The Golden Mending

CHAPTER 17 - A Farewell Without a Trace

The morning air in Jakarta felt a little cleaner after the overnight rain. I was busy tidying up some sketches on my iPad when a message arrived from an unknown number. I knew immediately who it was.

"Lala, Mother and I are leaving for Jogja this afternoon. We’ve decided to settle there, in my grandmother's old house. I want Intan to grow up in a quieter environment, far from the wreckage of the mistakes I made here."

I stood still for a moment. Jogja. It was far, but perhaps that was exactly what they needed. A place to start from zero.

"I’m not asking for your forgiveness now, La. Perhaps I’ll never deserve it. But I want you to know, seeing you succeed with your gallery the other day... I realized how massive the wings were that I’ve been clipping all these years. Fly high, Lala. You deserve your own sky."

I didn’t reply to that message. Not out of malice, but because there were no more words left to exchange. I simply took a long, deep breath, releasing the last lingering weights that might still be tucked away in the corners of my heart.

"Ready to go?"

Adrian’s voice broke through my thoughts. He was standing in the doorway of my apartment, wearing his favorite denim jacket. Today, we planned to go to an orphanage to give free painting classes to the children there.

"Ready," I said, offering a wide smile. I slipped my iPad into my bag and walked toward him.

"You look... different today. Lighter?" Adrian asked as he held the door open for me.

"Yes. Someone just gave me their final 'gift': absolute freedom," I replied briefly.

Adrian didn't push for details. He knew when to listen and when to give space. In the car, he showed me some of his latest photos—not of war, but of wildflowers growing between the cracks of Jakarta’s concrete.

"Even in the harshest places, life still finds a way to bloom, right?" Adrian murmured.

I looked at my hand, now free of any rings. My hand was free to paint, free to hold the future, and perhaps one day, free to hold the hand of a man who truly valued me for who I was.

"Yes, Adrian. And the flower will be much stronger because it knows how to survive," I replied.

The car glided through the streets of Jakarta. In the rearview mirror, the skyscrapers slowly receded. Just like my past, everything was now just a passing view. Ahead of me was a long, straight road, and I couldn't wait to see what lay at the end of it.