Several days passed, and the end-of-season holiday was getting closer. Roni could no longer wait to return to his hometown to meet Ayu. Without realizing it, the days went by so quickly. "The end of the season is coming soon. I can't wait to go back to my village," Roni murmured while gazing at the night sky.
At that moment, Roni heard the sound of Mbak Maya's car. That sound reminded him that lately Mbak Maya had never come to see him anymore. Roni only realized it now because all this time he had been too busy with work, college, and his strange relationship with Miya, to the point that he forgot it had been a long time since he last saw Mbak Maya.
"Why am I suddenly missing Mbak Maya? Lately something feels strange, she never comes to see me anymore. Is she keeping her distance now because of the man she told me about back then?" Roni murmured softly.
Suddenly, he remembered something. "Damn, I haven't paid the rent yet! I have to see her now," he said as he hurried toward Mbak Maya's house.
However, when Roni arrived in front of the house, Mbak Maya, who happened to see him coming, immediately locked the door from inside. Roni did not realize it.
"Why is it locked? Didn't she just get home?" Roni muttered while trying to push Mbak Maya's door, but the door was tightly locked from inside.
"Mbak… Mbak… please open the door, I want to pay the rent," Roni called while knocking on the door.
However, there was no answer from inside, making Roni feel strange. He was sure he had just seen Mbak Maya arrive home, but why was there no response?
"Maybe she's exhausted and went straight to sleep. Alright, I'll come back again tomorrow," he muttered, then turned around and left.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Mbak Maya held herself back from going out to meet Roni. Somehow, since that night she felt disappointed. She felt that Roni no longer wanted her and had even slept with another woman. She was jealous. Yes, she was jealous and upset. On top of that, Roni only came to see her now, after such a long time. That made her feel that Roni had truly forgotten her.
At his boarding house, Roni prepared himself to go fight. Tonight was his decisive night. He would face Jack and determine who would become the champion.
Roni got on his motorcycle and sped toward the match location. When he arrived, he saw many people already waiting for the fight between him and Jack. "I have to finish this now so Miya won't be disturbed by Jack anymore," Roni resolved in his heart.
Roni walked into the arena and looked for a suitable seat to wait for his fight against Jack to begin.
Meanwhile, Jack, who was known as a great fighter, certainly did not want everything to go smoothly. Even though he was confident, he still felt doubtful whether he could defeat Roni. For that reason, Jack approached Roni with the intention of disturbing his concentration before the match started.
"Hey… alone for once. You're usually with Miya," Jack greeted with a cynical smile.
"I did come alone. She'll follow like usual. Maybe she'll be here soon," Roni replied casually while looking at Jack.
"Are you sure Miya will come? It seems impossible for her to come tonight, even though this is the decision of our previous agreement," Jack said with a meaningful smile.
"Even if she doesn't come, I'll still finish the fight without disappointing anyone," Roni answered calmly.
Jack then took out a photo from his pocket. "Do you recognize this girl?" Jack asked while showing a photo of a girl to Roni.
"Ayu…" Roni muttered while glaring at Jack. "Why does he have Ayu's photo?" he thought.
"Her name is Ayu, right? The girl you love back in your village. Hahaha… Roni, I told you before not to oppose me. But you didn't want to listen," Jack said while continuing to provoke Roni. "Oh yes, Miya won't come because she already knows that this girl has a relationship with you."
Roni still looked normal and undisturbed. "What do you know about Ayu? Don't brag, Jack. You think I don't know your intention? Relax, I won't fall for your words. I don't care where you got that photo from," Roni replied calmly, because he understood Jack's purpose.
"Roni, Roni… you think I don't know about you two? I have many ways to find out. Just give up already. Miya doesn't want to be with you anymore. It's useless, we're more compatible, while you're just a poor village boy," Jack sneered.
However, Roni only replied with a smile.
Clang… clang…
The sound of the bell rang, signaling that the fight was about to begin. The committee started greeting the audience with opening words, then called Roni's and Jack's names to enter the arena for the final match that night.
Roni began to enter the arena, and so did Jack.
"Look, Roni. You will die here tonight. This is an illegal fight, so killing is allowed here. Since you don't have a family to cry for you, it won't matter if I kill you tonight," Jack threatened while grinning.
"Yes… go ahead, you're free to do so. But unfortunately, my death is not destined to be in your hands," Roni replied casually, smiling.
"Yaa!" Jack shouted as he launched the first attack. However, Roni managed to dodge it. Roni counterattacked, but Jack also managed to evade. Their fight was quite intense, making the audience cheer and wonder who would win.
Attack after attack was launched. Both showed their respective skills. However, Roni was superior in strength and endurance, so he began to dominate the fight.
Roni's right-hand punch landed on Jack's face, causing the corner of Jack's mouth to bleed.
"Alright, enough playing around. It's time to get serious," Jack said as he attacked again. However, every attack from Jack could still be blocked by Roni, although some punches managed to make Roni slightly overwhelmed.
Jack realized that fighting Roni in a normal way would not be easy. He then tried to provoke Roni to ruin his concentration.
"Roni, give up and go back to your village. Don't you know that your lover there is going to marry someone else?" Jack said.
Hearing that, Roni, who was about to punch Jack, suddenly stopped his punch.
Instantly, Roni froze when Jack said that.
"I know this because I happened to look for information about your village and how you were there. I heard you were close to a girl named Ayu, and she will be getting married soon. If you come back too late, you won't get her like before because she'll already have a husband," Jack added.
"No… that's impossible! You've got the wrong information, Jack," Roni said.
"No, Roni. I'm not wrong," Jack said as he threw a punch.
Roni's distracted mind made him fail to notice Jack's attack. At that moment, Roni fell due to Jack's hard punch hitting his face. Roni immediately felt dizzy. When he tried to get up, Jack didn't allow it and kept beating him.
Bayu, who was watching from outside, felt something was wrong seeing Roni suddenly become easy to hit and not even dodge Jack's attacks.
"Something is messing with that kid's mind. That's a fatal mistake, he could die now," said the mafia boss who once helped Roni. He was watching the match.
The mafia boss realized that Roni was daydreaming while being beaten by Jack.
"Die now! Die… hahaha! Finally I can get Miya… hahaha!" Jack said while laughing and continuing to beat Roni, who was still feeling dizzy.
The referee there could only watch without separating them, because he had been paid by Jack not to interfere with the fight, even when Roni was cornered.
"Roni, what are you doing? Come on, get up!" Bayu shouted, calling Roni, who kept letting himself be beaten until he was battered.
"Damn… this is the first time I've ever been beaten like this. But is it true that Ayu will get married? Is this true? Even if she's getting married, I have to know who the lucky man is. Yes, I can't die now. I have to go home and see who Ayu's future husband is," Roni muttered while trying to regain consciousness.
Roni felt his dizziness lessen and regained awareness. He managed to block Jack's foot that kept stepping on his body, then kicked Jack's body until he was thrown backward. Roni stood up with his face full of wounds. However, Roni did not feel any pain at all. Earlier, he had only been thinking too much about Ayu, which made him lose focus.
Seeing Roni get back up after being beaten so badly, the mafia boss stood up with an expression of disbelief.
"He can get up? This is strange! Clearly he was already powerless earlier, especially with such heavy blows," he muttered.
The audience felt the same way. At first, they thought Roni would die in Jack's hands and Jack would win the fight. But Roni suddenly stood up, making them unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Jack, don't forget that I once said I would not die in your hands," Roni said as he attacked Jack with several punches.
Jack, who was not ready, was immediately hit by Roni's punches repeatedly. His body began to feel extreme pain. Until finally, Roni clenched his fist and delivered a hard punch to Jack's face. The punch hit Jack's nose precisely, sending him flying back with his nose badly injured. Almost Jack's entire face was covered in blood, and he collapsed unconscious without moving.
All the spectators fell silent seeing that incident.
The fight was won by Roni.
The mafia boss who witnessed it continued to stare at Roni in awe. He could not believe that there was a fighter so resilient after being beaten, then able to turn the situation around so quickly with just a few punches. His opponent was no ordinary fighter, but Jack, who was known to be very strong.
The mafia boss intended to recruit Roni in the future as part of his group, because of the great ability that Roni possessed.
Roni wiped the blood from his body, then accepted a bottle of water given by someone. He drank the water while washing his face.
However, Roni felt that this victory meant nothing, because he did not feel any difficulty. Roni decided to go straight home.
That night, Miya truly did not come. She locked herself in her room in sadness, after finding out that Roni actually had a lover in his village whom he loved very much. At first, Miya did not believe Jack's words. However, after hearing a confession in a video recording from villagers who knew Roni and Ayu, Miya finally believed that Roni and Ayu indeed had a relationship since childhood.
On the way to the boarding house, Roni kept thinking about Jack's words about Ayu getting married.
"Ayu… is that true? If it's true, is that why you never replied to my letters?" Roni murmured while riding his motorcycle.
When Roni had just entered the alley toward the boarding house, he suddenly felt pain in his body.
"Khuk… khuk…" Roni coughed. Without realizing it, his cough brought out blood.
"What's wrong with my body? Why does it hurt so much?" Roni muttered. He then realized that earlier he had drunk water given by someone, without knowing who that person was. Because his mind was unsettled, he drank it immediately.
As he entered the boarding house gate, Roni suddenly fell off his motorcycle.
Mbak Maya, who was busy with her medicine notes, heard a loud noise outside. Curious, she checked through the window to see what happened. Faintly, she saw a motorcycle had fallen, with someone on it. Mbak Maya immediately recognized the motorcycle.
"Roni!" she shouted as she rushed out.
"My God, Roni, what's wrong with you?" she said, but there was no response from Roni.
Mbak Maya removed Roni's helmet and saw that Roni's mouth was full of blood. She screamed in panic asking for help, making the boarding house residents come out.
At that moment, Roni was rushed to the hospital to be examined. Mbak Maya was very shocked to see Roni's face full of wounds. However, what shocked her the most was Roni's mouth covered in blood.
"How is his condition, Doctor?" Mbak Maya asked the doctor who examined Roni.
"He has been poisoned by a dangerous substance, causing temporary paralysis of his body. Fortunately, his physique is strong. Otherwise, his life might not have been saved. Now we can only wait, because it cannot be determined when he will regain consciousness," explained the doctor to Mbak Maya.
"Thank you, Doctor. I will handle the rest," said Mbak Maya. Coincidentally, she was also a doctor, so she would take care of the rest. Earlier, she had panicked, so she did not immediately examine Roni's condition. But now she was calmer and ready to handle Roni herself.
"Alright then, Miss. I'll excuse myself," said the doctor before leaving to examine other patients.
After examination, it turned out that Roni was indeed poisoned. What Roni had thought was correct: he was poisoned through the water he drank. Now, Roni was in a coma because his body was completely paralyzed by the poison.
Mbak Maya immediately entered the room where Roni was being treated. She stepped closer to Roni and touched Roni's bandaged face.
"What actually happened to you, you fool? Why did you come home like this? Did you get into a fight? But why are your injuries this bad?" Mbak Maya said, talking to Roni who did not respond at all.
She suddenly felt regret. If only she had opened the door when Roni called her, maybe she could have stopped Roni from going out at night.
"Since knowing that woman, he often goes out at night. Who exactly is that woman?" Mbak Maya muttered angrily. Because before getting close to Miya, Roni never went out at night.
Mbak Maya continued to wait beside Roni until she eventually fell asleep while holding Roni's hand. In her heart, she promised that she would no longer be angry with Roni and would try to forget her disappointment and blind jealousy.