The Broken Ring's
Riani and Arfan

"W-what are you doing?" Riani was finally unable to hold back her tears. He also sat down in front of Arfan while trying to pull the man back up.

"No, Riani." Arfan refused to rise. "Let me be like this. Let me apologize to you properly ...."

"Don't do this, please ...." Riani shook her head. The figure of Arfan he saw at this moment looked so pitiful, making his heart also hurt.

"Please forgive me" Arfan said again in a pleading tone.

Once again Riani shook her head. He was unable to say anything other than just making a sound.

"Is my mistake unforgivable to you?" asked Arfan in a soft tone.

Instead of answering, Riani even more sobbed. I don't know what kind of emotions the middle-aged woman was feeling right now that made her cry so bitterly.

"You ... nothing wrong with me ...." Riani finally spoke in between her stuffing. "You are not wrong ... I'm the one who's been greedy ...."

Arfan was about to open his mouth, but Riani spoke again.

"From the beginning, you've been saying clearly if you marry me only for Lita. You have said that all you can give in return is your wife status and all the facilities you have, but not your heart and feelings. You said that and I agreed. You have fulfilled all your promises to me. You never deny it one bit ...."

Riani sighed for a moment.

"Me and Risa have lived comfortably as you promised, if there is anything painful with regard to my feelings, it is my own problem. I shouldn't be greedy expecting anything more than what I've gotten. It's not your fault at all. From the beginning, my existence and Risa was only for the sake of Lita. We should have known ourselves," Riani said in a bitter tone.

"Mrs ...." Lalita rushed towards Riani. "Don't talk like that, Ma. I beg. Mama and Kak Risa also mean to Papa."

Riani did not answer. He grew sobbing as he closed his eyes, spilling out all the flavors he had been holding back all this time. Shown back in his memory when he first met Arfan.

At that time, Riani was still the wife of Rendra, Larisa's biological father. She was beaten by her husband in front of a bar where she worked for rejecting Rendra's idea of selling him to a striped man. No one helped Riani even though she was moaning in pain, until then a man appeared who made Rendra's body topple over.

Several blows landed on Rendra's body until finally escaping, but of course before that he still had time to throw words of mockery and threat to Riani.

"Are you okay?" The man who beat up Rendra asked politely to Riani.

Riani nodded while looking down. He was unable to raise his face towards the figure who saved him. Of course he was embarrassed because his current condition looked so pitiful.

"Where do you live? Let me drive you home" said the man again.

"Thank you very much for your help. I can't go home yet because it's my working hours" said Riani still with her head down.

"Working in this way?" ask the man.

Riani was aware that her body was currently battered. He simply did not want to trouble the foreign man before him any more.

"I know you work at this bar. I know your boss too. He won't fire you just because tonight you're coming home sooner" the man said.

Inevitably Riani raised her face hearing the man's words. For a moment he gasped at the beautiful figure that now seemed to be staring at him. A man with a tall and well-built body and sharp eyes. Instantly Riani directly lowered her head again.

"I don't mean to be evil. Come on, I'll take you home. Your wound must be treated immediately." The man extended his hand to Riani.

The man drove Riani to his house. Their arrival was greeted with a Larisa cry that sounded so heartbreaking. Larisa who was a child at that time seemed to wake up from her sleep and cry because her stomach had been wrapped around since then.

"Bring the doctor here!" The man who helped Riani ordered his driver to bring a doctor.

The puzzled Riani looked overcome and did not know what to say. Just now that she had been beaten mercilessly by her own husband because she did not want to be asked to sell herself, now a foreign man instead shouted in a worried tone hearing Larisa's cry. They don't know each other, they don't even know each other's names.

Not waiting for a long time, the driver of the man who helped Riani came back with a doctor. Larisa immediately got help and was given medicine until her crying slowly subsided. The battered Riani also received treatment. After everything was over, it was only the man who helped Riani leave. He even left some cash on Larisa's bed because he heard Larisa had an upset stomach likely due to eating stale food.

Riani could not say thank you properly because she was still digesting what she was going through. All her life, only this time she was treated well by someone, which ironically was never done by her own husband.

After the incident, Rendra's inhuman attitude towards Riani grew. Riani's accusation of having an affair became the man's reason for torturing Riani more than usual. Even the little Larisa who knew nothing also took a blow blindly from the father. Riani wants to run, but doesn't know where to run. He once ran away and ended up with Rendra finding him back. So, there was nothing he could do but hold it all by himself.

Until then, when Riani was working as a barmaid as usual, she again met the figure of the man who had helped her at that time. A very unexpected meeting for Riani. But actually the man had indeed deliberately come to see Riani after finding out everything about her.

"Have you ever thought about getting out of the miserable life you're living right now?" asked the man while looking at Riani's bruised face.

Riani looked back at the man with an indescribable look on her face. He felt offended, but on the other hand he also felt a glimmer of hope.

"If you're willing, I'll help you get away from your husband forever." The man returned.

"Yes?" Riani didn't know what to respond to.

"I'll make sure your husband divorces you without much protest. You and your son don't have to live this kind of miserable life anymore. But instead, after everything is done, marry me."

"What?" This time Riani was surprised instead of a bitch.

"I will guarantee your life and your son's. You will not lack anything. I make sure you guys are honorable. Nor will I burden you with the duties of a wife or anything like that, for I do not want to involve personal feelings that are not important. All you have to do is be a good mother to my child. That's all."

Riani fell silent with an increasingly indescribable look on her face.

"Don't refuse immediately. Think well, when else do you have a chance to change your life." The man shook Riani who was indeed in a state of turmoil.

"Why can you say you want to marry me. We don't even know each other." Riani finally made a sound even though somewhat stammered.

"Your name is Riani, and your son is Larisa. Aye, right? I know all the things about you as well about your husband" the man said.

"Then what about me? I don't know you at all."

The man was silent for a moment, as if he had just realized something. A moment later, he suddenly extended his hand before Riani, making Riani a little surprised and also confused.

"Then, meet me, I am Arfan Baskara" the man said as he looked at Riani with his sharp, hypnotic eyes.

Riani was stunned for a moment, before finally returning Arfan's hand. A handshake that later became not only a symbol of an introduction, but the beginning of a story for both of them. An act that brought Riani to life with the man with everything about her, up to this very moment.

connect ....