Chapter 3 Their Dangerous Scandal

California, America.

"Papa, Keano is already strategizing-"

PLAK.

A hard slap flew across Keano's cheek, knocking his face to the side. The sudden slap jolted the entire living room that was eager to welcome Keano's arrival from Surabaya. The heat flowed on the slap mark, making Keano hold his own cheek. Soon Keano lifted his face and looked at Langit-sang Papa with a stunned look.

"Papa... why..." Keano couldn't continue his sentence after seeing the look of anger in Langit's eyes. Instantly his lips locked onto that look. But he felt really uncomfortable.

"You can't help but create trouble?" asked Langit with emphasis. "What else are you doing now?"

Keano looked at Langit and did not understand. "Wh-what's the matter, Papa? I just got back from Amsterdam. I didn't do anything!"

Langit's breathing was labored. The frown lines on his forehead sharpened his angry face. Langit then instructed one of the servants to turn on the television screen. After the servant seemed to be fiddling with the cell phone, the fourteen-inch screen immediately showed a video. The servant pressed something on the phone before the video played.

Keano frowned as he looked at the background of the room in the video that seemed familiar. His eyes squinted to clarify the vision. The video seemed to be from a hidden camera recording. But that was not what Keano focused on, but rather the scene of a man in a white shirt crushing a woman underneath him. They were sitting on a large sofa.

Keano's heart seemed to stop beating. Keano watched as the man kissed the woman passionately, then his kisses moved to her neck. When he saw her face caught on camera as she made room for him to nuzzle her neck, Keano stiffened.

Not to mention, the camera caught the man's face as he was about to straighten up to correct his position. That was his face.

It really was Keano's face!

"Papa... this..."

The screen turned off abruptly. The sky turned its gaze to Keano. "How are you going to explain the video to Papa?"

Keano didn't know what to say. His breath caught. All his vocabulary disappeared in an instant so that no words could be spoken. Keano still couldn't believe it because he saw himself in the video. Who had recorded it? Wasn't there no one in the VVIP room?

Even if it was a hidden camera, who put that thing there?

"Keano. You just returned from Amsterdam, and Papa entrusted you with the company." The sky pointed right at Keano's face, making Keano unable to move. "But what did you give to Papa?"

There was no answer from Keano. Everyone in this room was silent. The silence made Langit's loud voice echo.

"Customer satisfaction is down, now you're satisfying a woman?"

"That's not it, Pa-"

"You're really unreliable, Keano. Or is it possible that Papa has been wasting his time sending you to Amsterdam? Did you do the same thing as in that video back in Amsterdam?"

Keano gasped and shook his head quickly. "I didn't do anything like that at all. If you don't believe me, ask the assistant you appointed to look after me."

Langit rubbed her face roughly as she exhaled. He scowled, clutching his hair. "Then what do you want to do now?"

Keano really didn't know what to do. He still couldn't even digest how the video came to be, nor could he accept that the career that had just begun had started with this video.

"What can I do?" A woman's voice interjected, diverting Langit and Keano's gaze. "The good name of the Adirga company will definitely be tarnished. Since the video was circulated, there have been many incoming calls threatening termination of cooperation."

Langit looked at Keano. "Listen? You're new here, but you're making trouble!"

Keano sighed heavily and looked down. But Mama couldn't bear to see her son endure such embarrassment. For a few seconds they were silent as they were busy lost in their own thoughts. But she suddenly snapped her fingers.

"There's only one possible way to defuse the news that Keano is a female player," she said confidently, but a second later pleadingly. "But I don't think Keano will like this."

"Tell me!" urged Langit impatiently. Her voice echoed through the room.

"A case like this would be very bad if the situation was that Keano didn't have a partner. There will be even more publicity for sure."

"So? What should I do?" Keano asked with a look of anxiety on his face. A glimpse of resignation formed from the frown lines on his forehead.

"Whether you want to or not, you have to go through with the marriage with the woman in your video, Keano."

Keano's eyes immediately rounded to perfection. "What, Ma?!"

"Not a real marriage, but a contract marriage. You know... even if it doesn't guarantee that the news will disappear, it will definitely die down if they find out that the woman in the video is your wife."

Keano let out a rough breath. His mother's words surprised him even more than Langit's. Just hearing the word marriage gave Keano goosebumps for some reason. Keano looked the other way, thinking to have another way.

"Can't the media be stopped?" Keano asked his mother, his face full of hope.

"They can, but unfortunately this case involves you, son. You haven't come to Indo for a long time. People have been questioning the identity of the CEO of Adirga's Company. And of course it's good news for public consumption."

Langit groaned. "You should understand that you can't play around. You're carrying the company name, Keano!"

This was really confusing for Keano. He instantly regretted letting her control him. He didn't even realize that his game last night with the foreign woman was apparently quite hot judging from the video. But still, he wondered, how could Keano welcome the woman's strange behavior?

But there was no denying that the feeling last night was pleasant. In the midst of his misery, that woman made Keano forget about his problems even if it was only for a few moments. For the first time in many years, Keano felt the rush of electricity in his chest.

"Papa doesn't want to help you with this, Keano," said Langit which instantly made Keano frown in worry.

There was silence. Keano bit his inner lower lip. Usually he could find solutions to problems. But in this case, the solution suggested was marriage. Keano really didn't want to face that kind of relationship. But on the other hand, he couldn't find another solution. His brain was stuck.

"You should find that woman and call her here. Let's execute the marriage contract as soon as possible!"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the same city, in a hotel room, the sound of a hair dryer echoed. Nora was letting the hot wind from the hair dryer blow away her hair. Nora's gaze was facing a large mirror, but her mind was wandering back to when she woke up in a large room. Nora saw a sign on the door that read: VVIP Room.

Nora honestly couldn't remember when she booked the VVIP room. What she does remember is the last time she was at the bar table. She vaguely remembers drinking five glasses of alcohol and arguing with one of the bar tenders.

Nora closed her eyes and grimaced. It was embarrassing to remember how she had confronted the bar tender. After that Nora didn't remember anything else, and that provoked more worry. Moreover, she woke up in the VVIP room-which she didn't realize whether she booked the room or not?

It was stupid of Nora not to ask the staff there.

Drrrt. Drrrt. Drrrt.

The cell phone that rang and vibrated at the same time stopped Nora's voice. The woman's body jerked, looked into her pants pocket, then frowned. The phone display showed the name Vina, her coworker and best friend.

"Yes? Hello, Vina?" Nora greeted the person on the other side of the phone.

"NORA! OH MY, DID YOU SEE TODAY'S NEWS?!"

Nora gasped at Vina's excited screeching. She let out a long hiss. "Vina... slow down. What are you calling about?"

"You saw something I sent you. Hurry up!"

The phone hung up suddenly. Nora looked at the phone in astonishment. Out of curiosity, Nora opened the social media direct message after the message from Vina appeared. Her whole body suddenly stiffened on the spot as soon as she opened a video sent by Vina. The video looked like hidden camera footage, revealing the dark background of the room.

Nora felt familiar with this room.

Wait...

The video played a scene of a man pinning down a woman on a sofa in a white shirt that showed off his muscular arms. The man crushed the lips of the woman beneath him, and the woman accepted passionately.

Wait...

Nora felt familiar with the woman's posture. As Nora was recalling, the woman in the footage accidentally tilted her face. In the dimly lit room in the video, Nora could see the woman's face turned toward the camera, enjoying the man's kiss on her neck.

Instantly Nora relaxed, almost dropping the hair dryer. After a round of only vague memories, now in her head she could clearly remember the man who was recorded.

How could she be in this video with a strange man?! Wait, doing this hot fuck?!