
"He seems to have left something behind, every time he comes here he looks confused and agitated. When a servant asked and offered to help him look for it, Austin declined immediately and firmly. Until now it still doesn't seem to have been found." Monsieur Serge shrugged his shoulders as he finished.
There was no mistaking it. Helena had not guessed, but she was sure that this USB was what Austin was looking for. After a few moments of silence, Helena excused herself.
*
The sound of the door opening made Austin raise his head. A smile spread across his lips as soon as he saw who had arrived with several pieces of paper in his hands. Every step that increased the distance between the two, the more excitement he felt in his heart.
An apathetic smile. Yet, a seductive look filled Kenan's face as he stared intensely at Austin. Before his hand could put the document on the table, Austin had already grabbed his body, hugged him and kissed him without asking for consent. After all, everything inside Kenan was his, so why ask for permission, Austin thought.
It wasn't Austin's lips that curled into a grin this time, but Kenan's. By the time he tilted his head to make it easier for Austin to kiss him, the man was already giving his lower lip a gentle nip. Austin's rough kisses seemed to have laid his body down on the table, but Kenan didn't let himself continue to be lulled into that hot kiss. Both hands were draped around Austin's neck to make it easier for him to sit at the table.
In the midst of the hot kiss, Kenan's eyes, which had been closed, opened slightly at the sound of the door opening. His pupils shrank as soon as he realized who the person was who had dared to enter without asking permission first. With rounded eyes, his hand immediately pushed Austin's chest away with all his might leading to the breaking of their kiss.
"Kenan, why are you—" Austin's words were cut off as he saw the flat expression Kenan had on someone whose whereabouts Austin didn't even know.
Seeing the complicated look that appeared in the man's eyes, Austin turned his body quickly to face the person Kenan was staring at with a dagger-like glare.
[]