Saka POV
On the first day of the fifth semester, the classroom was already filled with familiar faces. The cheerfulness left over from vacation could still be heard here and there, including from the seats behind me, occupied by Rio and his girlfriend, Feni. The first class bell would ring in five minutes. I wasn't expecting anyone else to walk into the classroom except Professor Ratmi, our lecturer, but it turned out I was wrong. A girl half-ran into the room and sat down beside me, in Arjuna's seat. She straightened her jacket and set down her bag before turning to me.
“Hi... Agnia...” She seemed to have just told me her name. “Saka,” I replied. She smiled. “Are you a new student?” I asked, though I was actually more worried that she'd walked into the wrong class. She turned back to me. “No. I took a year off, so technically I'm your senior.” Agnia added another smile.
A senior. She didn't look older, probably because it was only a one-year difference. And seniors weren't necessarily older anyway.
“Oh, I see.” Not long afterward, Professor Ratmi came in.
“Oh, hi...” Agnia again. She had sat beside me for the three courses earlier, then we'd gone our separate ways during the break. “You like sitting up front?” she asked as she sat beside me again.
“Not really.” I'd actually thought about moving to another seat, but I'd never gotten around to it. I figured my friends would be even more surprised if I suddenly moved. “What about you? Do you like sitting up front?”
“No. But I'm nearsighted. It'd be a hassle if I sat in the back. Especially since I haven't been in college for a long time. My brain needs to readjust more quickly.”
“Why don't you wear glasses? Or do you wear contacts?” I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a clearer look at hers. They were round, and her face had slightly East Asian features. It suited her neck-length haircut perfectly.
“No. I'm forgetful. A year ago, I lost three pairs of glasses. Of course, it was because I forgot where I'd put them. It'd be a pain to buy new glasses every time I forgot them. Besides, I don't like wearing glasses. They make my face look weird... don't you believe me?” I stayed silent. “Don't let me show you. Contacts? Ugh... even more trouble. It's better to sit up front. I won't forget anything, and it won't be a hassle.”
“Yeah, you're right.”
Agnia sat beside me all day. When the lecturer was teaching, she focused completely on class, but whenever there was a break, she struck up a conversation with me. Edo was to her right, but she seemed to prefer talking to me—or maybe because I sat in the corner, with no one on my left, she thought she had no other friend to talk to besides me. Agni, her nickname, asked a lot of questions about this class: what the students were like, who the leader was, and even... who was dating whom. She thought it was important for a new member to know. She had a point. She definitely didn't want to get herself into trouble. I told her to introduce herself in front of the class, but she immediately refused.
“That's something an elementary school kid would do. I'll introduce myself if I want to. The same goes for them,” she said.
Before we parted because classes were over, she grabbed my hand.
“Saka, can I borrow your Advanced Accounting notes? I haven't been attending much since the fourth semester.”
“Sure.” I took out my notebook. “I didn't take very thorough notes, just a few pages. The rest is in the textbook. You have the textbook, right?”
“Yeah, I just want to make sure I can keep up this fifth semester.”
I handed Agnia several loose-leaf sheets. “Don't worry, I won't lose them,” she said.
“I'm not worried. Maybe it's not something you're looking for.”
“It's okay. Maybe I'll bother you again sometime.”
“Just ask.”
“Thanks.” She put my papers into her bag. “I'll treat you to something as a thank-you. But not now. I have to go home.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Bye, Saka.”
“Bye, Nia.”
She stopped. “Don't call me that. Agni or Agnia. If you're having trouble, you can call me ‘hey’ or anything else, but not ‘Nia.’ Okay?”
“Oh, okay. Sorry...”
“It’s fine. It’s just a little thing... okay. Bye...”
This time, she didn't wait for my reply. Her petite body shot out of the classroom. By the time I reached the doorway, I couldn't see her anymore. She seemed awfully busy. Maybe her senior boyfriend was waiting for her. Agnia was a sweet girl. She had to have a boyfriend already. It was rare for a girl in her fifth semester not to have one. If it wasn't a fellow college student, then it was probably a boyfriend back in her hometown. Even my own friends assumed I had a girlfriend. A girlfriend I visited every other week.
Saskia could take phone calls now. Her father had left a phone with the nurse so she could talk to me. I called her whenever I couldn't go there. We'd video-chat during visiting hours when none of her family came to see her. From the way we talked, I could tell Saskia was beginning to realize that she was different. She had to stay there, while I—her Arjuna—had to stay here. Her memories were also beginning to blur together: moments she'd shared with Arjuna in the past and moments she'd shared with me, as her Arjuna, when I visited her in the hospital. Maybe she'd remember everything soon. What would happen after that? Would she be able to accept the fact that her Arjuna had never come back all this time? If not, would she fall back into her false memories again? Or would things get even worse?
Once, I tried telling her that I was Saka, not Arjuna. Saskia didn't react. The name Saka wasn't in her memory. She still thought I was Arjuna and spoke to me as if I were him. I never did it again after that. Whatever happened would happen. If Saskia recovered and still wanted to consider me her friend, we'd be friends like before. If not—if she blamed me for pretending to be Arjuna all this time—I would accept it. Even though I enjoyed being with her, I'd rather see her recover.
Before nightfall, my phone received a message from a new number.
“Hi, Saka... are you asleep yet?” — Agnia
I'd almost forgotten that we'd exchanged phone numbers earlier. I immediately replied.
“Not yet. Is there a problem with my notes?”
“No. Your notes are clear, and your handwriting is pretty neat for a guy. I just can't sleep. Am I bothering you?”
“No. Why can't you sleep?”
“I think I'm too tired. Sometimes a body that's too exhausted actually has trouble resting. Are you like that too?”
I thought about it. “That could be it. But almost never for me. After working on Sundays, I fall straight asleep and don't wake up until morning.”
“You work on Sundays?”
“Yeah, Saturdays and Sundays. Saturday's only half a day, while on Sunday I work from morning until night. By the time I get back to the boarding house, I don't have any energy left.”
“I know how that feels.”
“You work too?”
“Anyway, Saka, you must be tired. Get some rest. Thanks.”
“Okay.”
It was a strange conversation between two people who had just met. But I didn't feel like I'd just met Agnia. She didn't treat me like someone she'd only just gotten acquainted with. It was interesting.