The days after Selena's second meeting with Arga passed as usual, but something had changed for Selena. The routine that had once felt monotonous now held a little more color. Whenever she passed Sudirman Street, she found herself paying attention to the corners where she and Arga had first met.
Selena herself was surprised by the small change. She wasn't someone who was easily drawn to other people. To her, getting to know someone took a long time. She had once placed her complete trust in someone in the past, but that trust had taught her that not everyone would stay.
That morning, Selena sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen. Several paragraphs of a manuscript she needed to review had been open for a while, but her thoughts weren't really there.
“If you keep staring at that blank screen, your computer might start feeling unappreciated,” Naya said, standing beside Selena's desk.
Selena gave a small start.
“I was thinking.”
“Thinking about work or someone?”
Selena turned to her at once.
“Not this again.”
Naya flashed a mischievous smile.
“I was just asking.”
“There’s no one.”
“Usually, people who say there’s no one are hiding something.”
Selena shook her head with a smile.
“You’d make a good detective.”
“Better than being an editor who reads other people's stories every day but refuses to read her own life story.”
Naya's words left Selena silent for a moment.
She knew her friend was only joking, but part of what Naya had said felt true. All this time, she had been too busy understanding other people's stories while keeping her own tightly locked away.
That afternoon, Selena was assigned to attend a book launch at a building near Sudirman Street. She could have asked someone else to take her place, but in the end, she chose to go herself.
As she walked toward the event, she saw the same street again. People hurried past, each busy with their own lives. Some carried documents, some talked on the phone, and others walked along enjoying hot drinks.
Without realizing it, Selena smiled faintly.
“Why does this street feel different now?” she wondered.
The event was fairly crowded. Many writers, publishers, and people from various fields were in attendance. Selena was busy talking with several guests when someone finally called her name.
“Selena?”
The voice made her stop.
She turned and saw Arga standing a few steps away.
“You’re here?”
Arga smiled.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“I’m here for work.”
“I’m here because one of my friends published a book.”
Selena nodded.
They walked together toward a quieter area.
“Do you come to events like this often?” Arga asked.
“Pretty often. I work in publishing.”
“So you really are close to a lot of stories.”
“I am. But sometimes other people's stories are easier to understand than our own.”
Arga looked at Selena.
“Do you feel that way too?”
Selena gave him a faint smile.
“Maybe.”
They stopped beside a large window overlooking Sudirman Street. The sky looked overcast, as though the rain were only waiting for the right moment to fall.
Arga opened the small book he always carried.
“Are you curious what's inside?”
Selena looked at the book.
“A little.”
Arga chuckled softly.
“A little means you're curious.”
“I just don't want to pry too much.”
“Sometimes the people who ask the fewest questions are the ones who care the most.”
Selena didn't reply. She let Arga open to one of the pages.
There were several neat handwritten entries inside. She couldn't read all of them because Arga had opened only a particular section.
“Is it about someone?” Selena asked.
“Yes.”
“Someone important?”
Arga nodded slowly.
“She was once the most important person in my life.”
Selena saw the change in Arga's expression. There was a sadness he was trying to hide.
“Did she leave?”
Arga drew a breath.
“She left before I had the chance to say everything I wanted to say.”
The atmosphere grew quieter.
Selena understood that feeling. Not because she knew Arga's story, but because she had once felt the loss of an opportunity to say something.
“I think a lot of people have words they said too late,” Selena said.
Arga looked at her.
“You too?”
Selena looked away.
“Yes.”
For a while, neither of them spoke. Only the faint sounds of the people around them could be heard.
Suddenly, Selena's phone vibrated. A message from Naya came in.
“Where are you? Don't tell me you ran into that mysterious guy again.”
Selena almost laughed when she read it.
“What is it?” Arga asked.
“My friend loves interfering in my life.”
“That means she cares.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Because it's true.”
Selena looked at Arga. There was something about the way he spoke that made her feel comfortable.
After the event ended, they left the building. Just like on the first day they met, the rain began to fall softly.
Selena looked up at the sky and let out a small laugh.
“Looks like the rain always shows up when we meet.”
Arga looked up too.
“Maybe the rain likes bringing people together.”
“You believe that?”
“I didn't before. Now, maybe I do.”
They stood beneath the building's awning, watching the street begin to glisten with rain.
“Can I ask why you always carry that book?” Selena asked.
Arga was silent for quite a while.
“Because there's a promise I haven't kept.”
“A promise to whom?”
“Someone who once meant a lot to me.”
Selena wanted to ask more, but she chose to remain silent.
Sometimes a person shouldn't be forced to tell their story. Some wounds need time before they're ready to be opened.
Before they parted, Arga said,
“Selena.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for not trying to change my story.”
Selena smiled.
“Everyone has their own time to tell their story.”
Arga nodded.
Then they walked away in different directions.
But that night, for the first time in a long while, Arga opened a blank page in his small book and wrote something new.
Not about the past.
Not about someone who had left.
But about someone new who had arrived when the rain fell on Sudirman Street.
Meanwhile, Selena sat in her room, looking at the notes she had written a few days earlier.
About meeting a stranger.
About simple words that had stayed with her.
And now, about someone who was slowly making her believe that not every meeting ended in loss.