"Jef... Jefri! You saw those numbers on the side mirror, right?! I swear, that wasn't a hallucination, was it?!" Bagas shrieked hysterically, gripping his best friend's shoulders tight inside the pitch-black security post after the bulb blew out.

Jefri fumbled frantically for Bagas's arms, his breathing matching the panic. "I don't know, Gas! I'm temporarily blind! My phone flashlight just exploded like a firecracker! Let's go home, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up all the way down to my toes!"

Without another second of hesitation, Bagas leaped down from the bamboo cot. He bolted away, abandoning Jefri in the dark of night, tearing down the narrow lanes of Suka Maju Village at a speed rivaling a national-level hurdler. His mind was an absolute trainwreck. The image of the numbers flashing on the motorcycle mirror—leaving a terrifyingly brief countdown right above his own head—spun in dizzying circles through his brain.

If my time left is running out this fast, what's going to happen to the shop? What about Mum and Rara? Bagas cursed inwardly as he ran, gasping for air.

Five minutes later, Bagas skidded to a halt in front of his house. The rolling door of Barokah Jaya Convenience Store was half-closed, leaking a weak, dim yellow glow from the interior.

Bagas shoved his way inside, panting heavily with sweat pouring down his face in rivers. In the quiet convenience store, Mum stood near the wooden shelves, busy tidying a stack of chicken-curry instant noodle boxes while tunelessly humming an old dangdut tune in a horribly off-key voice.

The warm, comforting atmosphere of the grocery store instantly morphed into something deeply terrifying for Bagas.

"Mum...!" Bagas croaked out in a cracked, terrified voice.

Mum paused her instant-noodle-stacking routine and turned around with a single arched eyebrow. She gave Bagas a thorough, head-to-toe evaluation. "Hey! You come home without a greeting, screaming like someone whose pants caught fire! Why is your face so pale? Did you just get chased by another stray alley cat?"

Bagas didn't answer right away. With knees shaking and threatening to give out, he took a slow step toward his mother. His eyes locked sharply onto her forehead to confirm a horrific suspicion.

Bagas’s breath stopped dead in his throat.

Unlike the previous numbers that still offered a somewhat lengthy cushion, the translucent digits hovering above Mum’s head this time displayed an infinitely more urgent, alarming reality. The duration had plummeted drastically: it was down to a matter of hours!

"Mum..." Bagas squeaked weakly, his eyes instantly welling up with tears of utter despair.

Mum furrowed her brow, sensing something was seriously wrong with her son's sudden emotional breakdown. "Why are you crying like that, Bagas? What's going on? Don't give me a heart attack! Did you pay off the neighbor's store tab using grocery money?!"

"It's not about the tab, Mum..." Bagas's voice trembled violently, barely audible.

He stepped closer, then spontaneously dropped to his knees on the hard concrete floor right in front of his mother.

Thud!

Mum jolted violently, nearly dropping a packet of instant noodles from her grip. "Good grief! Bagas?! What kind of demonic possession made you suddenly prostrate yourself and hug my legs like this?! Are you trying to ask for permission to enter a secret marriage with the scrap-metal tycoon's kid, huh?!"

"No, Mum! I swear, no!" Bagas's tears finally broke loose. He wrapped his arms tightly around Mum's shins in absolute anguish, burying his face against the folds of her house dress. "Mum... please don't go anywhere... stay right here at home with Bagas..."

Mum grew utterly bewildered, standing frozen with wide-open eyes. She frantically patted Bagas’s head using an instant noodle carton.

"Hey! Get up! You're making a fool of yourself hugging a woman's shins on the shop floor! What is actually wrong with you today? Your behavior is getting completely out of hand!"

"Didn't you see the numbers above your own head, Mum?" Bagas sobbed in the middle of a full-blown hysterics attack. "The numbers are getting shorter, Mum! Your remaining time is almost gone! Bagas can't handle this... Bagas can't imagine living in a world without your killer morning rants!"

Hearing that absolute nonsense, Mum's initial confusion instantly mutated into a blazing, fiery fury. She assumed it was just another theatrical stunt to cover up a blunder.

"Oh! So you're staging a dramatic weeping session just to cover up a massive screw-up?!" Mum snapped sharply, trying to wrench her leg free from Bagas's iron grip. "Did you blow the shop's cash drawer on mobile games or some useless junk again?!"

"As God is my witness, Mum, I swear it's not about the cash drawer!" Bagas pleaded, practically wailing as he tightened his grip around Mum's legs. "This is about cosmic destiny, Mum! I swear by the curse of the hourglass numbers! You have to listen to Bagas starting right now! No getting overworked, no eating spicy food, no stepping outside at night!"

"What is this nonsense ordering me around like I'm a house prisoner?!" Mum roared, her face turning bright crimson with top-tier rage. "Let go of my leg, Bagas! If you don't let go right now, I swear I'll turn you into a walking tombstone!"

"No! Until you promise to live a long life and never leave Bagas, I'm going to hug your legs until dawn!" Bagas screamed hysterically, entirely losing his grip on sanity out of sheer terror.

Mum’s patience, which was already thinner than a banana peel, finally snapped completely.

"That's it, you little trouble magnet! You're definitely begging to have your ears twisted off tonight!" Mum bellowed in fury.

Using her muscular right hand, Mum grabbed Bagas's ear and twisted it hard, hauling him upward by his cartilage.

"Ow! Ow, Mum! Mercy, Mum! It hurts! Your son's ear is going to rip off!" Bagas shrieked in agony, forced to release his grip and stumble backward onto his feet, clutching his bright red, lobster-colored ear.

Mum stood akimbo, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily, glaring daintily at Bagas with a lethal death stare.

"Listen to me, Bagas! If you pull another stunt like this, spewing crazy talk about numbers or hugging my legs like a wasted junkie on the street..." Mum pointed a rigid index finger straight at Bagas's face. "...tonight I am officially reclassifying your status from biological son to abandoned vagrant! Get out of this house and go sleep with the alley cats in the drain!"

Bagas rubbed his throbbing ear, wincing softly as he gazed at his mother through tear-filled eyes. He didn't dare utter a single word back.

Mum snorted loudly, spun on her heel, and stomped into the living quarters, slamming the wooden bedroom door shut with a deafening bang.

Brak!

Bagas stood completely alone amid the dim, quiet shadows of the convenience store. He let out a long, trembling breath, then glanced sideways toward the small mirror resting in the corner of the cash register.

The short countdown glowing on his own forehead continued to flicker softly, reminding him that the time he had left—and the time belonging to everyone he loved—was slipping away without a shred of mercy.