Nine o'clock at night on the streets of Jakarta always brought out the day's leftover exhaustion.
Anggun Larasati stepped off the Busway, breathing hard. As a thirty-year-old career woman who had just finished work, all she could think about right now was a soft bed, a hot shower, and a glass of sweet iced tea.
Anggun adjusted her shoulder bag, then made her way along the dim sidewalk near her housing complex.
The streetlights in the area were out, leaving only the headlights of passing vehicles, which were moving at a fairly high speed, to illuminate the road.
As Anggun strolled along, hurried footsteps came running from behind her.
Crash!
"Aaaaghh!"
Before Anggun could turn around, a hard impact from the shoulder of a tall person sent her stumbling off balance.
Anggun flew through the air for a moment before landing face-first, sliding straight into the open drain beside the sidewalk.
She landed in the worst possible position—flat on her back at the bottom of the drain, which was filled with murky water and black sludge.
"Damn it!" Anggun cursed, clutching her aching back. Her favorite shirt was now soaked through and smelled awful.
From the bottom of the deep, dark drain, Anggun looked up. Standing at the edge of the sidewalk was a tall, broad-shouldered man. From below, Anggun could make out his strong jaw and handsome, youthful features. He looked about the same age as her younger brother back home.
The man looked panicked, breathing hard.
"Hey! You jerk! Take responsibility!" Anggun yelled from the bottom of the drain, her voice blazing with fury.
The man above bent down for a moment, trying to look into the drain. But because it was so dark down there and the sidewalk cast a shadow over it, he couldn't see Anggun lying at the bottom at all.
"Ugh, sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm in a hurry!" the man called out in a panicked, deep voice.
Hearing the horn of the feeder bus waiting to leave at the end of the street, the tall man panicked.
Without taking another look, he turned around and sprinted off, leaving Anggun behind just like that.
"Hey! Don't you dare run away! I swear to God, if I ever see you again, I'll pull your hair out until you're bald!" Anggun screamed in frustration, shaking her fist at the air.
With great difficulty, her body smeared with mud from head to toe, Anggun crawled out of the drain by herself.
Wincing as she held her sore lower back, she stared down the street, breathing hard.
"Sis Anggun, where'd you go play in the mud?"
Ivan's voice—her younger brother's—greeted Anggun when she arrived home. The young man was sitting on the porch, playing with his phone.
Anggun shot him a sharp glare and yanked open the front door. "Shut up! Don't make Sis even madder!"
"You're so grumpy, Sis. Ivan was just asking nicely."
"I'm pissed off, okay! Some damn kid ran into me and knocked me into a drainage ditch, then just took off!"
Hearing that, Ivan immediately held back a laugh, though he tried to be sympathetic. "Who was it, Sis? Ivan can smack him upside the head. How dare he leave Anggun like this."
"I don't know. He ran off immediately. Whatever, don't bother Sis, okay? I want to rest!"
"Hey, Sis. But my friends are coming over here. They're already on the way. Is that okay?"
"Whatever! As long as nobody bothers Sis!"
Anggun went inside the house and immediately headed upstairs to her room. She was so emotional that she even forgot to close her bedroom door all the way.
Still burning with irritation, Anggun turned on some rock and roll music at full volume to vent her anger, then walked into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, a young man came over to Ivan.
"Hey, Daf! What happened? Get lost?"
"I almost did... So this is your house?"
"Yeah. Come on in. Make yourself at home."
Ivan had only recently met Dafa, since he was a new college student who had moved from out of town. Ivan's outgoing, friendly personality had earned him plenty of friends and made it easy for him to get along with people, including Dafa.
"The others aren't here yet?" Dafa asked, looking around.
"Not yet, Daf. Probably soon. Wait here, I'll make you something to drink first."
"Yeah, sorry to trouble you."
"No big deal. I'm the one who invited you over."
Ivan left Dafa to go to the kitchen. It didn't take long before he returned carrying two cups of coffee. But because he wasn't paying enough attention, Ivan tripped over his own foot, spilling the hot coffee all over Dafa's shirt.
"Oh my God, Daf! Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to!" Ivan blurted out in a panic.
"Hey, it's okay. Relax," Dafa quickly replied, shaking out his shirt.
"Ugh, now your shirt's all dirty... Hang on, I'll grab you a change of clothes."
"No, don't. That'll just be a hassle."
"No, it's fine. Just wait here."
"But, Van... what if the others show up? I don't really know them that well yet. You know I'm still new to your group," Dafa interrupted awkwardly.
"You have a point," Ivan muttered thoughtfully. "All right, just go upstairs. My room has the black door."
"It's okay, Van. Maybe later. I mean... this shirt's fine even if it's a little wet."
"You can't go around like that! Come on, go upstairs. There isn't anything valuable in my room. Even if there were, I trust you."
"But..."
"Tsk, just go! Grab the clothes and change upstairs while you're at it!"
Without waiting for another objection, Ivan grabbed Dafa's arm and gently pushed him toward the stairs. Feeling awkward, Dafa finally headed upstairs.
But when he got there, he stood confused, staring at the two bedroom doors—one black and the other white.
*Which one did Ivan say it was again?* Dafa wondered.
Faintly, he heard the pounding rock music coming from behind the slightly open white door.
Meanwhile, inside that room, Anggun, who was still in the bathroom, suddenly jumped. She had just realized that she'd forgotten to bring a towel.
"Ugh... how could I forget my towel?" Anggun grumbled to herself. "Whatever. It's my own room."
Casually and without a hint of suspicion, Anggun stepped out of the bathroom. Only a few steps from the door, her feet suddenly locked in place.
Anggun was utterly stunned to find an unfamiliar tall man standing stock-still right in the middle of her room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"