On the third day after the event, Arga changed Lina's contact name to Liana.
Not because he still got it wrong.
If anything, it was because Lina had texted him at 7:11 that morning:
Morning, Ga.
Arga, who had just woken up, read the name on his screen.
Lina.
He typed:
Who is this?
The reply came quickly.
Wrong number.
Oh.
Sorry to bother you.
You're welcome.
Arga stared at the conversation for a few seconds.
Then Lina sent one more message.
Very funny.
Not bad.
Not funny.
You started it.
Arga smiled, opened her contact details, and changed her name.
Liana.
He took a screenshot.
Sent it.
Lina replied with an angry emoji.
Then:
I'm blocking you, okay?
Arga:
Go ahead, Liana.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally:
I hate you.
Arga:
You hate me before you even know me.
Lina:
It's easier.
Arga didn't know why he remembered that line.
Maybe because, back then, their relationship really was that simple.
There was nothing to think about yet.
No family.
No distance.
No questions about where they were supposed to go from there.
They were just two people who happened to meet at the same event, misheard each other's names, and kept finding excuses to talk.
That day, Lina texted again around lunchtime.
What do you want to eat?
Arga was standing in front of the office elevator.
Why?
Just asking.
Nosy.
Never mind, then.
Arga held the elevator door open with his hand.
Chicken and rice.
Picture.
Arga took a picture of his lunch box as soon as he reached his desk.
Lina replied:
Where are the vegetables?
Arga:
Chicken is a living thing.
That's different.
Rice comes from plants too.
Don't argue with a hungry person.
Lina sent a vomiting emoji.
Arga set his phone down.
Dimas, sitting across from him, immediately noticed.
"Who is it?"
"No one."
"If it's no one, why are you smiling at your rice?"
Arga picked up his spoon.
"I'm smiling because I'm happy."
"Your face doesn't look like that when you're happy."
"Then what should it look like?"
Dimas exaggeratedly mimicked a lovestruck expression, clasping both hands over his chest.
Arga threw a tissue at him.
"Do your work, Dim."
Dimas laughed.
"The girl from the other day, huh?"
Arga didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
"What's her name?"
"Lina."
Dimas frowned.
"Wasn't it Liana?"
Arga stared at him.
"Don't start."
Dimas laughed even harder.
They started seeing each other more often without ever calling it a date.
First, because Lina happened to have a meeting near Arga's office.
Second, because Arga happened to pass by near Lina's agency.
Third, because they both wanted to try a new restaurant that was supposedly good.
After the fifth time they met, even Arga realized they'd been using the word "coincidence" way too often.
One Friday afternoon, Lina sent him a location.
There's a new ramen place.
Arga checked the time.
5:24 p.m.
He still had one presentation to revise.
Tomorrow.
Lina:
I can't.
Why?
I have work tomorrow.
Sunday?
I don't know.
Arga stared at the screen.
Then typed:
Eight?
Lina replied:
You're still at the office?
Yeah.
Never mind. Some other time.
Arga:
Eight.
Lina took a long time to reply.
Almost two minutes.
Sure.
Arga sighed.
Then opened his laptop again.
Dimas walked past behind him.
"You haven't gone home yet?"
"Not yet."
"The presentation?"
"Yeah."
Dimas checked the time.
"The deadline's Monday."
Arga said nothing.
Dimas looked at Arga's phone screen, which was still open.
Then at Arga's face.
Then back at the screen.
"Oh."
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did."
"Whatever. Good luck with work."
Dimas walked away whistling.
Arga hated everyone that day.
At 8:20, Arga arrived.
Lina was already sitting at the table in the far corner.
In front of her was a glass of water and two unopened pairs of chopsticks.
As soon as Arga arrived, she looked at her watch.
"Eight o'clock."
"Traffic."
"The Jakarta excuse."
"We are in Jakarta."
Lina slid the menu toward him.
"I was about to order."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was waiting."
Arga sat down.
He looked at Lina.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Why are you staring?"
"You said you were waiting."
"I was."
"Romantic."
Lina gave him a flat look.
"I was afraid you'd complain if I ordered first."
"Oh."
"Don't get cocky."
"Too late."
They ordered.
After the server left, Lina picked up her phone.
"Do you still have work?"
"I did."
"You weren't finished?"
"I am now."
"Are you sure?"
"Why?"
"If you're not finished, you don't have to force yourself."
Arga looked at her.
Lina was still staring at her screen.
Her tone was casual.
But Arga knew she wasn't making small talk.
"I'm done."
Lina nodded.
"Okay."
"Why?"
"It's nothing."
"Whenever you say it's nothing, there usually is something."
Lina looked up.
"How many weeks have we known each other?"
"Three."
"How are you so sure of yourself?"
Arga picked up a tissue.
"Observation."
Lina leaned back.
"When I say don't force yourself, I mean don't force yourself."
"I didn't force myself."
"You showed up twenty minutes late."
"That was traffic."
"You worked until eight."
"That was my choice."
"See?"
Arga fell silent.
Lina shrugged.
"I just don't want to be the reason you go through all that trouble."
The sentence was simple.
But something about it made Arga stop joking.
He looked at Lina a little longer.
"If I didn't want to come, I would've just said no."
Lina didn't answer.
"So don't decide for me."
Lina played with the edge of the tissue.
"Bossy."
"I learned from you."
A small smile appeared on Lina's face.
"Good."
The food arrived.
The conversation ended there.
But that night, for the first time, Arga went home feeling that Lina wasn't just fun to talk to.
He was also starting to care about how Lina saw herself.
That bothered him a little.
Two weeks later, Arga knew that Lina liked rain when she was indoors.
She hated rain when she had to go out.
She liked iced tea with no sugar.
She didn't like coffee that was too sweet.
She always carried two pens, but almost always lost one of them.
When she was nervous, she folded tissues.
When she was angry, she actually spoke more softly.
When she was tired, her messages became short and clipped.
When she was happy, she often added extra letters to the end without realizing it.
Yesss.
Okaaay.
Gooood.
Arga knew all that not because he'd asked.
He just paid attention.
Lina was starting to learn things about Arga too.
He didn't eat pickles.
He didn't like long phone calls when he was working.
When he was stressed, he sat in his car for too long before going inside his house.
When he was hungry, he got irritable easily.
When he lied, his answers were too neat.
One night, Lina called.
Not texted.
Arga saw the name on his screen.
Liana.
He answered.
"Hello?"
"Come downstairs."
Arga sat up straight.
"Down where?"
"Downstairs."
"Why?"
"I'm outside your office."
Arga checked the time.
9:18 p.m.
"What are you doing there?"
"Come down first."
The call ended.
Arga stared at the screen.
Then walked to the elevator.
In front of the building, Lina stood beside a motorcycle taxi that had just left.
She was holding a plastic bag.
"Here."
She handed him a box of food.
Arga took it.
"What is it?"
"Food."
"I know what it looks like."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Why are you giving it to me?"
Lina shrugged.
"You said you hadn't eaten."
Arga remembered their conversation from two hours earlier.
He had said he hadn't eaten.
Just one sentence.
He hadn't complained.
He hadn't asked her to buy him anything.
"Where did you come from?"
"A friend's place."
"Far?"
"Not too far."
Arga looked at the box.
Then at Lina.
"You came all the way here just to give me food?"
"No."
"Then?"
Lina was silent for a moment.
"I was just passing by."
Arga looked at the main road in front of the office.
"Passing by from where?"
Lina narrowed her eyes.
"Why are you interrogating me?"
"Your office is in the opposite direction."
"I was with a friend earlier."
"Where's your friend?"
"Ga."
"Hm?"
"Just eat."
Arga held back a smile.
"Okay."
Lina checked the time.
"I'm going home."
"Wait."
"What?"
Arga opened the bag.
There was rice, grilled chicken, and vegetables.
He looked at Lina again.
"Vegetables?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because your lunch menu was pathetic."
Arga laughed.
"You remember that?"
"Unfortunately."
Lina took two steps backward.
"Okay. I'm going home."
"I'll take you."
"You don't have to."
"It's late."
"I can get a motorcycle taxi."
"Lin."
For the first time, Arga called her by name without joking.
Lina stopped.
"I'll take you."
She didn't answer right away.
Then she gave a small nod.
"Okay."
In the car, Lina sat holding the box of food in her lap because Arga insisted on eating before driving her home.
They stopped in the minimarket parking lot.
Arga ate.
Lina watched him.
"Is it good?"
"Not bad."
"Always 'not bad.'"
"My highest standard."
"So my coffee that time was good too?"
"Not bad."
Lina lightly smacked his arm.
"What a jerk."
Arga laughed.
After a few bites, he said, "Thanks."
"See?"
"What?"
"You are human after all."
"Sometimes."
Arga went back to eating.
Outside, rain began to fall.
It started lightly.
Then came down harder against the windshield.
Lina looked outside.
"Nice."
"The rain?"
"Yeah."
"You like it?"
"When I don't get rained on."
"Good principle."
Lina smiled.
They sat there for almost half an hour.
Doing nothing.
Arga ate.
Lina changed the music.
Sometimes they talked.
Sometimes they were quiet.
Strangely, being quiet with Lina didn't make Arga feel like he had to find something to talk about.
When the rain eased up a little, Arga started the car.
Lina's house was about forty minutes away.
On the way, Lina told him about her work.
About a senior colleague who liked changing the brief.
About her mother, who kept asking when she was going to find a job that was "more stable."
About her father, who always pretended not to interfere even though he was the one who most often asked what time she'd be home.
Arga listened.
"Is your house lively?" he asked.
"Kind of."
"Are you the oldest?"
"Second."
"Older sibling?"
"A sister. She's married."
"Oh."
"You?"
"I'm an only child."
"That explains it."
Arga glanced at her.
"Explains what?"
"You're spoiled."
"Slander."
"It's obvious."
Arga wanted to argue, but Lina started laughing first.
He let her.
They arrived in front of Lina's house a little before eleven.
The porch light was still on.
Arga turned off the blinker.
Lina unfastened her seat belt.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Don't forget to eat tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am."
Lina opened the door.
Then stopped.
"Ga."
"Hm?"
"Is my contact name still Liana?"
Arga froze.
Lina saw his expression and immediately knew.
"It is, isn't it?"
Arga laughed.
"I forgot."
"What a jerk."
Lina held out her hand.
"Give it here."
"What?"
"Your phone."
"What for?"
"I'm changing it."
Arga took out his phone and unlocked it.
Lina reached for it.
A few seconds later, she handed it back.
Arga looked at the contact name.
Lina.
Underneath, Lina had added one emoji: a period.
Not a heart.
Not a smile.
Just a period.
"Why the period?"
"So you'll remember my name ends there."
Arga laughed.
"Absurd."
"Better than getting it wrong again."
Lina got out.
Before closing the door, she leaned in slightly.
"Good night, Arga."
"Good night, Lina."
Lina paused for a fraction of a second.
Maybe because Arga had said her name deliberately.
Then she smiled.
A small smile.
"Good."
The door closed.
Arga waited until Lina went inside the house.
Only after the front door closed did he look at his phone screen again.
Lina.
One name.
Four letters.
Nothing special.
At least not yet.
Arga didn't know that a few months later, that name would be the one that appeared most often on his phone screen.
He didn't know that one day he'd memorize Lina's number without ever intending to.
He didn't know there would come a time when one short message from Lina would be enough to change his entire day.
That night, he changed her contact name one more time.
He deleted the period Lina had added.
Then saved it.
Lina.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.