Katrin quickly turned off her phone and watched the exit carefully, holding her sign high above her head. Before long, a crowd began emerging from Exit II. Indonesians and foreigners mingled together. Katrin studied each unfamiliar face that passed before her eyes.
Suddenly, her gaze locked onto a figure she knew all too well—the man who had sent her thoughts wandering in every direction lately. The hero himself: Mr. Pierce Brosnan. Oh, my God! Why was James Bond showing up here? Katrin wondered, caught between surprise, delight, confusion, and awe.
She felt like screaming his name, but her voice seemed stuck in her throat. Tension, nervousness, and panic churned inside her chest. To make matters worse, Pierce Brosnan was walking straight toward her. Cold sweat drenched Katrin's body.
Oh my gosh, is he coming over to me? Could he still remember me from Bandung the other day? Maybe he wants to make sure I'm the girl he helped! Oh, what do I do? What am I supposed to do? Katrin grew restless and awkward. Before she could make up her mind, the handsome foreigner had already arrived right in front of her.
“Excuse me? Are you…?”
Katrin seemed to snap out of a spell. She had just remembered that she was on duty to pick up a group of tourists. She had been so captivated by Pierce Brosnan's appearance that she hadn't paid any attention to the people coming through the exit. What if the group she was supposed to pick up had already headed out of the building?
Katrin immediately turned around and hurried away. But after only a few steps, the foreign man who had enchanted her called out.
“Hey, wait!”
Katrin stopped and turned around.
“Are you picking up Samuel Walcott?” he asked in fairly fluent Indonesian.
“Yes…” Katrin answered hesitantly.
“I am! My name… Samuel Walcott!”
Katrin stood there, dumbfounded—like the statue of Roro Jonggrang, trapped in a temple wall for centuries!
Katrin had never imagined that the Mr. Samuel Walcott she was picking up would turn out to be none other than the Pierce Brosnan she'd met in Bandung. The man was now truly standing right in front of her, no longer just a figment of her imagination. Katrin felt awkward and nervous, but she tried to hide her feelings. She pretended not to know Mr. Walcott.
Meanwhile, James Bond—er, Mr. Walcott—seemed to sense something strange about Katrin. Several times, he looked at her with his brows drawn together, as though she seemed oddly familiar. Perhaps he was trying hard to remember where he'd met Katrin before.
On the way to the hotel where they would be staying, Katrin tried to keep some distance from Mr. Walcott's seat. She pretended to be engrossed in conversation with Mrs. Emma, the foreign woman sitting beside her. As soon as they arrived at the hotel, Katrin took care of the reservations.
For the time being, the tourists she was accompanying would rest in their rooms for an hour or two. After that, they would gather in the lobby to discuss their travel schedule. The tourists quickly carried their belongings to their respective rooms. Katrin was about to head to the lobby.
Suddenly, someone called out to her. “Miss Katrin, wait…!”
Katrin stopped and turned around. Her heart practically fainted for a second when the tall figure approached her.
“What is it, Mr. Walcott? Is there a problem?” Katrin kept her tone formal.
“Oh, no…!” Samuel Walcott grinned. “Just call me Sam. I’m still a ba-che-lor…”
Katrin smiled faintly. It sounded funny hearing Sam say the word bachelor in such strange Indonesian.
“I want to talk with you. May I?” he asked in the typical way a foreigner made a request.
“You don’t want to rest?”
“I don’t feel tired. Please?”
Katrin couldn’t refuse. She nodded, and the two of them headed to the lobby, looking for seats in a corner near the window. For a moment, Katrin composed herself, still visibly nervous and flustered. She didn’t dare make eye contact with Sam, pretending instead to admire the fountain in the hotel’s front courtyard. Sunlight reflected off the spraying water, scattering crystalline glimmers through the lobby windows. Katrin was spellbound.