The disaster came in the simplest form: a notification letter from the school.
Kai was studying in his room when his mother walked in without knocking. Riana's face was hard, and in her hand, she clutched a slightly crumpled piece of paper.
"What is this, Kai?" she asked, her voice cold and sharp.
Kai saw the letter. It was a permission slip from the school to participate in the Student Cup tournament, which listed his name as one of the core players. His heart felt like it had stopped. He was supposed to have given the letter directly to Bima to handle, but it must have slipped out and fallen in the living room.
"It's... an extracurricular activity, Mom," Kai answered, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Extracurricular activity?" Riana laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I thought you were busy with study groups. Turns out you're busy kicking a ball on a field like a hooligan?"
"It's not like that, Mom. It's just..."
"Just what, Kai? Just a waste of time? Getting your body and mind dirty with something that has no future?" Riana took a step forward, her gaze piercing. "I work day and night, making sure you have all the books you need, the best tutors, for what? So you can become a doctor! Not a football player whose career is over at thirty with shattered knees!"
Kai's breath caught. The image of his father, sitting pensively on their porch years ago, with a blank stare and a bandage on his knee, flashed through his mind. His father had also been a football player, a talented one at a small club, until an injury forced him into early retirement and a life of disappointment.
"I will not let you repeat your father's mistake," Riana hissed, her voice trembling with restrained emotion. "Choose, Kai. Your school, your future... or that damned ball."
It wasn't a choice. It was an ultimatum. A red card had been shown, not by a referee on the pitch, but by the woman he loved most in the world.
Kai looked at his mother, then at the letter in her hand. Between the two worlds he lived in, a dividing line had been drawn, one he couldn't cross without sacrificing one of them. For the first time, Kai Anargya, the genius who always had the answer, didn't know what to do.