Chapter 2: A Different Face

Before heading back, he took a moment to visit his mother’s grave one last time.

“I promise you, Mom, I’ll pay back all your debts and return Dad’s money… I’m graduating from the academy in another year!” Brandon had vowed in his heart back then. Ever since that day, his once cheerful, warm face had turned cold and reserved.

Brandon hadn't bothered saying goodbye to his father back then either. He had slipped away quietly, figuring it was pointless anyway—it would only trigger another outburst and berating from the man.

What Brandon didn't know at the time was that the man wasn't his biological father. When Bahar married his mother—a former overseas domestic worker in Malaysia—she was already pregnant. Upon getting married, she decided to remain a homemaker rather than heading back overseas.

Brandon had discovered the truth entirely by accident.

It happened when he had returned home to hand-deliver an invitation to his police academy graduation, where he was set to be commissioned as an officer with the rank of Second Lieutenant.

Arriving at the house, Brandon was stunned to find that his father had already remarried. Living in the house was his father’s new wife—a young, attractive woman around twenty-six years old, who was pregnant with her first child.

However, his new stepmother treated him kindly. She was the one who welcomed him at the door since his father was still at the office and wouldn't be back until late afternoon.

When his father finally arrived, he remained silent as Brandon set the invitation down on the coffee table. Brandon then retreated to his room to rest, not a single word exchanged between the two.

There was no joy, no pride—nothing you would expect from a father learning his son was about to become a commissioned police officer. His father’s expression remained utterly blank and indifferent.

Later that evening, feeling hungry, Brandon headed toward the dining table for dinner, only to overhear a conversation between his father and his new wife.

“So you’re really not going to attend Brandon’s graduation ceremony?” asked Winah, Bahar’s wife.

“Why should I go? I’m not his biological father. Who knows who knocked Kanah up—she was already three months pregnant when I married her!”

The words struck Brandon like a bolt out of lightning.

“Just look at him—does he look anything like me? It’d be embarrassing, and people would start asking questions if I showed up. It’s better if I don't go at all!” Bahar grumbled to his wife. Winah immediately fell silent, not daring to press any further.

Brandon’s appetite vanished instantly. He could hardly process how the man he had considered his father his entire life could so bluntly disown him as his own blood.

“Hmm… no wonder he was never good to me growing up… and my face really doesn't look like his at all!” Brandon thought bitterly, sitting slumped on his bed.

“Who is my real father then…?” The question burned relentlessly in his heart.

The next morning, Brandon bade farewell to his father and stepmother, canceling his original plan to stay for a week.

The revelation that he wasn't his father’s biological son shattered Brandon’s spirit. While his stepmother looked surprised by his sudden departure, Bahar acted as if nothing had happened. Still, Brandon maintained his respect. He shook the older man’s hand, as well as his stepmother's—even though she was only three years older than him, he showed her respect as his father’s—or rather, his stepfather’s—wife.

From that day on, Brandon had never set foot in Bahar’s house again. He once sent money to clear his mother’s old debts, but he transferred it through his cousin, Ira. Parmin, Ira’s father, was the older brother of Brandon’s late mother.

According to Ira, Bahar merely uttered a brief thank you when she delivered the fifty million rupiah in cash to the house, never once asking where Brandon was or where he was currently stationed.

Unaware of the underlying truth, Ira had asked Brandon if he was having issues with Bahar, but Brandon simply replied that everything was fine.

Brandon was determined to keep this a secret, holding onto a quiet mission to one day investigate and uncover the true identity of his biological father.

Now, stripped of his officer status, Brandon felt even less inclined to return to Sukabumi. He wanted to forge a new destiny in Jakarta.

Yet, his resolve to find his biological father never wavered. He still had a few tens of millions of rupiah left in his savings.

So, after leaving the force, Brandon rented a small, modest room for five hundred thousand rupiah a month.

Three days after his dishonorable discharge, Brandon arranged to meet his former superior officer from Bandung, who was now stationed at the National Police Headquarters—Senior Commissioner Roni.

They agreed to meet at a quiet café, as Commissioner Roni felt uncomfortable meeting Brandon at headquarters given the nature of his discharge.

Brandon had only one goal for the meeting: to ask his former superior for help finding a job…!

TO BE CONTINUED