“So, you went with her earlier?”
Rafka, who had been taking a drink of water, paused. He lowered the bottle in his hand, then looked at the man sitting across from him.
“Who?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
Rafka chuckled.
“I only went with her for a little while.”
“With Nadine, right?”
Rafka raised an eyebrow.
“You saw us?”
“Not just me. A few other guys saw you two, too.”
Rafka leaned back in his chair.
“Yeah.”
His friend immediately flashed a knowing smile.
“Wow.”
“What?”
“Nothing happened, right?”
“What makes you think something happened?”
Rafka’s answer came too quickly. He didn’t even know why such a simple question made him feel like he had to explain himself right away.
Because nothing had actually happened.
He had only helped someone who happened to be having trouble with her vehicle. After that, he had gone with her because he was worried the motorcycle might break down again along the way.
Simple.
Nothing more than that.
“But how did it happen?” his friend asked.
“Her motorcycle wouldn’t start.”
“Then?”
“I helped her start it.”
“After that?”
Rafka looked at his friend.
“I went with her.”
“Exactly. That’s what I mean.”
“What?”
“Why did you have to go with her?”
Rafka fell silent.
The question was actually easy to answer. Strangely, though, he needed a few seconds to think of the answer.
He remembered what had happened that morning.
Nadine had been standing beside her motorcycle with a confused look on her face. She seemed to have tried starting it several times, but it wouldn’t work. When Rafka came out through the boarding-house gate, Nadine watched him for a few moments before finally calling out.
“Mas!”
That was the first time they had spoken.
They had already crossed paths several times around the boarding house. Rafka recognized her face, and he knew her name, too. But there had never been any reason for either of them to greet the other.
Until that morning.
“Because I was worried her motorcycle would stop working again,” Rafka finally replied.
His friend snickered.
“Excuses.”
“That’s really how it was.”
“What did you talk about on the way?”
Rafka tried to remember.
Not much.
Their conversation had mostly consisted of simple things. Every now and then, he asked a question, and Nadine answered. There had been nothing special about it. Nothing that should have made him keep remembering that short trip.
“Not much. We just talked.”
“Talked about what?”
“Just normal stuff.”
His friend shook his head.
“When you tell a story, you’re always like this. You never give any clear information.”
Rafka only laughed.
He didn’t know what there was to tell.
There had been nothing special about that morning. And yet, since they had gone their separate ways, Nadine’s face had appeared in his thoughts several times without warning.
Maybe because it was the first time they had spoken.
Maybe because before that, he had only known Nadine as one of the boarding-house residents.
Or maybe because she turned out not to be the way he had imagined her all along.
“Her name is Nadine, right?” his friend asked again.
Rafka nodded.
“Yeah.”
“The one who rarely joins everyone when you hang out?”
“I think so.”
His friend smiled.
“So you do know something about her.”
“I live in the same place she does.”
“And?”
Rafka looked at him.
“And what?”
“Are you going to ask her to go somewhere with you again tomorrow?”
Rafka immediately shook his head.
“No.”
His answer sounded certain.
His friend didn’t reply right away. He only looked at Rafka for a few seconds before finally shrugging.
“All right.”
The conversation should have ended there.
There was no reason to keep talking about Nadine. That morning had been nothing more than a coincidence.
Nadine’s motorcycle happened to not start.
Rafka happened to be there.
Then, by coincidence, they happened to leave together.
It was that simple.
At least, that was how Rafka still saw it.