DHSastrawaridja
"Congratulations on the new role, Mas Tony. But tell me... why take it? Was it just for the optics? Or was it purely viral-based? Since when did you join the circle?"
Tony's voice remained a steady anchor. "The President asked. I didn't have the luxury of saying no."
Without a word, Mayang flipped open her laptop, revealing a grim mosaic of data. "The logging in Bukit Barisan, the flawed concessions, the shell companies used by forest barons-"
Tony exhaled, the words slipping out before he could weigh them. "Yes, I know... this is about deforestation, isn't it?"
He regretted it the moment it left his lips. The air shifted. Mayang's gaze ignited with a cold fire; he had just oversimplified her life's work. She didn't lash out. Instead, she looked at the sweet cake on his plate.
With a movement so graceful-reminiscent of a leading lady in a high-society wedding scene-Mayang took the plate, cut a small piece, and lifted the fork to Tony's mouth.
Tony froze. Detesting a scene, he played along. He accepted the cake. The sweetness flooded his palate, but the atmosphere remained frigid.
"Do you like it?" Mayang asked, her tone soft, her eyes like ice. "Yes... it's sweet." "Sweet?" Mayang set the plate down. "Do you have diabetes, Mas?" "No. Why?"
Mayang leaned in, locking her eyes onto his. "What you are about to do is treat a small scrape with expensive medicine, while ignoring a chronic case of diabetes. The crimes of the forest barons upstream-that is the disease that will rot the entire body before it kills it. If you are only here to heal the scrape, you aren't an architect of resilience."
She paused, her voice a sharp blade. "You're just the clean-up crew they hired to sanitize their conscience."
Tony went still. The sweetness in his mouth turned to ash. He realized then: the woman across from him wasn't just a stubborn activist. She was the fusion of integrity and raw power he desperately needed to survive the storm.
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