Chapter 3. Take It Off, You'll Kill Me

"Why are you married to that woman?" asked a man who had just arrived and was cooking vodka.

"Why do you still ask? Obviously, I want to make her suffer."

"Marry the girl and then make Renata suffer? Selfish!"

Melvin looked at the man in front of him, shaking the glass filled with beer and a few pieces of ice.

"Isn't it enough to bankrupt her by taking over his family's company?"

"No! I'll make her suffer more, crawling on me, begging for mercy!"

The man in front of Melvin could only shake his head. Perhaps the man thought that if Melvin was a demon incarnate in the world, how could he torture a beautiful girl like Danas?

"Don't treat a woman like that. You'll get your comeuppance from God, Melvin. Your wife is beautiful, a designer, independent again!"

"Shut up, I don't want to listen to your judgment about that woman!"

"If you don't want to, just give it to me."

Grep!

Melvin grabbed the shirt collar of the man in front of him. "She's mine!"

"Relax, I'm just joking. After all, I can't possibly take what belongs to Raka Melvin Maheswara," said the man as he tried to release Melvin's hand gripping his shirt.

"Good, if you understand, Delta."

The man, called Delta, took a sip of the vodka that had been served earlier. "Thanks," he said to the bartender, who was wiping the glass.

Ilawana Delta Maheswara, an architect and Melvin's best friend. The man had been the designer of Melvin's buildings for the past few years. A man who had repented of approaching women, even though Delta was a notorious playboy who dated almost every student on his campus back in college.

"You ordered drinks without me?" asked a man who had just arrived, patting the shoulders of his two friends.

"Want a drink?" asked Delta.

"No, no one will drive me home if I drink, right? Besides-"

"Alcohol isn't good for your health, you always tell us, the doctors of the universe," Delta taunted as she sipped her drink.

"Dare you call me that again, I'll make you-"

"You're like always, Ja."

The man called Jagad could only straighten his suit.

Ilalang Jagad Rahwana, a doctor specializing in surgery, was handsome and had a good career in medicine, and he was a single man, just like his two friends who had many female fans, but his heart had yet to find the right girl to fill his heart.

"So what about your wedding?" asked Jagad.

"You didn't even attend my wedding, and now you're asking me now."

"Sorry, I wanted to attend but something happened that required me to have emergency surgery."

"It went well," Melvin replied.

Seeing that look on Melvin's face made Jagad raise one eyebrow. "Why, what's wrong?"

"The problem is that he didn't marry Renata."

"What does that mean?"

"He is not married to Renata but to the woman."

"Which women?"

"The woman that killed Amaira."

"Wait... let me get this right. Melvin isn't married to Renata, but to another woman?"

"That's right, Ja."

Bukh!

So quickly, a punch flew across Melvin's cheek; even Delta was surprised by what Jagad had just done to their friend.

"Fuck!" cursed Jagad. "You're dating Renata but married to the woman whose life you made suffer, where are your feelings Melvin? Huh?"

The corner of Melvin's lip was cut from the blow Jagad had given him. He knew he deserved it. Jagad might be a different kind of man, more precisely, respectful of a woman's heart.

Delta tried to calm down Jagad, who was emotional at the moment.

"Jagad, calm down!"

"I can't let him do whatever he wants, you two make me sick. Playing with women, like you have no self-respect. Look at you, Delta, when Sea leaves you, it's regret that you get, and I'm pretty sure if even this jerk would accept it, he would regret what he did."

"Shut up, you don't know anything. You know, she didn't even feel guilty after what she did, she even asked me what she did wrong. Making her life miserable is the best thing."

The atmosphere was getting tense. Even some people looked at the two arguing before the bartender's table. Delta did not know what to do; she could only break up the fight between her two friends.

"I won't regret doing it," Melvin said as he took his suit and put it on, then left the two friends.

The man hit the gas hard, sending the car speeding through the streets of Jakarta.

He hit the steering wheel several times out of annoyance.

"Aarrgh!" he shouted as he pulled the car over.

Feeling so upset, she tried to call, but the call was disconnected, making her even more annoyed.

"Ren, please pick up my phone," she muttered as she tried to call back the same number, but it didn't connect.

She threw her cell phone on the car seat in annoyance.

"It's all because of her," Melvin growled as he started the car and hit the gas.

His hands clenched the steering wheel tightly, making his arm muscles pop.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at his mansion.

The sound of the car door slamming was heard, coupled with the sound of the door closing so loudly.

"Danas... Danas..." the man called out with emotion.

He threw his jacket on the sofa while his shirt sleeves were lifted to his arms.

"Danas..." he called loudly, suddenly waking the name's owner.

Hearing his name being called made him immediately go downstairs and find Melvin with a face full of emotion.

"Y-you called me?" asked Danas stammeringly.

"Why did I have to call me so many times, did you not hear me calling you."

"S-sorry, I fell asleep."

"S-sorry, did you say?"

Again the man tortured Danas, this time not grabbing her neck but strangling the girl.

A shocked, frightened face could be seen. Danas tried to remove Melvin's hands from her neck; the man wanted to kill her.

"Who told you to sleep at this hour? You think I brought you here to sleep?"

"Let go, Melvin. You're going to kill me." Danas stammered.

His voice choked, and he had so much trouble breathing the man in front of him was suddenly angry at him without him knowing why.

"Turns out you're afraid of death."

A devilish smile appeared on Melvin's face; his grip strengthened, Danas's face turned red, and his hands patted Melvin's hands to release the man's choke from his neck.

The man before him differed greatly from the friendly man he used to know. The man was filled with hatred; no more compassion for him.

"Will I die today?" asked Danas silently. "It turns out I can't take care of myself well." She said again.

Now he was resigned to what the man was doing to him.

"I really hate the face you're showing!" growled Melvin as he pushed Danas' body, making her fall to the floor.

Hosh! Hosh! Hosh!

The girl was able to breathe freely again, holding her neck. Her body stiffened as Melvin approached her, she tried to step back to escape, but he kept following her.

"You deserve it, worth suffering. You murderer."