Chapter 16

• The scent of lavender-scented bath soap wafted from where Rakia had just come out of the bathroom after a few minutes spent soaking in her favourite soap. Before going to bed, she often takes a bath first, but because she used to live in a boarding house, she only takes a shower, not a bath. Nowadays, her mother’s home provides a bathtub so she can maximize her ritual. It’s been five days, and she hasn’t heard anything about her job application. From various places, she had gone, including Dashtan. She couldn’t wait to return to her old routine; she felt only lazier if she stayed home too long and was unemployed.
• She approached his laptop on the bed, open and on, displaying a desktop wallpaper of the Eiffel Tower—one of the places she wanted to visit. In the past, when she was still with Benjamin, she hoped to go there with him. However, everything was just a dream even though until now, she still hoped to visit that place even without anyone’s company. Rakia sat on the edge of the bed and leaned towards her laptop screen. She was surprised when a call to talk from Dashtan through her email appeared on her laptop screen; the surprised Rakia immediately pressed the answer button, and Dashtan’s face filled her laptop screen. The man smiled, and Rakia felt strange about the man’s smile.
• “Did you just take a shower?” Dashtan’s question instantly made Rakia aware of her current condition wearing only a towel. She automatically screamed and ended the call unilaterally, which turned out to be a video call. With an embarrassment that was hard to describe, Rakia bit her lower lip with an expression like she was about to cry. What had just happened to her was a fatal mistake, letting a strange man see her half-naked; even though it was unintentional, it still made an impression on Rakia’s mind. Rakia’s cell phone rang and startled the woman; when she saw Dashtan’s name there, she hesitated to answer. Shyness and awkwardness still surrounded her at this time. She sighed with a gloomy face.