Me, After You: Sekar
At fifty-one, Sekar is the epitome of corporate perfection in Jakarta. An iron-willed CEO who commands boardrooms by day but returns to an empty, quiet house by night. Exhausted by conventional dating and the fragile egos of men threatened by her power, success, and age, she chooses a radically different path. She taps into The Magnolia Circle, an elite, underground invitation-only agency providing highly educated, psychologically trained male companions on a fixed monthly retainer.
Enter Nikau, a handsome, emotionally intelligent younger man who knows exactly when to lead and when to let Sekar completely drop her flawless guard. What begins as a transparent, strictly bound business transaction quickly blurs into a profound emotional and passionate sanctuary. As they navigate long-hidden vulnerabilities, the judgment of society, and sudden threats from Sekar’s toxic past, they must decide if they are brave enough to tear up the contract and choose a real, unscripted future together.
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Chapter: Chapter Seven - HomeI make eight-figure calls before lunch without blinking. Restructuring? Routine. Hostile takeovers? A walk in the park. But the second this man mentioned heading back to his own place, I was glued to the couch like an amateur who'd forgotten how to think.God, Sekar. Get it together.Nikau stood by the door of Arga's room, laptop charger neatly coiled in his hand. The borrowed clothes he'd lived in for two weeks were folded on the mattress. He was actually packing to leave for the first time since my surgery."Doctor says you're okay on the stairs now," he said, though it sounded like he was convincing himself more than me. "Wiwin
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-12
Chapter: Chapter Six - DomesticatedBack in Jakarta, I transformed into a woman who happily melted into every piece of advice Nikau gave — including his non-negotiable decree that I sleep in Arga's bedroom on the ground floor rather than my own room upstairs."You had surgery three days ago, sayang," he said firmly when I tried to protest. "Those stairs are the worst enemy your stitches have right now.""I can take them slowly, Nik.""You could. But you shouldn't have to. Let me take care of this."I was too exhausted to argue — and truthfully, part of me loved it. So I let him arrange a stack of pillows in Arga's room, still frozen in my son's teen
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-11
Chapter: Chapter Five - The Maneki NekoI don't cook for people anymore.I used to. In the early years with Vino I cooked constantly — elaborate, exhausting dinners for his colleagues and his mother and men whose names I've since let go, standing at the stove in heels because he liked me "put together" when there were guests. Cooking, in that house, had been a performance staged for an audience that never once cleared a plate.Somewhere along the way I'd stopped. It was easier to let the kitchen become a room I passed through.Food became something Wiwin arranged, or a restaurant delivered, or I ate standing over the sink at eleven at night reading a P&L.So I don't fully understand why, three days after the picnic, I heard myself say into the phone: "Come over Friday. I'll cook."Silence on the line. Then, carefully, like he understood the size of it: "You'll cook. For me.""Don't make it a thing, Nik.""I would never," he said, and I could hear that he absolutely was.He arrived at seven with a bottle of wine he never me
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-10
Chapter: Chapter Four - A New ReasonI had been sitting at the kitchen island for half an hour without turning on a single light.No open laptop. No unread emails. Not a single decision demanded of me tonight. Outside the window, the dark pool caught the soft garden light — rippling quietly, as if bearing witness that for the first time in over a decade, I could sit still in my own home without being hollowed out by guilt.The three gold charms chimed softly on my wrist. Faint sunscreen and lakeside grass still clung to my skin. I had changed out of the burnt amber dress an hour ago, yet instead of dropping it in the laundry basket, I found myself hanging it gently on the back of my bedroom door.My thoughts drifted back three months. Before Sary's joke. Before the envelope. It had actually started with Arga, on his regular Sunday video call from Leeds.He had just finished a long lab session — hair a mess, a chemical smudge on his sleeve, and that fierce, resolute expression he'd worn since fourteen whenever he had thor
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-05
Chapter: Chapter Three - Any Color But BlackHow could I show up empty-handed?I had been pacing in front of my refrigerator since seven in the morning. In the corporate world, showing up unprepared was tactical suicide. But Nikau's text from last night had been absolute: Literally nothing, Sei. Just yourself.I closed the fridge and faced my open wardrobe. The dotted, burnt amber calf-length dress with flutter sleeves was already on my body, and it felt entirely unnatural. Three times I had almost torn it off to retreat into my standard armor — sharp black linen, navy. This dress had languished in the dark corner of my closet for two years. Too soft. Too... feminine for a woman who had to project ironclad authority.Just as I was weighing a black blazer to bury it under, my phone vibrated. Video call. My son, Arga — still awake at his hour, of course."Ma, seriously? What's with the blazer?" His eyes narrowed through the screen. "Put the blazer back... to wherever it came from! Your dress is enough. Jakarta panas!" He leaned cl
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-05
Chapter: Chapter Two - Flip-flops at Terminal 3Six days until Saturday.Sunday night. Once the house fell quiet again, I sat at the kitchen island nursing a glass of water, the compass charm spinning slowly with every movement of my fingers. My phone lay beside it, the drafted message still open. I retyped it a fourth time — shorter now, stripped of corporate padding — and before I could delete it again, hit send. 22:11.Good night, Nikau. Thank you for the card and the bracelet. — SekarA minute later:Good night, Sekar. I've been waiting for your text. I hope your trip goes smoothly this week. Rest well. Sleep well, talk soon.Sleep well, talk soon. I stared at the screen far longer than a text message warranted. That night, for the first time in ages, I fell asleep before midnight.Monday. 05:47.My phone vibrated against the nightstand. Not an alarm — a voice message and a twenty-three-second video. I tapped play with bleary eyes."Good morning, Sekar. Just got back from a run. Excuse the messy hair."His baritone was raspy an
최신 업데이트: 2026-07-05
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