Intrigued and entirely composed, Felzein reached for Melati's phone with the same ease one might show when checking the weather.
Unlike Rosa and Melati, whose stomachs had turned at the horrific images, Felzein remained utterly unshaken.
He resumed his breakfast with leisurely precision, as though nothing at all were amiss in the world.
"Oh… so it's rats," he remarked with an air of mild interest, eyes flicking across the screen.
"Quite a number of them, too. Ah... look at that! One's curled up inside the till drawer," he added, a small, almost entertained smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Rosa and Melati could only gape at him, the horror still fresh in their expressions.
Felzein, meanwhile, calmly forked another bite into his mouth, his demeanour maddeningly serene.
"I truly thought some dreadful catastrophe had occurred at the pharmacy," he mused between mouthfuls. "But no. Just a scattering of deceased rodents."
Rosa gasped, appalled, "Felzein! That's vile!"
"Disgusting!" Melati echoed, her voice tinged with disbelief. "How on earth are you still eating after seeing something like that?"
Felzein merely shrugged, unbothered, his spoon tapping lightly against his bowl.
"Some of us..." he said mildly, "...have stronger constitutions."
Felzein's quiet chuckle faded as his gaze sharpened, fixed once more on the flickering image before him.
His eyes caught the glaring letters sprawled across the pharmacy floor. Crude, defiant, impossible to ignore.
"This is peculiar," he muttered under his breath. "There's writing here... right on the floor of the pharmacy."
"Where?!" Rosa and Melati's voices rose in unison, their curiosity cutting through the tension like a blade.
Felzein cast them a wry look, a hint of impatience in his eyes, "That's precisely why you watch the whole video, not just recoil at the unpleasantness," he admonished lightly.
Silently, the two women leaned in closer, their faces growing serious as they studied the screen.
"See it here?" Felzein said, pausing the footage to bring the scrawled words into sharp relief.
He read the message aloud, his voice steady but tinged with unease.
"ENJOY THAT, YOU DIRTY OLD MEN'S MISTRESSES!!!"
Rosa and Melati exchanged bewildered glances, the meaning eluding them.
"Dirty Old Men's Mistresses?" Rosa echoed, brows knitting in confusion.
"What's that supposed to imply?" Melati asked softly, her tone edged with innocence.
Felzein sighed deeply, the levity gone from his expression, replaced by a grave seriousness.
"This isn't mere graffiti. It's a threat. Or at least a warning, a deliberate provocation," he said quietly, the weight of the message settling heavily between them.
Rosa and Melati stiffened at once, the tension between them palpable.
"The perpetrator is plainly issuing a threat to one of you who works at the pharmacy," Felzein's voice deepened, carrying an unmistakable gravity.
"A threat?" Rosa's brow furrowed as she fixed him with a sharp gaze. "A threat to whom, precisely?" she demanded, impatience tinging her words.
Felzein shrugged with a casual air, as if the weight of the situation eluded him, "How should I know?" he said lightly, almost dismissively.
"It could be either of you," he added, locking eyes with both women in a look that spoke volumes.
"Whatever have we done?" Melati's voice trembled with disbelief, the notion seeming absurd.
Felzein paused, laying down his fork and meeting their gaze steadily, "That, I cannot say," he admitted quietly. "But one thing is certain! We must go there now!"
Without hesitation, he abandoned his breakfast.
Rosa and Melati swiftly cleared the dishes, placing them by the sink, while carefully storing the remaining food in the fridge.
"Come on, no time to lose!" Felzein urged, striding purposefully to the garage where his sleek sports car waited.
Rosa and Melati followed swiftly, slipping into the rear seats without a word.
Within seconds, the engine purred to life, and Felzein's car surged forward, cutting through the morning air as it raced toward Koba Baru Pharmacy.
Unbeknownst to Rosa and Melati, Felzein quietly reached for his phone and contacted an old acquaintance, none other than Heru.
By sheer chance, Heru was already scouring the latest crime reports around the Koba district.
A seasoned crime journalist by trade, his task was to weave together fragmented accounts from police sources, eyewitnesses, and rumour, all to craft a compelling narrative for his media outlet.
When Felzein's grocery store had been robbed not long ago, it was Heru who had received the tip-off straight from Felzein, hastening to the scene to cover the story firsthand.
After painstakingly confirming the details with Felzein and several witnesses, he composed the report and dispatched it to the newsroom of the local television station.
Now, sensing the stir of another story brewing, Felzein typed out a terse message and pressed send :
"Mate, I'm heading to Koba Baru Pharmacy. You'd better get yourself over here too! This is big, no questions asked, just come!"
At that moment, Heru was enjoying his morning coffee at his usual roadside stall.
His phone buzzed, and as he read the message, a flicker of surprise crossed his face before a broad grin took hold.
"You really are the best mate one could hope for," he muttered softly, rising with purpose.
Dropping a few notes on the table, he called out, "Mr Rohman, this is for you. I'll be off now!"
"Safe travels, Heru!" the stall owner called after him, as Heru swung his leg over his motorbike and roared away, the lingering scent of freshly brewed coffee fading behind him.
*****
SCREEEAAAACH!!!
The harsh, grating sound of tyres tore through the quiet as Felzein's sleek sports car came to a sudden, jarring halt in the parking lot of Koba Baru Pharmacy.
The sharp squeal startled the small crowd gathered nearby, their heads snapping towards the source of the disturbance.
Dewi, Rasya, and Wina flinched in unison, their eyes flicking between one another before settling on the gleaming vehicle now blocking the entrance.
"Who on earth is that?" Dewi's voice was tight, her brows knitting in concern.
Rasya and Wina exchanged helpless shrugs; they were as clueless as she was.
Before curiosity could take hold any further, the car doors swung open, and two familiar silhouettes stepped into the cool morning air.
"Ah, that's Rosa and Melati!" Rasya breathed, relief mingled with surprise. "Whose car is that? Could it be an Uber?"
Wina's gaze sharpened, her lips pressed in thought as she scrutinised the car.
"An Uber this lavish? Highly unlikely," she murmured, scepticism clear in her tone.
Without wasting a moment, Rosa and Melati strode purposefully into the pharmacy.
"Masks, both of you!" Dewi called out briskly, pressing protective face coverings into their hands.
"Thank you," they responded in unison, donning the masks swiftly, their movements edged with urgency.
They began their inspection immediately, eyes scanning the wreckage left behind.
Every shattered shelf and scattered vial fed the fire of their rising fury.
Tension coiled in their muscles as their jaws clenched, fists tightening with silent resolve.
"Damn it all!" Melati hissed, knuckles white as she balled her hand into a fist.
"If I lay eyes on whoever's responsible..." she vowed, her voice thick with suppressed rage, "...I swear I'll make sure they never forget the consequences."
Rosa's nod was firm, eyes ablaze with steely determination, "Neither of us will stand idly by. This outrage ends now."
In a matter of moments, Felzein alighted from the vehicle, his demeanour composed and unhurried.
Unlike Rosa and Melati, he had elected to forgo the concealment of a mask.
The instant the townsfolk glimpsed him, the previously bustling scene stilled into a hushed reverence.
Eyes fixed unwaveringly upon the young man.
Where once he was seen only behind the veil of a mask, rendering his visage elusive and indistinct, now his face lay bare defined, strikingly handsome, with piercing eyes that gleamed with an almost magnetic intensity.
"Good heavens, he's rather handsome," murmured one of the women employed in the neighbouring shop, her eyes wide with startled admiration.
"And posh, too," came the soft reply from another, her voice laced with awe as she followed Felzein's casual stride toward the pharmacy.
The crowd, as if moved by some unspoken accord, instinctively parted, granting him clear passage.
Their gazes lingered upon him, captivated by the quiet confidence that seemed to envelop him, an aura that distinguished him unmistakably from all others gathered.
And within the collective mind of the onlookers, a singular thought crystallised, "Here he is! The principal actor has made his entrance."