1 Coming Home
Renessa looked at the magnificent mansion in front of her in doubt as she took a step down from the taxi. After almost eleven years of living outside of the country to finish her studies, she finally came back to her home. She finally came back to the place where she spent most of her time with her mother in her childhood.
The driver who drove her immediately unloaded her worn-out silver suitcase and a large backpack while Renessa's eyes were still glued to the building in front of her. Disbelief, happiness, sadness, and some other emotions danced inside her eyes as she looked at her house. It was so long, too long since she left the house.
"This should be all your belongings," The driver said with a loud harsh voice, waking her from her mind that was ready to take a walk in memory lane. Renessa blinked and turned around and saw that the driver was looking at her with a slightly annoyed expression as he stood beside her luggage.
"Thank you," said Renessa while extending some bills to the driver. The driver was smiling politely when receiving the money and nodded. After that he then got in the car and drove his cab away. Renessa almost sighed as she looked at the taxi that disappeared in the intersection. The driver looked impatient and annoyed, but the moment she gave her a big tip, a smile formed on his face.
'I must have also looked like that when I got a big tip from the customer," Renessa thought as a tiny smile appeared on the corner of her lips.
Renessa looked at her suitcase and the big backpack with a sigh. Her belonging was not much even though she spent more than half her life outside the country. This is not strange, considering her father rarely sends her any monthly allowance. He only gave her some money to start college and that's it. Moreover, she left many of her belongings there since she could not bring everything back. She frowned as she remembered all her furniture, books, and other things that she left in the garbage dump in front of her small apartment.
It was a miracle that she could get a full scholarship and finish college in advance. She never wasted her money and has always been so frugal, even stingy sometimes. She rarely buys useless things and only buys what she needs. All her clothes were worn out since she would never buy new clothes if her old clothes are still good. She bought most of her clothes in the thrift shop.
Renessa looked back at the mansion in front of her. The magnificent mansion she left when she was 9 years old now appears even smaller now. In her childhood memory, this mansion used to appear like a palace where the princess and prince lived. But when looking at this house after 11 years, this mansion was not as magnificent and large as she imagined.
Renessa laughed bitterly. Maybe her innocence has been eroded by the hard experience. Her head, which used to be filled with stories of beautiful and romantic fairytales and happy endings, has been crushed by the reality of a bitter life.
Many things have changed, the color of the walls that was once white is now painted blue, and the garden of roses her beloved mother loves in the yard before has now been replaced with a bed of tulip and a big pond fish with a magnificent fountain.
"Is there anything that I can help you with, miss?" The voice of a middle-aged man interrupted Renessa's thoughts.
Renessa sighed. After taking a step back into the country, she could not control the memories that started to fill her mind. She needed to stop doing that or she would get into the problem soon. Renessa turned to the side and found a man who wore a dark blue uniform with the word security guard on his left chest.
He must be one of the security guards here.
"I am Renessa Santoso," Renessa introduces herself to the security guard in front of her calmly.
The security guard looked at her in confusion as if he was waiting for her to say something else. Since Renessa did not appear like she would continue to talk, the guard repeated his question, "Do you need something, Miss Santoso?"
Renessa blinked. The security guard didn't recognize her and looked confused about what the purpose of the girl's introduction was.
Renessa felt a bit annoyed when she looked at the oblivious expression on the guard's face. It was clear on his face that he ridiculed her for her odd behavior. Although his reaction was understandable. He did not know her since he never saw her around.
"This is Rudi Santoso's house, right?" Renessa asked again while frowning. The chance that his father moved from here and no one told her about that was very low. This must be a new guard. Renessa thought to calm herself.
"Yes, that's right," the security guard confirmed while looking at Renessa with a bit of suspicion. This woman came and introduced herself with the same surname as her employer. He had worked there for almost five years and had never heard his employer mention any family member with the name Renessa Santoso.
All this year he was working there, he had met almost all members of his employer's extended family and had never seen someone like the girl in front of her. The girl was so beautiful and he would surely remember her had he met her before.
Is she an illegitimate child who came looking for her father based on her mother's will? Or maybe she's just a swindler trying to trick me? Wasn't there ever a fraud with this kind of motive? This woman could have carried a large suitcase and bag to carry her stolen goods. Juno, the security guard for the Santoso family, began to suspect various possibilities in his head while looking at Renessa with a probing gaze.
"Is Rudi Santoso inside?" Renessa asked calmly.
"He was not at home, miss. You can leave a message or come back later when he gets home," the man offered.
"Can I go in and wait inside? I need to see him," Renessa persuaded the man. She understood this man did not recognize her as one of the owners of the house because she had been away for too long. She also felt so tired and wanted to rest after a long flight. She refused to wait in other places and wanted to get inside right now.
She initially wanted to tell the security guard that she was one of the owners of the house but she could already guess that this security guard might not believe her. The shabby clothes she used right now made her look more like a busker than one of the residents of this elite complex.
Before coming home, Renessa had contacted Rosalin, an old maid who was still working at her house. She just got the maid's phone number from Om Jefri, a friend of her late mother who had been looking for her whereabouts all this time.
The maid bursted into tears when Renessa told the maid who she was. The woman was so happy that she was finally able to speak to Renessa again. She had thought that Renessa might have been dumped by her father somewhere and had died but they couldn't do anything about it since they have no proof.
According to Rosalin's story, almost all the maids in the house had quit and were replaced with new ones. The only people who could recognize her in this house besides his father were Rosalin and Kano, the sickly old gardener.
Her father didn't tell anyone that he sent Renessa to a boarding school abroad. If someone asked, he would answer that Renessa was staying at a distant relative's house because she felt depressed by the memories of her late mother when she lived in that house. Gradually, memories of Rudi Santoso and Claudia Pratama's daughter began to fade in everyone's memory.
"You can contact Mister Rudi first and if he allows you, I will let you in," the security guard said calmly, but Renessa could catch the accusation from his tone. She appeared like a fraud in the security guard's eyes.
Renessa sighed. Her father had probably forgotten her existence. She had tried to contact her father while living in the dormitory. At first, she tried to create a problem, but when she realized that the one that would come was not her father, but Shinta, she stopped creating the problem. Then as she grew older, she started to find information about her father on the internet. She did not get the private number, but when she called the company number, no one believed her. They thought that it was a prank call.
In the end, when she finally got her father's number, the man never picked up her phone calls and totally ignored her messages.
