Chapter Nine - Exhibit A

Two weeks after that night, Nikau had his own toothbrush in my bathroom. For the first time in my life, I didn't micromanage the pace. I let things flow.

There was no formal talk about him practically moving in. No "so, what are we?" conversation I used to think was mandatory. He was just... there. In the kitchen before I came down, reading on the sofa at night, turning my lonely weekends into unplanned adventures. Exhilarating, and completely grounding.

Was this still part of the agency's premium service? I doubted it. No man could fake this level of devotion just to please a client. Right?

 

Late that afternoon, Wiwin walked into my office with a telling smirk. "Ms. Sekar, there's a... Mr. Nikau waiting in the lobby."

I checked the clock. 6:10 PM. "Did he say what he wants?"

"He said he's here to pick you up.”

I came downstairs fifteen minutes later to find half my staff pretending to be busy around reception — a ghost town at this hour, usually. Nikau sat calmly on the sofa in a button-down in a shade he knew I loved, flipping through a finance magazine that was clearly not his usual reading.

"Hey," he said, standing the second he saw me.

I could feel six pairs of eyes burning into my back. "What are you doing here?" Half flustered, half smiling despite myself.

"Happened to be driving past? And thinking of you, obviously.”

"You don't 'happen to drive past' my office, Nik. It's in the dead center of the city.”

"Aite, fair enough." A slow, striking grin. "I took the long way."

He didn't kiss my lips in the lobby — a soft kiss to my cheek, my laptop bag taken from my hand without asking, his palm briefly at my lower back as we walked out. That small touch was more than enough.

 

The moment I buckled my seatbelt, my phone buzzed. Wiwin, with a screenshot of a company W******p group I was obviously not in. Wide-eye emojis, and a pinned message from the Head of Marketing: WHO IS THAT??? DOES MS. SEKAR HAVE A BOYFRIEND???

I burst out laughing. Nikau glanced over from the wheel. "What's funny?”

"My office is in shambles." I flashed the screen. "You just made me the number one gossip topic.”

"Nice," he murmured, unbothered.

"How is that nice?”

"Yeh, it is. Makes me a bit proud. Did anyone say I look handsome?”

"Oh, please.”

Before I could reply to Wiwin, the inner circle chat popped up.

[W******P GROUP — Lucky 7]
Rosa: Dinner. My place. Friday 7 PM. Bring your man! NO EXCUSES!!

I held the phone toward him at the red light. "We have plans Friday."

"We?"

"Yes. You fall under the category of 'your man.'"

His smile widened, eyes back on the road. "First time I've been invited to something via someone else's group chat."

"Welcome to my world."

 

Rosa's house that Friday was buzzing — far livelier than our Sunday brunches, because all seven men were present. Some helped Rosa in her kitchen, Beck at her elbow following instructions with monastic patience; a few were on the deck with wine; and one was cornered on the living room sofa.

Nikau.

"So," Sary sat across from him, legs crossed, full interrogation mode. "The ink. Spill. What does it mean?"

He rolled his sleeves higher, exposing the black patterns wrapping wrist to shoulder — tight geometric lines weaving like woven flax and fish scales. Nothing random.

"It wasn't done in one go," he said. "There are layers. Dad's Australian — not much story there, and not much of him either. The ink is all Mum's side. Her mother is Javanese. Her father was Māori. This near the elbow is travel — we moved around a lot when I was a kid. The forearm is newer—"

"Okay," Sary cut in, "this will take all night if you explain every line."

"Easily an hour." A soft laugh. "Every mark has a purpose. I don't wear anything that doesn't mean something."

"But the first one," Karin leaned in. "The tā moko. Where is it?"

His voice dropped into a quieter register. "The whai. The stingray."

"Where is it?"

"It's on his stomach, CAN'T SEE IT, LADIES!" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Dead silence. Every head snapped toward me.

"Oh wow." Sary was halfway off her seat. "Why did you answer for him?"

"I—" My face caught fire. "It was just... an FYI."

"FYI, my ass!" Nina pointed at me from across the room. "You've SEEN it! Caught you!"

"It was after Japan," I surrendered. "He was changing. I accidentally caught a glimpse."

"Oh my god," Karin squealed. "Sekar saw Nik shirtless—"

"A glimpse!" I emphasized. In vain. No one was listening.

Nikau, who had watched my disastrous defense with an amused smirk, stood. "Aite. Who needs a refill? I'll get a fresh bottle."

He grabbed the empty bottle — a blatant escape — but stopped behind my chair, leaned down, and kissed the crown of my head.

"Tell them what else you saw, sayang," he murmured, just loud enough for the whole room, and strolled to the kitchen like he hadn't dropped a bomb.

The room exploded.

"WHAT ELSE DID YOU SEE?!" Sary's wine glass rattled. 

"SEKAR. ANSWER ME!"

"NOTHING!" My face wasn't hot; it was combusting.

"A 'glimpse,' but you remember his exact ink?" Karin squinted, pointing a spoon.

"Who needs a refill?" Nikau's voice sang from the kitchen, laced with laughter that helped nothing.

"What else did you see, Sekaaar?" Nina was holding her stomach.

"I hate all of you," I muttered into my hands, smiling through it.

"Sekar," Andin said, the calmest voice in the hysteria. "Did you two sleep together?"

Nikau returned with a fresh Pinot Noir and slid onto the sofa beside me as if he hadn't sent the room into a frenzy.

"You are unbelievable," I hissed.

"Just being honest, sayang," he whispered back.

For two seconds, the room hovered in amused awe. Then Rosa shouted from the kitchen, "OKAY, WHO'S HELPING ME CHOP ONIONS? I'M CRYING AND IT'S NOT FROM FEELINGS!"

The spell broke into laughter that saved us both.

 

Later, Karin — on the rug near my feet as usual — grabbed my wrist. "Wait. There are MORE? You had three last time I checked. And you never told us what they mean."

Before I could formulate a cover story, Nikau spoke up, unshielded pride in his voice.

"The compass was the first card. The airplane, the day I picked her up at the airport. The picnic basket, our first date. And the two new ones—"

”Nik," I cut in sharply, cheeks flaring. "You don't need to narrate the whole thing."

"Why not?" Genuine confusion.

Too late. Sary was bolt upright. "Wait — each one is a moment? 

Okay. Before Nik spills everything, let's guess." She lifted my wrist like evidence. "The cat. Maneki-neko. That's Tokyo, obviously."

"The hospital," Grace said. "But why a lucky cat? You nearly ruptured."

"Because," Nikau supplied, skipping the suspense entirely, "it was the moment I got to show her who I really am. Her misfortune was my luckiest break."

A synchronized "awwww" rippled through the room, with squeals that made me want to dissolve into the floorboards.

"Okay." Sary wiped an imaginary tear. "The house. We know he's been staying there — Sary has seen the apron, ladies. So what's the house for?"

"Maybe they bought a place together?" Nina gasped.

"Too soon," Andin said into her glass.

"Hang on." Grace looked at me softly, already deducing. "Is it the guest room... or not the guest room anymore?"

I nudged Nikau's arm. "Your turn. Answer them."

"The first time I saw her actual bedroom," he said calmly, entirely oblivious to blast radius. "The one upstairs."

"NO WAY!" Sary shrieked.

"SEEING THE ROOM, OR—"

"Hey, stop, stop." My face was the exact color of a ripe tomato. 

"Enough."

"I was asking for clarification—"

"It means she let me sleep there," Nikau added, tone perfectly innocent. "Not the guest room anymore."

"OH MY GOD," Karin screamed. "HE SLEEPS IN SEKAR'S ROOM—"

"WAIT, WAIT—" I stood, trying to regain control of a situation fully off the rails. "Nik, you are not making this easier!"

He looked up at me, the picture of unbothered innocence. "Sei, why are you panicking?"

The room erupted. Rosa marched out of the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, took one look at my crimson face and his baffled expression, and laughed harder than anyone.

"That was—" Sary pointed her wine glass at Nikau, catching her breath. "Wow. Take notes, gentlemen. This dude has serious game."

 

While the women were still obsessing over the bracelet, the seven men had clustered across the room. Sam leaned on the counter with his wine, observing Kiran — who had only started appearing at these gatherings two weeks ago, after Karin finally stopped postponing their first meeting, and still looked a little guarded among people with a decade of history.

"So. You're the noob," Mesa said, slapping his shoulder.

"That obvious?”

"Incredibly," Dane laughed. "You're doing more listening than talking. Give it a week."

"The rule of this circle," Beck added, adjusting the apron Rosa had assigned him, "is simple. We make them happy."

"That simple?"

"Real," Sesa said, calm as ever. "Anything bad happens, Grace tells Rosa. Rosa tells Sary. Sary tells—"

"The whole of Jakarta," Nikau chimed in from across the room, eyes still half on our sofa.

The men roared. Kiran's shoulders visibly dropped. Sam raised his glass. "Welcome to the fold, brother."

Kiran smiled — genuine, easy, nothing like the stiff expression he'd arrived with. "Thanks. Karin told me a lot about you guys. I thought you'd be more—"

"Intimidating?" Dane guessed.

"Yeah."

"Oh, we are," Mesa said, face dropping dead serious for a beat before the grin broke. "If you give us a reason."

 

From my spot on the sofa, I watched the two groups — the women who had been my family for over a decade, and the men who had stepped into our lives these past months, joking as if they'd known each other forever.

Nikau caught my eye and smiled — still no idea he'd bared the entire soul of my bracelet to the six most talkative women in Jakarta.

I couldn't be angry. It was impossible to be angry at a man who spoke about every detail of you with such pride, as if loving you were the greatest achievement of his life.

"Alright." Karin tapped her glass with a spoon. "Before you're all too drunk to listen — announcement. I. AM. PLANNING. A. BIRTHDAY. GETAWAY. Villa in Lombok, booked. One week. The whole circle, plus everyone who's officially part of it now. Put in your leave requests!"

Nikau raised a subtle eyebrow at me across the room. You good with this?

I lifted my glass slightly. Perfect.