My whole body tensed up, and I slowly moved to hide my face behind Kala's broad frame. Thankfully, he was tall and well-built, so simply standing behind him was enough to make me feel like I was hidden.
There was no way I could've mistaken the man in the elevator. He was Axel. Nothing had changed about his face—I still remembered how he always dressed neatly and styled his hair just so. For some reason, recalling all of that only made me upset. It brought back memories of how he left me while I was pregnant with Arkan.
But no—he meant nothing to me now. He wasn't even a father figure Arkan remembered, despite their blood relation.
I took a strained breath and tried to push aside the fear. Five years had passed—I should be able to show how happy I was now, not tremble like this. I should be able to make Axel realize that Arkan and I were just fine without him.
When the elevator dinged and stopped at the tenth floor, Kala turned to me, silently signaling it was time to step out. I blinked, still paralyzed by the fear of what might happen if Axel saw me.
What if he saw me? What if… No. I hadn't done anything wrong. Why should I be afraid of him? But it wasn't that simple to listen to my own heart. I was truly scared—so much that I instinctively grabbed Kala's arm and clutched it tightly.
I let my long hair fall over part of my face, hoping it would shield me. At the same time, I prayed silently that Axel wouldn't recognize me.
I didn't look back as Kala made polite small talk with Axel and stepped out of the elevator. My hand was still wrapped around Kala's arm until the elevator doors slid shut behind us.
"You seem really tense," Kala said, glancing at me with a smile. That's when I realized I was still clinging to his arm, and I quickly let go.
"It's okay if holding on makes you feel better," he added. I shook my head.
"Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that," I mumbled, embarrassed. Kala chuckled and didn't take his eyes off me.
"Was that man also from Boga Rasa?" I asked. I was so curious about why Axel was in this building. When we divorced, he was still working at a construction services company in Bandung—so why was he here now?
"One of the managers at Aneka Boga, though I'm not sure of his exact position," Kala replied, probably wondering why I was suddenly asking about his employees.
"Why? Do you know him?" he asked.
"No, I'm just curious," I answered hastily. To hide my anxious expression, I turned to the side and looked out through the glass walls. The street below was clearly visible from up here.
"Turns out the view of the road from up here is actually pretty nice," I said in awe, hoping it would help me forget about Axel.
"Then you should come here more often," he replied with a small smile.
"That sounds like something you want," I teased, making Kala laugh. He then led me into a spacious meeting room with a round table and quite a few chairs.
"Looks like you picked me up too early," I said, seeing that no one else had arrived yet.
"That was intentional," he said.
"The production house team should be here in about fifteen minutes. The marketing team is already on their way," he explained.
"Is it okay for you to be here, Mas Kala?" I asked, genuinely confused. Usually, a director wouldn't handle small tasks like this—they'd delegate them to staff.
"Why wouldn't it be?" he asked.
"Don't you have more important things to take care of?" I asked in return.
"This is important—discussing your new ad with the production house," he said.
"I mean other work—things that are more urgent," I clarified.
"This counts as important, too." I could only laugh at his response.
"Well, that's up to you then," I replied, and Kala kept looking at me with a puzzled expression.
"Excuse me, sir," came a voice from behind the door. Three women entered after Kala told them to come in.
"Good afternoon, Mbak Bee. I'm Sofi," said one of them, a woman with glasses.
"Oh, hi Sofi! Nice to finally meet you in person," I said as I shook her hand. Sofi was the Boga Rasa employee I had been in frequent contact with regarding my advertisement contract. The other two women introduced themselves as Tania and Rena.
All three sat across from me, their eyes lighting up as they looked at me. Their admiring stares made me feel instantly awkward.
"These three will be assisting you in the collaboration with the production house," Kala explained.
"I look forward to working with you," I said with a smile. After some light conversation, two people from the production house arrived. Although they were a bit late and Kala's face was already showing signs of irritation, the meeting finally began.
Kala wanted the advertisement to be elegant and flawless, while the production house team suggested tailoring the concept to match my supposedly cheerful and energetic personality. Hearing that made me feel awkward—cheerful and energetic? If Rere or Dewo heard that, they'd definitely burst out laughing.
"Let's just combine everything—elegant, cheerful, and energetic," Sofi suggested, and my eyes widened. I didn't even understand what an elegant concept meant, and now they wanted to add cheerful and energetic on top of it?
"Great idea," one of the production crew chimed in.
"What do you think, Mr. Kala?" he asked. Kala fell silent, deep in thought.
"Sounds good," he finally said.
"We'll schedule the first shoot next week. Before that, I'd like to present the script for the commercial starring Ms. Binar," said Geri, the director from the production house we'd be working with.
"From the moment Mr. Kala contacted us and expressed his wish to create a commercial for Boga Rasa's new product—and personally named the talent he wanted for the role—I was already excited. I do apologize for the earlier meeting that got canceled due to a shortage of our crew," he continued at length.
"Mr. Kala did request an elegant concept at first, but after we watched videos of Ms. Binar and assessed her personality, we came up with three options: first, what Mr. Kala requested; second, our own suggestion; and third, a combination of both," he explained further.
"And it seems like Mr. Kala agrees with the third option. Isn't that right, sir?" Geri asked, glancing at Kala. Kala nodded, and Geri continued his explanation. He presented the shooting locations, wardrobe references, makeup and hairstyle inspirations, music options, and so many other details that I couldn't keep up—it was simply too much information to retain.
The meeting ended without the lengthy debates I had feared from Kala. Still, his brow remained furrowed throughout Geri's breakdown of the shooting process, detail by detail.
Right now, I felt torn—both excited for the coming week and anxious about whether I'd be able to act the way they wanted me to.
"So, what do you think?" Kala asked as we walked toward the elevator. Despite being clearly busy with phone calls, he insisted on driving me home. I felt guilty for making him put aside his main work. But in the end, I couldn't refuse—Kala always had a way of getting his way.
"I still don't feel confident about starring in a commercial," I admitted. Kala chuckled as we stepped into the elevator heading down to the first floor.
For some reason, being in the elevator again made me uneasy. What if I ran into Axel again?
"Arkan's going to be so confused when he sees my face on TV," I said, imagining his puzzled expression.
"I think he'll be proud," Kala replied.
"Actually, there's something I've been wanting to ask you ever since I first found out you were raising Arkan on your own," Kala said suddenly, and for some reason, his words made me nervous.
"What is it, Mas?" I asked.
"Has Arkan ever asked about his father?" he asked, just as the elevator doors opened. We stepped out together.
"He started asking more once he began school and made more friends. Before that, he didn't really care about those things," I replied. And right at that moment, someone passed in front of me and turned to look our way. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the sharp gaze of the man looking directly at me.
How could this be? How could I run into Axel again? (*)