My best friend

Devy Indirayati

"The point is that you're coming, right?" '

The voice at the other end of the line was enthusiastic.

"Yes, yes, but please be on time. I hate having to wait alone in a mall," I replied.

"Don't worry. OK, I'll see you tonight at the coffee shop."

I turned to the computer monitor before me and tried to resume working, but my mind kept reverting to my telephone conversation with Vita, my best friend.

We got to know each other when we studied at a university in Bandung. She majored in communications and I in management. We were active members of the student senate and since our first days on campus, we had been firm friends.

She was attentive and always showering me with gifts. Sometimes, however, she sulked and protested when I spent more time with my boyfriend than with her.

We were still very close even when we graduated. For a time, we worked in the same office, a leading advertising company in Jakarta. But I stayed there only a short time because the job consumed too much of my time, and I moved on to a consulting company.

Meanwhile, Vita continued to move up the career ladder. She was bright and creative, building up a vast network of contacts. After only a few years in the advertising company, she was entrusted with an important position.

She got busier and busier but we kept in touch by phone, SMS- ing each other or sending e-mails.

Despite her success in her career, Vita at 27 was not successful in love. In all the eight years we had been friends, I had never heard of her having a boyfriend, even though she was attractive and stylish.

Perhaps, I thought, even in this modern age, a man is reluctant to have a relationship with a bright woman who has a better job than him.

Men might also have been put off by her strong views and independent mind. Her friends had tried to find her the right man, but she wanted one who was in a lower position than her and would be willing to let her wear the pants, not the other way around.

But, most of all, she said she did not want a parasite, a man content to feed off her success. Her criteria seemed strangely contradictory, and almost impossible to meet.

That is why I replayed the telephone conversation over and over again in my mind. She had happily exclaimed, "I'm in love", and then quoted the Javanese adage that love grows when we get to know each other on a daily basis.

"You know the person!" she said.

As I finished writing my report, I was curious to meet the man who had finally made Vita love him.

****

It was slightly after seven in the evening at the mall in South Jakarta. I took my latte outside to the terrace, taking a seat and waiting for Vita and her boyfriend to show.

Glancing at two lovebirds sitting before me, I tried to call Vita.

"Where are you, Vit'? I'm at the coffee shop," I said.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. The road is really congested. Just wait a moment," she said.

Her voice was happy and carefree, although I knew she was not someone who easily showed her feelings.

Fifteen minutes later, Vita turned up. She walked arm in arm with Alya, one of her office mates. I had met Alya when I had worked at the company.

I kissed them both on the cheeks when I greeted them.

"Hi!," Alya said hurriedly. "Sorry, but I have to find a toilet.

With her gone, Vita sat in front of me, staring at me with a satisfied grin.

"So?" I said teasingly.

"So what?" she replied.

"Where is the knight in shining armor that has won your heart? He'll be riding in on his white steed, right?" I was needling her, for I knew Vita hated flowery romantic expressions.

"What do you mean?"

"You told me you're in love, Vit'. Where is the man? You told me you wanted to introduce him to me."

I stared at her quizzically, and Vita stared back intently.

"I'm in love, yes, and want to introduce my lover to you. You also know that person. Don't you realize who that is?"

"You mean ...?" I asked, unable to hide my astonishment.

"I meant earlier that I'm in love with Alya. It all started when we worked on that big advertising project together. We were close to each other and she really understood me. The longer I got to know her, the more love I felt for her and the more I wished to be with her. And yesterday she told me she felt the same for me."

She stopped for a moment, looking down before continuing.

"I also loved you very much back in university, but you preferred Dodi," she said. "It's all right with me as long as you are happy. Now I have found someone and we have been getting on fine. I really love her."

Vita kept talking, recounting her feelings, her struggle to accept herself and her love for Alya. For me, as I listened, everything had turned black.

Translated by Lie Hua