Love Redux: Fated to the Handsome Doctor

“I can only give you this, Ma’am.” Melati said as she handed a letter to Lara. “We’re moving to Singapore,” she added. Even in disguise, Melati could recognize her employer well. Unlike Lara’s family, who didn’t even bother to worry about her.

“Mel …” Lara whispered softly. Tears welled up in her eyes again.

“Please be patient, Ma’am. Everything I know is written in that letter. I could only give it to you today. Trust me, Ma’am. I didn’t participate in Mr. Seno’s criminal scheme. But …” Melati cut off her words. Some big men started to become wary and suspiciously eyed her back.

“But what, Mel?” Lara was curious about her assistant’s continuation.

“I have to go! Ma’am! Stay away from here, okay!”

“Melati!” Lara screamed as the girl walked away. However, Lara quickly silenced herself when she caught sight of the guards gripping Melati tightly.

“What’s happening here?” Lara was truly puzzled by the drastic changes in the Seno family. Everything felt so odd.

***

Lara immediately sneaked back and returned to Mahya’s car. Promptly, Mahya started her four-wheeled vehicle and left the dangerous location after Lara got into the cabin.

“How did it go?” Mahya asked curiously.

Lara just showed a letter from Melati to her friend. “A letter?” Mahya raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Melati said she wrote this letter for me. Everything I’ve been asking about is in there.”

“Good!” Mahya stepped on the gas pedal cheerfully. This time, their sacrifice of time had paid off.

“Where are we going next, Mahya?”

“We’re going to Seno’s office. I need to trace the server network up close.”

“W-what?!”

***

Mahya’s black car cruised, cutting through the relatively empty streets of Jakarta. At 2 PM, there weren’t many vehicles of workers passing by. The lunch hour had ended, and the main roads were not crowded with traffic.

“Being a journalist is fun,” Mahya mumbled as she drove into the parking lot, where Seno’s business was located. She pretended to be there to interview someone important and for a special, confidential purpose.

Mahya’s arrival wasn’t suspicious. Her press card made the mission of disguise and infiltration so easy for her.

“You wait here and read the letter from Melati calmly. Avoid meeting people. Pretend to be like a dead person, got it?” Mahya instructed.

“Okay.” Lara gave a thumbs-up, indicating her understanding. “Why don’t you hack the system from your room like you usually do?” Lara started asking. She didn’t quite understand hacking methods. Mahya laughed.

“The security system is quite strong. I failed to breach the existing firewall. So, this is the only way.”

“Meaning, you …”

“That’s right. I’ll pretend to interview the head of cyber security there.”

“Ah!” Lara finally found clarity in Mahya’s actions.

“Next, I’ll directly steal the data. Hopefully, I won’t get caught.” Mahya crossed her fingers.

“But, that’s too risky, Mahya!”

“Don’t worry, Lara. I’ll be fine. I’m like a Gatotkaca!” Mahya joked, flashing her teeth as if she turned into an ancient Javanese hero, Gatotkaca, whom well-known for his iron muscles.

Lara sighed and then started to laugh. “Please be careful, Okay?” she urged her friend.

“Got it, Boss!” Mahya said, saluting Lara like a soldier.

A few seconds later, the girl with the ponytail disappeared from Lara’s view. Lara began to open the letter from Melati. She was really curious about its contents.

***

Mahya confidently walked towards the entrance of Seno’s office. The S-Group building looked magnificent with its dazzling all-silver interior. The combination of minimalist and sophisticated design was evident. “Pretty nice,” Mahya whispered as she admired Seno’s workplace.

“Who are you?” the guard asked when Mahya wanted to enter the office unit. Of course, the building wasn’t solely owned by Seno’s company. There were several businesses running there, and most of them were tenants.

“I want to go to Mr. Seno’s office. I’m a journalist from Channel Insight,” Mahya said while showing her press card.

“Do you have an appointment?” the guard asked suspiciously.

“Yes. But, maybe my client forgot. I’m here to remind them to be on-air with us in a few days,” Mahya tried to bluff as naturally as possible. The guard seemed to whisper to his colleague.

A moment later, a guard seemed to be calling the intended business unit. After getting approval, they finally let Mahya enter without any hassle.

“Thank you,” Mahya said politely.

“Good luck on your job.”

***

In the S-Group unit, the office atmosphere felt quite deserted. Some workers were seen coming and going, but some of them didn’t seem to be inside their work cubicles.

“Miss Mahya?” a receptionist greeted, who had received a phone call from the guard earlier.

“Yes. I’m Mahya Grace, a journalist from Channel Insight.”

“Do you want to meet the head of cyber security?”

“Yes, that’s correct. There are many things I want to ask.”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“Follow me.”

They then walked to the office of the head of cyber security, as requested by Mahya. Channel Insight’s image was quite good in the eyes of S-Group thanks to reviews from their President Director, Seno Adhijaya.

“Not bad,” Mahya muttered as she recalled her meeting with Seno to avoid suspicion. She could easily enter without much effort or forceful sneaking, which could likely land her straight in jail.

***

“Mahya Grace.”

“Budi Jatmiko.”

In the cyber security office, Mahya shook hands with a slick-haired man who seemed busy with his work. Fortunately, Mahya was good at pretending. Although impromptu, she quickly adapted to the situation for the mission she carried out.

“Sir, I’m interested in knowing more about the cybersecurity measures implemented at S-Group. Maybe we can talk openly to provide insights to Channel Insight viewers,” Mahya said with a wide smile.

“Sorry. Do you have permission beforehand?” Pak Budi asked skeptically.

“Oh. This is just a street interview, Sir. We routinely conduct impromptu interviews to make it more natural and appealing,” Mahya joked.

Mr. Budi Jatmiko seemed to clear his throat for a moment. He glanced at the Public Relations Head who accompanied them.

“Please, Miss. We don’t mind,” he said with a nod. S-Group needed media exposure for their pre-launch product campaign. This moment was certainly a good thing to maintain.

“Alright.” Budi Jatmiko, the head of cyber security, seemed pleased to get attention from a well-known media. He began explaining some security steps taken by his company. In general, and some covered detailed matters that would certainly be useful for Mahya’s mission.

“And then?” Mahya kept asking enthusiastically, so the head of security kept babbling. For quite some time, Mahya finally tried to find an opportunity.

“Can I know the specifications of the computers owned by this company?” she asked, fishing for the informant’s response.

“Oh, yes. Please.”

Mahya took this opportunity to access Budi’s computer. She pretended to be impressed by the software and hardware specifications there. Skillfully, Mahya infiltrated the system and began searching for the required data when Budi seemed to step away for a moment to answer an important phone call.

“Take your time,” Mahya said politely while pretending to admire everything about the world of cyber security they were discussing.

Budi didn’t notice at all the suspicious activity Mahya was conducting.

The data theft process felt slow and full of twists. S-Group’s server turned out to have complex security layers, and Mahya had to avoid detection that could occur with vigilance. Mahya used advanced hacking techniques to deceive the system and bypass the strong firewall directly.

Fortunately, this hacking process went undetected because it was done directly.

“Damn!” When Mahya was about to reach her goal, an unexpected event surprised her. Budi returned to the room. Mahya panicked and quickly stopped her actions.

“Miss …” he called, puzzled. Why did the girl look sweaty in a cold room like this?

“Uh, yes, Sir?” Mahya tried to swallow her anxiety. In the blink of an eye, she hid her hacking traces. When Budi approached again, Mahya immediately displayed the default desktop on the computer screen. There was no suspicious activity there.

“Have all of your questions been answered?” Budi asked again, focusing.

“Ah, yes, Sir! I’m very grateful to have a substantial conversation with you,” Mahya said firmly. She screamed internally. Her data theft succeeded without being noticed.

“Thank goodness,” Budi smiled warmly and shook hands with Mahya, who seemed to be about to leave.

“Thank you for your time, Sir.”

Mahya then left the cyber security office casually, as if there was nothing important she did other than interviewing a source. She walked out of S-Group’s business unit calmly and returned to the car to tell Lara about her success.

***

“Did it go well, Mahya?” Lara asked as Mahya returned to the car with a wide smile.

Mahya nodded vigorously. “It worked, Lara. We have the data we need. Now, it’s time to uncover the truth behind this criminal scheme.”

They quickly left the scene, saving themselves from a increasingly complicated situation and carefully keeping Mahya’s hacking secret.

However, someone seemed to have been watching Lara and Mahya since earlier. A suspicious smile began to emerge in the darkness. It seemed like they knew what was happening.