Stranger: Hi. Luna stared at her phone screen. Her fingers were still for a few seconds. Then she replied. Luna: Hi to you too. There was no reply for several seconds. Luna was about to put her phone down. Then... Stranger: What are you up to? Luna smiled faintly. Such a simple question. She typed. Luna: I was actually about to sleep. Stranger: Ohh, am I bothering you? Luna: No, you're not. Stranger: I thought you were already asleep. Luna: I'm not sleepy yet. Luna didn't really know why she was still continuing the conversation. She just felt... that tonight was too quiet. And maybe talking for a little while with someone she didn't know wasn't such a bad thing. At least for tonight.
A few seconds later, another question appeared. Stranger: Are you a girl or a guy? Luna laughed softly. Luna: What do you think? Stranger: I think you're a girl. Luna: How'd you know? Stranger: The way you type. Luna: Lol, is it really that obvious? Stranger: A little. Luna smiled. The conversation was still completely ordinary. There was nothing special about it. No romantic lines. No feelings of any kind. Just two strangers who happened to be awake at the same time. Then Luna asked him the same question. Luna: Are you a guy? Stranger: Yeah. Luna: How old are you? Stranger: Guess. Luna furrowed her brow. Luna: Twenty-five? Stranger: Wrong. Luna: Twenty-seven? Stranger: Close. Luna: Twenty-six? Stranger: There you go. Luna nodded faintly. Luna: Ohh. Lana: You? Luna fell silent for a moment. Luna: Twenty-four. Lana: Oh, you're younger. Luna: Yeah. There was no conversation for several seconds. Then Lana asked again. Lana: Where are you from? Luna answered with the name of her city. Lana also mentioned where she was from. It turned out they were still in the same country, but they didn't live in the same city. They were quite far apart. But that night, distance wasn't something they thought about. They didn't even know whether this conversation would last more than a few minutes.
Lana: Are you in college? Luna: I go to college while working. Lana: Wow, you must be busy. Luna: Kind of. Lana: What kind of work do you do? Luna thought for a moment. She wasn't used to telling strangers about her work. But the question sounded ordinary enough. Luna: I work for myself. Lana: What do you mean? Luna: Well... I have a small business. Lana: Ohh. Luna: You? Lana: I work too. Luna: Where? Lana mentioned her line of work. Luna read it. Their jobs turned out to be quite different. But they had one thing in common. They both worked hard. The conversation, which had initially consisted of nothing but simple questions, began to grow a little longer. They talked about work. About what time they got home. About how their days sometimes felt too long. About the people they met. About the exhaustion they often didn't even have time to think about. Luna then typed: Luna: What time do you usually get home? Lana: It depends. Sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes at night. Luna: Ohh. Lana: You? Luna: Same. Depends on work. A few seconds later, Luna typed something. Then deleted it. Typed again. Deleted it again. In the end, she sent it anyway. Luna: Don't you get tired of working all the time? Lana read the question. It was simple. But for some reason, she didn't answer right away. She stared at the screen for quite a while. Then typed: Lana: Hmm... I'm used to it. Luna read it. For some reason, the answer made her smile faintly. She typed: Luna: Just be honest. Lana replied: Lana: I am being honest. Luna: No, you're not. Lana stopped. Lana: No what? Luna stared at the screen. Her fingers began typing slowly. This time, she didn't think too much about her words. Luna: You're lying. Lana read the message. She didn't reply right away. Then another message appeared. Luna: You've been tired this whole time, but you've been keeping it all to yourself, haven't you? Lana fell silent. For the first time that night... she didn't know what to say. Her eyes remained fixed on the screen. The message was simple. Not long. It didn't use beautiful words. But somehow... those words felt like they were knocking on something she had kept tightly locked away all this time. Lana finally typed. Lana: How did you know? Luna smiled faintly. Luna: I don't know. Lana: Then? Luna: Just a guess. Lana read it again. She didn't know why someone who didn't even know her could say something so accurate. Luna continued. Luna: Because people who say they're “fine” are usually anything but. Lana stared at the sentence. For a long time. Then she set her phone down for a moment. She drew a breath. Rubbed her face. That night, for a while... she wanted to close the app. But her fingers reached for her phone again. Lana: I think you're like that too. Luna fell silent. Luna: Like what? Lana: If someone asked whether you were tired, you'd probably answer “fine” too. Luna smiled. She couldn't deny it. Luna: Maybe. Lana: See? Luna: But I wasn't asking you to talk about me. Lana: Lol. Luna smiled too. Then Lana typed: Lana: How did you know I was tired? Luna thought for a moment. Luna: Because I do that a lot too. Lana read it. Silence. For the first time, their conversation no longer felt like two people simply killing time. Something was different. Not feelings. Not yet. Just a small realization that... there was someone else who understood what it felt like to keep everything bottled up.
Lana finally began to tell her story. Not all of it. Just a little. About being the eldest child. About her younger siblings. About work. About her family's needs. About how sometimes she wanted to rest but didn't know when she could. Luna read everything slowly. She didn't interrupt. She didn't judge. She didn't say that Lana's life was harder, or that her own life was harder. She only replied: Luna: No wonder. Lana: No wonder what? Luna: No wonder you're tired. Lana smiled faintly. Then asked: Lana: What about you? Luna had been about to give a short answer. “Fine.” But for some reason... she didn't want to lie that night. Luna: I'm tired too. Lana read it. Lana: Because of work? Luna shook her head, even though Lana couldn't see her. Luna: Not just that. Lana: Then what? Luna fell silent. She wasn't ready to tell her everything. Luna: A lot of things. Lana didn't pressure her. She only replied: Lana: It's okay if you don't want to talk about it yet. Luna read the sentence. It was simple. But precisely because Lana wasn't pressuring her... she felt a little safer. Luna: Thanks. Lana: For what? Luna: For being willing to listen. Lana smiled. Lana: You're welcome.
The clock already read 1:17 a.m. Western Indonesian Time. Only then did they realize that their conversation had lasted quite a while. Luna yawned. Luna: I think we should sleep. Lana: Yeah. Luna: We have work tomorrow. Lana: You do too. Luna: Yeah. A few seconds later, Lana sent another message. Lana: Thanks. Luna: For what? Lana: For tonight. Luna stared at the screen. Luna: You're welcome. Lana then typed: Lana: I hope tomorrow isn't too hard. Luna smiled. Luna: Ameen. Lana: Good night. Luna: You too. Luna closed the app. She set her phone beside her pillow. She wasn't smiling because she had fallen in love. There were no butterflies in her stomach. She had no desire to find out more about who Lana was. Not yet. That night, there was only one simple feeling: relief. Relief because after so long... someone had asked her something not merely to make small talk. Someone had said, “You're tired, aren't you?” And for the first time in a long while... Luna felt she didn't have to answer that she was fine. Elsewhere, Lana also set down her phone. She stared at the ceiling. Something felt strange. Not happiness. Nor love. Just a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time. The feeling that... there was still someone willing to listen. Lana closed her eyes. The night grew quiet again. But this time... the silence felt a little different. Because behind that dark screen was someone who didn't know who she was... but somehow... had managed to see the exhaustion she had been hiding all this time. And without either of them realizing it... that first conversation would not be their last. —To be continued—