"No! You reprimanded him out of anger, not out of love. I've noticed since that day. You can hate me like you used to, but don't hurt my son!"

"He's not your son!"

Lisa couldn't help but cry, hoping that her embrace would drown out the sound of Frans' screeching that might have reached Farrell's ears.

The old man refused to care, leaving the living room. There was a sob in the middle of the silence.

When Lisa touched Arka's cheek, her husband realized that Farrel was with them. He immediately embraced Farrel and kissed the top of his son's head.

"Grandpa always said that I'm not your son," Farrel said.

Arka raised his chin to stop the tears from falling. Lisa also rubbed Farrel's head so that their son would stop crying.

"Hey, what time is it? You'll be late, honey."

Lisa looked back and gave a beckoning order to the house-sitter aunt to approach with Farrel's schoolbag.

Farrel just obeyed being held by Siti, the servant. He waved, but Arka preferred to turn around because he had not been able to ease his sadness. After being sure that Farrel was out of the house, Arka could breathe a sigh of relief.

"Shit!"

Arka returned to the room. Lisa followed to calm Arka down this time. Arriving at the room, Arka sat slumped with his hands clenched into fists.

"Why did Dad to do this again, Lisa? He's angry with us, why did he hurt Farrel? He really loved Farrel before, so why did things turn out this way?"

Lisa approached Arka, pulling her husband's nape to sink into her embrace. A gentle rub on Arka's shoulder seemed unable to fade the sadness so quickly.

"Dad has always considered Farrel like his own grandson. But after knowing everything, why does he hate Farrel? He can hate me like he used to, why should he hate my son? He's my son, I raised him till now."

"Yes, dear. You must be patient. Don't get carried away with your emotions. Dad has his reasons. It's our fault for hiding my condition from them."

Arka released his embrace, raising his face to freely gaze into Lisa's watery eyes.

"Pull yourself together, darling."

Meanwhile, Farrel had not stopped crying. Despite starting the engine, he was reluctant to get into his car.

"You can't do that. Don't cry!" comforted a young waitress named Siti.

Farrel looked annoyed. He removed his arm from Siti when she asked him to get into the car.

"I don't want to go to school!"

Farrel ran quickly climbed up to the second floor. From behind the open door, he saw that his parents were sad. Especially his father.

"Grandpa is angry because of me. Papa also cried because of me."

Farrell skipped class today. He locked the door from the inside to avoid being disturbed. His grandfather's anger surprised him, not to mention his harsh words about him.

"He's not your son!"

"So this is what you're hiding? You want me to love this child? I'm not his grandfather!"

It wasn't until Farrell heard that condemnation that he realized he was only his father's adopted son.

*

In the afternoon, Lisa brought lunch to the hospital to make sure her husband had something to eat at lunchtime. When she arrived at her husband's office, Lisa was asked to wait.

Arka didn't want his concentration to be disturbed to analyze a patient's medical report.

"So I was really told to just wait, huh?" complained Lisa.

"Hold on, it's already done."

After taking off his glasses, Arka got up from his seat with some files. Lisa was annoyed that her husband really couldn't get away from work.

"Eat first! I don't want you to keep working!"

Arka didn't want to argue, just nodded in agreement for Lisa to start preparing the lunch that should be eaten this afternoon.

"I have a lot to do."

Lisa had to feed her husband directly from her hands. She didn't mind.

She is very happy to be able to serve a husband who is still faithful beside her with all the shortcomings that exist.

"More later."

Only a few mouthfuls were given.

Lisa leaned her head against the back of the sofa. Throughout, she only saw Arka busy again with the file in her hand.

A mischievous smile appeared on Lisa's lips. Her fingers gave Arka's neck a small pinch.

"Baby!"

Arka raises his shoulders slightly, an amused gesture. She couldn't be bothered. Lisa wanted to get Arka's attention by taking the file in her husband's hand.

"I'm more important than that file?"

Arka made a serious face. He bent down slightly to reach the file on the sofa beside Lisa.

"Of course the file is more important."

Lisa was surprised to hear Arka's serious answer. Her husband returned to opening the file while glancing at Lisa.

"Because this will help us to give Farrel a sibling."

Arka opened the file and placed it on the table. He took the small body into his arms. His eyes gestured to each medical report in front of him.

"Tomorrow morning when you wake up, you will do the test right away! Or do you want to take the test now to Dr. Grace?" Arka asked.

"It will be negative again. Even if I'm not sick, I'm getting old. I don't even expect to be a mom anymore."

Arka tried to smile despite his heartbreak. After brushing Lisa's wet cheeks, his lips gently kissed the narrow forehead. He wanted to reassure Lisa that everything would be fine.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be a good husband. My father has been a burden to you, huh?"

"No, your father is right. Don't blame him. He's just a lonely grandfather in his old age. He wants to hold his grandchildren. But I ..."

"If the result is negative too, we'll have to do IVF again, or maybe surrogacy," said Arka.

Arka took the file and showed it to Lisa. He skimmed it and didn't fully understand.

"The IVF process can be done again. But now the problem is with your uterus. If in fact you can get pregnant later, you will definitely be inconvenienced for all the medicines and all the treatments. Are you willing?"

"I'll do whatever it takes. I'll take good care of my pregnancy. Do it quickly, dear."

"Alright, read through this file first. I'm going to the toilet for a while."