Chapter 524 - How Can You Survive?

"They said Anya is Sister Maria's child. They forced us to divorce and killed our child. Now that they have found the real child, they chose to hide it from me?" Aiden hit the table in front of him hard, unable to hold back his anger.

"Sir, I think Mr. Bima is afraid that you will be angry. Mrs. Maria's health also deteriorates. Mr. Bima is worried that you will make her sick more," Harris said carefully. "Doctor Tara said you have to take care of your anger."

"How can I not be angry? Cancel all of tonight's schedules. I'm going to the Atmajaya Family house," Aiden said.

"Yes sir."

Anya still didn't know that Aiden knew what she had just talked with Tara. She didn't realize that the CCTV above her head had recorded all of her conversations with Tara, letting Aiden know the secret that the Atmajaya Family was hiding.

Today was International Women's Day so Iris was very crowded, especially towards the evening. Anya came downstairs to help.

Around nine in the evening, Anya and Nadine finished their work.

"Auntie, are there still buses at this hour last night?" Nadine asked.

"The bus is still operating until eleven at night. Come on, we have to hurry," Anya said with a smile.

Nadine took her bag and followed Anya.

Unexpectedly, when they just arrived at the entrance to the mall, they met Raka.

"Anya..." Raka stopped her.

"Raka, why are you here?" Anya felt very happy when she saw Raka.

"This is for you," Raka took out a bouquet of red roses from his car and immediately gave it to Anya.

Today was women's day. Of course Raka had prepared a gift for the special woman in his heart.

"Thank you. The flowers are so beautiful!" Nadine appeared from behind Anya and immediately took the bouquet.

"Nadine, you're back!" Raka said with a smile.

"Yeah. Now I'm working at Iris as an auntie's assistant!" Nadine replied on purpose.

The expression on Raka's face immediately changed hearing that. Why did Anya work at Iris again?

"Anya, what happened?" Raka asked.

"My uncle deliberately bought Iris for aunt. And I'm in charge of helping aunty develop Iris. Brother Raka, do you have any other needs? If not, we have to hurry home!" Nadine worked at Iris with one goal in mind.

The ultimate goal was to improve Anya and Aiden's relationship, and get them back together.

For Nadine, Raka was a barrier to her goal. Everyone could clearly see that Raka still had a special place for Anya in his heart.

"Anya, are you working at Iris again? Didn't you come home to enter the competition?" Raka asked frantically.

"I signed a work contract with Iris three years ago and it hasn't ended yet. So I have to go back to work. Nadine is currently helping me as an assistant," Anya didn't want to elaborate any further.

"Are you back together with Aiden?" Raka openly asked.

"Why do men like to gossip? Who says women should reveal their current relationship to their ex?" Nadine immediately stepped forward in front of Anya.

She stood in the middle of Anya and Raka, as if trying to protect her aunt.

"Anya..." Raka did not pay attention to Nadine in front of him. His eyes were on Anya.

"Raka, you are my best friend. If I have a new relationship, you will be the first person I will tell. By the way, the flowers are beautiful. Thank you," Anya said calmly. After that, she looked at the clock on her wrist. "It's late, we have to come back soon. You should go home too."

Raka felt very relieved to hear Anya's answer. He felt much more relieved after knowing that Anya was not back with Aiden.

"It's not good for pretty girls like us to come home too late. We'll go first. Goodbye!" After saying that, Nadine immediately pulled Anya's hand toward the bus stop.

"Let me take you," Raka said.

"You're not going in the same direction as us. We better go home by bus so we don't bother you," Nadine answered quickly.

In contrast to Anya who didn't know how to refuse, Nadine didn't even have to think about rejecting Raka's offer out flat. With Nadine around, Anya didn't have to say anything.

Raka stood in his place, watched the two women leave with an empty heart.

Once back in Indonesia, his parents forced him to return home, without even being able to tell Anya. Both of his parents disagreed about his relationship with Anya.

Today, he was finally able to leave the house. But he saw Anya together with Nadine, Aiden's niece instead.

Before he could persuade his parents to accept Anya as his life companion, once again a member of the Atmajaya Family appeared by Anya's side, making Raka feel even more afraid.

Even though Anya didn't get back with Aiden, it didn't mean that things would remain like this in the future.

During the last two years, Aiden frequently visited Anya in France.

Even though Anya didn't know, Raka knew everything. He saw with his own eyes that Aiden still loved Anya so much and could not forget about her...

He knew everything...

...

While waiting for the bus, Anya looked at Nadine with a faint smile on her face.

"Did your uncle tell you?"

"Uncle is very stern and arrogant. He really cares about you, auntie, but he will never say it. If I don't help him, who will? Auntie, please give him a second chance," Nadine immediately begged for her uncle.

"I just want to focus on my career now," Anya replied briefly.

"Me, too. Indeed, money is very important. Being broke these past few days has been giving me trouble," Nadine said with a bitter expression.

When the bus arrived, Anya immediately took Nadine's hand and looked for a seat together.

After working together for a while, Anya felt she's a good match with Nadine. Today's bus ride was so tedious that Anya asked about Nadine's life while she was away from the Atmajaya Family home for the first time.

"I went with Sister Keara to look for new plants, but the place was dangerous so our guide didn't want to accompany me. In the end, we had to spend three times as much money to persuade the guide. The guide's fear really happened, a crocodile suddenly attacked us and dragged Sister Keara. The guide escaped and I saved Sister Keara. She lost a finger and I broke my arm," Nadine said with a bitter smile.

"What?!" Anya looked at her in shock. They had been together for a few days, but she did not feel anything strange from Nadine's hand movement.

Nadine pulled her long sleeve and showed it to Anya.

A scar was clearly visible there.

"I was lucky that I got injured on my left hand. Even though my hand can't go back to how it was, it doesn't really affect my life that much. It's just that it's not pretty to look at," Nadine said, as if nothing had happened.

But Anya could see Nadine's two arms were different in size. Her injured left hand looked much smaller as if it was malnourished. So far, Nadine had always covered it with long sleeves.

"How did you survive?" Anya asked.

"I saved Sister Keara, but then she ran away. She said she wanted to find help for me. I couldn't wait any longer and had to help myself. My left hand was bitten by the crocodile, and I used my right hand to pick up a rock and hit his head hard." 

Remembering the incident made Nadine feel scared. It continued to haunt her. "If I had waited any longer, the crocodile would've dragged me into the water and torn me apart."

Anya pulled Nadine's sleeve and covered her injured arm gently. Then, her hand gripped Nadine's hand tightly.

"Don't be afraid. Everything is over now," she consoled. "After that, how did you survive? Did Keara go back with some people to save you?"