11 a.m. the next day. The rain had stopped. The air was still damp, smelling of wet earth and cigarette smoke.
Arif walked alone to 99 Speedmart.
He didn't bring his wife. He didn't bring the brown bear. He didn't bring the jaguar. He wore only the same black T-shirt, the same jeans, and the same scuffed leather shoes. No one looked at him as he walked through the neighborhood lane. Everyone just lowered their heads. Everyone already knew.
The door of 99 Speedmart chimed when he walked in.
Lina was arranging cans of milk on the bottom shelf. She didn't look up to see who had entered. She only said without lifting her head: "If you want bread, wait a second. The roti canai just arrived."
Arif stood silently in front of the counter.
Lina raised her head.
A can of milk fell to the floor.
She didn't scream. She didn't run. She only stared. Her mouth opened slightly. Her eyes widened. Then the tears fell straight to the floor without her realizing it.
Two years. For two years, she had been the first person to ask whenever someone dead was found in the drain. For two years, she had been the only person who didn't believe Arif was dead.
"You're really alive," she said. Her voice broke. "Everyone said you were dead."
Arif shook his head. He stepped forward, then hugged his close friend. Not tightly. Just an ordinary hug. Like they used to, after a twelve-hour shift, after getting yelled at by the boss, after finishing three bottles of iced tea beside the field.
Lina cried against his shoulder.
"You idiot," she whispered. "You're such an idiot. Why didn't you call? Why didn't you even send a message?"
"I couldn't," Arif said quietly. "If I sent a message, I wouldn't have had the courage to come back."
They sat on plastic chairs behind the counter. Lina made two cups of hot black coffee. Just like always. One with less sugar for Arif. One with lots of sugar for her.
She was a supervisor now. The position that should have belonged to Arif before he disappeared.
"Fauzi is a manager now," Lina said after she stopped crying. "He took your position a week after you disappeared. Now he comes every day and tells everyone you must have died after being caught by the police. He says you must have run away because you stole money from the store."
Arif wasn't angry. He only nodded. He had expected it.
Then Lina stopped talking.
She looked at the floor. Her fingers turned the coffee cup around.
"There's something you need to know," she said quietly. "About Aina."
Arif's body went rigid.
He didn't ask. He only looked at Lina. And he understood, before Lina said another word, that this was the worst thing he would ever hear in his life.
"She's not doing well," Lina said. Her voice was very soft. "Ever since you disappeared. For the first three months, she came to the store every day. She sat in your chair by the counter, waiting from eight in the morning until closing. Then she stopped coming. Now she doesn't leave the house. She doesn't talk to anyone. The doctor says she... she doesn't understand the world around her anymore. She just sits by the window, waiting."
Lina wiped away her tears.
"Every day she asks her brother. Asks whether Arif has come back yet. Every day. For two years."
Arif said nothing. His hand gripped the coffee cup so tightly that the plastic buckled.
He knew. He had always known. Deep in a corner of his heart, he had always known there was someone waiting. Someone who never stopped waiting.
"I want to see her," Arif said.
Lina shook her head.
"Her brother won't let anyone in. He hates you. He says you ruined his sister's life. He says if you dare show up in front of his house, he'll kill you."
"Fine," Arif said.
He stood.
"Arrange a meeting. Tomorrow. Here. At 99 Speedmart. Midnight. After closing. Don't tell anyone. Don't tell her brother. Don't even tell Aina. Just bring her. Tell her there's someone who wants to see her."
Lina looked at him.
"What are you going to do, Arif?"
"I'm going to take her," Arif said. His voice didn't waver at all. "I'm going to take care of her. I'm going to marry her. If her family agrees. Even if they don't. I'll do it anyway. I'm strong enough now. No one can stop me anymore."
Lina fell silent. She looked at the man standing in front of her. This wasn't the boy she had known two years ago. This wasn't the boy who always laughed, who always treated everyone to roti canai, who always won when they wrestled behind the store.
But his eyes were still the same.
"You'll have two wives then," Lina whispered. "Everyone will say you're crazy."
Arif shook his head.
"People can say whatever they want. I don't care. Two years ago, everyone let me die. Now everyone can say whatever they want. I only know one thing. I won't let her wait anymore."
He didn't say where he had gone. He didn't say what he had been through. He didn't say how much money he had now. Lina didn't ask. She didn't need to. She could see in Arif's eyes that whatever had happened during those two years had changed everything. And nothing could stop him now.
He left 99 Speedmart.
Outside, the sun had just come out. Light fell across the road. People passed by. No one knew what had just happened inside the store. No one knew that the man walking slowly back to the grilled chicken shop had just made a decision that would change everything.
Only Lina knew.
She sat alone behind the counter. She looked at Arif's coffee cup, still half full, still hot. And she understood.
Everyone in this neighborhood only saw money. Saw the brown bear. Saw the jaguar.
No one saw the truth.
Arif hadn't come back to buy the store.
Arif hadn't come back to pay anyone back.
Arif had come back to take back everything that had ever been taken from him.
Including the woman who had waited for him for two years.
Including the heart he had left here, on the day he ran away.
And this time, he wouldn't leave anything behind.