let me tell you a tale — How she met him
There are various types of first encounters; the unpredictable ones, the dramatic ones, the comical ones, the cliche ones — the love at first sight ones, the got on the bad side ones, the right person wrong time ones, the were not supposed to happen ones. Sometimes you were either feeling thankful for it or regretting it your whole life. Sometimes you wanted to go back in time and experience it for the second time, sometimes you wanted to bury it deep down in your memory box — sometimes you wished things were better back then so you would be able to be grateful, to see it as a good memory. Sometimes, you wished you were able to stay in that moment forever, in the very beginning of the story, because the continuation did not progress better. You wanted to stay in that first encounter moment forever because that was the only time when everything was fine.
The early stage was the only time when they were fine.
Mentari has always enjoyed social interaction. She loves meeting new people, getting to know them, and hearing one or two stories about them. She loves filling her brain with glimpses of people’s life. The high schoolers who always came to study, while chatting about which basketball team would steal the champion. The mid-thirty woman was having an online business meeting and throwing unfamiliar terms she barely understood. The regulars always asked about a specific barista or waitress, and had small talk with them. The on-call part-timers — including her — and their how-i-ended-up-in-this-situation stories. She started doing part-time work in coffee shops for this reason. Well, besides the money, of course. Social interactions could be nerve-awakening, but exciting and thrilling at the same time. She felt nervous sometimes, thinking about what kind of people she would have to interact with — or deal with. But they were worth the time, whether it was an eccentric art student, a lovely coffee lovers grandpa, or simply a fellow part-timer.
A particular part-timer.
“Hari ini ada part-timer lain, Kak?”
In the last few weeks, Mentari had been exploring the world of part-time work. It all started with impromptu volunteer work at an event. Turned out she enjoyed working. She tried several part-time jobs; babysitter, tutor, assistant, and the typical one, barista. Although, she only took temporary or on-call jobs because of her university schedule. She recently got an offer to be a part-timer for an opening week in a coffee shop, which she accepted with joy, of course.
Originally, there was nothing particular about this job. It was just an ordinary part-time job. Until it became the beginning of a story. And it all started with a simple encounter.
“Iya. Dia dateng shift sore nanti.”
The said him came fifteen minutes before the afternoon shift started. Her co-worker had introduced him before but her busy brain failed to fully make out his name — pretty sure it was Samudera something. So that was what she called him, Samudera.
“Salam kenal, Samudera.”
He was tall, probably ten inches taller than her. He had this silk fluffy short black hair. His slim face and sharp jaw made him look underweight — and sick, honestly. His face looked tired, or maybe he had this tired-looking face type. The pair of semi-droopy-looking eyes supported her opinion. He looked gentle, though. Gentle and definitely calm as the ocean. He did not talk much. He barely talked after their introduction greetings. She just assumed he was not the talkative type. They worked in silence for a while and interacted only when urgently needed. After two hours passed, the extroverted-ness in her could not stand it anymore.
“Pertama kali jadi part-timer?” She started a conversation to kill the silence.
“As a barista? Iya, baru pertama kali.” His voice came out soft, very soft, and angelic. It sounded like the type of voice you would hear from teachers in preschool and kindergarten. It sounded feminine if described but was quite masculine if you heard it directly. “Ada yang salah ya?”
“Enggak, bukan gitu. Cuma keliatan nggak terbiasa aja.”
And he looked unenthusiastic. Enthusiasm seemed to leave his body for a long time. He was not the type that looked lazy, annoyed, and wanted to go home within five minutes; but rather the type that did something only because he had to. He did not look excited or interested in this job at all, but he did well without a single complaint. She bet he was the professional-in-almost-everything type of person.
“Are you always this bright?” His sudden question took her by surprise. Not because he finally initiated a small talk, but because of the choice of question. Because he apparently paid attention to her.
“By bright you mean...?”
“Murah senyum, ceria, ramah.” He answered. “Setiap customer disapa. Yang nyebelin juga disapa.”
“Aku suka kerja kayak gini, ketemu banyak orang.” A smile formed on her face upon remembering some of her wholesome interactions with the people she worked with and worked for. She turned her gaze back to him, which was staring at her. Maybe because she used aku, a familiar pronoun that was not usually used to talk with someone you just met a few hours ago. Maybe because she looked weird, smiling while staring dreamingly into the air. He seem satisfied with the simple answer though; it pretty much answered his curiosity. He nodded in response and proceed back to his activity. But that was when her curiosity kicked in. She befriended most of her co-workers so far, even when they never meet each other again after. She wondered if she could befriend him too, and if he would like to befriend her. Therefore, she returned his question. “Are you always this unenthusiastic?”
Her question seem to amuse him because he smiled immediately. She bet this was not the first time he got that kind of question.
“Iya, setelan pabrik kalau ketemu banyak orang.” He half-joked. “Atau mungkin emang lagi capek aja.”
“Mungkin kekurangan zat besi.” She joked back. He let out a short laugh upon her remark. The first laugh ever since he stepped foot into this coffee shop. Well it was not like people came to a coffee shop to laugh, but he was so serious he almost looked like he was in dark mode. She almost thought he was indeed someone with a gloomy personality. Turned out he was just calm and probably super tired. And that only made her become more curious about him.
She could not help but wonder why he took this job. Was it solely for the money — hence the I-just-want-to-finish-the-job, or was it to kill time, or was it to fulfill his working hours as a requirement for something? She could not help but wonder about the glimpses of his life. Even though she was also aware that she probably would never meet him again after this. He was probably only another passerby.
A memorable passerby, maybe.
“Makasih buat hari ini ya, Mentari, Heksa.”
Ah, it was Heksa Samudera, his name.
The day went in a blink of an eye, and suddenly their shift ended, as announced by the owner. The both of them went to their locker in the communal staff’s room. Each was ready to go home, to end the story of the day — and to end their encounter as well. As soon as they stepped out of this building, they would be strangers again — well, it was not like they were a thing either.
“It was nice working with you.” Mentari broke the silence in the room.
“Because I am not a lousy co-worker?” He joked. Soft laughter was heard briefly in the room. Then, it was silence again as each busy preparing to go home. Samudera was the first to close the locker door. He adjusted the sling bag on his shoulders, then turned toward her to bid his goodbye. “Duluan ya, bye.”
His voice caught her attention. She immediately turned her head to reply to his greeting. That was the time when her eyes caught something familiar. A navy blue blazer, with a familiar logo on the chest. The exact copycat of the one she had in her arms right now.
“Almamaternya…kuliah di Sentosa?” She asked immediately while pointing at the said blazer. He lifted the blazer so she could look at it better.
“Iya. Kamu juga?”
“Iya. Fashion design.”
“Aku Manajemen Bisnis.”
Turned out, the so-called stranger was not really a stranger, or at least, would not be a stranger from now on. Not only they went to the same university, their faculties were pretty close to one another. That raised the chance of them meeting each other again in the future — she wondered briefly why they have not already all this time.
“Apparently it's not a goodbye?” She smiled.
“See you around then, I guess?” He returned her smile before he grabbed the door handle.
“See you around, Samudera.”
And maybe, he was not a mere passerby.
She did not know what their encounter means — what their encounter would bring. It could be a story, an unforgettable one. It could be a random encounter. Either way, she was strangely very interested in how their encounter would turn out. Because she always believes that every single encounter might have a precious value she did not realize. Every single encounter matters. Even the worst encounter she ever experienced was still worth the time because that was how she differentiate the good ones.
And that marked the first encounter, as well as the beginning of the story of her and — her now acquaintance turned friend — Heksa Samudera Khagi.
The tired-looking Business major student that achieved an almost perfect GPA in his first semester. The iron-deficiency man who managed to finish an eight-hour shift after his morning class. The hate-socializing man who happens to have a wide circle of acquaintances — including her. The fellow part-timer who now occasionally asked her to have a meal together. And not-so-suddenly, they were practically friends.
The owner of the coffee shop Mentari was working at hired him for a couple more days. That was how she knew Heksa was looking for more part-time jobs, and apparently, she had a lot of job channels. Encounters turned into casual meetings. Sometimes they worked a shift together. On other days, they met each other at the university cafeteria. And one day, they met for a meal together.
Like many friendship stories, it all started with a meal. They were about to leave after their shift ended. As usual, they took their personal belongings from the locker in the communal staff's room. Also like usual, they had some small talk.
“Udah pesen gojek?” Heksa became the first to open his mouth. He was ready to leave the room, but his eyes caught the sigh of her on the sofa.
“Udah tapi belum beruntung.” She showed him the screen of her mobile online taxi application. “Kayaknya hujan, jadi dibatalin terus.”
“Kalau gitu mau ikut aku makan?“
Mentari raised her gaze to meet his. The offer was a little bit unexpected. Though, it was not like they were not supposed to have a meal together whatsoever. Their relationship has grown closer in the past month. They greet each other daily, whenever they saw each other; they also talk to each other occasionally, asking about each other's well-being and such. So, having a meal together actually was not out of the ordinary.
“Makan di mana?“
So, they went to the nearest restaurant which happens to be a small ramen place, which was also his recommendation. The place was small, maybe it would not be able to handle more than 15 people. Despite the density, this place somehow made you feel at peace. The ambiance was perfect for devouring a bowl of warm ramen after a tiring day as they did.
As she slurped the warm miso ramen in front of her, she immediately felt grateful she agreed to the offer. Not only she discovered one of the best miso ramen she ever had, but she also had a nice conversation. They talked about other nearest restaurants, about the best delivery food around, and about the vintage interior of the place. They were no longer having the boring small talk consisting of things they actually need to talk about. They were having a conversation about things they want to say, things that sound interesting to them, things that would entertain each other. They talked more than they usually did.
“Makanan itu jadi paling enak kalau besoknya libur.”
“Hah? Kok gitu?”
“Kalau besok libur, kan, jadi nggak mikirin takut kembung, sakit perut, muka bengkak, sakit gigi, radang atau apapun. Jadi lebih tenang dan leluasa buat makan.”
“Kok aku nggak pernah kepikiran gitu ya sebelumnya?”
“Terus kalau misalnya besok nggak libur, pura-pura besok libur aja.”
“Hahaha mana bisa kayak gitu, Samudera.”
And she suddenly thought that if they were not working together or studying at the same university, they probably would still befriend each other. Maybe they just happened to enjoy each other’s company. Maybe they discovered they could have a nice conversation outside their working shift. Maybe they just did not have any reason to not befriend each other.
And that was how their encounter progressed. The first meeting led into another and another, and another. Meeting him was no longer a coincidence, no longer an event, but rather a normal activity. The empty room chat in their phones filled with bubbles of messages. The unintentional first meeting turned into a planned casual meeting on a random day. The short excerpt turned into an actual story.
Mentari still did not know what their encounters — their meetings means. She did not know where those meetings would lead them or where they would end up at. She did not know what was waiting for them. She could not guess yet whether their encounter was a good one or was it the opposite. But whatever it was, she would like to see. She would like to see how their story progresses from here.