Untitled Love Story
Chapter 1
The Girl Who Was Good at Everything
Rina's Notebook When I was little, my father told me that every traffic light had a personality. Red lights were stubborn. Yellow lights couldn't make up their minds. Green lights trusted people. I believed him until I was ten. Sometimes... I think I still do.
Kuala Lumpur
Monday.
7:50 a.m.
The city had already begun apologizing for itself.
Cars stretched across the highway like a sentence that refused to end.
Coffee shops filled with people rehearsing the day ahead.
Somewhere above them, office lights blinked awake one floor at a time.
Rina watched all of it from the twenty-first floor.
Her coffee had gone cold.
Again.
She picked it up anyway.
One sip.
Made a face.
"Terrible."
She drank another sip.
There were seventeen emails marked urgent.
Three meetings before lunch.
One presentation to the Board.
A cash flow forecast that refused to reconcile.
And somewhere in the middle of all that...
Someone had left a tiny chocolate on her keyboard.
No note.
Just chocolate.
She smiled.
Not because of the chocolate.
Because she already knew who it was.
Amir appeared at her office door exactly on cue.
He was carrying two files and the expression of a man who had already lost one battle before nine in the morning.
"Boss."
She looked up.
"Morning."
"You found it."
She frowned.
"Found what?"
"Your laptop."
"..."
"...I forgot it again last week, didn't I?"
He nodded solemnly.
"You brought the charger."
She sighed.
"But not the laptop."
"Correct."
She leaned back in her chair.
"This is becoming a personality trait."
"I've accepted it."
"So have I."
He placed the files on her desk.
"Board papers."
She nodded.
"Coffee?"
He looked at the mug.
"I think that's yesterday's."
She looked down.
"..."
"...That explains a lot."
He quietly took it.
"I'll make you another."
"You're a good man, Amir."
"I know."
"And humble."
"I've been told."
The office slowly filled with voices.
Printers hummed.
Phones rang.
Someone laughed in the pantry.
Another month had begun.
Which meant another month-end.
Which meant...
Numbers.
Deadlines.
Responsibility.
Rina loved all of it.
Or at least...
She used to.
At 9:00 a.m. sharp...
She walked into the Board room.
Confident.
Prepared.
Composed.
The Finance Manager everyone expected her to be.
She spoke without looking at her notes.
Answered every question.
Explained every variance.
Projected confidence so naturally that no one wondered whether she was tired.
When the meeting ended...
One of the directors smiled.
"Excellent work, Rina."
Another nodded.
"We're fortunate to have you."
She thanked them politely.
Collected her laptop.
Walked back to her office.
Closed the door.
The room fell silent.
She stood there for a long moment.
Then whispered to no one at all,
"...Is this it?"
Not because she disliked her job.
She didn't.
She was grateful for it.
Proud of it.
It had challenged her.
Shaped her.
Given her a career she had worked unbelievably hard to build.
But lately...
Every achievement felt strangely...
Quiet.
Another promotion.
Another salary adjustment.
Another successful presentation.
Each one arrived exactly the way she'd imagined years ago.
So why...
did none of them feel the way she'd imagined?
Her phone buzzed.
Zara
Lunch?
Rina smiled immediately.
Always.
By 12:30 p.m., they were sitting at their usual cafƩ.
Zara had already stolen one of Rina's fries.
"You know," Rina said.
"I order fries."
"You do."
"And somehow..."
She pointed accusingly.
"I only eat half."
Zara looked offended.
"I am preserving balance."
"You're stealing carbohydrates."
"I'm protecting your health."
"My doctor didn't appoint you."
"Your doctor doesn't know me."
Rina laughed.
The kind that made nearby tables glance over.
"I've missed this."
Zara noticed the way her smile faded almost as quickly as it came.
"You've been quiet."
"I've been busy."
"That's not what I asked."
"..."
Rina looked down at her coffee.
"I think I'm tired."
Zara waited.
Not because she expected more.
Because she knew Rina well enough to know silence was sometimes the beginning of honesty.
After a while...
Rina spoke again.
"You know what's strange?"
"Hm?"
"I used to dream about this life."
"This exact one."
"The office."
"The title."
"The meetings."
"The salary."
She stirred her coffee slowly.
"I got everything I wanted."
She looked up.
"So why does it feel like I'm still waiting for my life to begin?"
Zara didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
She reached across the table.
Stole another fry.
Rina blinked.
"...Seriously?"
"I've known you for twelve years."
"And?"
"You only ask existential questions when your fries are getting cold."
"..."
"...That's a disturbingly accurate observation."
"I know."
They both laughed.
But Zara carried Rina's question home with her.
Because she had never seen her best friend say those words before.
And somewhere inside...
She wondered if Rina had been lonely for much longer than anyone had noticed.
Epilogue
Rina leaves the cafƩ, hurrying because she's late.
She walks past a man standing outside with a paper cup of coffee and a sketch tube slung over his shoulder. He politely steps aside to let her pass.
Neither of them says a word.
She smiles automatically.
He smiles back.
They continue walking in opposite directions.
