Annisa was still sitting on the floor when someone knocked on the door again. This time, the knocks were different. Soft, steady, yet firm.
She struggled to her feet and approached the door on trembling legs. “Go away! I already heard your message!”
“It’s not them, Annisa. Open the door.”
That voice. The voice she had spent so long trying to erase from her memory. The voice that made her heart ache and feel at peace at the same time.
Annisa fell silent. Her hand gripped the doorknob, hesitant. If she opened it now, everything would change. There would be no going back.
The door opened. Andrian stood there, breathing slightly hard, his shirt disheveled. His gaze immediately fell on Annisa’s face—her swollen eyes, her trembling lips.
“What hurt is still left between us, Annisa?” he asked softly, yet his words rang clearly in her ears. “It turns out you’re far more threatened when you’re with me than you were when you left me back then.”
Annisa glared at him, tears spilling without permission. “Do you think I want this? All of this is because of you, Andrian. Every threat, every danger… it all came because you returned to my life.”
Andrian stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He stood very close, leaving only a few inches between them.
“That’s right. All of this is because of me.” He looked straight into Annisa’s eyes. “But understand this. As long as you stay by my side, not a single person—Salsa, my enemies, anyone—will dare lay a hand on you. Or your grandmother.”
Annisa went silent. Those last words pierced her. She knew Andrian knew. He knew everything.
“Are you watching me?” she whispered.
“I’m protecting you.” Andrian reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper bearing a hospital logo. “Your grandmother’s surgery has been paid in full. An hour ago.”
Annisa’s eyes widened. She snatched the paper and read the figure on it—a sum she couldn’t possibly have saved in a year. She looked up at the man before her, her emotions tangled. A debt. She owed the man who had once broken her heart.
“Why?” she asked, her voice cracking. “I rejected you. I hate you. Why do you keep doing this?”
Andrian let out a deep breath and reached out to touch Annisa’s cheek—gently, so different from the way he acted at the office.
“Because you never truly let go of me, Annisa. I left back then to save you. Now I’ve returned to make you mine. And no matter how you feel, no matter how many times you reject me… this time, I won’t let you go.”
His thumb moved slowly along her cheekbone, wiping away a tear she hadn’t realized was still falling. Annisa should have stepped back. She knew that. Instead she stood frozen as he leaned in, so close that his breath touched her lips, warm and faintly bitter with coffee.
“Tell me to leave,” he murmured. “And I’ll go.”
She didn’t answer. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her throat. His forehead came to rest against hers, and for one long, aching moment neither of them moved. Then his lips brushed hers. It was barely a kiss, more a question than a claim, soft and careful, as if he were afraid she might break, or might vanish the way he once had.
Her fingers curled into the front of his disheveled shirt. Whether to push him away or pull him closer, even she didn’t know.
He tilted his head, ready to ask again with his mouth.
The phone in his pocket buzzed sharply between them.
Annisa jerked back as if burned, her lips tingling, her breath ragged. Andrian closed his eyes for a second and exhaled hard through his nose, a muscle tightening in his jaw. He didn’t answer the call. He only looked at her, his gaze dark with something he didn’t bother to hide.
He slowly withdrew his hand, as if afraid Annisa might pull away.
“Tomorrow night. My apartment. Move in, the way my wife should, or let all of this end here. But remember—when you refuse, you’re not just rejecting me. You’re also rejecting your grandmother’s safety. And your own.”
Andrian turned and walked toward the door. His footsteps were firm, filled with the certainty that Annisa would come despite her hesitation. Before leaving, he paused without looking back.
“One more thing. Salsa won’t stop. Even if you hide, she can still find you. The only safe place in this world… is by my side.”
The door closed. Annisa stood alone in the room, the hospital bill in her hand. Outside, the sky was beginning to darken, and in an unseen corner of the street, someone stood motionless behind a large tree—recording every moment of their meeting through a phone camera lens. A faint smile curved across their face.
“Go to him, Annisa. The closer you get to him, the easier it’ll be for me to destroy both of you at once.”