The notification sound came at 2:13 a.m.
A soft ting inside the dark room.
Maya was still in her work uniform, sitting on the thin mattress with tired shoulders and swollen feet after a double shift. Her hijab was already half-open, hanging loose around her neck. The fan above made that annoying clicking sound again, but she was too exhausted to care.
She reached for her phone lazily.
One message.
From her girlfriend.
“Baby thank you again hehe ❤️”
Attached with a picture.
At first, Maya smiled.
Then her smile slowly disappeared.
The photo showed a restaurant table. Fancy. Candles. Two glasses. A bouquet of flowers. And across the table—
another girl.
Pretty. Lipstick too red. Smiling like she owned the world.
Maya stared at the picture longer.
Her brain refused to process it.
Her fingers suddenly felt cold.
She zoomed in slowly.
The bracelet.
The damn bracelet.
The silver bracelet Maya bought last month after saving tips for two weeks.
It was on that girl’s wrist.
A sharp pain twisted inside her chest.
“No…”
Her lips moved silently.
No. No way.
Maya quickly opened her banking app with trembling fingers. RM400 transferred three days ago. Money for her child. For milk. Diapers. School things.
Every month she worked until her body nearly gave up just to send that money because her girlfriend said:
“Don’t worry baby, I’ll take care of your child like my own.”
Maya believed her.
Stupidly.
Completely.
Her throat tightened hard.
She immediately called.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three.
The call picked up with loud music in the background.
“Hello?” her girlfriend laughed softly. “Baby?”
Maya’s voice cracked instantly.
“Who’s that girl?”
Silence.
Just a few seconds.
But enough to destroy something forever.
“What?”
“The girl in the picture.”
“Oh.” A small laugh again. “Just a friend.”
“A friend?”
Maya stood up too fast from the mattress, breathing shakily.
“You used the money I sent for my child… for dating?”
“No lah, why you overthinking—”
“DON’T lie to me.”
Her voice broke in the middle.
The room suddenly felt suffocating.
Maya pressed her hand against her mouth because she could already feel herself about to cry.
On the other side, her girlfriend sighed.
“You’re being dramatic.”
That sentence.
That one sentence.
It shattered the last piece of patience Maya had left.
“Dramatic?” she whispered. “I work twelve hours every day. My hands literally shake from being tired. I skip meals sometimes just to make sure my child has enough money.”
Tears finally rolled down her cheeks.
“And you used it to buy flowers for another girl?”
Silence again.
Then—
“It’s not that serious.”
Maya laughed suddenly.
Not a happy laugh.
The kind that comes out when someone is too hurt to function properly.
Her eyes were wet. Red.
“Not serious?”
Her breathing became uneven.
“My child wore the same shoes for almost a year.”
She wiped her tears aggressively.
“And you’re sitting there eating expensive food with some bitch using MY money?”
“Watch your mouth.”
Maya froze.
Actually froze.
Because after everything—
after the betrayal,
after the lying,
after using her child’s money—
that was what her girlfriend cared about.
Not the pain.
Not the child.
Not Maya crying alone at 2 a.m.
Just the other girl’s feelings.
Something inside Maya quietly died.
The fan kept spinning above her.
The music from the phone sounded distant now.
Her voice became strangely calm.
“Did my child eat properly today?”
A pause.
“I… forgot to buy groceries yet.”
Maya closed her eyes immediately.
Like physically pained.
Her chest hurt so badly she had to sit back down on the mattress.
Forgot.
Forgot.
But remembered candlelight dinners.
Remembered flowers.
Remembered another girl.
Maya covered her face with both hands and cried silently.
The kind of crying where no sound comes out anymore because the heartbreak is too deep for screaming.
On the other side of the call, her girlfriend sounded annoyed already.
“Can we talk tomorrow? You’re stressing me out.”
Maya slowly lowered her hands.
Mascara stains under her eyes.
Voice empty.
“No.”
“…What?”
“We don’t talk tomorrow.”
The room went quiet.
Maya looked beside her at the small photo of her child taped near the wall.
Tiny smile.
Tiny hands.
Depending on her.
And suddenly she felt disgusted at herself for trusting someone that much.
“I trusted you with the most important person in my life.”
Her voice trembled again.
“And you chose another girl over a child.”
“Baby—”
“Don’t call me that anymore.”
Tears fell again, but this time her expression hardened with them.
“You didn’t just cheat on me.”
She swallowed painfully.
“You stole from my child.”
