That afternoon, the boarding house was starting to get livelier than it had been in the morning. Some of the residents had just returned from campus, while others chose to rest in their rooms. From the second floor came the occasional sound of doors opening and closing, mixed with footsteps passing through the hallway.
Nadine was in Dita's room.
The two had grown fairly close since they started living in the same boarding house. Since their rooms weren't too far apart, Nadine often stopped by Dita's room just to talk or simply spend time together.
Dita was sitting on her bed with her back against the wall. She held a phone that had been the focus of her attention for a while. Meanwhile, Nadine sat on the floor with her back against the side of the bed.
Several minutes passed without any meaningful conversation.
Nadine looked like she was thinking about something.
Dita finally lowered her phone.
"What's wrong?"
Nadine looked up.
"Nothing."
"If it's nothing, why have you been so quiet?"
Nadine lowered her head again. She took a slow breath before finally saying,
"I want to tell you something."
Dita immediately set her phone down beside her.
"What is it?"
Nadine was silent for a few seconds.
"Rafka is weird."
Dita furrowed her brow.
"Rafka?"
Nadine nodded.
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's been asking me to go places with him a lot lately."
"A lot?"
"Yeah."
Nadine started counting in her head. It had only been a few days since they first spoke, but somehow they had already gone out together several times.
"When my motorcycle wouldn't start, he was the one who helped me. After that, he asked me to go with him because he was worried my motorcycle might die again. Then a few days later, he asked me to go out again. He came along earlier, too, when I wanted to go to the market."
Dita listened without interrupting.
"You two never talked before?"
"Never."
"Even though his room is next door?"
"Yeah."
Nadine nodded.
"Before this, we'd only ever happened to pass each other. I knew what he looked like and knew his name, but I never really knew him."
She paused for a moment.
"That's why I think it's weird. All of a sudden, we're going out together so often now."
Dita leaned her head against the wall.
"Maybe he just recently found a chance to talk to you."
"Could be."
"Or..."
Dita deliberately left the sentence hanging.
Nadine looked at her.
"Or what?"
"Maybe he likes you."
Nadine immediately furrowed her brow.
"Huh?"
"Hey, you never know."
"No way."
Dita gave a small laugh.
"Why not?"
"I mean... we just met."
"You mean you just started talking."
Nadine fell silent.
Dita continued,
"You two only just started talking now. But you've been living in the same boarding house for quite a while."
Nadine didn't answer right away.
She knew there was some truth to that.
She had often seen Rafka around the boarding house. She just never considered the boy's presence something worth paying attention to.
Dita suddenly said,
"Maybe he's actually been paying attention to you for a long time."
Nadine let out a spontaneous little laugh.
"Paying attention to what?"
"To you. Maybe he's known about you for a long time, but only just started working up the courage to get closer."
"No way."
"Why not?"
"If that's true, why only now?"
"Maybe there's only just been an opportunity now."
Nadine shook her head.
"I think that's just how he is."
"How?"
"Friendly."
"Friendly to everyone?"
Nadine fell silent again.
She didn't know.
She had never really paid attention to how Rafka treated other people. All she knew was that he seemed pretty comfortable talking to the people around the boarding house.
"Maybe," Nadine finally replied.
Dita smiled.
"So it's not necessarily true either, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, we'll just see how far he takes it."
Nadine took a breath and leaned her back against the wall.
She didn't want to read too much into what her friend had said. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing to make an issue of. Rafka had only asked her to go out a few times, and she happened to accept his invitations.
It was that simple.
However, one part of their conversation kept passing through her mind without her realizing it.
"Maybe he's actually been paying attention to you for a long time."
Nadine quickly shook her head.
No.
She didn't want to turn something simple into something complicated.
Besides, they had only just begun getting to know each other.
Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Or maybe Rafka simply enjoyed having someone to go places with.
Nadine chose to believe the second possibility.
At least for now.