Chapter 3

“Just like in the app, Sir!” Grace Santika said as she hopped onto the back seat of the motorcycle.

Their destination was from Kambang Iwak to Grand Garden, one of the top residential areas in Palembang. The trip usually took around fifteen to thirty minutes—a fairly long ride since the roads were typically packed with traffic at this time of day.

“Getting off work, Miss?” Stefan asked as he opened his helmet visor. The howling wind slapped against his face.

“Yeah, just finished work. I was supposed to meet up with someone, but it was canceled. I just got scammed.”

“How did you get scammed?”

“This guy wiped out the entire balance in one of my digital wallets. It seems like my phone’s been hacked.”

“I’ll help you out later!”

Grace couldn't believe her ears. What could a ride-hailing driver possibly do to help? Pray for her or something? Grace simply brushed off Stefan’s words.

Upon arriving at her house, Grace paid the eighteen-thousand-rupiah fare to Stefan. However, the handsome man didn't leave right away; instead, he offered his help once more.

“You must have given him your personal data. How much money did he take?”

“Quite a lot. Twelve million rupiahs.”

Stefan borrowed Grace’s laptop and sat down on the front porch. Grace didn't have an ounce of faith that this driver could recover her money. How could he possibly manage that?

Stefan then asked for the man’s phone number. After that, he installed a versatile software of his own design onto Grace’s laptop—a program named SigmaX. Lines of strange programming code, difficult to decipher, quickly flooded Grace’s laptop screen.

*Boom!*

“Here’s his face!”

Grace nodded slowly in utter disbelief. “That’s him! How on earth do you know that?”

“I’ve located this scoundrel Joko’s IP address. He’s currently in Kenten, inside a cramped boarding room.”

Stefan asked Grace whether she wanted Joko brought over or if simply getting her money back was enough. Hearing the question, Grace was flustered and at a loss for words, still unable to wrap her head around what was happening.

“Uh... well, as long as I get my money back, that’s fine.”

“Got it!” Stefan gave a thumbs-up.

Stefan tore through Joko’s firewall and instantly brought down his entire computer system. Next, Stefan took full control of Joko’s phone using nothing more than Grace’s laptop.

“Is this the phone number linked to your digital wallet?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

*Boom!*

“Has it gone through?”

“Alhamdulillah! Thank you so much, Mr. Driver!”

Now Joko wouldn't be able to pull off his scams anymore, as Stefan had planted a virus into both his computer and phone. Stefan then installed a security system on Grace’s laptop and phone to protect her from future cyber attacks.

“Are you seriously just a ride-hailing driver? If you’re open to it, I can recommend you at the company where I work.”

“Sure. What position do you hold there anyway?”

“I’m a secretary. Thanks again, truly.” Grace handed Stefan two hundred thousand rupiahs as a token of her gratitude.

...

After offering a greeting, Stefan stepped inside. Surprising everyone, Stefan had bought his family’s favorite food to soften their hearts and mend their broken relationship.

“Surprise!” Stefan said with a bright smile, placing all the food packages on the living room table.

“Don’t tell us you just stole those,” snapped Bobby, who was lounging on the sofa with his legs stretched out.

“He probably just begged for them,” added his wife, who was engrossed in watching TV.

“I won't eat anything bought with dirty money,” sneered Robert, busy playing video games.

“I refuse to accept food from a guy like you!” mocked Luchy, completely absorbed in her social media.

“Husband, don't taint my family with food from questionable sources. How could you possibly earn that much money from just three hours of driving?” Even his own wife looked down on him.

Stefan pulled off his gray sweater—dingy and covered in dust—wiped his dirty, greasy face, and replied to them, “I just helped a woman whose phone had been hacked. She gave me some money, and I bought all this with it.”

Bobby stood up and stared straight at Stefan. “So you can talk smoothly now, even if it’s pure nonsense. You haven't recovered from your madness at all. If you keep acting like this, we’re committing you to a mental hospital.”

“Get back to your room!” his mother-in-law barked.

Lionny watched Stefan’s face, which showed not a hint of gloom despite being showered with insults. Expressionless, her husband simply walked into his bedroom. Though disgusted and annoyed, Lionny still had a heart—after all, Stefan was still her husband.

However, her parents and younger siblings wouldn't allow Lionny to show Stefan even a shred of respect. They remained resolute in wanting Stefan to die or give up on his own. Worse yet, whenever Grandpa Sanjaya asked about him, they frequently made up false stories, claiming they were taking good care of Stefan without a trace of hatred. That was the reality.

In truth, as anyone could see, they treated Stefan like dirt at home, without giving him an ounce of respect. Bobby instructed Lionny to throw everything Stefan had bought into the trash, as they refused to touch any of it.

Late that night, when everyone in the house was asleep, Lionny quietly slipped into Stefan’s bedroom. She offered him some dinner.

“Did your parents and siblings like what I brought?”

Lionny remained silent. The beautiful woman with long, cascading hair kept studying Stefan’s face. Countless questions swirled in her mind—was Stefan still suffering from amnesia, or had he truly recovered one hundred percent?

Lionny had saved only the fried flat rice noodles, intending to share a meal with Stefan. She wanted to test his recovery. “Where did you buy this, Stefan?”

“At your favorite place, of course, sweetheart. A Ling’s Flat Rice Noodles.”

“And how many times have we eaten there?”

“Ten times. About four or five years ago.”

Lionny gasped. “What do I usually drink?”

“Always mango juice. And I always order avocado juice.”

Lionny then opened the closet and laid all of its contents out on the bed. “Do you remember all these awards?”

“I received this certificate when I attended a campus seminar during my first semester. This plaque was for winning a bug-hunting contest in the game RoyalX. This medal was for winning an antivirus software competition. I got this medal for taking second place in a game tournament. This trophy... this medal...” Stefan recounted every single one of his twenty-plus awards, one by one.

Lionny pulled Stefan into a tight embrace, kissing him repeatedly. The sweet woman wept, sobbing uncontrollably. All this time she had believed Stefan would never recover, but she was completely wrong. Now, with her own eyes, she was witnessing her husband fully healed and back to normal.

The next morning, with a beaming face, Lionny broke the news to her father, mother, and two siblings, telling them that Stefan had recovered.

Her father simply turned his face away. “The doctor declared he would suffer from lifelong amnesia.”

“Dad, please see for yourself and talk to him. He’s back to normal. Now, please let him work at your company.”

“Never! Stefan once turned down your grandfather’s offer to work at a Sanjaya Group company, arrogantly rejecting it. Besides, looking at his current state, what could he possibly do at my company? He can’t even clean properly!”

Stefan was already geared up in his ride-hailing outfit: a plain sweater, chino pants, sneakers, and a cheap helmet. He started up his beat-up automatic scooter and let it warm up for a moment.

By midday, while he was busy handling ride orders, Grace sent Stefan a text message, explaining that several employees at her office had had their phones hacked. Some had lost as much as thirty million rupiahs. The hacker was highly likely targeting the company’s security system, as using employee data would make it easy to breach the network. If that happened, the company would suffer massive financial losses. Therefore, Grace desperately needed help from Stefan the ride-hailing driver—or rather, Stefan the master hacker.

Stefan gave Grace a call. “Where do you work?”

“At PT Sanjaya Sawit.”