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Putri's request to stay away only makes Alacrix more uneasy. In his luxurious car, Alacrix keeps thinking about Putri's frightened eyes. He knows it's not just Zea's bluff. There's another scent he recognized in the hallway earlier—a perfume scent he hates so much.
The next morning at Binatara High School, tension peaks when Alacrix intercepts a student in front of the music room. There, Alfano Junior Axe is busy strumming guitar strings with his foot propped up on the table.
"Never touch her, Alfano," Alacrix's voice is cold, piercing to the bone.
Alfano stops strumming his guitar. He chuckles, then stands up to face Alacrix. They are almost the same height, but their auras are in stark contrast. Alacrix is a calm light, while Alfano is a wild storm.
"Why? Are you afraid I'll take your new toy?" Alfano steps forward until their faces are only a few inches apart. "Or are you afraid I'll reveal to the scholarship girl that we share the same blood?"
The atmosphere suddenly freezes. Not many people know that Alfano is Alacrix's first cousin. Their fathers are siblings who competed for the throne of the Adibrata family company. That bloody rivalry passed down to their children, turning the brotherhood into eternal hostility.
"Our blood ties have been dead since your father tried to destroy my family," Alacrix hisses.
"And I will make sure that history repeats itself through that girl, Alacrix," Alfano replies with a provocative smirk.
Meanwhile, Putri is focused in chemistry class. However, her concentration is broken when a message arrives on her old phone from an unknown number: "Come to the school rooftop now, or your mother will lose her job today."
Putri's heart sinks. Her mother works as a laundress in one of the elite residences owned by Zea's family. Without thinking, Putri runs to the rooftop.
There, Zea is already waiting with two of her friends. In Zea's hand, there is a work contract document. "You know, your mother works at my aunt's house? One phone call from me, and your mother will be unemployed."
"What do you want, Zea?" Putri asks with a trembling voice.
"Stay away from Alacrix. But since yesterday's warning didn't work, now I need proof. This afternoon, you have to reject Alacrix in front of everyone and say that you are only using him for money," Zea says cruelly.
Just then, the rooftop door opens. Alacrix stands there, staring at the scene in front of him with anger. But, before Alacrix can speak, Alfano appears from behind the shadow of the door, roughly embracing Putri's shoulder in front of Alacrix's eyes.
"Sorry I'm late, Al. But it seems Putri prefers spending time with me now," Alfano says while glancing at Alacrix with a look full of victory.
Putri is silent, she looks at the document in Zea's hand, then looks at Alacrix's wounded face. For the sake of her mother, she has to make a painful choice.