At eight in the morning, Yubi was already at his desk. He had gotten home fairly late the night before because he had to wait for the rain to let up, but his face still looked fresh that morning. He turned on his computer, checked his task list, then picked up the coffee he had bought from the small shop near his boarding house.
"Yubi."
He turned. Beni was standing beside his desk with several files in hand.
"This is the West Region shipping report. Mr. Dimas wants you to check it before ten."
Yubi accepted the files. "All right. Is there anything I should prioritize?"
"The ones marked in red."
Yubi opened the first page. "So, these thirty-two documents?"
Beni nodded.
"You’ve got this."
Yubi gave a small laugh. "Want to help?"
"Sorry, I have to finish my own report."
"Fine. I’ll do it."
Beni returned to his desk. He was already more comfortable talking to Yubi than he had been on the first day. Yubi’s tendency not to complain had gradually made several employees stop seeing him as the "director’s family" and start viewing him as an ordinary coworker.
But not everyone saw him the same way.
Two desks behind Yubi, a staff member named Arman still often watched him curiously. He had once heard from a senior employee that Yubi was related to Kenan. In his opinion, there was no way a relative of the company’s president would truly start out as operations staff without some particular reason.
"He really wants to start from the bottom?" Arman muttered to his coworker.
His coworker shrugged. "That’s what they say."
"If I had family who owned the company, I’d just ask for a good position."
"Not everyone necessarily thinks that way."
Arman didn’t answer. He went back to work.
Meanwhile, Yubi knew nothing about the conversation. He was busy matching shipping numbers with warehouse data. The task required concentration because a single numerical error could make the report inaccurate.
Around nine-thirty, Yubi found something unusual.
"Mr. Dimas."
Dimas, who was standing near the printer, turned.
"Yes?"
"There are three shipments recorded as having already been received by the branches, but their receipt confirmations haven’t been entered into the system."
Dimas walked over.
"Which ones?"
Yubi showed him the documents.
Dimas read them carefully. "Contact the branches."
"All right."
Yubi immediately called the relevant branch. After a few minutes, he learned that the receipt documents had indeed been prepared, but hadn’t been sent to headquarters because of an administrative issue.
Yubi wrote down the information.
"It’s clear now, sir."
Dimas nodded. "Send me your notes."
"All right."
Dimas was about to leave, but paused for a moment.
"You’re adapting quickly."
Yubi gave a faint smile. "Thank you, sir."
"Don’t get complacent."
"I know."
Dimas continued on his way.
From the next desk, Beni smiled.
"Mr. Dimas is starting to like your work."
Yubi shook his head. "Don’t say that. If I make a mistake later, I’m blaming you."
Beni laughed.
"It’s only been a week."
"Exactly because it’s only been a week."
The two of them returned to work.
Around the same time, Kenan was in a meeting room with Aurelia and several managers. They were discussing a partnership plan with a distribution company from Surabaya.
Aurelia presented the data calmly. She explained the projected profits, the risk of delays, and the warehouse capacity.
Kenan listened without interrupting.
When the presentation was over, he said, "A fifteen-percent growth rate is too optimistic. Revise it to ten to twelve percent."
Aurelia nodded. "I considered that as well. I included fifteen percent as the best-case scenario."
"Good. But the board report has to use realistic figures."
"All right."
The meeting continued for about thirty minutes.
After everyone left, Aurelia was still putting away her laptop.
Kenan stood near the table.
"Do you know Yubi?"
The question made Aurelia look up.
"Yubi?"
"The new employee in operations."
"Oh."
Aurelia nodded.
"I’ve run into him a few times. Why?"
Kenan didn’t answer right away.
"Is he doing a good job?"
"From what I’ve seen, yes."
"How good?"
Aurelia gave a small smile.
"If you’re asking as his supervisor, I haven’t had enough time to evaluate him. But he learns quickly, he’s meticulous, and he’s fairly easy to work with."
Kenan nodded.
Aurelia put her laptop in her bag.
"Is there a problem?"
"No."
"Then why are you asking?"
Kenan fell silent.
Aurelia looked at him for a few seconds before finally saying, "If this is because he’s family, don’t treat him differently. It could make other people misunderstand."
"I’ve never given him special treatment."
"I know."
Aurelia walked toward the door.
But before leaving, she added, "And don’t be too hard on him just because he’s family."
Kenan watched her back.
"I don’t know what you mean."
Aurelia glanced back.
"Neither do I. I’m only going by the way you talk about him."
Then she left.
Kenan remained standing where he was.
Aurelia’s words bothered him.
At lunchtime, Yubi went to the cafeteria alone.
He got rice, fried chicken, vegetables, and bottled water. After paying, he looked for an empty seat.
He had only taken a few steps when a woman carrying a tray nearly ran into him.
"I’m sorry!"
Yubi quickly stepped back.
"It’s okay."
The woman held her tray tightly.
"Thank goodness it didn’t fall."
Yubi smiled. "Yeah."
The woman was one of the new employees in the finance division. Her name was Naila.
She was twenty-four years old, with a simple appearance and long hair neatly tied back. Her work uniform wasn’t expensive, but it always looked clean. She lived with her mother and younger brother in a small rented house on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Naila looked for a seat, but almost every table was full.
Yubi pointed to the empty chair across from him.
"You can sit here if you want."
Naila looked hesitant.
"Is that okay?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Naila sat down.
They ate in silence for a while.
Then Naila glanced at Yubi’s food.
"You’re new, right?"
"Yeah."
"Me too."
"Which division?"
"Finance."
"Operations."
Naila nodded.
"Your name is Yubi?"
Yubi looked slightly surprised.
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"I heard it during orientation earlier."
"Oh."
Naila smiled.
"My name’s Naila."
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you."
Their conversation was simple. Nothing special. Still, Naila seemed friendlier than most of the people Yubi had met at the office.
When he was about to pick up a side dish, Yubi stopped.
"What’s wrong?" Naila asked.
"I can’t eat shrimp."
"Oh."
Naila immediately pulled over the bowl of stir-fried vegetables, which happened to contain a little shrimp.
"There’s shrimp in this."
Yubi nodded. "Yeah."
"Are you allergic?"
"Yeah. If I eat it, my skin usually gets itchy, and I can have trouble breathing if it’s bad enough."
Naila quickly moved the bowl away.
"Then make sure you don’t grab the wrong thing."
Yubi gave a small laugh.
"Thanks."
"Seriously, don’t take it lightly."
"I know."
Naila smiled.
The conversation seemed ordinary, but it marked the beginning of a fairly close friendship between them.
That afternoon, a car stopped in front of the company building.
Kenan had just stepped out of the lobby when he saw Naila standing near the door, holding several documents that had fallen and scattered across the ground.
Several sheets of paper were blown away by the wind.
Naila chased after them one by one.
"Oh my God..."
Kenan initially intended to walk past her.
But one sheet came to a stop right beside his shoe.
He picked it up.
"Here."
Naila turned.
"Oh, thank you, sir."
Kenan handed her the document.
Naila bowed slightly.
"Sorry to trouble you."
"It’s fine."
Kenan was about to leave.
But Naila suddenly said, "Sir, wait a second."
Kenan turned.
"Does this belong to you?"
She pointed to an access card that had apparently fallen from Kenan’s pocket.
Kenan picked it up.
"Thank you."
"You’re welcome."
Naila smiled innocently.
Kenan nodded and left.
There was no long conversation.
Nothing about the encounter seemed special.
Yet that brief meeting would become one of the starting points of a major change in their lives.
That night, Yubi returned to his boarding house exhausted.
He had just opened the door when his phone rang.
The name on the screen made him stop.
Mom.
Yubi stared at the screen for a long time.
Then he answered.
"Hi, Mom."
"How’s work?"
"Fine."
"Have you seen Kenan?"
Yubi was silent for a moment.
"Yes."
"Does he know?"
"He knows I work at his company."
"Good."
Yubi furrowed his brow.
"Why do you sound happy?"
"It’s not important."
"Mom..."
"Don’t cause trouble there."
"I’m not causing trouble."
"You have to remember why I told you to stay silent five years ago."
Yubi tightened his grip on the phone.
"You were the one who told me to leave."
"Because I was protecting you."
"Protecting me from what?"
There was no answer.
Yubi stood in the middle of the silent room.
"Mom, for five years I did everything you told me. I went to China. I went to college. I didn’t contact Dad’s family. I never took anything from the factory either."
His voice began to tremble.
"But now I’m back. I have the right to know the truth."
"Don’t ever ask again."
"Mom..."
"If you reopen that old matter, everyone will find out what happened."
The call ended.
Yubi stared at his phone screen.
His mother’s words only made one thing clearer.
There was still a secret.
A secret that had kept his mother so afraid all this time.
He sat on the edge of the bed.
His thoughts returned to the day his father died.
The sound of brakes.
The damaged car door.
His mother’s sobs.
And a document he had briefly seen before they left for China.
A document he had never been able to forget.
The joint ownership certificate for the factory.
His name was on it.
Yubi.
As the second owner.
He rubbed his face.
"Dad... what really happened?"
Elsewhere, Kenan was still awake too.
He sat in the family room, opening an old photo album.
His hand stopped on a photograph.
Little Yubi stood beside him, scowling because he had lost a game.
Kenan smiled without realizing it.
Back then, that boy had always followed him.
"Kenan, wait!"
"Kenan, I’m coming too!"
"Kenan, don’t leave me behind!"
The memory slowly erased his smile.
He closed the album.
But a few seconds later, he opened it again.
"Why did you come back now, Bi?"
There was no answer.
Only the old photograph, still showing two children who had once been so close.
Neither of them knew yet that their relationship had not truly been destroyed.
It had only been covered by a secret the adults had kept for far too long.