To Mutia

Man in jacket

8 chapters to ending + 2 extra chapters.

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Upon Yudha and Mutia's arrival at home, Mbah Sriti immediately recounted what had happened without removing any trace of panic and worry from his old face. Some time ago, after cleaning the house and cooking lunch, Mbah Sriti took care of Joseph in the family room while rubbing clothes.

At first Joseph was not fussy and playing, even occasionally his crisp laughter was heard, but suddenly Joseph cried to attract attention. Immediately he checked Joseph's pants, but it was not a bowel movement that made the five-month-old baby cry, Joseph's body temperature was normal, indicating that the baby was fine. Realizing that Joseph was hungry, Mbah Sriti headed to the kitchen to pick up an ASI bottle, leaving Joseph rolling on the carpet of the living room.

"That thought it was safe to leave Joseph alone, considering that Joseph was in the house, but it turned out that when he returned to Joseph's living room there was no more. Though Mbah left him not for five minutes." he explained with a guilty look, then looked down. "I'm sorry, Mas Yudha. Mbah had neglected to look after Joseph."

"Already, mbah. It's okay." smiling Yudha rubbed the frail shoulders of Mbah Sriti. "So you didn't know this was going to happen. If you know, I'm sure Mbah won't let go of Joseph's supervision even if it's just one second."

Looking at Mutia who was sitting on the long sofa, Yudha found the woman was biting her thumb nails with uneasiness. The warm, sweet smile that usually adorns the woman's face is completely invisible, which seems now only a look of worry and fear. Yudha understood, indeed the sane mother who will not feel worried also afraid when her child is kidnapped.

Approaching Mutia, Yudha sat down next to the woman. His hand moved around his shoulder, then leaned Mutia's head against his chest.

"Mas, I want Joseph." Mutia again sobbed, while her hands crept Yudha's shirt on her chest firmly, making the man's shirt appear wrinkled. "I shouldn't have left him. If we had taken Joseph, now Joseph is still with us, Matt."

"What happened must have been because of God's will, Mutia. So as hard as we can prevent that from happening, everything will happen anyway. Even if we had taken Joseph, Joseph could have been kidnapped while on the road. Taking him and not guaranteeing Joseph's gonna be okay, honey."

For the first time Mutia did not flutter when Yudha called her Dear. At the moment Mutia could think of nothing, other than Joseph, her son. Where's Yusuf? How's things going? Who kidnapped her? Why did the man kidnap his little Joseph? And there were many more questions that filled his head.

"Then what should we do, Mom? We can't just be quiet like this, can we?" a mother's heartbreaking groan is heard again, giving an invisible incision to every heart that hears. Then suddenly Mutia looked up, looking at Yudha with teary eyes, but there was also a hint of hope there.

"We're reporting to the police now, ma'am." she asked.

"Can't, Mutia. It's not 1x24 hours yet. The police won't process it." Yudha's words dashed Mutia's hopes.

"In 24 hours anything can happen to Joseph, Mas." Mutia unconsciously raised her tone an octave.

Not taking heart when Mutia was impressed to snap at him, Yudha instead tightened her embrace on Mutia. He knew that his future wife was currently in a state of turmoil, so Yudha would not mind the woman's emotional outpouring.

"All procedures are in place, Mutia" Yudha replied in a soft tone. Then accidentally his eyes stared at the television which is now showing an advertisement of a cctv camera. Instantly Yudha let go of her embrace and got up from sitting down, provoking Mutia's attention.

"Where are you going?" that question Mutia said with a confused look.

He should have installed a cctv camera in his house. But he did not expect something like this would happen, to make him careless.

"I'm coming, Mas."

Yudha nodded. Mutia's hand fell, then invited the woman to walk by his side. Before leaving the house Yudha advised Mbah Sriti not to tell his family, because Yudha did not want to make his family worried.

"I want to see the cctv footage in front of my house about an hour ago" Yudha told both security guards who welcomed her and Mutia at the guard post.

Without much question the two guards immediately checked the cctv footage on each camera facing Yudha's house. And within seconds they managed to find what Yudha wanted.

The footage shows a man wearing a jacket and hat watching his house from behind the trees. Then after he and Mutia left, the man walked over to the house. Observe the situation inside the house through a glass window, before opening the door of the house that is not locked. For a moment the man looked around, then stepped inside. A few minutes later the man came out with Joseph in his cradle.

"How did this guy get in? We didn't know anyone would visit."

The reason Yudha put Mutia and Yusuf in the housing complex was because of its guaranteed security. Every visitor who enters must fill in the guest book, ask the person who wants to visit to pick up or show the end card that has been given by the homeowner who will be visited. If the visitor can not meet one of them, then the visitor is prohibited to enter.

"This man showed us a visitor's card." one of them replied, then played back the footage at the beginning of the man's arrival. "Look, he showed us his cards. After checking it and making sure the card is genuine, we are unlikely to forbid it from entering. It's definitely not the first time the man has visited, because he has a visitor's card."

"But did you not feel suspicious at all when he left with our son?" Yudha demanded back.

"Sorry, sir. We couldn't have prevented him from bringing his son, if he had said he was his nephew and that father didn't cry at all, so we had no reason to hold him." now the only security guard who gives an explanation.

Yudha rubbed her face rough. "At least you can contact one of us if you feel suspicious!"

"Mas," Mutia swiftly held onto Yudha's arm, calming the man who was about to blow his emotions away. "There are many people who inhabit this complex, Mas, they will not recognize each occupant one by one. So they can't possibly know that the man was the kidnapper who took our Joseph."

Then Mutia's attention turned to the two men in front of her. "Can you replay the tape, sir?" one of the guards nodded and made Mutia's request. "Please stop." along with Mutia's words, the security guard paused the footage just as the camera focused on the man in the jacket. "Can you enlarge the picture? I want to see the man's face."

The security guard nodded his head, then enlarged the image on the tape. A second later Mutia gasped with a face of shock and involuntarily rewinded her body.

"What's wrong?" Yudha realized the changes in Mutia's body gestures. He glanced at the computer screen that was showing the cctv footage with a frowning forehead. "Do you know that guy?"

Stiffly Mutia looked at Yudha, then nodded slowly.