Dialog Kopi #4

-About Meeting You- 

Another day for Viona to stay in cold. It was November. It was quite cold and windy in Southampton. However, she loved it. She was there to pursue her study in Master Degree. It had been quite hard time for her, as she had to study and get along with the weather and neighborhood.

"Viona. How have you been doing?" a person passed by. Viona turned her head. She was staying in a coffee shop nearby the area of her dorm. She was from Indonesia. She was now imagining and recalling her memories about her crusade of getting the scholarship in a place she had never been before. Her long black hair was tied up like a pony tail. She was wearing double jackets and a sweater. Her body was also wrapped by a navy scarf her friend gave before she left Indonesia. Her round face looked red as she was hiding from the cold. She kept drinking her hot Cafe Latte. It was her second cup since this morning she had one.

"I am doing great! Oh wow, Jonas." Her friend from the same class in Pedagogy and Curriculum Development. 

"Can I join you?"

"You sure can." Answered Viona. They were now together talking about the holiday break soon they would get in December. They were talking about the tasks and the plans they would spend. Viona would like to stay at the dorm as she had no idea where to go. She planned to come to the Indonesia Students community. Then, Jonas was telling the story about the party he would like to prepare in his house.

"You may come if you want to." Said Jonas. His firm face with big grey eyes assured Viona. "There would be some of our students there too. From our course and others. I had made friends with some other courses, as well as my friends will ask theirs to join. 

"Wow. There must be lots of people, there!" Viona exclaimed. They both laughed.

"Don't worry! They are so welcomed with new people. Besides, you can expand your connection before going back to Indonesia, can't you?" Jonas sipped his Americano for his last sip to be sure. His tall body sometimes moved unexpectedly and it was like he was waiting for someone.

"Are you waiting for somebody?" Asked Viona.

"Oh yeah! I joined this discussion club, but I am waiting for my friend." He answered and he looked around again, "He said he would buy some groceries first then coming here. Well, there you go! Hey, Toni!" Jonas waved his right hand. Viona followed his gesture to somebody.

"There you are! Where have you been?" Asked Jonas firmly. He sounded disappointed.

"I do apologize. There was a bit accident with my bus. Therefore, I had to wait there for awhile because the bus driver got interviewed." Someone who was called as Toni explained the situation. Both Viona and Jonas stared at each other. It was obvious that Toni was struggling. He looked exhausted as he ran to come to the coffee shop.

"Oh, I am so... so sorry about that." Said Jonas.

"No worries. Let's go then!" Toni suddenly cheered himself up. Jonas said goodbye to Viona, and followed Toni.

**

It was 7 o'clock at night. Saturday night had come and Viona had been ready to join Jonas party. It was a welcome party and just a party where everyone could get together. Viona was wearing her blue pastel dress and she decided to just wear white flatshoes. She did not forget to bring her winter coat which had the same color as her shoes. She lost her hair as it was. She then called a cab to come to Jonas party as she turned out that Jonas lived near the Uni.

After taking the journey for about 30 minutes, she arrived at Jonas' house. It had been full of people. They were having their drink already and Viona could see that some of them had been talking to each other. She entered the house and she was quite not comfortable with the crowd. She tried to find Jonas, but after about 3 minutes she could not find him. At last, she gave up. She decided to find the finger foods and beverages. She chose apple cider and some chips. She found a chair and sat there until maybe Jonas would find her.

"Hi!" someone said hi to Viona. Luckily, the lamp was bright enough so that Viona could see who greeted her. 

"Hi!" She answered. She looked confused. He was a man.

"Hi. You probably really wonder who I am. I could see by the look on your face." The man said.

"Oh yes! Yes, I do wonder. I mean. I may remember easily of all my Uni materials but for people. I am not good at all."

"I am Toni." replied Toni.

"Toni?" Viona wondered and narrowed her eyes.

"Toni. Jonas' friend from the coffee shop." Toni assured Viona.

"Ah! Yes! The one from the coffee shop! Yes, you are!" Exclaimed Viona.

"Yes, I am. Are you here alone? I mean. Have you met Jonas?"

"Yes, I am alone. No, I haven't met him. I tried to but, there were lots of people. I have been around."

"Oh let me accompany you to meet him." Toni offered a help and without wondering anything, Viona said yes. They both walked together and finally Viona met Jonas.

"Viona! Hi! Glad you came." Exclaimed Jonas and they both shared hug. Viona smiled and thanked Toni that he had brought her to Jonas. 

"Oh well. I forgot to tell you that Toni was from Indonesia too. Are you, Toni?" 

Toni widened his eyes. "Yes, I am. And..."

"Wait, Viona is from Indonesia too!" Added Toni.

"Hmm. It is impossible. I never met you at the Student community." Viona explained, "If you are from Indonesia, then you must come to the community."

"I do. But, hmm, but... I rarely come there." Replied Toni. He looked nervous. Toni has firm and square face. His both eyes were black. His eyebrow were thick. He was quite tall and had quite in shape body. He smiled shyly. His lips are small, it made him look cute.

"Viona?" Jonas called.

"Ah, sorry. Oh, you rarely come. Okay." Viona tried to stay calm. She was staring at Toni. 

"Jadi, kamu dari mana? (So, where are you from?)" Toni changed his language with Indonesian language.

"Oh, aku dari Jakarta (I am from Jakarta)." 

"Oh, aku juga (so am I)." Toni replied, Jonas looked confused.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt but please use English again. Look. You guys please get along together. I will greet my other friends." Jonas smiled and they both smiled. 

"Toni, shall we go out to other places? I don't really feel comfortable here." Toni nodded as if he agreed and felt the same way as Viona. They both went out from Jonas' house and tried to walk for a while and found a taxi. They got and went to the coffee shop where they met for the first time. 

"Since when we decided to talk in English again? And you agreed with me about having different place. We don't even say goodbye to Jonas."

"Since now on. It is more comfortable for me. It is not that I don't love Indonesian but I just try to appreciate where we are. Jonas would not mind. He had lots of people there." Nice point on Toni's reply. Viona just nodded of what Toni said and they arrived at the coffee house.

"You seemed not enjoying yourself with the crowd?" Toni asked and was followed by Viona's nodded. 

"I just don't feel like I would be in crowd back then. I came there because I would appreciate Jonas' invitation. That's all." Viona smiled and they both stayed in line to order the coffee. Viona chose to have Cappuccino and Toni got Cafe Latte. Both ordered hot coffee. They then tried to find a table and found the table nearby the window. Viona could see the people passed by. They sat accross from each other.

"Nice view." Viona replied. Toni smiled. They then stayed quiet. 

"Are you at Master degree, too?"

"No. I am taking Phd here. It's from the company. I got an investment so that I could do the research there too. I have worked there for almost 13 years."

"Wow. That's a long time! How do you know Jonas?"

"He was a friend of mine. We do like to discuss about education. I am in charge as a part of Corporate Social Responsibility staff, too. I would like to know more about building the education in rural area. How our company can help on it." Toni explained.

"Where do you work?"

"In an oil company."

"Wow, no wonder." Viona replied and widened her both eyes.

"But, it's great to meet somebody familiar from the same country." Toni smiled. The cashier from the coffee house called and their ordered was ready. Toni took the order and Viona looked around. She just realised that the coffee house was empty. It only had them as customers.

"The hot cappuccino for you." Toni put the cup in front Viona and she said thank you.

"So, where are you from? I mean, what company do you work for?"

"It was an education start-up. I resigned myself there and focused on getting the scholarship. Alhamdulillah, I got it. Then, I am unemployed now. I have tried to write more essays and research papers, or even journals. I am interested in having more journals. Research vibe is so interesting for me." Viona smiled and so did Toni. Toni could feel how eager Viona from what she had told him. He loved the person who was passionate about useful thing, "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, it has been almost... 1 year and 5 months. I am starting to decide what my disertation is. It is way too difficult than I had done in Master. You got to be so focused on it." They both nodded by what Toni just said. Viona sipped her coffee and looked outside. 

"You're right, it was good to have somebody you recognized." Viona murmured. It sounded very quiet. 

"What, excuse me?" Toni asked.

"Oh. No. I just said. It was good to be here, having coffee." Replied Viona. Toni nodded.

"Hey. I wondered you were at the same course as Jonas, right? Is it possible to have some discussion with you, too? It is good I believe to have it in Indonesian more." smiled Toni. 

"Oh. Hmm. Is it okay? I mean. To be honest, I was not accustomed to it. I just knew that Jonas did some discussion community. That's all."

"It is totally okay! New comer is welcomed. I mean. If you mind, it is okay to say no, too." Toni smiled again, but deep down in his mind, Toni hopped that Viona would say yes.

"I would be very happy." Viona replied. 

And they both sipped their coffee and talked about some other things.